Signing Mo' quickly means dealing with Hakeem first

Assuming Mo' is not going to make it easy for us and sign the Middle Class Exception ($4.5m) quickly, that means we must deal with Dream first, or play the nerve-racking game of negotiating slowly with Mo' and risk him finding an offer he can't refuse, (as Feigan's anonymous source warned about in today's Chronicle).

Here are the two ways to deal with Dream, so you can negotiate with Mo' quickly:

1. Renounce Dream down to $0 cap hit and start negotiating with both Mo and Dream

2. Sign Dream first and use remaining Cap Space on Mo'

To sign Mo' if he wants more than $4.5, you must get under the cap first by signing or renouncing Dream, and the quicker the better before Mo' entertains other offers. Will Dream sign fast?

Method number 1 is guaranteed to cause us to lose our exceptions for a year. Method number 2 can be done in such a way that we retain our exceptions...ie, Dream is paid just enough to prevent our cap space from exceeding the sum of our exceptions (i.e., we prevent the cap from exceeding approx $7m).

The Middle Class Exception can land us a decent vet, why waste it.

Method #2 would require paying Dream around $8-9m to prevent creating too much capspace that would make us lose our Middle Class. (This assumes simultaneously signing Dream and Mo', to $7m each let's say, isn't considered one atomic transaction.) Is that too much? Note: it really doesn't matter how much we pay Dream if you can get him to sign a one year contract. You use your Middle Class for FAs this year and await the return of the Dream Windfall next year.