# Kobe rides motorcycles, lets void his contract!



## rlucas4257 (Jun 1, 2002)

Did anyone read this today? Kobe rode his motorcycle to the Laker preseason game in Anaheim against the Clips i believe. Maybe it was the Kings. regardless, he did this in broad day light. Now sure he didnt crash so its a moot point, but why arent the Lakers voiding his contract? Now everyone has an opinion on Jay. And everyone is right to a degree. But frankly, it disgusts me the lack of human kindness that pervades some of the Bulls boards. And you guys know what board I am talking about. The point is, there is no double standard, either void his contract or dont. But if you do, youll look pretty darn cheap and pretty darn stupid with Kobe doing this as well in broad daylight. the point is, people make mistakes. Should people be given a second chance? ofcourse. Most of the people who think Jay ought to be waived have never been late for work or never cheat on a test? I doubt it. If people continue to think Jay needs to go, and Pax has indicated he will put up with it this year but not next, then they have to ask themselves, why arent the Lakers doing anything about this with Kobe? I think it reflects poorly on the Bulls for this too even be a discussion. Its a relatively small contract (if there was no rookie wage scale, he would be making about 2-3 X more) for a club as rich as the Bulls. And what is the roster spot really going to do for us? we already have 13 guys who can play. Its senseless, and matter in fact, pretty inhumane for people to think we should void him out and send him to the cleaners. Again, i end this with 2 thoughts, would people say the same thing if Eddy Curry were on the back of that motorcycle and do people understand the old phrase, people make mistakes? Just a thought. When I see Kobe waived from the lakers, ill change my mind on this subject


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## DaBullz (Jul 15, 2002)

So, JWill made a mistake. The only reason to void his contract is because he takes up 1/15th of the roster and he's going to contribute exactly ZERO to the team. That roster spot cost Hassell his job - what kind of message does it send to outright cut a 3rd year guy who was a starter for both his first two seasons? Some loyalty, eh?

If the team voided JWill's contract, they'd have more money, CBA-wise, to sign Hill, and the roster spot to give to him.

If the team voided his contract, they could still donate however many $millions to the JWill injury rehab charity fund as needed to keep their image from being tarnished.

I see zero benefit to either JWill or the team to keep him on the roster, unless the team is taking the .0005% chance that JWill can recover and ultimately live up to the hype he came to the team with.

I don't see anything silly in using this technicality (void contract) to get the Bulls into a better situation. There's no double standard about it - if the Lakers want to get out of Kobe's contract (for some absurd reason), they can do so.


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## jnrjr79 (Apr 18, 2003)

Let me start by saying that I in no way think we should waive Jay Williams. It would be a very callous and unkind move. However, if the moral argument doesn't float your boat, I also think it would be terrible PR for the Bulls to do so.
That being said, I think the Kobe situation is sort of incongruous. He is not injured. There would be no incentive for Los Angeles to waive him. I don't think you can compare the two situations. LA isn't wasting money on a player that cannot participate with his team. If Kobe were actually to be convicted of rape and imprisoned so that he was unable to play, don't bank on the Lakers continuing to pay him. They would void that contract as quickly as possible. Now I know that would be coming from a different motivation and nobody would fault LA for doing so. The real question to me is, if Kobe was injured in identical fashion to Jay, would he be waived? I believe it is likely or at least possible he would. He has a big salary that could significantly damage the team if he is unable to perform (though perhaps not for this season since there is so much talent on that team). In any event, if Kobe were to do what Jay did, would you feel that it would be wrong for LA to waive him? To what extent does his salary factor in? Would you still be in favor of honoring Jay's contract if he was a max player? It just seems to me that if you are trying to make a right vs. wrong argument, what the man is being paid shouldn't necessarily be an integral part of the equation. In any event, all I am trying to say is that voiding Kobe's contract for riding a motorcycle is not the same situation as the Jay Williams situation. It is apples and oranges. However, as I said before, I do believe that voiding Jay's contract would be a tremendous mistake, unless other financial arrangements could be made for him.


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## rlucas4257 (Jun 1, 2002)

let me put it this way, Vin Baker is an alcoholic. the celtics didnt waive him, they put in a leave of absense program and PAID HIM. And that Club is bleeding rink ink., and he is MAX contract The Bulls make money and are concerned with 3.4 mill deal? get real. Hassell was cut cause he couldnt play. He was beat out by Linton Johnson. AN extra roster spot doesnt help us. We have 13 guys we know can play, we will have problems with minutes alone. And let me express my opinion, that if Kobe were to take this year off to fight the alegations of his rape case, you can bet the Lakers would pay him, even if they knew they would lose him next year to FA. Thats the difference in the thought process today. The lakers are the premier destination of FAs cause their is a perception they take care of their own. Here, we want to send a kid down the river for making one error. An error that alot of players make i might add


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## DaBullz (Jul 15, 2002)

It isn't the $3.4M. It's the $3.4M and its effect on the salary cap. It's also the roster spot he takes up. The bulls are going into battle with 14/15ths of the advantages other teams have - those teams have 15 roster spots to use to their advantage, the Bulls only 14.

Vin Baker isn't at all in the same situation as JWill. His alcoholism is a disease, but not one that kept him from playing. He also earned his max contract with his previous play. He also suited up for games and was (still is) able to play.

The Celtics had the 18th highest payroll in the NBA last season. They may have been "bleeding red ink," but unless you've seen their books, I think the evidence suggests they weren't so bad off.


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## Wynn (Jun 3, 2002)

Is a workable solution to void Jay's contract (motorcycle clause) and then offer him a $3.4 million position in the office (coordinator of read to acheive or some such)? PR -- not bad. Cost to franchise -- equitable. Effect on cap and roster space -- frees up both.

Is there some sort of tampering clause that would prevent this move?


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## DaBullz (Jul 15, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>DaBullz</b>!
> 
> The Celtics had the 18th highest payroll in the NBA last season. They may have been "bleeding red ink," but unless you've seen their books, I think the evidence suggests they weren't so bad off.


FYI

Hoovers says the Celtics had $96M in sales.

http://www.hoovers.com/hc/company-information/-/COID__107184/-/free/co/factsheet.xhtml

Patricia's WWW site lists the Celtics' payroll at $52,432,200

http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/misc/salaries03.txt

That would give the Celtics about $46M in net profit, before its other expenses like stadium rent (if any), other salaries (of management and other workers in the organization), and so on. 

The $96M was sales for the year before Patricia's salary info, so I would guess that they probably had somewhat better year-over-year sales (i.e. even more than that $46M).

Also, the Celtics were recently purchased for $360M, and there may be some other accounting factors that could lead to red ink (such as writing off "good will" or paying off part of that $360M that was raised through debt financing, etc.).

Peace!


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## TRUTHHURTS (Mar 1, 2003)

Kobe is not on a rookie deal and plays on a team where the coach RIDES a bike.Kobe couldve easily have had all motorcycle restrictions removed from his deal as Im sure Malone has as well just like Mj had the play basketball anytime-anywhere clause added to his deal.When you become a superstar those minor contract restriction will be removed at your request.


I dont think the Bulls want to void his deal but Pax seems to be seeking a buyout of some sort.but what is he to do if Jays family refuses because Im sure insurance wouldnt pay seeing as he did violate his contract if the Bulls actually were to file a claim .


I am all for working out some sort of buyout with Jay but part of making mistakes is accepting responsibility for your actions as well as the punishment for them.

If I violate the terms of my employment at work tomorrow and injure myself neither the job nor insurance would pay and I would be given my walking papers as would most normal working people .Thats not lack of human kindness thats just reality.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

All I know is JWill's stupidity cost him, his family, and apparently Trent Hassell and Hassell's family, along with the bulls organization. It was a dumb thing to do. And I don't think Kobe riding his motorcycle justifies anything but calling Kobe an idiot. Yet another lapse in judgement by Kobe Bryant. What else is new these days?

If you watched the lakers clips game on TNT Barkeley went off on Kobe about the motorcycle, no one else really thought of it, and then Barkley just went off on a rant about that. He was a hundred percent right. If you are a proffessional athlete it is stupid and irresponsible to be riding a motorcycle. I think Karl Malone also rides motorcycles. btw. It's dumb. There's no other word for it. It's outright infurating. Especially after what happened to JayWill that Kobe would still ride his motorcycle(to say nothing of the fact that by him doing so he didn't ride on the team bus with the rest of the players--helping to spur on the ol' shaq-kobe feud).

just dumb decisions. Maybe JayWill should be made an example of? Cause apparently the injuries weren't enough to scare players off.


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## TRUTHHURTS (Mar 1, 2003)

Hey ,after what happened to Demarr Johnson I think its just plain silly for an pro athlete to drive a car himself .They should just take limos because they could fall asleep at the wheel . :no:


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## superdave (Jul 16, 2002)

What does Jay Williams incident have to do with Trent Hassell?

Its Baxter's fault he tore up the RMR and got into the best shape of his life... he took Trent's spot!

Its Mason Jr's fault too b/c he is so darn versatile and can play multiple positions and (gasp) actually hit a few jumpers here and there! Didn't he take Trent's spot?!

Its Bill Cartwright's fault too for not sticking up for Trent Hassell aka 'his guy' from all of last season.

Its Jerry Krause's fault for signing eRob to a bad long contract. He took Sir Trent's spot!!

<i>...or maybe....</i>

Trent Hassell is garbage (okay a bit harsh) and NOT a servicable top 15 player for an NBA team. Maybe he signs on elsewhere, maybe not. But we're talking about a 2nd round pick here, and I'm not shedding any tears. For all the hard work in the gym (John Shoop is one of the hardest working coaches in the NFL btw) it didn't translate on the floor, period.


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## MikeDC (Jul 16, 2002)

I don't see the double standard...

the Bulls haven't waived Jay, the Lakers haven't waived Kobe.

Sure, some fans think we should waive Jay, but so what? There's probably a couple Laker fans out there, who confronted with the info, would say the Lakers should cut bait on Kobe. A few have seemed to want to because of the rape allegation, and even more because of his airing of the dirtiest of team dirty laundry to the media.

Maybe it's more or less, but to me you can only apply a double standard to identical situations. And honestly, Jay and Kobe aren't in identical situations. Even if Jay didn't get hurt, he makes millions less than Kobe. And Kobe's a much better player. That's a legitimate, if cold-hearted difference. But like Wynn says, in practical terms, any such move would end up paying Jay an equivalent or close to equivalent amount... so it's not like he'd be losing because of it. And why is it injumane to treat different people in different situations differently?


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## Squirrel (Jul 25, 2002)

Apart from the point previously mentioned that stars like Kobe can have certain clauses voided, maybe he was at least responsible enough to consider his team and actually learned how to safely ride a bike and got a proper license to drive one.


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## truebluefan (May 27, 2002)

Nice topic rlucas! But as I see it, it's moot. Kobe didn't wreck and injure the nerves in his legs. Kobe isn't out for season and maybe longer and since he didn't injure his legs, Kobe still has his speed. Kobe is not 6-1 or 6-2. He is 6-8. Jays speed was an accet and now it might be in question. 

And the Bulls still have Jay Williams on the team. 

I can understand why the staff writers and a lot of fans talk about cutting him loose. Business sense. However this is an emotional topic and should get a good response. I hope to write more on this topic this evening. I do not have the time to give it justice right now.


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## Clinton Boswell (Aug 10, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>DaBullz</b>!
> 
> 
> FYI
> ...


Just to point out, your number doesnt reflect Taxes, transportation, accomodations, other personal, state and city taxes and the lease on the fleet center. that 46 M is pretty close to flat or down after its all said and done. Thought I would just point that out.


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## DaBullz (Jul 15, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Clinton Boswell</b>!
> 
> 
> Just to point out, your number doesnt reflect Taxes, transportation, accomodations, other personal, state and city taxes and the lease on the fleet center. that 46 M is pretty close to flat or down after its all said and done. Thought I would just point that out.


http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0217/nba_print.html

Celtics

Revenue $96M
Operating Income <SUP>4</SUP> $17.4M

<SUP>4</SUP> Earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation.


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