Free agency and a couple of loop holes for the Blazers

[South East]

I was trying to figure out what the salary cap will be for next year and I came across this article on NBA.com. It talks about a "room" exemption for teams under the cap. It would allow the team to go an extra $2.5m over the cap to sign free agents. This is so teams aren't penalized by not getting extra room for the MLE. It's also good for 2 years so you can hold on to it and theoretically if you stay under could go as much as $5m over by combining 2 years together. Here is the link

A new "room" exception starting at $2.5 million for up to two years will be available to teams that are below the salary cap. Previously, teams under the cap had only their available salary up to that cap to spend on free agents and had no MLE. Now they will have their cap space and this "room" exception.

This was from Steve Aschburner before everything was official so not sure if it actually made it into the CBA or not but that could definitely help this offseason. Also not sure if it's been talked about but the Cap will stay the same as it was the last 2 years at $58m, according to this report.

Also if Portland can't convince Williams to take a buyout then they can use the stretch provision and get an extra $2m by stretching that over 3 years.

Worst case $11m
Likely scenerio $20m
A max contract starts at 25% of cap or $14.5m

Here is the breakdown

Looking at the numbers I think $49.5m is worst case. So with the salary cap and "room" exemption that would put the total at $50.5. or $11m in space. Then if you remove Hickson and Claver and stretch out Williams contract you end up with $21m in cap space but you would have to roster holds at $1m then because it's below 12 players.

Guaranteed Salaries = $26.6
Options = $3.1 (Not counting Crawford)
Cap Holds = $19.8 (Can remove $8m by renouncing Hickson and Claver)

Total = $49.5




Aldridge $14
Matthews $6.5
Babbitt $1.9
Thomas $1.4
E. Williams $1.4
Smith $1.4

Total $ 26.6m

Then you add options and holds

Crawford $5.2 (player option probably opting out)
S. Williams $3.1 (Don't know how they will get out of this one)

Batum $6.5 cap hold
Hickson $7 cap hold
Claver $1 cap hold
Freeland $0.9 cap hold
6th pick $2.6 cap hold
11th pick $1.8 cap hold

Total $19.8

 

[craigehlo]

Hickson's cap hold is $3.4 million not 7.

Fromm Hoopsworld:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/2012-nba-free-agents

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Hickson's cap hold is $3.4 million not 7.

Fromm Hoopsworld:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/2012-nba-free-agents

The QO is 3.4M, but the cap hold is 250% of the prior year salary. His salary this year is 2.35M, so his cap hold is $5.8M.

https://webfiles.uci.edu/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm#Q31

 

[South East]

The QO is 3.4M, but the cap hold is 250% of the prior year salary. His salary this year is 2.35M, so his cap hold is $5.8M.

https://webfiles.uci.edu/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm#Q31

Because he is below the MLE I think it's 300% (same as Batum). Pulled from Larry Coon's site referenced above.

Larry Bird, following the fourth season of his rookie scale contract At least the average salary 250% of his previous salary*
Larry Bird, following the fourth season of his rookie scale contract Below the average salary 300% of his previous salary*

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Because he is below the MLE I think it's 300% (same as Batum). Pulled from Larry Coon's site referenced above.

Larry Bird, following the fourth season of his rookie scale contract At least the average salary 250% of his previous salary*
Larry Bird, following the fourth season of his rookie scale contract Below the average salary 300% of his previous salary*

Interesting--looks like you're right, but everywhere I've looked seems to be using the 250% figure. That's significant--an additional $2.25M in cap holds between Batum/Hickson that don't appear to be being calculated by most.

 

[e_blazer]

Interesting--looks like you're right, but everywhere I've looked seems to be using the 250% figure. That's significant--an additional $2.25M in cap holds between Batum/Hickson that don't appear to be being calculated by most.

You're right, that is a significant difference. One thing I noticed in the transcript of Chad Buchanan's interview on Courtside is that he talks about extending a qualifying offer to Nic, but there's no mention of Hickson. agent than it is to

 

[Pinwheel1]

Didn't someone say they were negotiating with Freeland?

If we signed him and matched for JJ Hickson and Batum, how much would we have to sign a PG?

Not the best scenario, but a possible one:

LMA, JJ , Freeland, (Pryz or a vet or Rookie)
Batum, Babbitt (Rookie)
Wes, Williams, (Rookie)
F/A, (Rookie), Nolan Smith

So if we paid 22 million for JJ, Freeland, and Batum, plus 5 million for two lotto picks, how much would be have left over to spend on a Dragic?

 

[Mediocre Man]

People really shouldn't get their salary information from anywhere but StoryTeller

 

[RR7]

People really shouldn't get their salary information from anywhere but StoryTeller

Couldn't agree more.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

People really shouldn't get their salary information from anywhere but StoryTeller

Except StoryTeller's site doesn't have any information about cap holds, which is what we're discussing here. Also, StoryTeller himself has specifically referred to ShamSports as another excellent site for information, which is good enough for me to use it too.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Yes. Sham is another great site