With Mike Woodson coming out and saying that the Knicks will "definitely" re-sign Jeremy Lin, it's got me thinking about the Knicks' precarious salary cap situation and, more importantly, how the Rockets can once again exploit it! If the Knicks re-sign Lin to anything more than the Taxpayer MLE ($3.09M for the first year, and for no longer than three years), or if the Knicks instead match any offer sheet for Lin in excess of $3.09M or that is longer than three years, then the New York Knicks will be facing a HARD CAP at about $74.3M next season. That's right, folks. A HARD CAP. This even includes signing draft picks, adding minimum salary players, etc. Everything. With Melo, Amare, Chandler, Douglas, Shumpert and the "dead money" that is Renaldo Balkman (who NYK stupidly waived rather than dump via trade) all on the books for next year, the Knicks have about $59.4M tied up in just five roster spots. If you assume that Lin gets an offer for the full Non-Taxpayer MLE ($5.0M) from somebody (approximately the maximum initial salary offer Lin can receive due to being an "Arenas" RFA), and that the Knicks match it, that puts the Knicks' salary at $64.4M for six spots. That leaves New York with about $9.9M--absolute total--to spend on the remaining 6-7 roster spots, with no room to add more veterans for the minimum. This is WITHOUT counting any potential salaries for Landry Fields, JR Smith, Steve Novak or any other meaningful Knicks contributor not specifically mentioned above. While it's a bit late for the Rockets to capitalize on their previously-obtained 2012 first round pick, there's still plenty of opportunities for the Rockets to take NEW advantage of the Knicks' and the salary cap mess they've created for themsleves. Discuss and enjoy! P.S. I'm guessing that a salary dump of Toney Douglas will be the most likely "first step" for the Knicks to take. Sadly, the Knicks cannot offer any enticement better than first round pick SWAP RIGHTS or second rounders starting in 2014. Hell, they can't even throw in cash on draft night, since they blew their wad on the Chandler S&T deal. Well, anyway, ...
I'll take me some Landry Fields... Great money managers in NY. They must have the same guys as the Texans :grin:
In fairness to the Texans though it's pretty hard to keep everyone when you draft 1 or 2 pro bowlers every year.
Texans also didn't give out any horrid deals like NYK did with Chandler/Amare. Those two are severely overpaid.
They were just talking about this on the radio, saying how the Knicks will probably lose either Novak or Smith or maybe both. Plus, Harrellson is an RFA as is Landry Fields. The knicks might have to trade a member of the big three for pennies on the dollar, which would be really sweet. My guess is they trade Chandler, since Amar'e is untradeable and Melo is the more popular and more skilled of the other two salary hogs.
Oh, we are going to have to go get Novak back. Morey could send The_Yoyo to his door at midnight July 1st to recruit him. A "hard cap?" Is that beyond the luxury tax, or what? I'm missing something. Also, this would have to allow them to sign enough players for the minimum roster, right? So, maybe there is a loop hole.
Naw, Amare even today would command the same type of contract. He may not be a max player production wise, but he is talent wise. If the Knicks didn't give it to him someone else that could have would have. The Rockets included.
Miami is going to have to waive lebron or dwizzle. I think we should give whichever a ten day contract.
Lin isn't restricted, so the Knicks don't have the right to match. Lin could leave if he wanted to but I doubt it.
I'm also puzzled - could you explain? Is this simply a by-product of them eating their MLE on Lin and ending up over the cap with no more exceptions available to them? They don't have the $2M bi-annual? (I have no clue) From what I see (possibly misinformed), JR Smith has an option for next year and the Knicks have a team option on Harrellson - nothing stands in the way of those options, right? I do think Novak and Fields are going to be gone.
Someone will undoubtedly offer Lin 5 million dollars, to at least **** the Knicks over. And I doubt Nash will settle for a measley 5 million to play in New York, especially if they're going to be running Meloball instead of D'Antoni's stuff. Plus, New York has to compete with the Heat for the minimuim seeking, veteran, ring chasers. Undoubtedly, guys would prefer to go to Miami than New York, which means they'll have absolutely garbage. That means they'll have a 6 man rotation, with a power forward who's notorious for injuries. Guess they'll play a lot of small ball with Chandler-Melo-Shumpert-Douglas-Lin when (not if) Amare gets injured. I look forward to next season, watching all 82 knick games on cablevision, laughing at the knick fans I see daily who proclaimed Lebron would save them, then proclaimed Melo and amare would, then that Chandler was the missing piece, then that Lin was the greatest point guard ever.
Once you use your non-taxpayer MLE , the 'apron' ($4 million above the tax level) effectively becomes a hard cap. http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q88
New York is in a weird situation, as I wouldn't necessarily say doomed quite, yet until the off season. Unlike Boston's big three or Miami's super big three, New York's big 2 1/2 does not stack up quite as well to begin with. Carmelo and Amare are fanatastic players, but they lack the versatility, defensive prowess, and chemistry that KG-Pierce-Allen (later Rondo) had and what the trio of LeBron-DWade-Bosh bring to the table. Carmelo and Amare are both exceptional one-dimensional scorers, nothing more. Jeremy Lin showed promise as a point guard, but he is still green and will also compete with the others for shots. It's sort of myth to think that you need 3 superstars to win titles, as you can win with one superstar and a great roster filled with depth and good players. If the Knicks are forced to choose one out of the three, then it should be Carmelo. The other two players are little more replaceable, especially given how the offense flows through Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks can go into either two directions: 1) Build a complete roster, 1-10, find a good players through trades, off season free agency, and continue to develop younger players. 2) Find stars who are a better compliment with Carmelo Anthony. At point guard, the Knicks should get a point guard who is always pass first, but a great shooter - Nash, Calderon, or if they could someone end with Deron Williams (somehow would have to trade Amare). At shooting guard, hold on to JR Smith or pursue a player, like Kevin Martin, Courtney Lee, OJ Mayo, or Nick Young.
The reason it will be a TRUE "hard cap" is because the Knicks will have used the NON-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to re-sign Jeremy Lin. Because the Non-Taxpayer MLE is strictly forbidden to any team with a team salary more than $4 million (the "apron") above the luxury tax threshold, the league will strictly forbid the addition of more team salary. (It is not quite clear--since this rule has obviously never been tested--what the league will do if New York gets right to the $74.3M level but absolutely must add 1-2 more players to fill out its roster. Perhaps the league will impose harsh penalties, such as additional tax and/or loss of draft picks. We'll just have to wait and see.) I know you're kidding, but Miami will NOT be affected by this rule unless they find themselves in the very unusual situation of having a Non-Bird free agent who is likely to receive offers from other teams in excess of the Taxpayer MLE, as the Knicks currently face with Jeremy Lin. Even then, this hard cap would ONLY apply if the team ACTUALLY re-signs/matches on that Non-Bird free agent. Jeremy Lin is, in fact, a restricted free agent. All players in the league with three years of less of NBA experience are restricted free agents. The confusion may be that New York does NOT have Early Bird rights on Lin, despite the Knicks' having picked up Lin's two-year deal (originally signed with GSW, waived, claimed off waivers by the Rockets, then waived again) because all Bird rights were lost once Lin was waived. Yes, there is a hard cap. It's just that this is one of the very few instances when one is created. True, when it comes to LUXURY TAX, the Knicks could just spend their way through it. But not in this instance. Yes, Lin is subject to the Arenas rule. But the Arenas rule, by definition, only applies to players with one or two years of NBA experience. All of those players, by definition, are also restricted free agents.
That's the thing that the Knicks have work out and bite the bullet with. If they truly want a perennial playoff contender, then they are going to need to build a good roster from top to bottom and possibly let Lin go. Trade Amare, if they can find a suitable trading partner or make a three-team deal.
