I totally agree with you! I've been constantly against the "bring in Melo" efforts. Melo will ruin any potential freedom concerning cap space. That was exactly my point. I wanted to show that, if Melo comes to town, there will be no bench to talk about. Exactly the problem the Heat had (despite the salary cuts that their big three was willing to take). I loved to watch what the Spurs did.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=lzcm8yw Lin+Asik+Parsons+TJones <---> Bosh+Chalmer and sign Sefarosha C - Howard, Powell PF - Bosh, DMO SF - Sefarosha, Garcia SG - Harden, Daniels PG - Chalmers, Beverley, Canaan
trade Lin+Asik+Parsons+TJ for Bosh+Chalmers and sign Sefarosha C - Howard Powell PF- Bosh / DMO SF - Sefarosha / Garcia SG - Harden / Daniels PG - Chalmers / Beverley / Canaan
Hou gets melo, shumpert ny gets lin,asik, parsons, d-mo, jones #25 beverly/caanan harden/daniels shumpert/garcia? anthony/free agent howard/free agent
same trade as before between new york and houston. Then trade harden, hamilton garcia for lebron(only can happen if lebron wants to be here) houston beverly/canaan shumpert/daniels melo/free agent lebron/free agent howard/free agent new york-probably playoff contender in the east and pretty much no salary commitment for next offseason lin smith parsons jones asik miami-still have legit shot for finals contention and if lebron goes wants to go to houston james harden would be a good piece to acquire in trade Chalmers/cole harden wade bosh ??
Throw in a few draft picks, and sit back and wait for the veteran ring chasers to come. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=lpnbmbr
I know it is stupid to even get think about this possibility, but let's say we are very confident in signing a FA and so we start getting aggressive at the draft. Trade -Buy mid 2nd round pick for partial cash allowance -Omer Asik, Kostas Papanikolau, & 2014 2nd round pick (bought or #42) to Charlotte for #9 Pick -Jeremy Lin & 2014 1st round for cap space Draft -Dario Saric at #9 -Patric Young at #42 Sign -LeBron James at $17M per year I think all those are pretty realistic, but here is the kicker scenario: Trade -Chandler Parsons (S&Td at somewhere between $9-11M), Terrance Jones, #9 Pick Dario Saric, 2015 1st round pick, 2015 Knicks 2nd round pick, & 2017 1st round pick to Minnesota for Kevin Love Now the last part is the craziest, but think for a second that if Love is serious about winning and knows this could be done as sign and trade, how he could steer this a year early. A big part of this depends on the Wolves believing in Chandler Parsons. If they do, they get a real good, but not great piece in him, a good young piece in Jones and a #9 draft pick in Saric, who has loads of potential and is only available at #9 because he won't come over until 2015 and maybe not until 2016. In addition they get late 1sts in 2015 and 2017 and what is likely to be a pick in the 31-40 range in 2015. It isn't the best haul possible, but could it be enough if Love makes it clear he wouldn't sign with anyone else he is traded to before FA and he definitely isn't going back to Minnesota? After that, just fill out the bench with our young guys and vet minimum guys like Aaron Brooks, Thabo Sefolosha, and Jason Smith who may want to come along for the title chase. Boy would that be the dream. And maybe it isn't even that crazy...right?
So you are saying the roster would be: P.G. - Patrick Beverley S.G. - James Harden S.F. - Lebron James P.F. - Kevin Love ..C - Dwight Howard Is that even possible financially?
Not feasible. To sign Lebron or Melo...Omer/Lin/DMo/_0nes have to be cleared out and you can't have a cap hold for 2014 first round draft pick on the books. You can't expect Melo or Lebron to sign here for $15-$16 million starting salary.
Boston Receives: Omer Asik ($8,374,646) Houston Receives: $8,374,646 trade exception from the Paul Pierce trade + 2015 first round draft pick from L.A. Clippers L.A. Clippers' 2015 1st round pick to Boston [Boston-L.A. Clippers, 6/25/2013] Philadelphia Receives: Jeremy Lin ($8,374,646) + Donatas Motiejunas ($1,422,720) Francisco Garcia opts out ($1,322,946) Omri Casspi non-guaranteed contract ($1,063,384) (Terrence Jones + #25 pick to move up in the draft, possibly?) Opens up $20,558,342 for Lebron James
$63.2 million (projected cap) - $21.436 million (Dwight) - $14.729 million (Harden) - $1.76 million (Parsons' cap hold) - $915,243 (Beverley) - $816,482 (one of Daniels or Canaan) - $3.55 million (7 minimum salary cap holds) = $19.9 million This is the max cap space we can create if we clear Omer/Lin/Jones/DMo/#25/Garcia/Casspi/Powell/Covington/Canaan or Daniels If Morey picks up Parsons option for another season that boosts the cap space up to $20,787,308. If you also trade/drop Canaan/Daniels then you can come up with $21,096,454 of cap space based on $63.2 million cap. But you've got to ditch everybody to do that. So.....the idea of keeping #25 or of trading players and getting a higher draft pick and keeping that draft pick does not play if we are talking about creating cap space for Lebron/Melo/etc. for an outright signing. So the odds of us trading up for a draft pick to KEEP on this team and sign Lebron/Melo/etc. is nil. The only reason we would trade up for a draft pick would be either to trade that pick in a deal for a superstar or because we aren't going to get Lebron/Melo/Bosh/etc.
I knew my numbers were gonna be off. Yeah, I think the idea behind trading #25 + T Jones to move up is to eventually trade that pick.
Asik and Lin were traded. Those are in the first few entries. There would be no salary hold for Saric with him staying overseas, so that spot is a minimum roster hold of $508k rather than the $2.1M for the #9 pick draft slot. DMo was not, but easily could be if LeBron/Melo insisted on $18.3M instead of about $17.4M in this scenario. The absolute maximum we can offer LeBron or Melo as a FA is going to be about $19.5M, unless we cut Daniels and/or Covington to get to around $20M. If Houston signs one of those guys as a FA, it will be for no more than $19.5M starting salary and it is much more likely it is somewhere between $17M and $18.5M. In comparison, LeBron signed for $14.5M starting salary when he went to Miami, which was about $2M less than he could have gotten. In this scenario, we'd essentially ask him to take $2M less than the max we could offer, more than any other contender (probably including the aging Heat if they are going to add anyone decent) could offer, and with the knowledge that any team offering more would have to do so through S&T and thus move significant pieces to do so. That would be the starting lineup in this scenario and all would work financially if the Lin and Asik trades are made to teams that can absorb the cap hits (which Charlotte can) without sending back any guaranteed cap hits. LeBron James would have to take about a $17.4M starting salary. Then, of course, Parsons would have to agree to be S&Td to Minnesota. In fact, the final payroll would be somewhere just north of $75M and thus even be under the luxury tax. Obviously it is beyond unlikely, but it is all possible and without any really lopsided trades or concessions from LeBron. Assuming LeBron opts out, the least likely is Parsons agreeing to go to Minnesota, IMO.
1. Don't see Saric staying overseas. Maybe you know something I don't. But if he's going to stay overseas he will slip in the draft. 2. Lebron and Melo ain't coming for $16 million or $17 million.
1. It is pretty much accepted that Saric is likely to stay overseas (especially if the team is asking him to) for at least this year. Maybe even two. 2. I agree. They will sign for something like $17.4-$19M if they sign as FAs. I don't know why you keep quoting down to $15M and $16M. No one is presenting that. Well, except for maybe the Heat, if they want to improve the team. In this stretch of a scenario it would be $17.4M. The absolute max that would make sense for the Rockets and one of those guys is about $19.5M. The number that probably makes the most sense (so the Rockets can keep one of Jones or DMo) is about $18-18.5M, so the supporting cast doesn't have a drastic hole.
BTW, this is from April and has been the consensus everywhere I have seen right through today and a big reason he is talked about possibly falling outside the top 10 and not being discussed in the top 5. http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Misko-Raznatovic-Dario-Saric-Will-Declare-for-the-2014-NBA-Draft--4464/
Sign and trade Lin, Asik, Jones and 2 first round picks for Anthony Sign Collison with the MLE, Okafor with the BAE and Sefelosha for vet minimum. Collison/Beverley/Canaan Harden/Daniels Parsons/Sefelosha Anthony/Covington Howard/Okafor/Motiejunas Championship.