This might deserve its own thread .... If not , merge it , delete it or what have you. The current Luxury Tax Threshold is $136,606,000 Yes we can ..... while avoiding the tax , particularly now that Theis has been signed at a much lower figure than the estimates for Olynyk in the $16m range (he ultimately got $12.3m). Question is ..... what FA out there is worth spending it on ? I don't see many guys that move the needle The roster & salary commitment so far. 1 Wall $44,310,840 2 EG $18,218,818 3 Wood $13,666,667 4 Augustin $7,000,000 5 House $3,894,000 6 Theis $8,372,093 7 Nwaba $4,629,630 8 KPj $1,782,621 9 KMj $1,517,981 10 Tate $1,517,981 11 Khyri Thomas $1,762,796 12 Green $8,992,200 13 Sengun $3,214,680 14 Garuba $2,353,320 15 Christopher $2,259,240 (Rookie figures are 120% of their draft slot). NBA 2021-2022 Rookie Scale | Spotrac There's the two way contracts of Brooks & Lamb but these do not count against the cap. Total salary $123,492,867 Then there's the $122,741 in dead money for Troy Wiliams stretched minimum contract from 2017/18 which they will finally pay off next year. Leaving them $12,988,392 short of the luxury tax meaning they could spend the full NT-MLE of $9,536,000 leaving them $3,452,392 short of the tax but $279,608 short of the BAE of $3,732,000. Essentially they have the space below the tax line , what they don't have is roster space. They'd have to move a player off the roster to free up a spot .... and doing that would put them further away from the tax. In my opinion , I don't see much in this FA class that I'd offer $9.5m to ..... but yes , they can use the full MLE and almost certainly the BAE as well if they clear the requisite roster space. I think the roster we see today is what they start the season with - Unless they move one of EG , House or Augustin (Wall too but that contract seems unmovable).
It's not the money that matters, it's the roster space. I see no point in spending for MLE we need ro be as bad as possible. If a roster space opens up I'd rsther take a flyer on an undrafted prospect and maybe uncover a gem than get an MLE. Theis is our insurance at the big man spot, and we are chockful of guards who need PT.
I'd use it on Lauri if possible or even SnT Gordon for him so that we'd still have the MLE available. Just throw him out as our starting SF and let whatever happens happen. Trade him for picks afterwards if his value bumps up a but. If he's half decent, he'd look great next to Zion or Luka and those teams would be desperate enough to throw 1sts for him.
I don't at all disagree .... and they'd have to clear a roster spot to even entertain the thought .... The only reason I'd consider the idea is that the MLE is an asset , a use it or lose it asset and using it extends the life of said asset. Use it on a player that you can move for draft capital or use as salary matching a year or two from now. Markkanen would be an interesting use of that .... at that price he's easily movable if you want to cash the asset in and you might have several teams interested at the deadline increasing the value.
I don't want him. He’s is a good scorer and shooter. He doesn't play defense. He will end up taking minutes away from Wood.
I agree with you but then we need to move somebody. House is the obvious candidate but guys like Malik Monk are signing for vet min I'm not sure a clown like House at 3M is worth anybody's time.
now isn't the time to be spending at all. tillmen needs to save monies as much as possible now so when the rockets are a contending team, he can continue to make budget cuts and destroy the team
I like "buy low" moves like this. I didn't watch him play much last season, but he had some career lows (though posted a career high 3P%) and was even worse on defense than before (from what I read/hear, was partly an effort thing). His MPG went down as the season went on, so I'm sure he & Chicago have mutual feelings about moving on (especially now that they've revamped their roster w/ guys like Lonzo & Derozan). If he stays his stats will continue to drop, as will his value. Not many guys have become their "best selves" in Chicago recently, so maybe a change of scenery would do him good.
Lauri Markennen I am lukewarm about. He seemed like he was going to have a promising career and his offensive stats are not bad, TS% last year was 61%, but damn, defensively he is a sieve. I'm not quite sure if he is the right fit for the team even if he is a really good shooter. We can't play him at SF. We should not play him together with Wood either. He could be Wood's back up, but I think we have KJ that's going to be doing that. I don't think he is a good fit but if Stone were to swing a deal for him I wouldn't be mad.
our roster needs a tall & long defensive forward, like a poor man's jerami grant. no more guards or softee/undersized centers
It depends. How many seafood platters have to be sold to make up 13 million bucks? I kid. I kid. I'm not sure I see anyone out there I would use it on, but I don't know.
I think this is an interesting idea LS2. After all of their moves, Chicago is debating what to do with Markkanen https://dawindycity.com/2021/08/04/chicago-bulls-future-possibilities-lauri-markkanen/ If we can buy him low and slot him at that salary range, that would seem like a Stone/Morey kind of move. Perhaps we do a better job with developing him than CHI did and either he becomes part of the young team or an asset to acquire other building block capital for. We need to leverage every asset we have to acquire young talent or future picks.
This has nothing to do with anything, but...anyone else wish they had $122,741 in dead money, just lying around?
I'm a fan of Lauri but the Sengun homer in me want to see our rookie thrown out there in a sink-or-swim process than to have to play behind someone else.
I would just sit this one out unless there is real value we could pick up and Markannen doesn't necessarily do it for me. We have a bunch of players that we need to see how they fit together - wouldn't commit to too much financially until we have a better idea of what this roster needs given all the change. Will Garuba be competent enough on offense to be a fringe starter - we know he is a poor shooter, but will he set good screens, will he make the short pass out of them? Will Sengun be competent enough on defense to stay on the floor? Is KPJ still going to be inconsistent - what skills has he gotten better at? Green wasn't a great PnR player in the G-league - has he worked on that? How healthy is Wood going to be? What is Wall or EGO going to be bring this year? How will Theis fit with Wood? Last year was such a sh*t show - we didnt even really get to see Silas install an offense at the beginning of the season since Harden was playing games in Vegas while the rest of the team was in camp. Who are our high bball IQ guys - who can run the offense, who can run the defense, what is the offense, what is the defense - it felt like last year was a mish mash of what the players already knew to maintain continuity with a few wrinkles Silas got to throw in along the way....Unless there is a clear asset value we could grab, I don't see any need to sign anyone at this point. Markkannen had potential and that gave him a certain amount of value but I think he has been in the league long enough that the "potential" tag is losing value by the day. He will still be in the league for several more years, but teams don't pay top dollar for potential forever and the luster is starting to wear off on him...
Markannen is trending in the right direction. This is a guy we could cultivate and then flip for an asset down the line or he is even young enough to possibly be a long term piece. No idea what type of money he is looking for. SnT for Gordon?
Rumor is that he turned down a decent offer from San Antonio which is why they opted to sign Collins. Two different players, so not sure how one relates to the other, but was reading that somewhere this morning.
At this point, he shouldn't be looking for much money - most of the guys making $18M+ probably wouldn't be traded for him.... But EGo does make sense for the Bulls since they are all in this year (I think they are hoping to make the playoffs and hope for a string of good luck to fall their way). However, since they traded Young, Aminu, & Theis... they need more front court help than anything... I would look for a third team to get involved... not sure who tho (gottta do some research first)
