If things go as most people expect, Boozer may get offers much higher than the one he received from Cavs. In that case, if Cavs want to keep him, they must get extra cap space. I think we may find a way to use the TE. Option 1: Trade MoT+some TE for Ilgauskas Option 2: Trade some TE for Battie plus getting some compenstion from Cavs. Ilgauskas is injury prone and has a big contract, but it expires next summer. He can back up Yao well for 13-15 minutes a game. The thing is Cavs doesn't need MoT if they can keep Boozer. So it is long shot. Battie is an decent backup C. His contract has only 2 year left at about $5M a year. That is a bit expensive, but I must say using the TE is not as easy as cash, and we have to compromise here or there. If CD can get a 2nd rounder (Cavs cannot trade another 1st rounder now), and some cash, it is a good deal. What do you think? I guess timing is the key.
How about we do this deal with the Cavs... We trade them Pike in a Sign and Trade for Eric Williams. The Cavs wanted Pike last offseason to give them a veteran presence with some good outside shooting. Williams probably isnt going to resign there and would be an IDEAL player for JVG. Win-Win situation in this trade.
Dajuan Wagner would be a decent backup. He didnt get many minutes with Lebron running the show their.
how about Pike+some TE for Battie and Wagner? We get a back up C and a backup guard who can play either 1 or 2. And Cavs get the player they wanted last summer and some cap space to use to retain Boozer. Then we use the MLE to get a starting pg. Will you do that?
Like you said, Cavs don't need MoT if they have Boozer. I wouldn't mind getting Battie though, he is a blue collar worker that could provide some good minutes behind Yao. But the Rox should make a run for Boozer. I'm in love with his game and it he is a perfect compliment to Yao. I know we don't have much money to offer him, but getting Boozer would be PERFECT.
I am not the expert on TE, but I don't think TE = Cap Space. So it is useless for Cavs for have our TE, because they cannot use it to re-sign Boozer. TE is only useful in trades.
You cannot trade a player plus the TE (or part of it) to make up the additional salary. You have to trade the TE FOR a player (or two or three), but the TE doesn't give you the ability to trade a $3 mil player for a $9 mil player. At least, that is the way I understand it.
The TE turns into cap space if the team who has it doesn't use it. IOW, if they trade Williams to us, his salary comes off their books and since they don't get a player in return, the TE turns into cap space. That is why the TE is valuable to a team trying to get under the cap.
I would love if the Rockets could trade Piatkowski + the TE for Battie and Wagner, but the Cavs won't touch that. Piatkowski was coveted by Cleveland for his shooting, but between him being streaky last year & them drafting Luke Jackson, I think that desire on the Cavs part has died down. I also don't see them giving up on Wagner who was very highly touted coming out of Memphis. He's had two injury layden seasons, but his potential is tremendous & his pairing up with LaBron could be crazy. I think the best the Rockets could hope for would be to get a guy like Battie or Eric Williams. I think that Cleveland would listen since the TE can be used to outbid other teams who just have the MLE. From what I understand, the Rockets could even use the TE to outbid Cleveland for Boozer by using part of that 6.9 TE on top of the full MLE. If Houston could somehow convince Boozer to come to Houston & then sign a guy like Fisher to part of the MLE this team is an instant championship favorite.
It is a bit hard to use the TE through a sign and trade. first you have to find a team that is under the cap and willing to help you. Then there is some mandatory wait before the player can be traded to us unless the player is resigned by their old teams. Seattle doesn't have much incentive to help us on Barry. Cavs has every incentive not to help us on Boozer.
what happened to the Pike / Ollie trade that was supposed to go down the week of the draft? was it thrown out after we got Lue & Gains?
"iceman?" is that from Topgun? Anyhow.. they call Ilgauskas just "Z".. i think Zydrunas is a lil difficult for most.
I'll address all the TE comments... andy- This is generally correct. We have a ~6.9 mill exception. We CAN trade say Pike (2.7 mill) for a player making 6.9 mill or less by using the exception, but we can not trade MoT+exception for Ilgauskas. lancet- Re: TE not = capspace. In this scenario, it likely would be. I haven't seen any real good estimates for the salary cap figure, but the Cavs have about 43.5 mill in committed salary after exercising the option on Jeff McInnis. back to andy- Your hypothetical Williams situation is incorrect. Eric Williams is a FA; by trading him to us for the TE, Cleveland doesn't gain any cap space because he isn't really on their cap right now. Rox225- We can't bid on free agents with the trade exception. Cleveland can't sign Boozer to a contract for the amount of our TE, so your premise is flawed from the beginning. canoner- Not really true at all. You don't need a team under the cap, just a free agent with Bird Rights. The difference between Boozer and other free agents we're discussing (Barry, Fisher); the others have Bird Rights, Boozer only has Early Bird Rights. Simply put, the others have 3 years with the same team/on the same contract, Boozer only has 2 years, and thus his situation is similar to that of Cat's when we resigned him several years back. Seattle can resign Barry for any amount- they don't really lose anything (cap space, etc.) by sign and trading him to us other than helping another team. With Boozer, Cleveland is limited in what they can offer him, and on top of that, he's a restricted free agent. Forget about getting Boozer- Cavs can match anything we offer; however, Battie may be realistic. Currently, the Cavs can offer Boozer the "Early Bird" exception, which is basically slightly greater than the MLE. The Cavs are right around salary cap level most likely; if they choose to renounce their other free agents (most notably including Eric Williams), and trade some higher dollar types to clear up enough room, they could offer Boozer more money because they would be under the cap. Everything depends on where the salary cap is. If it's at say $45 mill, by trading Tony Battie straight up for the Rockets' TE, the Cavs could then offer Boozer a contract starting at ~6.3 mill- roughly 1 mill greater than they could before. If you wanted to get creative: Pike+Nachbar+TE for Battie, McInnis, and Kedrick Brown. That would save the Cavs 6.5 mill- with a salary cap of $45 mill, they could then offer Boozer up to an $8 mill contract. Swap Brown for Wagner if you want, and save the Cavs another 300K. For those wondering the specifics, Pike+Nachbar for Battie fits within the APE (115%+100K), and the TE easily covers McInnis and Brown. We then have: McInnis/Lue/(Wilks?) McGrady/Gaines/Brown Jackson/(Brown)/A. Griffin Howard/Taylor/Spoon Yao/Battie Holes filled, and all of the MLE and LLE left for fillers. As for the Cavs... Bron/Ollie/(Wagner) Wagner/Pike/Pavlovic Jackson/Nachbar/Newble Boozer/ Ziggy/Diop Need more depth at big man slots, problem would be they wouldn't have many ways to do it, though this deal would likely enable them to sign Boozer, then still have a little cap room to sign another big man, keep Boumtje-Boumtje at a low cost, etc.
