Chandler Parsons celebrates with Mark Cuban after signing offer sheet
The desire to party is just beginning. But so is demand for patience.
A Mavs source told FOX Sports Southwest on Wednesday afternoon that the club was "done waiting'' for the LeBron Logjam to break. A few hours later came the Parsons Pinch: a three-year, $46-million offer to Houston restricted free agent Chandler Parsons.
Last night in Florida, Parsons assembled with friends and family to sign that deal ... and then was part of a celebration hosted by Mavs owner Mark Cuban.
Cuban posted photos of the event on his Cyber Dust app, clearly relishing the deal from all angles - the chance to steal Parsons, the chance to promote the app and the chance to knock down the competition in Houston.
Chandler Parsons and his parents at an "offer sheet party" thrown by Mark Cuban. pic.twitter.com/WpMGBTMcow
— Houston Rockets Fans (@Rockets_Fans_) July 10, 2014
But the Rockets aren't knocked down yet. They can utilize their right to match the offer for the restricted free agent within the allotted three days. Their problem, as DallasBasketball.com illustrates in great detail here, is that they cannot move forward with their plan to pay Chris Bosh the max AND retain Parsons.
Bosh could allow them to renege on their pledge to pay him his max of about $20.64 million, slicing that down in order to fit him in. So Houston needs to persuade him to take less than his desired (and promised) max and Houston needs him to decide quickly ... plowing around the LeBron Logjam that has him and most of the rest of the NBA on freeze.
If somehow the Mavs lose out here? Note Cuban's stated philosophy on bidding on restricted free agents:
"It's not really a 'danger','' the owner recently told recently told "Ben & Skin'' on 105.3 The Fan. "A lot of people will say if you go after a guy and you don't sign him that's a bad sign ... I think that's ridiculous. That's like saying if I don't walk in to a company and make the sale that I never should have tried and that's just not the way I approach these.
"It's not like if you sign a restricted free agent and (the other team matches) and all of a sudden you've lost all that cap room ... You've got as much money and you've really lost nothing for trying and I can make an argument that worst case, even if you don't get the restricted free agent you've made the other team lock up their cap room.''
There is one wild-card worth mentioning, a complicated sign-and-trade that would require the Rockets to work with Miami and other teams to bring bosh to Houston. But barring that, the Rockets can only hope to get away with reneging on Bosh' money while still charming him into a "yes'' and retaining Parsons, at which time the Mavs will move on to other targets. (While hoping there are enough targets behind the LeBron Logjam to move on to.
