little bit of a re-hash, but I know there were plenty who killed Donnie for 1) not getting a first rounder in the Zbo trade and/or 2) getting back damaged goods in the name of Mobley.

Insurance is paying 80% of the $9M for the year 2009/2010 on Mobley's contract. That's a $7M savings for a team.

ie, Tyson Chandler was traded for caca in the name of less $ on a contract.

And not only that, Mobley is an expiring contract before 2010, that's a good double whammy.

Get rid of Zbo contract, check. Get expiring deal, check. Get insured contract as another asset, check. Make coach Dunleavy look stupid for his comments, check.

i thought you can't trade a medical exempt player...

i wouldn't give him that much credit... Mobley retiring could not have been foreseen... it was only known that he had a pre-existing heart condition at the time they made the trade, but he chose to waive his right to nix it because he was so desperate to dump Zach's longterm deal on someone.

Posted by djsunyc:

i thought you can't trade a medical exempt player...

interesting point..does anyone know how this works? i tried to quickly find something and came up with an old hahn post: http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/2008/12/knicks_may_have_a_cba_debate_w.html, though i am not clear as to how it pertains to mobley's current status.

Posted by martin:

Posted by orangeblobman:

Posted by djsunyc:

i thought you can't trade a medical exempt player...

interesting point..does anyone know how this works? i tried to quickly find something and came up with an old hahn post: http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/2008/12/knicks_may_have_a_cba_debate_w.html, though i am not clear as to how it pertains to mobley's current status.

Mobley is NOT retired and the Knicks were denied the medical exception. But that is different than insurance paying for 80% of his contract.

I think.

insurance doesn't pay until a player is declared medically exempt. walsh traded for his expiring and that's it. he's no longer an asset.

Posted by djsunyc:

i thought you can't trade a medical exempt player...

i'm pretty sure the knicks can deal mobley's contract even if he can't play.

there was an old discussion on knickerbloogger about this:

http://www.knickerblogger.net/?p=1448

and the discussion goes back and forth...

including a link to:
http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q53

looks to me that the issue is that you can't trade a medically retired player and then try to get a medical exemption from the salary cap for that player after he's traded.

seems to me that there is no issue with moving mobley's deal since it is on the cap.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by martin:

Posted by orangeblobman:

Posted by djsunyc:

i thought you can't trade a medical exempt player...

interesting point..does anyone know how this works? i tried to quickly find something and came up with an old hahn post: http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/2008/12/knicks_may_have_a_cba_debate_w.html, though i am not clear as to how it pertains to mobley's current status.

Mobley is NOT retired and the Knicks were denied the medical exception. But that is different than insurance paying for 80% of his contract.

I think.

Mobley's retired

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3762828

I think the deal is that Mobley the player is retired, ie not playing any more, but he and his contract are technically not retired from the NBA.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-sphahn0527,0,6672308.column

Mobley's heart condition re-examined

Alan Hahn 2:28 PM EDT, May 26, 2009

When it comes to matters of the heart, the truth is often seen in different perspectives. Cuttino Mobley was willing to play, regardless of his condition. Four NBA teams, it has been revealed, were willing to let him play, regardless of his condition.

And the Knicks decided not to let him play, because of his condition, but they accepted a trade with the Clippers that included him in it last November because when it comes to matters of the salary cap, you do whatever it takes to get the quickest relief. And jettisoning Zach Randolph's bloated contract was more important than anything else.

On Sunday, ESPN's Outside the Lines revisited the Mobley story, which played out over a three-month span this season, and eventually got Mobley to admit, on camera, that he was aware of the severity of his heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and disputed the previous notion that the MRI tests ordered by the Knicks showed his condition had worsened.

But the trade still did, in fact, save his life. Sort of. The truth is, Mobley says, the fact that the condition was made public is what put an end to his career.

"Now it's a big uproar," Mobley told ESPN's Mark Schwarz. "If this is national, and they find out Cuttino Mobley is passed away and the NBA knew about it? I can understand, business-wise, you don't want that on your conscience. That's not something you want and I so understand that."

Mobley says he learned about the condition when he was a 23-year-old rookie with the Houston Rockets and that he signed waivers with all four teams that he played with – the Rockets, Magic, Kings and Clippers – to absolve the teams of any responsibility as a result of Mobley's decision to play despite his condition. But former Rockets GM Carroll Dawson told ESPN, on camera, that he never knew Mobley was playing with a life-threatening condition.

"Nobody ever thought of Cuttino dying," Dawson told ESPN.

The Knicks did and, therefore, decided against letting him play. Knicks president Donnie Walsh, who was not made available for the Outside the Lines piece, waived the physical and went ahead with the trade mainly to dump Randolph's salary, which still has two years and over $33 million left. Walsh could have rescinded the trade and renegotiated with Clippers GM/coach Mike Dunleavy to include another player, but there was a risk that the sides would not be able to find an alternative, which would have blown up the deal.

No, it was more important to cash in on the $17.3 million in savings on the books in 2010-11. That deal, along with sending Jamal Crawford to Golden State for Al Harrington on the same day, saved the Knicks $27 million in payroll in 2010-11. It officially gave the Knicks the ability to be major players in the heralded 2010 free agency sweepstakes.

And Walsh saw value in Mobley, despite the fact that it left a gaping hole at the shooting guard position as a result of the Crawford trade. There was an outside shot that the Knicks could have convinced the NBA that they should be awarded a Disabled Player Exception, which would mean they could acquire a player for half of Mobley's salary (about $4.4 million). The league denied it.

But the Knicks, as Newsday reported in January, were able to get 80 percent of Mobley's contract paid by insurance, which makes it still a commodity. Though he has retired, the Knicks have yet to officially waive him, which means they can include him in a future trade. A team can acquire Mobley's contract, which has one year left, with the knowledge that insurance will cover most of the cost.

Outside the Lines tried to admonish the Knicks for essentially using Mobley as a pawn in the 2010 Plan, but, quite frankly, when it comes to matters of rebuilding a long, lost franchise, you have to be creative.

how can walsh use his deal tho? he ain't taking on contracts...

the main question is whether -- if insurance is paying, or will pay most of his contract -- can mobley be dealt.

i don't see anything that says he can't thus far, other than if insurance pays the amount martin is saying this somehow qualifies as part of "medical exemption." then it might mean he can't be dealt. i have yet to read anyone other than one or two posters on forums and blogs try to suggest this.

nice find, martin.

to answer djsu's question, i dunno if walsh isn't taking on any contracts. if the player is worth it to us then sure.

maybe in a deal to get another pick or move up in the draft?

if memphis and the wiz are cost-cutting maybe mobley's deal increases the value of a deal for a player they have for 2 more years, or even just next year at a matching salary.