NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 2/15/12

1. Luke

   Hi Larry,

   When you listed (on Twitter) teams who could theoretically offer J.R. Smith the full mid-level exception, you listed the Hawks and Spurs, but not the Timberwolves.

   Does Minnesota not still have its full MLE available, as SI’s Sam Amick reported yesterday? And would Atlanta and San Antonio be able to offer their full MLEs without going $4 million over the luxury tax line?

   Thanks.

   • Larry Coon

     The T-Wolves have the $2.5 million “Room” mid-level, which because of pro-ration is now worth $2,411,764 (and going down daily).

     Good point on Atlanta — They’re $765,000 over the tax line, so the most they could offer is about $3.235 million. Likewise with the Spurs, who are already $3.23 million over the tax line, and can really offer just the taxpayer MLE. Good catch.

2. Kevin

   What is the situation in Dallas with regards to DWill and Dwight joining in the summer? Could they both get close to max contracts? Would Dallas have any players left?

   • Larry Coon

     The idea in Dallas is that they could Amnesty Brendan Haywood, and trade or waive Vince Carter, Lamar Odom, Sean Williams & Brandan Wright, who are all non- or partially-guaranteed, and they’d have plenty of cap space to offer one max-level contract. If they find a way to trade Shawn Marion for an ending contract, they’d have just about enough to offer two max contracts, with Deron & Dwight being the obvious targets.

     If this happens, there won’t be much of a team left, just Dirk, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones. They’d have to fill-in the rest of the lineup on the fly, like Miami did after landing LeBron & Bosh.

3. Eddy

   @LarryCoon how does it work when a team trades draft picks for a player? Could the Lakers trade their Mavs picks for Calderon or another PG?

   • Larry Coon

     Draft picks count $0 as outgoing salary. Like any other trade, when a team is over the cap, they can’t take back much more than they send out (125% in the Lakers’ case). Since 125% of zero is still zero, they need to either: a) Send out players along with the pick; or b) Use a trade exception.

     They have a trade exception from the Odom trade, but it’s only for $8.9 million, and Calderon makes more than that — the player has to fit entirely within the exception. They could conceivably get someone like Ramon Sessions, who only makes $4.3 million.

4. Raj

   can Minnesota acquire a top notch shooting guard like Monta Ellis, Kevin Martin or even J.R.Smith? do they have the pieces and cap space to do so?

   • Larry Coon

     I think JR Smith is a possibility, but I don’t think they are his most likely destination.

     For the other players, they’d need a trade. Assuming Love & Rubio are off the table, is there a trade package that makes sense for either team? Both would want a big, but Pekovic won’t knock their socks off. I don’t see a natural trade that either one would go for. Now if Rubio was on the table….

5. Brett

   All things remaining the same after the season, would the Bulls have enough cap space to offer Dwight the max after a Boozer amnesty? If not, how much extra salary would need to get shipped?

   • Larry Coon

     The Bulls have about $76.8 million committed for next season already. To make Dwight a $19 million offer, they’d need to be down around $39 million. They’d need to shed about $37.8 million. Boozer makes $15 million next season, leaving another $22.8 million to get rid of. And even then, there’s no guarantee Dwight would sign there — he never really seemed to have his sights set on the Bulls. So this ain’t happening.

6. Lakeshow

   How could the Lakers get Calderon. Odom’s TPE + a player? The TPE includes Dallas 1st round pick. Can it work?

   • Larry Coon

     No. Any player the Lakers acquire with the trade exception has to make the amount of the exception ($8.9M) or less (well….there’s a $100,000 buffer, but that’s it). Calderon makes $9.78 million.

7. InfamouzX

   kobe’s contact for THE 2012/2013-2013/2014 seasons is for about 58.3M.. if kobe agreed… can his contract be reconstructed for about 75m-80m for 4yrs? and can the Lakers do it for gasol contact to? I

   • Larry Coon

     No, teams & players can’t restructure contracts downward.

8. Zach

   What is going to happen with lins next contract? Since he is restricted will he take a one year deal at the mid level exception (because of the arenas rule) and then cash in the year after with a multi-year high salary deal assuming he keeps up the stellar play?

   • Larry Coon

     Lin’s going to be in an interesting situation this summer. What’s his value going to be? Of course, if he finishes the season the same way he’s been playing, the answer is going to be “a lot.” But that’s not totally realistic. I’d expect some regression to the mean anyway, but combine that with Melo & Amar`e coming back, and other teams preparing better for him, and I expect him to come back down to Earth a little before too long.

     So suppose we get to this summer and his stats have stabilized — he’s a much better player than anyone thought before his outburst, an can even play like an all-star in flashes, but he really doesn’t maintain all-star level consistency throughout the season. In other words, he’s a mid-level player, but far from a max player.

     He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer, and the Knicks will be somewhat protected by the Arenas provision, which controls the salary other teams can offer in the first two years of a deal. But what if another team makes him a huge offer — per the Arenas provision, something that’s mid-level in the first two years, and balloons starting in the third year? What if he’s worth mid-level, but he’s not worth THAT much? Do the Knicks match?

     Utah faced a similar situation with Wes Matthews. He was their restricted free agent, and they wanted to keep him. But Portland came in with a big offer, really more than he was worth, in an attempt to overcome restricted free agency and pry him loose. It worked.

     New York could find themselves in a similar situation with Lin.

9. InfamouzX

   COULD THE LAKERS MAKE A TRADE THE SEND OUT 7 2ND ROUND DRAFT PICKS? ASLONG AS THEY KEEP THERE 1ST ROUND PICKS YES?

   • Larry Coon

     Could a team in general do something like that? Technically, yes. There’s no “Stepien Rule” like there is for first round picks.

     Can the LAKERS do it? No — their second round pick goes to Dallas this year. They may have Chicago’s 2nd round pick this year, but there are contingencies on that pick.

10. David

    Larry, will you please clarify for writers like Howard Beck and Ken Berger that Jeremy Lin’s restricted free agent status is NOT based on the fact that he is still (technically) under the two-year deal he signed with Golden State but rather is based on the fact that he is a non-first round pick with fewer than three years of experience in the NBA? All such players are restricted free agents, regardless of whether they signed a two-year deal, a one-year deal or a 10-day contract.

    • Larry Coon

      Going to write a piece clarifying all things Lin, and possibly write a Linglish dictionary.

      I haven’t talked to Ken about Lin, but I have talked to Howard, and I can tell you he understands Lin’s situation.

11. Charles

    do you think the Chicago Bulls will make any moves before the trade deadline?

    • Larry Coon

      Przybilla.

12. Mike

    I find it hard to believe the Lakers best option at finding some bench help or any additional help that the best they can go for is Arenas. Are they just keeping things mum or are there really other options such as Chandler who can provide some major help to the worst bench in the league.

    • Larry Coon

      The Lakers ALWAYS keep things mum. Seriously — I hear most everything that makes the rounds, and it almost never originates from the Lakers.

      They might be looking at Arenas as a fallback, but I don’t think he’s their first option. I think their Plan A is to see what they can get with the Odom trade exception.

      Wilson Chandler won’t be an option if he’s not free by March 1. Only Denver can sign him after that.

13. Deven

    Mr. Coon, Are the Knicks better off not getting Steve Nash via trade or free agency now that Lin-Sanity has taken over the Big Apple? Overall, where did you see Steve Nash playing after the March 15th trade deadline?

    • Larry Coon

      The question for the Knicks is: Is Jeremy Lin the solution for the rest of the year? If he is, then they should look for a two, not a one.

      As for Nash, I don’t think Phoenix moves him unless he tells them he wants out, and so far I haven’t heard anything indicating he’s told them that.

14. Sam

    Can teams like the clippers and lakers give JR smith a bonus or incentives that would offset the money he would be making elsewhere?

    • Larry Coon

      No. Any bonuses would count as salary. The only extra money they can really suggest (not promise, of course) is in the form of a playoff bonus. The deeper a team goes in the playoffs, the larger the playoff bonus, so from that standpoint he’d be better off joining a team that’s poised to make a deep playoff run.

15. Freddy

    Appreciate the work you’ve done so far, when will you update your NBA Salary Cap FAQ to include the latest CBA?

    • Larry Coon

      I’m working on it. As you can imagine, it’s a lot of work, and I have just a limited amount of time….

16. Chris

    How is: Dwight + Scola to LA; Gasol to Houston; Bynum and Kevin Martin to Orl NOT the framework of the deal that happens. Houston already made this trade, essentially. Doesn’t seem like Orlando will do better than Bynum and Martin. And LA replaces some % of what Gasol does with Scola. Seems like this is the logical deal. Is it only cuz Dwight wont tell LA he will re-sign?

    • Larry Coon

      It’s a framework of something that COULD happen if everyone agrees. But you already named one of the contingencies — if Dwight won’t commit to LA, LA won’t send out their biggest trade assets.

17. FromThe3s

    Larry – there have been rumors that Boston thinks they could be in the running for DH12. As a Celtics fan, it just seems very far fetched to asinine to think Boston is an attractive FA landing place, so my question for you – what is Boston’s best strategy for now and moving forward?

    • Larry Coon

      Boston made a great series of moves when they acquired KG & Ray Allen to team up with Pierce & Rondo, and it got them another banner. But the downside was that there was just a small window to compete, before they’d have to rebuild again. Maybe they can add one more piece this year and still be in the running — some people were talking about a Rondo for Gasol swap, which would be interesting for both teams to say the least. I think if they have the opportunity to tweak the club and stay in the running this year they should go for it, because their prospects for competing over the next five years don’t look very good.

      Long term, I don’t think the Celtics have any choice but to start from scratch. And that means, as you said, that it makes Dwight Howard unlikely, because he’s not going to go somewhere where he’s the first cog in a rebuilding process.

18. Jimmy Howard

    If the Lakers trade Gasol,Bynum,Luke Walton and Josh Mcroberts for Dwight Howard,Hedo Turkoglu,and Big Baby(into the odom TPE), do they generate a $18m trade exception as iv read many places online…if all that is correct i think Deron Williams can be sign and traded into the exception in the offseason right…..Thanks a lot btw

    • Larry Coon

      So your premise is that Bynum, Walton & McBob (even though he doesn’t like being called that) can be traded for Dwight, Hedo & Big Baby (using the Odom trade exception), leaving Gasol being traded for nothing, which generates a trade exception.The three Lakers add up to $23.58 million, so they could trade for $29.575 million. Dwight & Hedo add up to about $29.1 million, and Baby makes less than the Odom trade exception, so technically that trade works fine. And yes, technically Deron Williams could do a sign-and-trade with the Nets where they send him to the Lakers for $18,814,150.

      But I said “technically,” not “realistically.” I don’t think the Lakers-Magic trade happens for a number of reasons, and even if it did, I don’t see the Nets going for a sign-and-trade to send Deron to LA and get back……what exactly?