Now that the New Orleans Hornets have filled the last glaring need on their roster, with Friday's acquisition of center Robin Lopez, along with forward Hakim Warrick from the Phoenix Suns in a three-team trade, general manager Dell Demps took a moment to reflect on his offseason handiwork.
"We wanted to fill the center position," Demps said. "We feel like Robin fits in with our time line; a young player that has experience in the league and will have an opportunity to come in and contribute and help us.
"We're pretty close to finished. We like the roster the way it is now. I'd say we're pretty close. I like the youth on the team and the upside and the potential to grow. I think we'll be a fun team to watch."
Procedural issues in making the trade compliant with the NBA and its collective bargaining agreement rules prevented consummation of the deal for the last two days.
The Hornets were able to divest themselves of Miller's contract – the center has announced his retirement – because the Hornets were under the salary cap when Miller's deal was acquired from the Timberwolves earlier this month, allowing the Hornets to aggregate Miller's contract into another trade.
...The hangup involved language in the new CBA, Demps said, involving cash transactions.
"To keep it simple, basically there's a rule regarding how teams can receive and accept cash payments. It's a new rule in the new collective bargaining agreement and it's the way it's interpreted. The interpretation of that rule is a little confusing. We had to make some changes because of that rule. I'd like to thank (Timberwolves GM) David Kahn and (Suns president) Lon Babby for sticking with it and we were able to come up with a solution to make it work."
....It has been reported the Hornets would sign Lopez to a three-year, $15 million contract. and he immediately becomes the team's starting center.
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