You also have to let go of Delfino, Garcia (both as good as gone for now anyway) as well as get rid of T-Jones, D-Mo, Greg Smith, and Beverly, as as indicated in the ESPN piece. Basically everyone will be gone except for Harden and possibly Parsons. You'll also have to give renounce the Room Except as well. So it'll be Harden, CP3, Dwight, maybe Parsons (maybe not), and everyone else will be new on minimum contracts. The guys currently on minimum contracts like Greg Smith, Patrick Beverly, Ohlbercht, etc. will be gone (they had to be let go in other to replace their salaries with empty roster charges to create the cap space for CP3 and Dwight). Basically only Harden and maybe Parsons will remain from last year's roster. No one else. Literally.
Do the Lakers care about the tax? They signed a 3 billion dollar tv deal. Nash will be the only player under contract in 2014.
Or they can do what the Miami trio did and take a cpl million less each (which they save in tax considerations anyway) and let the roster stay at 7 or 8, decisions decisions.
Ramona Shelburne(ESPN LA): Chris is right, very difficult for it to happen. Only way is if the LAC and LAL make a trade. I can tell you Howard and Paul are talking to each other. They are talking, trying to get a feel of what the other is doing/thinking. The interest is more on Paul's side than Howard's side. What's in it for Dwight? What does Dwight need to do? (Start) Win(ning). If he teams up with Paul, Paul will get the credit. Doc Rivers with Pierce and Garnett, as difficult as it would be to pull off, is more likely than Paul and Howard teaming up. Clippers would love for it to happen and all three would like to see it happen. That's huge for Boston though. You're gutting your team. So many moving pieces to it and it's hard for that to happen in the NBA. Clippers are into making splashy moves and winning a championship. Some teams are happy getting to the 2nd round and hoping to try again but not willing to make the moves to get past the 2nd round, we will not be one of those teams. They say that, lets see if they walk the walk. There was a faction of the organization that wanted to trade Griffin to Orlando during the 2012 season. (Of course, there were those who didn't, and still don't today.) Clippers would listen for Griffin. Sidenote: Interesting she said the interest in on Paul's side than Howard's side. Woj said opposite(if I remember correctly) a few weeks ago.
Actually, we could keep GSmith, Patrick Beverley, Parsons, Harden and one of DMo/TJones and sign CP3/Howard outright, assuming they take very minor (like $100k or so) paycuts. Waive and stretch White. Move everyone else/do not pick up their options/contracts. That would be 7 players. We would NOT have to renounce our Room MLE. We would still have that, up to $2.6M. We would have renounced our bi-annual and normal MLE though, which is fine. Use Room MLE to re-sign Garcia. Then vet mins to fill out roster. CP3/Harden/Parsons/DMo/Howard...Bev/Garcia (Room MLE)/GSmith/min/min/min/2nd round PHX pick
After seeing the whole cap situation, no way it's going to be both in LA, Dallas, Houston nor Detroit. Atlanta is the only realistic destination.
Is it financially possible for Dallas to sign CP3 and Dwight? I don't see Dallas as a threat against us if they can't sign both outright. They don't have the assets to do a S&T. I don't think the Clips could pull it off either. They'd have to dump Blake, DeAndre, Butler, and Odom to do it. Plus Chauncey Billups might be leaving to Miami (go figure). There starting lineup would be CP3/Willie Green/?/?/Dwight. The team would be awful. Those who are saying the Lakers "won't take Lin/Asik" need to shut up. It could actually benefit LA because with an aging Steve Nash and no center, this could allow them to contend for the next year to lure someone like *cough* LeBron *cough* to come to Los Angeles. The only team I see as a threat is Atlanta. Atlanta can do it outright, if I'm not mistaken. But CP3 and Dwight are thinking "Do we want to partner up with Al Horford or James Harden?" Our chances of getting them both are growing. The Beard has a great friendship with CP3 and has been in contact with Dwight frequently.
I think cp3 and Dwight could actually be more dangerous than Wade and Lebron. I think Wade and Lebron are better on an individual level; however, look at what CP3 did for Tyson Chandler. Dwight is Tyson Chandler on roids and CP3 is better now than he was before. Add Morey's genius bargain guys to the mix and a James Harden who has shown to work great with other players and you have easily the best team in the NBA (yes, better than the Heat). Now, who guards Lebron? That's still a nightmare match up. But, there are more guys that can "body up" Lebron and make things difficult for him than there are guys like CP3, Dwight and Harden... so that's a hole much easier to fill.
Ack, correction, you'd probably have to move BOTH DMo and TJones. We can keep GSmith and Bev though w/ the rest, assuming very small discrepancies can be accounted for (i.e., if we're short $200k, CP3 and Dwight are willing to forego that small amount).
I guess...if you think a team that only has CP3/Jenkins/Horford/Dwight...and is practically at the cap is a "realistic destination."
Folks we are going to have these types of rumor filled articles for the next few weeks. For all we know these guys could have texted about anything and it has become a story about playing together. If you consider the fact that these sources are from Broussard I wouldn't put too much stock into it.
Let's not forget: Harden and Paul are very good friends according to reports and Harden has been becoming buddies with Howard lately. Add in the fact that we have no state tax and we've got a good shot. The three being friends could (possibly) be a hope that they sign for just a bit less than the max.
But are CP3 and Dwight ok with being on a team with no backups or bench or even a full starting line up. This will test even Morey's vaunted analytics department to put together a team with 11 minimum contract guys on a 15 player squad. There's no room exception or MLE either, since that had to be renounced to free up cap room. If CP3 and Dwight are hoping to contend, a team with 11 vet min guys is certainly unlikely to beat Miami or even get out of the West.
Hmm as far as a sign-and-trade to get both of them here after signing one out right the best options are obviously built around Asik and Lin going out. The only think is that if either of team takes those on while it is a good value as far as basketball talent goes (when compared to the FA walking for nothing in return) it is also a combined 30M (I know not a cap hit) that they have to pay out in the 2nd year. That is a pretty big burden to take on. Should be interesting if either would even be interested in that if it did become an option.
I'm saying they only have to deal with a crappy bench till the next year when they'll have 0-$15 M more cap to fill in the holes and be contenders. What's with the cocky knowitall attitude?
Howard and Paul can make other players better without cannibalizing each others abilities, unlike Lebron/Wade.
There has to be some type of pay cuts on the part of the 2 stars for it to work perfectly in my opinion. Meaning room to keep some players and at least build around them.
from a basketball perspective, the lakers, if dwight is leaving, would be silly to turn down a SnT for griffin and bledsoe, or even just griffin. But the symbolism of the move would be crushing. are the lakers orlando now? don't think it happens. and why would dwight go to atlanta, which he has repeatedly been reported to have little interest in? The Hawks roster would look way worse than that of the rockets, where he could just plug into a lineup that went to the playoffs despite its youth and inexperience. and in atlanta, dwight would be the clear second banana to chris paul, since the latter would have orchestrated the move. whereas if dwight went to houston, he'd be the savior. at the end of the day, the situation remains the same. paul re-signs with the clippers; dwight either re-signs or comes to HOU.
