NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 3/21/12

1. Dan

   Why do the Orlando Magic seem completely opposed to adding a backup PG and C? They have one of worst backup PGs in the league and no real backup C.

   • Larry Coon

     I wouldn’t say they were opposed to it. They were in complete limbo with the Dwight Howard situation, and couldn’t do anything until it was resolved. The players they would have been interested in would have been completely different depending on whether Dwight was staying or leaving. I’m sure they tried to get something done once they knew Dwight was staying, but they had a very small window of opportunity.

2. SFC Lance O'Neil

   The Jazz own the Warriors top 7 protected pick, but when is it protected? If Warriors end up #8 but move up to top-three due to lottery, who gets the pick?

   • Larry Coon

     Protection is always based on the final draft order. If the Warriors win one of the top three picks in the lottery, or if their pick falls 4-7 due to their record and any tiebreakers, then they keep it; otherwise it gets conveyed to Utah.

3. Hanaway

   Why did Jim Buss hire Mike “YES SIR” Brown again? Is it because he could be signed for dirt cheap?

   • Larry Coon

     Between Brown & Adelmnan, I would have preferred Adelman. But Brown reportedly had a great interview, and convinced Buss & Kupchak that he had the right plan. I also think part of it was that Brown had managed LeBron James, and were looking for someone who could have Kobe’s respect.

4. Farhan Hussain

   Why doesn’t Mike Brown Start Sessions? What good for was getting rid of Fisher if you have blake starting, they both have the same stats…2pts and 1 assist or so….

   I understand the 2nd unit gets better but than you shouldv’e kept Fisher?

   • Larry Coon

     I think he’ll make the switch sooner or later, and it will have a lot to do with Sessions becoming more comfortable in the system & familiar with the players. But Sessions played more minutes than Blake last night, and who gets minutes is really more important than who starts.

     I was at the Lakers-Jazz game on Sunday, and Mike Brown said when he thinks it’ll be better for the team to have Sessions starting, he’ll make the switch — but for now, and for the foreseeable future, Blake will be the starter.

5. Jon

   Seems like a bunch of teams will have some cap space this summer, but besides Deron Williams is there anyone worth spending it on?

   • Larry Coon

     It’s not a bumper crop of free agents this year, but there are some decent guys out there — although many are geriatric by NBA standards, including Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Other players who should be available (but may be restricted) include Jeremy Lin, Nicolas Batum, Roy Hibbert, Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson. Eric Gordon will be out there as well, if a team wants to take a chance that he will be healthy.

     But I think there will be more cap space out there than worthwhile free agents to spend it on, so expect prices to remain high.

6. Daniel

   NJ might be screwed this off season. There are 2 scenario where they can salvage themselves. 1. resign williams 2. sign and trade – is that even possible now? would that be something williams would consider instead of signing out right with dallas.

   • Larry Coon

     You’re right that Deron Williams has indicated he’s going to opt-out of his contract and become a free agent. The three options (ignoring low-probability alternatives like quitting basketball to go join a minor league baseball team) are:

     1. Nets re-sign him;

     2. He signs elsewhere as a free agent;

     3. He, the Nets, and another team work out a sign-and trade.

     A sign-and-trade is certainly possible, but not as advantageous to the player as it once was. Under the previous CBA, a player could get the same contract he would have gotten had he re-signed & stayed with his prior team. But under the new CBA a player only can get the same contract he could have gotten by signing directly with the NEW team. The result of this rule change is that players do not have an incentive to pursue a sign-and-trade unless the teams they want to go to are capped-out and can’t sign them directly.

     So if Deron were to do a sign-and-trade to Dallas, it’d be:

     1. Doing the Nets a favor; or

     2. To leave Dallas with extra cap room, to get him some help.

7. Johnny

   Where do you think Boris Diaw likely lands? Would love to see him with the Bulls. Plus he’s Noah French teammate. Whatcha think?

   • Larry Coon

     I hear San Antonio is the most likely landing spot.

8. Andrew

   What’s the NBA waiver process like? How come we don’t see more teams claiming guys off waivers?

   • Larry Coon

     Waiving a player amounts to giving the other 29 teams notice that they can acquire the player by claiming his contract. If the player is not claimed in 48 hours his contract terminates and he becomes a free agent.

     More players aren’t claimed off waivers for two reasons:

     1. The team must have room to acquire the player within the salary cap rules.

     2. The team must take over the player’s current contract. When guys get waived, they get waived for a reason — usually because their performance on the court doesn’t justify occupying a roster spot and/or the salary the team is paying. It’s not like all-stars on bargain contracts ever get waived.

     If the player can still contribute, most teams would prefer to wait for the player to become a free agent, then negotiate a new contract with him. They can get the player much cheaper that way — often at the minimum salary.

9. Alex B.

   y NOBODY talkin bout DFISH goin back HOME to my LAKERS!!! GO LAKERS!!! /lol

   • Larry Coon

     Even if it were legal for the Lakers to re-sign Fisher (which it’s not), they wouldn’t re-sign him. They traded him for a reason — remember, the Sessions deal was already done, and they didn’t HAVE to move him. There were a lot of reasons the Lakers did that trade, but “Acquiring Jordan Hill” wasn’t at the top of their list.

     However, there were some reports that the Lakers offered Fisher a front office position, if he decided to retire as a player.

10. Manny

    Now that Miami has Turiaf, will Derek Fisher be headed to the Thunder?

    • Larry Coon

      Oklahoma City indeed seems to be the landing spot for Fisher. He & the Thunder are reportedly in the final stages of negotiation.

11. Bruce

    Larry,

    What the hell are the Nets doing? Do you see Dwight landing with them this offseason in a trade, or is Deron destined to walk?

    • Larry Coon

      First of all, I think this was the worst of all the scenarios for the Nets. They were the frontrunners to land Dwight in a trade, which they would have preferred because: 1) They’d have his Bird rights; and 2) Deron would be less likely to leave. Their Plan B was that if they didn’t get him in trade, they’d still be the frontrunners to land him (and keep Deron) as a free agent. But now that Dwight has committed to the team through the 2012-13 season, it puts them at a serious risk of losing Deron and ending up with nothing.

      Gerald Wallace is an interesting acquisition for them from a cap standpoint. He has a $9.5 million option for next year. If they lose Deron they’ll still have a lot of cap room even with Wallace on the books. If they keep Deron then they’ll have TWO guys Dwight will want to play with, and they still consider themselves the favorites to eventually land him. And if Deron stays, then Wallace has just one year left (so he’ll be off the books when Dwight becomes a free agent in 2013), and in the meantime fills a need and is probably as good as anyone they were going to get short-term in the free agent market.

12. Sam

    Larry, I heard that Toronto got a TPE for trading Barbosa to Indiana. If that is true how is that possible if Toronto was under the cap at the time of the trade?

    • Larry Coon

      Yes, they got a trade exception for $7.6 million, which expires 3/15/2013 (in other words, it will last through both the offseason and next season’s trade deadline).

      Whether Toronto was under or over the cap depends on how you define “under the cap.” It’s true that their signed & waived players add up to just $46.1 million, which is $11.9 million under the cap. But when determining the amount of room a team has for signing free agents and for determining whether they get/keep their exceptions, you also have to include cap holds. The Raptors have cap holds for a number of free agents for whom they have Bird rights, including Julian Wright ($7.1 million), Rasho Nesterovic ($2.4 million) and Alexis Ajinca ($2.3 million). Their cap holds push their total high enough that they don’t lose their exceptions, so they get the $7.6 million trade exception for Barbosa.

      Teams can renounce their free agents and/or exceptions, which removes their cap holds. So if the Raptors were to renounce all their free agents, they’d suddenly be below the cap — even when adding in the Barbosa trade exception — so the trade exception would go away as well.

13. lateak

    R the knicks 4real i think we r…. plus do we need to get a pg n the offseason

    • Larry Coon

      They’re doing better under Mike Woodson, at least. It sounded like they simply needed a change — for instance, Carmelo Anthony admitted he wasn’t really trying on defense under D’Antoni. But are they for real? As in a serious title contender? I don’t think so. When the honeymoon with Woodson is over and they face a team in a seven-game playoff series who’s prepared for them, I think they’ll bow out. I don’t see them beating Miami or Chicago to come out of the East.

14. Alex B.

    Why weren’t the Raptors included in your “NBA’s best salary cap teams” article on ESPN?

    • Larry Coon

      They led my “And the rest…” group because there is a LOT of cap room to go around, and I didn’t see them pushing ahead of other teams to sign some of the big name free agents. I had the Nuggets and Kings in the same situation.

15. Sammy V

    I think NJ made a huge mistake trading pick for Gwallace because top 7 picks will be NBA ready.Will NJ have a chance to get JSmoove from ATL?If so I think theyd be great D team with good bench away from contending.

    • Larry Coon

      That’s the flip-side of the Wallace situation. The pick is top-three protected, so unless the team wins one of the top three spots in the lottery they’re going to lose it to Portland. Right now they’d have no worse than the fifth pick, and at season’s end will probably be no worse than seventh. So most likely they will end up conveying a pick that hands 4-7 to the Blazers — I think that’s too high a price to have paid.

16. Phil

    If the Lakers are still 20 million over the luxury cap threshold in 2 years when the tax goes up, how much does cutting Kobe save the team?
    Do you think the Lakers are thinking about this?

    • Larry Coon

      If the Lakers are $20 million over the tax threshold in two years, then using amnesty on Kobe would save them $64 million, plus whatever salary they’d potentially save if another team picks him up off secondary waivers. I don’t see the Lakers going this route unless he’s broken down by then (and at his age you can’t rule that out, despite him playing through all sorts of injuries thus far). I think the possibility of it happening is enough that the Lakers may hold onto their amnesty this summer rather than use it on Metta World Peace, which otherwise would be a no-brainer.

17. Steve

    Can a team that hasn’t used its amnesty trade for a bad contract and then amnesty the player, so as to get something for using its amnesty? If so, how much money can the team with the bad contract include in a trade? Thanks.

    • Larry Coon

      No, teams can’t amnesty players they either trade for or sign after 7/1/2011.