If you sign players to what they’re worth (incl. the max), you can always trade your way out of salary-cap problems. that’s a legitimate way to approach it, and seems to be what Stone said in the interview.
I'm no "guru," but I have thought about this a lot because I, too, believe Amen will get a max. So, rookie max = 25% of a team's cap. Our contracts are also setup well for extensions -- a Sengun/Green extension would kick in after we can decline FVV's option, and Amen's extension would kick in after Brooks comes off the books. In this vein, you probably have enough room for 3 rookie max contracts AND a big, non-max contract, though things would be tight. As such, it would be possible to, say, sign Green, Amen, and Sengun to maxes and someone like Bari to a big, non-max. That doesn't leave a ton of room, though. In this regard, I'm offering Sengun the max this offseason and Green a non-max. If Green wants a max, let him earn it, then figure it out later if he does.
What do you mean by this? Aren’t yearly increases and decreases to NBA contracts still limited by 8%?
Yeah, that’s just saying 5yr extensions can be like any other extension. I still don’t know what you meant by “backend.” I thought you meant a contract (or extension) that starts lower then jumps in latter years. fwiw: McDaniels and Vassell contracts decrease each year. Same with Bane.
Paying the tax to keep the core six together is way more palatable than paying to keep washed Ariza on the team esp since he was part of that 0-23 brigade.
Let me toss this one out for thought: Amen is Aaron Gordon except he's an even better defender and shot blocker, can sometimes beat defenders off the dribble to both distribute and finish and has better floor vision. I also think he'll end up becoming a decent mid-range shooter, unlike Gordon. If Amen learns to effectively play the point position on a full or part time basis, then the gap between grows very large.
