Official 2010 NBA Free Agency Thread

[MartyFunkhouser]

So if Bosh, Bron Bron, and Wade all end up in Miami and don't win the championship, what excuse will be given to absolve James of all responsibility for the loss?

Not enough talent surrounding the big 3
Bosh not enough of a defensive presence
Wade being selfish and not letting James play with the ball enough
Other

[DrumNFeather]

So if Bosh, Bron Bron, and Wade all end up in Miami and don't win the championship, what excuse will be given to absolve James of all responsibility for the loss?

Not enough talent surrounding the big 3
Bosh not enough of a defensive presence
Wade being selfish and not letting James play with the ball enough
Other

Coaching.

Then Pat Riley will come out of the front office and lead them to the promised land.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

So if Bosh, Bron Bron, and Wade all end up in Miami and don't win the championship, what excuse will be given to absolve James of all responsibility for the loss?

Not enough talent surrounding the big 3
Bosh not enough of a defensive presence
Wade being selfish and not letting James play with the ball enough
Other

The axe is getting dull, better get it sharpened again.

[falafel]

So if Bosh, Bron Bron, and Wade all end up in Miami and don't win the championship, what excuse will be given to absolve James of all responsibility for the loss?

Not enough talent surrounding the big 3
Bosh not enough of a defensive presence
Wade being selfish and not letting James play with the ball enough
Other

There's no reason to answer these questions because there's no scenario in which they do not win a championship.

[Sizzle]

There's no reason to answer these questions because there's no scenario in which they do not win a championship.

Signed, Lebron pulling a hamstring.

[Sizzle]

John Hollinger lists the kind of teammates Bosh/James/Wade would have if they teamed up in Miami. These are all players that signed for the minimum salary last year:

G - Anthony Carter
G - CJ Watson
G - Devin Brown
G - Quinton Ross
F - Rodney Carney
F - Joey Graham
F - Josh Powell
F - Joe Smith
C - DJ Mbenga
C - Theo Ratliff

But as Hollinger points out, that is really a worst case scenario. Miami can spend its full midlevel exception and the smaller exception (which is greater than the NBA minimum salary for most players). So maybe they bring back Udonis Haslem or Mike Miller for the midlevel, then try to get someone like Raja Bell to take the smaller exception. They'll also have Varnado and Ebanks, their 2nd round picks, on the team.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have cap space, you don't get the MLE do you? The thought is, if you enter with cap space, you don't need an exception. So they have to wait until next year for the MLE. No?

[MartyFunkhouser]

There's no reason to answer these questions because there's no scenario in which they do not win a championship.

I don't think that it is a guarantee that they win a title if they all go to Miami. Both James and Wade thrive on playing on the ball and it would take away some of their individual effectiveness to play together. Both have the skills to develop a game away from the ball, but both of them are stars that have an ego and they may not want to defer. I would put a chance at a title in Miami if those 3 play together at greater than 90% in the first season, but that isn't a guarantee.

Of course, I still don't think that it ends up happening and really hope it doesn't happen. James is already insufferable, I can only imagine how bad he is going to be when he wins a title.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have cap space, you don't get the MLE do you? The thought is, if you enter with cap space, you don't need an exception. So they have to wait until next year for the MLE. No?

I believe that you are correct. Last year the Blazers didn't have the MLE exception to use and I believe it is because they went into free agency with cap space.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

20. How do exceptions count against the cap? Does being under the cap always mean that a team has room to sign free agents? Do teams ever lose their exceptions?

If a team is below the cap, then their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and/or Traded Player exceptions are added to their team salary, and the league treats the team as though they are over the cap. This is to prevent a loophole, in a manner similar to free agent amounts (see question numbers 29, 30, 31, 32). A team can't act like they're under the cap and sign free agents using cap room, and then use their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and/or Traded Player exceptions. Consequently, the exceptions are added to their team salary (putting the team over the cap) if the team is under the cap and adding the exceptions puts them over the cap. If a team is already over the cap, then the exceptions are not added to their team salary. There would be no point in doing so, since there is no cap room for signing free agents.

So being under the cap does not necessarily mean a team has room to sign free agents. For example, assume the cap is $49.5 million, and a team has $43 million committed to salaries. They also have a Mid-Level exception for $5 million and a Traded Player exception for $5.5 million. Even though their salaries put them $6.5 million under the cap, their exceptions are added to their salaries, putting them at $53.5 million, or $4 million over the cap. So they actually have no cap room to sign free agents, and instead must use their exceptions.

Teams have the option of renouncing their exceptions in order to claim the cap room. So in the example above, if the team renounced their Traded Player and Mid-Level exceptions, then the $10.5 million is taken off their team salary, which then totals $43 million, leaving them with $6.5 million of cap room which can then be used to sign free agent(s).

Starting January 10 of each season, the Mid-Level, Bi-Annual, Larry Bird, Early-Bird and Non-Bird exceptions begin to reduce in value. For example, if there are 180 days in the season, then these exceptions (if they are still unused) reduce by 1/180 of their initial value each day starting January 10. If a team uses their $5 million Mid-Level exception on February 1, then the exception is actually worth $4,361,111.

The Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and Traded Player exceptions may be lost entirely, or the team may never receive them to begin with. This happens when their team salary is so low that when the exceptions are added to the team salary, the sum is still below the salary cap. If the team salary is below this level when the exception arises, then the team doesn't get the exception. If the team salary ever drops below this level during the year, then any exceptions they had are lost.

For example, with a $49.5 million salary cap, assume it's the offseason, and a team has $41 million committed to salaries, along with a Mid-Level exception for $5 million, a Traded Player exception for $2.5 million, and an unrenounced free agent whose free agent amount is $2 million. Their salaries and exceptions total $50.5 million, or $1 million over the cap. What if their free agent signs with another team? The $2 million free agent amount comes off their cap, so their team salary drops to $48.5 million. This total is below the cap so the team loses its Mid-Level and Traded Player exceptions.

There is logic behind this. The whole idea behind an "exception" is that it is an exception to the rule which says a team has to be below the salary cap. In other words, an exception is a mechanism which allows a team to function above the cap. If a team isn't over the cap, then the concept of an exception is moot. Therefore, if a team's team salary ever drops this far, its exceptions go away. The effect is that a team may have either exceptions or cap room, but they can't have both.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q20

So Miami will have likely renounced their rights to the exceptions in order to create that much cap space.

[DrumNFeather]

Darko going back to Minnesota for 4 years 20 Million.

[DrumNFeather]

If NJ doesn't land LeBron, they'll target Rudy Gay and Danny Granger.

[Surfah]

There's no reason to answer these questions because there's no scenario in which they do not win a championship.

There are plenty of scenarios.

[Sizzle]

Rudy Gay gets max-money.

Which raises a question, is Rudy Gay even an All Star caliber player? Giving (near) max money to a fringe All Star is not how you build a winner...

[Sizzle]

Rudy Gay gets max-money.

Which raises a question, is Rudy Gay even an All Star caliber player? Giving (near) max money to a fringe All Star is not how you build a winner...

Then again, neither is trading Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown.

[Surfah]

Rudy Gay gets max-money.

Which raises a question, is Rudy Gay even an All Star caliber player? Giving (near) max money to a fringe All Star is not how you build a winner...

Like I said, the best time in the history of the NBA to be a free agent.