If the Knicks dont resign Lin, I can guarantee the Nets will go after him full force and offer him a huge contract that exceeds the MLE. From what I've read, if Lin gets like a 5 year deal, the contract can exceed the 5 mil average. If the Nets do lose Williams as expected, they will use Lin to make a HUGE splash in Brooklyn. With the amount of asians in Brooklyn and Queens, they will draw with him. GUARANTEED
Watch the Knicks convince Jeremy Lin that he should forego several millions more with other teams in order to re-sign on a three-year, Taxpayer MLE deal (similar to the one Battier signed in December). They'll tell him it's the "Christian" thing to do.
i'm not sure any team will throw full MLE at lin when he only played 20 solid games in his career. it was a nice flash of what he could become, but its too small of a sample size for most teams to throw that kind of money at him. i think he'll sign with the knicks for the tax MLE of 3mil for 3yrs and the knicks will avoid the hard cap. that's 62M for 6 players. i think they will retain feilds for about the same price $3M/3Y, which will put them at 65M for 7 players. or, 9M for 5 roster spots. sign bibby and jeffries for the vet min $1M/1Y each. that's 7M remaining for 3 roster spots. really they could match a $5M deal for lin and offer the same to feilds and still have 3 vet min contracts for 3 remaining roster spots. sign radmanovic to a vet min contract to replace novak as the spread-4 and you've pretty much got this years team minus jr smith. however, douglas has that wild card ability to get hot from the outside like smith. he's just very undersized as a 2. still they're not a whole lot worse.
That still only leaves them with 13 million to spend on at least 6 players.Now if Jerome Jordan and Josh Harrellson can be kept at the minimuim, then they only have four spots to fill. If they can bring in some undrafted guys, they might be able to get one or two ring chasers.
So, let's see if I am understanding this correctly, let me know if the following is wrong: 1. Even though Jeremy Lin is finishing up a 2-year contract this season, because he was waived and claimed off the waiver in the middle of the contract (twice, actually), the NY Knicks do not have Jeremy Lin's "Early Bird Rights"-- which would have given them an "Early Bird Exception" that entitles them to pay him a starting salary of about $5.225 million next year. 2. So, the Knicks would need to find either cap room (which they do not have) or use separate salary cap exception in order to sign Lin. This is true even though Lin is technically a "Restricted Free Agent" that gave them salary matching rights and even though, being a player with only 2 years in the league, Lin is subject to the "Gilbert Arenas Provision." http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q43 http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q44 http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q45 3. Specifically, the Gilbert Arenas Provision mandates that outside teams can only offer Lin up to the Non-Tax Payer Midlevel Exception as a starting salary-- i.e. $5 million for the upcoming season. If a team makes an Lin a $5 million starting salary offer or even a $4 million offer, the Knicks has the right to match but ONLY IF they can find a cap room or a salary cap exception for at least this amount. 4. Given that the Early Bird Exception is not applicable in Lin's case, the relevant exceptions in Lin's situation are (a) Non-Tax Payer Midlevel (sarting at $5 million), (b) bi-annual exception (starting at $1.947 million), and (c) the Tax Payer Mid-level Exception (starting salary of $3.09 million). Among these three exceptions, only the Non-Tax Payer Mid-level Exception is for an amount that equals to the maximum outside offer of $5 million. 5. In order to use the Non-Tax Payer Mid-Level Exception, the Knicks' total team salary, including the $5 million amount of the Exception itself (and include all player salary, cap holds, roster charges, etc.), cannot exceed an amount that equals to the sum of (a) the threshold for paying the luxury tax (the "tax level"), currently projected to be $70.307 million, and (b) a $4 million "apron"-- the sum being $74.307 million. Mathematically, this means that in order to match an outside offer of $5 million (or, in fact, any amount more than the $3.09 million Tax Payer Mid-level Exception), the Knicks' total salary outside of what they pay Lin (most likely to be $5 million) must be no more than $74.307 million - $5 million = $69.307 million. Otherwise, they can lose Lin to an outside offer even if Lin is technically "restricted" as long as such outside offer exceeds $3.09 million. 6. Given the Knicks' existing salary commitment outlined by BimaThug in the OP, $59.9 million for 5 guys (Chandler, Amare, Melo, Shumpert and Douglas) plus what is owed to the now-waived Balkman), they don't have much room to fill out the rest of the roster spots (including bringing back contributors from the current team if they want or add any non-minimum wage free agents) if they want to maintain their matching rights on Lin. So, bottom line is that if they want Lin back, they have to basically fill out the rest of their roster with scrubs. Here's a good explanation of Lin's contact status spelled out here: http://knickerblogger.net/finally-a-definitive-answer-on-jeremy-lins-contract-status/ Salary cap exceptions explained here: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q25
Looking at some trade scenarios for the Knicks. The Blazers could try to trade Kurt Thomas for Chandler, and if I understand correctly, still have enough to sign a point guard or bring back Batum. Not sure how much they would want Tyson though. Would the Mavs have the cap space to trade for Chandler (in the event Dwight gets traded to an acceptable team). What about Darko for Chandler? Twolves would have cap space for that to work.
I am not sure if they can get to this situation because "team salary" for the purpose of determining whether they reach the $74.3 million level should include all roster charges. Does this pretty much prevent the Knicks from using the non-tax payer midlevel on Lin, then get to a situation where they have, say, 11 guys under contract for $74.3 million without counting the roster charge for the empty spots?
They needed to get a star and they did in Anthony, and I think they can become a good team in the East with a change or two, but they are a bit of a wreck right now, I agree. Hard to believe after getting through the draft pick mess with the Rockets that they still owe their 2014 first rounder to Denver, which really handcuffs them.
They have some good to excellent players, but the issue is they are locked into these guys at high salary and many years. Right now, this core group was good enough to get into the playoffs, but not good enough to do much in it, particularly against a real elite team. Do they have what it takes to get to the next level? Or are they stuck on the "treadmill" perhaps to a higher degree than Houston?
According to this, a team can offer $36 million over four years to Lin. With $9 million counting against the salary cap each year (the average). http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-am-can-the-knicks-get-steve-nash-3
I would imagine that when the league reviews the contract, they would determine whether the Knicks can legally fit everyone under the luxury tax apron, using the real minimum salaries. Remember that the league must approve every single contract and has broad authority to veto any deal; look at what they did to the Heat in 1996 with Juwan Howard. It's amazing to me that the players union let a hard cap provision to get into the CBA; I can easily imagine a scenario where the Knicks might not even be able to dress the mandatory 8 players next year, considering their core four have all had fairly serious injuries lately, and they'll be unable to sign 10-day contracts, or non-guaranteed injury replacements early in the year. They might not even be able to buy a malcontent out, since they need to have 13 guys signed to contracts.
I'm typically the one against fantasy trades and posters thinking any player can end up here in Houston. Though in reality, we actually are good trading partner for New York. In which we could somehow get Amare (and Shumpert or bring in a 3rd team) with cash for Scola, Martin, and Lowry. Some would laugh at that trade, but it actually might help both teams. New York adds depth and players to compliment Melo, while Houston adds a not-so bad go-to superstar player (though some injury history) and are not necessarily handicapped in free agency and draft picks. If Amare gets injured, then there's Motiejunas, Patterson, or a future rookie waiting in the wings. Add in a few free agent pieces (a solid defender off the bench and nice 6th man), you cannot tell that me the Knicks wouldn't be a bonafide powerhouse in the East with well-balanced team. Chandler-Scola-Melo-Martin-Lowry would be one of the best starting fives in the NBA, alone and really the only older player in that group is Scola. Try to hold on to Novak and Fields, go after defensive stopper in the backcourt, backup power forward (like a JJ Hickson), and a backup point guard. Ten quality players in the rotation.
Yup, but as it says, it counts as only $5M at max if the Knicks match for 2012-2013. Am I reading this wrong, or does the Arenas provision only limit the OFFER SHEETS that other teams can sign a restricted free agent? It doesn't seem to allow for the Knicks to exceed the NTMLE in their direct offer to Lin. Or is any offer to a restricted free agent considered an offer sheet?
Basically, the draft pick is screwed. Even if the Knicks don't offer him a contract, he can either: A. Sit out for a year, whereby he can enter the next draft. B. Sign with a non-NBA league, whereby the Knicks hold his rights until one year after he stops playing for them. And that's it. He could ostensibly sue the league, and might have a good chance at winning considering baseball's precedent, but he can't force his way into the league.
so you're saying to trade Martin (expiring contract), Lowry (great value), Scola (2 yrs left) for Amare.............. uh...................
