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Buyout blues send Lampe tumbling Posted: Friday June 27, 2003 2:34 AMNEW YORK (Ticker) -- The New York Knicks may have to pay a huge buyout for second-round draft choice Maciej Lampe to join them. The sellout crowd full of Knicks fans at the draft would certainly be in favor of it. Lampe's surprising drop into the second round brought cheers from the New York crowd after a difficult few hours for a player that watched nearly every team pass on him. Lampe was one of the top prospects in the draft, a status seemingly confirmed by his exclusive invitation to the "Green Room." As a rule, the NBA only invites players to draft who are expected to go among the lottery pick, but every other "Green Room" member was gone by No. 17. "I pictured me going from 5-13," said Lampe, a forward-center from Poland. "Everybody pretty much said that was where I would go." What happened instead was a confusing bit of apparent hardball by Lampe's Spanish team, Real Madrid, which circulated information the day of the draft that Lampe's contract had a hefty buyout of $1.8 million. "I don't know about contractual issues down the road," Knicks general manager Scott Layden said. "We're excited that he was there for us at the pick he was. We'll be disappointed if Lampe plays overseas next year. It's still early. We'll know more as we go." European teams normally negotiate a buyout with an NBA team that selects one of its players, although it is usually not a major stumbling block. NBA team are allowed to pay a maximum of $350,000, in order to prevent massive raiding of European talent. Hemofarm Vrsac, Darko Milicic's club team, recently made waves about its price for the No. 2 pick, although Detroit Pistons president Joe Dumars dismissed it as business as usual. Apparently, Madrid's harsh stance caused the 18-year-old Lampe to fall out of contention for the first round and the accompanying guaranteed three-year deal. Lampe was not fully aware of the situation. "We knew about the contract," Lampe said. "We had a buyout and the thing was that a letter from FIBA came in telling teams that I didn't have a buyout. But I thought everyone pretty much knew about the contract situation." What resulted was a frustrating night for Lampe and his group at their table, bringing back memories of high school star Rashard Lewis falling into the second round in 1998. Unlike Lewis, Lampe was not reduced to tears, although members of his party were. That situation became more comfortable once Knicks fans realized that the 6-11 player described as one of the top talents in Europe could be available to their team. The pro-Knicks crowd at The Theater at Madison Square Garden -- which began the night with the annual serenade of "Fire Layden!" -- started to buzz instead with chants of "We want Lampe!" It was certainly unusual for Knicks fans to cheer so heartily for a foreigner, and Lampe twice acknowledged them with a wave. Perhaps the crowd was still in enough of a good mood from New York's first-round selection of Georgetown big man Michael Sweetney to forget about infamous 1999 first-round failure Frederic Weis. "The crowd was great," Lampe said. "I thank them very much for supporting me. Hopefully, I'll be able to pay them back some day." The reason FIBA indicated there is no buyout is because Lampe signed his contract with Real Madrid when he was under 18 years of age, thus making the deal invalid. Madrid has not used Lampe much, instead loaning him out to Spanish minor-league teams. If and when Lampe does get on an NBA court, he intends to make amends for the shabby treatment he received on draft night. "I think some of the guys picked in the first round, they're not a lot better than me," he said. "I think some of those teams made a mistake." © 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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