Wondering about salary cap/expiring contracts/trade options…

It's almost a done deal that Kurt Thomas is headed to PHX for Q.

 

I think he was just using Kurt Thomas as an example.

 

You may well be right. In that case, using one of the 4 PF's the Rockets are pursuing may have been a better example choice.

 

If we want to acquire a PF with just expiring contracts, LaFrentz is probably our best bet... And while he's still maddeningly inconsistent and no where near the shotblocker he once was (yet still a foul machine), he wouldn't be a bad fit at all.

But that contract, as bad as it is now, is gonna be UGLY in a few years. Still, it's definitely a move worth considering.

 

i think we should cut howard to have more to spend on a swift or simmons deal. get us moving forward faster.

 

Was this irony?

Juwan has about 4 years left on his contract. Paying all that money out and getting no production in return? Nyet.

Besides, we'd still be over the salary cap.

 

Here are numbers from last year from:
http://www.nationwide.net/~patricia/misc/salaries05.txt
I think you need to add about 10% (not exact, but close) for most.

So by my estimates you have:

EXPIRING CONTRACTS
CW – 6.4
DW – 4.9
VB – 3.8 (assuming he exercises his option)
Ward – 1.9
Norris – 4.2
(Note: realgm and Bender don't show Ward or Norris with team
options, but I think they are there making them effectively expiring contracts)

TRADEABLE assets (excluding Tmac and Yao)
MJ - 3.4
BS - 3.5
JH - 5.9
LH - 800K (but not for 3 months)
a trade exemption with about 3.5 mil left

PICKS
-1st rounders: We have all our own and own nobodies (e.g., 06, 07, 08 etc). But, we can't give up consecutive picks unless we acquire another one of those years.
-2nd rounders: We have the NY 06 pick (MoT trade), but don't have our own until 08 (06 & 07 went to Milw for the James deal)

Overall we have lots of expiring contracts and some modest assets (MJ, Sura, probable late 1st rounders, probably early/mid 2nd rounder). With the new .25 +/- rule, we only have to give up 75% of the incoming players salary in a trade, and we have lots of combinations (especially if MN or CW have team options) to get close to that figure. Overall we have lots of flexibility, just not much of substantial value in assets. I'd say Sura and James have pretty good contracts relative to their production, thus are probably worth very late 1st/early 2nds outright. So we have quite a few late 1st/early 2nd round type value pieces. Of the expiring contracts Wesley is also some productive, so you get an expiring contract and someone who could give you something next year, so he could be of interest for someone looking for a stop gap starter or high quality vet bench two guard whose contract then expires after that service.

Also, the trade exemption could be important, it means we can eat a bad contract with up to a 3.5 mil hit next year to facillitate a deal. For instance we could eat Tsakalidis contract in a Swift deal, or say if Boston wanted to clear Perkins off their roster and books in a Walker deal.

For example, lets say Swift wants to sign with us. He/his agent goes to Memphis and says he is going to sign with the Rockets, for an MLE if they have to (6 year about 30 is the max)--which would leave Memphis high and dry. However he could convince them to facillitate the trade to start the deal at say 6.1 mil with 10% raises (say 6 years about 46 mil).

We could say trade Wesley and a future 1st rounder for Swift (signed for 6/46 mil), and in a seperate deal use the TE to eat Tsakalidis's with 2 years and about 6.5 mil left on the books. Memphis saves a little money over 2 years and gets a late 1st round pick for facillitating a trade of player who is going to leave anyway. You could sub James (or Sura) and Ward for Wesley in there too, and then Memphis has a much cheaper but still effective alternative PG to Watson or J Williams.

Now lets look at Walker and given the same assumptions (Boston is faced losing him for nothing or facillitating a S&T). Say Walker and us agree on a 5 year deal for 39 mil (starts at 6.5) pending Boston cooperates. Boston could use a vet PG too for a year or two, as GP may leave (and would be more expensive too keep) and their other guys are young and unproven. They could take their pick between James and Sura + NY 2nd rounder + filler (Baker/Mooch/CW) for AW signed at 5years/39mil. If they want us to take Perkins off their hands we can do that with the TE.

In a nut shell I think we have a lot of flexibility and could do appealing moves for either Walker or Swift when those teams are faced with losing them for nothing. The key thing is convincing their current teams they will walk (AW would take an MLE, Swift with take an MLE or has other suitors with cap room) if they don't cooperate.

 

Scar- I put this in a different thread, but again, Head can't be traded until December 15 (into the season), and the trade exception was a remnant of the Francis-McGrady trade, which expired last week.

We do have two trade exceptions worth a little over a million each from the Reece Gaines trade and the Mo Taylor trade.

 

I don't see JHo going anywhere and if we do get Swift, I don't see him starting at the beginning of this season. Maybe later, but he'll have to prove he's the right man to start.

 

Norris and Weatherspoon get paid a lot more. Ward gets paid less. The rest are about right.

I also think we should waive Howard once we reach the luxury tax range.

 

Except cutting Howard won't do anything toward helping us sign Swift or Simmons...

 

I know it was a while for Head once the contract was signed, Dec 15th it is. He would be out of the picture then off course.

That's too bad about the 3.5 exemption. We kind of got screwed out of using it by the longer moratorium/CBA negotiations, you would think we could get credited that time to use it. Using it for a deadweight contract like Tsakalidis might have made Memphis price a lot less to play along.

The only thing those other exemptions might be useful is a late 1st round pick with little hope (like Gaines last year), but Kendrick Perkins from Boston might fit that bill.

 

Yes TEs cannot be combined or used with seperate exemptions. To be used they must stand alone and completely cover the returning salary players (no 100K/.25 leeway either).

 

actually Scar, I seem to recall NIKE said that the 100k thing was still used but the 25% wasnt...

 

He is probably right then. Still, within 100K isn't much leeway. The new returning player has to be just at (within 100K) or less than the TE and TEs cannot be combined for a player who makes more than either TE alone.

Around 1 mil TEs could only be useful as a minor salary removal tool or freeing up a roster spot of another team to the degree rookies flat bomb (likely late 1sts with multiyear deals) or a vet with a lot of experience who signs a multiyear deal at the vet min then gets injured or otherwise proves worthless (A. Griffin).