re: Tobias Harris

my pipe dream is to trade asik somehow for just about anything.

The MLE is only for teams operating above the salary cap, but below the tax payer threshold. If they renounced Asik they'd drop below the salary cap, but only about 5-6 mil below, which would be stupid because that is the same amount that the MLE is.

ETA: this is the main reason why people want to keep Asik. If they get rid of Asik (by renouncing his rights), the Pels won't have enough cap space to sign a center that is better than him. Ideally I'd like to re-sign him on a 1 year deal, but I'm not sure if he'd be down with that.

You can only go over to cap to sign your own players, or through trades. If the Pels renounced him and got 5.5 mil under the cap, they couldn't sign a player(from another team) for 7 mil to get back over the cap. If they wanted to get back over the cap they'd have to trade someone like Ryno for someone like Batum, which is a legal trade and would add enough salary to get over the cap (hypothetically).

ETA: the example that I used isn't perfect because it only gives them 3.3 mil more incoming than outgoing, but you get the idea.

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Forgive me for asking

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Asking and learning is what this board is for.

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Asik coming off the books would give use 8-9 mil in space due to his poison pill contract?

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First, the poison pill. The way Asik's contract is structured is an unintended consequence of a rule meant to help teams keep 2nd rounders that out perform their short 2 year rookie deals. The poison pill part is that had Chicago matched, this 3/$24 deal would have counted $5/$5/$14 against their cap, but for Houston the cap hit was averaged to $8 over all 3 years, but the money is still paid as the contract is written. The poison pill is the $14.5 million that would have blown up Chicago's cap had they matched. We still had to pay all the money, but the cap hit was just $8.3 million.

As for the question of "Asik's $8 million is coming off the books, that means I have $8 million to spend right?" the answer is not necessarily. The salary cap is projected to increase to $67 million. With all of the contracts we are currently committed to and/or likely to keep

Holiday
Gordon
Tyreke
Ryno
AD
Pondexter
Cole
Roster holds (have to account for at least 12 players on the rookie minimum salary)

So the current roster minus Asik, Cunningham, Ajinca, Withey, Babbitt and Jimmer adds up to $61.4 million, or $5.5 million under the projected cap. But going under the cap means losing your exceptions, including the MLE which is basically the same amount as the cap space you now have. Additionaly you lose exceptions that you probably could have resigned Ajinca and Cunningham with. So not re-signing Asik not only doesn't give you enough cap space to pursue a comparable alternative like RoLo or Koufos, it also costs you the ability to retain key bench contributors. Where as keeping Asik lets you keep everyone else and use the MLE to add a $5ish million player to the mix.

The question with Asik really isn't whether to resign him or not, it's whether you give him an overpriced 1 year deal with an eye towards moving on in 2016, or give him a 4 year declining deal where in year 3 and 4 he's just making decent backup money thanks to the escalating cap.

There are a few scenarios I can think of where we don't retain Asik, but those involve some fairly significant trades with at least 2 of Gordon/Anderson/Tyreke leaving but it also requires the right things breaking our way with other teams' situations so it's unlikely.

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I'd rather ask you guys than ask Macnamara or one of the BSS guys. All of them except for Grayson, Madison, and Anjrue are pretentious attention seeking dooshes.

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Well, we are a bunch of racist homophobes, so I'm glad we didn't scare you off

We might need a small salary cap FAQ before FA starts.

I'd actually rather Ed Davis, I think he could play some Center or Power Forward and may only cost around the MLE.

from the link, on Moe Harkless

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Too many guys who play where he plays. He’s not a “rim to rim” guy and the staff in place valued effort above all else. Mo is a very laid back easy going guy and the former staff valued aggressive personalities more. Its a shame because when Mo has support and confidence he’s a heck of a player. We’ll see what the new staff thinks, but I think he gets traded. Needs a fresh start.

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I know exactly what you mean.
I want Cunningham on this team. I'd rather get rid of Pondexter, but if we do, his replacement needs to be a good bit better, not a project. I would still like to get Harkless and see what he can do. I'd much rather him than Babbitt.

I really don't want to get rid of EG. His 3pt shooting is elite right now. It would be nice if the refs would start giving him some calls when he drives.

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I'd rather get rid of Pondexter,


You want to get rid of the only guy on the roster over 6'4" who offers 3pt shooting, some defense, and is on a cheap contract for the next few years to keep Cunningham?

Ye, gods.

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With his cheap price tag, he's one of the more valuable pieces that we have. He'd at least fetch the MLE on the open market. Maybe more with his impressive 3 point shooting last season.

ETA: one of the few Pels that is worth more than his salary