Well, every time I think I have a good handle on things, something happens to prove otherwise. I didn't think they would do it, but today the Clippers waived Mark Madsen.
We've mentioned multiple times that both Madsen and Ricky Davis were decent candidates to be waived if the team needed another roster spot. Madsen, who plays a position where the Clippers are deep and talented, is arguably the better choice for the waiver sire, since Ricky plays the wing where the Clippers are a little thinner. On the other hand, Madsen is considered the ultimate 'locker room guy' while Ricky is... um... not consider the ultimate 'locker room guy.' So it's pretty clear that GMMDsr values basketball more highly. Who knows? Maybe Ricky's knees are really feeling good and he can contribute this season they way we hoped he would last season.
I don't think the money factored in. Madsen makes a litlte more ($2.8M versus $2.4M), but it's really the replacement cost, not the salary that matters. So whereas you might intellectually think waiving Madsen is 'wasting' more salary, the roster spot will be filled by a new salary, and that's the one that matters. The $5.2M for Madsen plus Davis was a sunk cost for the season.
(I'm assuming this was a straight waiver and that no buy out was involved.)
It's worth repeating the value that Mark Madsen had on the roster. His $2.8M expiring contract was a nice trade chip for deals with teams looking to clear 2010 cap space. Now, I've been cognizant for awhile that the Clippers actually have more 2010 expriing deals than they could possibly use - Ricky, Camby, Smith, Collins and now Butler all fall into that category. So they don't lose much by not having Madsen's contract on that list. What the lose is a body that they didn't really need (obviously). So the idea of parlaying Madsen and Ricky Davis into a good player making $6M per was pretty attractive - and that's the one thing the Clippers lose here (in addition to the 'locker room guy' thing.
More importantly, this signals that the team has designs for the roster spot, above and beyond Steve Novak. It likely means that Novak will eventually sign with the team, but it also means that they have an available spot if GMMDsr is to stick to his usual MO of starting the season with 14 players under contract. Does this mean an offer sheet to Ramon Sessions is eminent imminent? Or do they have someone else on the radar? Stay tuned.