Varejao Problem

NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.

Today we have a special treat for the readers. Former NBA Obsessed writer, Angelo Fernandez, has written a special piece on the Varejao Problem in Cleveland.

Angelo Fernandez has taken his considerable writing talent to Wow Obsessed, where he pens all kinds of information on the World of Warcraft. If you are a gamer, then please visit Angelo’s World of Warcraft blog.

Your intrepid writer has been critical of Danny Ferry and the Cavaliers lack of progress in building on last year’s surprising NBA Finals team.

Today Angelo would like to address a growing problem with the restricted free agency designation in the NBA. It is always good to get fresh opinions and different ideas. With that said, here is Angelo and hope you enjoy what he has to say.

Solution To The “Varejao Problem”

After all the mess with his negotiations, it’s nice to see Anderson Varejao back in action. The recent Cavaliers game against the Indiana Pacers marked his first game of the season where he posted a respectable 6 points and 9 rebounds in 24 minutes of action. The Cavaliers won that game 118-105 due to the fact that Lebron James returned from injury coming off the bench. You can say Andy’s debut came out just fine.

While it’s nice to have the messy Varejao situation out of the picture and everything seems to be back to normal for the Cavaliers, this whole process left a bad taste in the NBA’s mouth. Andy just might be the poster boy for the next big cause of the Player’s Association: restricted free agency

In a way the term restricted free agent does seem to counter itself. How can you be free when you are restricted?

“It makes me question the concept when a player has a difficult time getting somebody to make an offer,” Players’ Association director Billy Hunter said. “When you hear complaints that a player should just sit around and wait for his team to make an offer, I’m obviously concerned about that.

“To me, that’s one of the things we should talk about going forth in the next round of bargaining, restricted free agency. They aren’t free agents if no one gets an offer because teams believe the offers will be matched. All of the leverage is with the team.

I think I have a reasonable solution to this predicament. The problem with restricted free agents just like the case of Varejao is that since they’re restricted the team can wait all they want until an offer is made by another team. So if no offer is given all summer long, the restricted free agent can do nothing else but wait. But what if the restricted tag could only last for a certain period of time? Imagine of Varejao lost his restricted status by the time training camp began. As a real free agent by that time, I think many other teams would have been interested. If the team and player cannot come into an agreement the player loses his restricted status with or without this suggested rule anyway.

I think dealing with restricted free agents this way is fair for both parties since the team still has first rights to re-sign the player but it also gives the player a good exit strategy if the team forces him to wait all summer long.

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