http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?id=1754863 This information was on ESPN.com today in one of Chad Ford's articles... Apparently if a team has a player selected in the Expansion draft, that team gets a Trade Exception equal to that players 2004-2005 salary. I found that interesting in that perhaps it could HURT Houston's usage of our own 6.9 TE if other teams will have T.E.'s of their own. What it definately means though, is it will make it easier for teams to make trades since player movement will be easier using T.E.'s to help ease salary imbalances.
Great find Deuce. This is an incredible possibilities opener for teams. That means the "Let Francis be drafted by Bobcats so we can get a huge trade exception to trade for ________ player" threads will be popping up soon.
Deuce - Think about it this way. All teams can use the assigned player exception (APE). This means a $10m player can be traded for contracts equalling $8.5m + $100k. That's a $1.5m exception that can be used by any over the cap team as frequently as they want to use it. Now think about this.... The Bobcats can take 14 players max. 14 players on a $30m cap means the vast majority of trade exceptions aren't going to be too big....Slightly over $2m on average...or about the same as the APE on $10m worth of contracts. Also, if the selected player is taken from an under the cap team, it appears that will just increase their amount of being under the cap by a few more mil...(think PHX offering picks and Jahidi for more cap $ to throw at Kobe). It probably diminishes the Rox $6.99 TE a little but overall I think the sheer size of the Rox TE will dominate the market...that's what "being big" is all about!
Good points GATER. I Guess it all depends on what players the Bobcats take. If they take someone with a high salary then that will create a high TE for that team. Our 6.9 TE is pretty solid and hopefully will be put to good use. This really should be a crazy offseason!
Deuce - So let me throw a few more kinks into it. Personally, I think it would be a disaster to leave Kelvin Cato unprotected...and I know you agree. But if the Rockets do and he's taken by CHAR to trade, the Rox get a 2nd exception....but it can not be combined with Rice/Amaechi TE and neither of the TE's can be combined with the APE. (Leaving Cato unprotected to gain the TE is IMO ill-advised because one big TE is about all the changes the Rox will make/need). Now here's what I don't understand... According to the CBA, any team with a trade exception loses a $ for $ portion of their TE when they fall below the cap. IOW, you can have exceptions or you can have cap space but you can't (basically) use/have both. For example, within the CBA if the Rockets fall under the ~$43m cap...let's say to $41m...they lose $2m of the $6.99m TE. However, with your new info, if TEAM B has $46m committed and they send two future 1sts and $3m to CHAR to take a $10m player then TEAM B now only has $36m committed and they fall under the cap so..... Is Stern going to give them a $10m TE AND ~$8m in FA cap money? It's going to be a very busy summer for NBA coaches and execs...probably some players, too!
