The"Crap, it didn't happen..but it was awesome to think of" thread

[DTownKidd]

The more I read into this I am starting to think that getting both is very unlikely. Cuban will need to move Marion or Haywood, Roddy, and DoJo before the trade deadline because I just don't see someone taking a trade after the season, in turn helping our cause.

If I had to take one, clearly Dwight. There are tons of good PGs in this league and I think that D will is pretty over rated

[rabbitproof]

It's not like Dirk has a ton of contract to go. 2 more years after this season. I think they can get by using guys like Wright/BC as subs in the meantime. Also, expect blowouts. Nothing is guaranteed in the playoffs but in the regular season, there will be domination against the weak times so I think minutes can be shaved that way with regards to Dirk. By 2014, Dirk will be the new Kidd.

Afterwards, if Dirk wants to, I think he can sign a Kidd-like 3/21 deal to wrap up his career. That will free up enough money to go after MLEs and non-minimums.

Also, I think finding value at the swing positions is much easier than trying to find value at the five but also the one. Mavs can find defenders like West, Stevenson and Bogans for minimum every year. Shooters like Kapono and Redd. Nothing great but guys who can thrive if they get open looks and play next to a couple superstars.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by LonghornDub

I honestly think you just do it and hope that you can find some pieces to fill it in.

I think that is the honest truth, regardless of outcome. It comes down to the fact that you simply have to do it if you get the chance.

Plus, if you look at Miami there is an enormous flaw-- Wade and LeBron play the same parts of the floor and both need the ball in their hands and in motion to be effective. Dirk has learned to be one of the deadliest guy in the league with the ball but he's also one heck of a spot-up shooter too. Howard has some good post moves but he's also excellent at working off the ball. Plus Dirk and Deron can both hit the 3 with efficiency so either one could kick it out to the other.

Dirk, Dwight and Deron all play different parts of the floor (low post, high post, drive-n-dish.) so I'd compare them together more to the Celtics of a few years ago than the Heat.

It would definitely be tough on the guys to play 40mpg particularly on Dirk, but a) I think the Mavs have done a pretty fine job at securing decent, somewhat dependable talent at the minimum level (Carter, Mahinmi, Cardinal, West, etc). We do have some options for vets and drafted/undrafted young guys.

Still, regardless of whether it works out, you have to create a dynasty. Ainge didnt hesitate. Riley didn't hesitate. Donne/Cuban can't hesitate and Cuban is invested not only in the team and its revenue but also the arena. Even if we dont win a championship, bringing in those kind of players will fill seats and will make up for the money spent overall.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by DTownKidd

Its actually a minimum of 12 (sorry to nit-pick). But in order to have the MINIMUM minimum contract they have to have 0 years in the league.
http://www.nba.com/news/cba_minimumsalary_050804.html

Once the big free agents are signed, the Mavs can sign as many Veteran Minimum guys that they want. It doesn't matter how many years they've been in the league, or how far over the cap they are, they count the same against the cap, and cost the Mavs the same.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Once the big free agents are signed, the Mavs can sign as many Veteran Minimum guys that they want. It doesn't matter how many years they've been in the league, or how far over the cap they are, they count the same against the cap, and cost the Mavs the same.

Exactly.

Minimum Salary Exception: Teams can sign players for the NBA's minimum salary even if they are over the cap, for up to two years in length. In the case of two-year contracts, the second-season salary is the minimum salary for that season. The contract may not contain a signing bonus. This exception also allows minimum-salary players to be acquired via trade. There is no limit to the number of players that can be signed or acquired using this exception.

We can sign as many players we want while over the cap-- the only limitation is that we cannot exceed the minimum salary they can earn based on years in the league. It doesnt matter if they are rookies or 20-year veterans that have since retired. Rookies cost us 400k. Vets cost between 640k and 1.3m. Its a huge disadvantage to be limited to minimum salary, but it does not limit us on who we offer minimum salaries too-- only that we can't exceed their veteran scale.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by DTownKidd

The more I read into this I am starting to think that getting both is very unlikely. Cuban will need to move Marion or Haywood, Roddy, and DoJo before the trade deadline because I just don't see someone taking a trade after the season, in turn helping our cause.

Teams are not going to turn down a trade they like just because we might have plans for that cap space. Look at what the Heat did.

We could easily move Roddy and Dojo during the offseason, and Marion too if he keeps up his current level of play.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by DTownKidd

Its actually a minimum of 12 (sorry to nit-pick). But in order to have the MINIMUM minimum contract they have to have 0 years in the league.
http://www.nba.com/news/cba_minimumsalary_050804.html

Most of the NBA rookie contracts have team options after 2 or 3 years, so unless we are getting the scrubbiest of scrubs, we are looking at closer to 7 or 9 million. Again not being an @ss but I think every dollar counts here.

Also keep in mind that if we want to sign draft picks those rookies are not eligible for the minimum. http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/rookie_scale

In the end we can't fill our team with a bunch of undrafted rookies is my point haha

so full of fail. I hate when people correct others and are completely wrong

1) We would obviously sign Deron/Dwight first, which would probably get us to the cap

2) After we get to the NBA salary cap (and since we avoided the luxury tax this year), we will be issued a 5mill a year (4yr/20mill) MLE exception that can be divided between any number of players to go over their scale minimum, although their entire salary counts against the MLE and not just the amount over the min.

3) We can also use the veteran minimum as many times as we want and that is not the smallest salary in the NBA, but the smallest salary that any player in the league can earn depending on years. We are not limited to rookies as you implied. We could use the vet min on Cardinal, West, Carter and as many other people would sign here. They just have to a) Want to sign for that small amount and b) be a freeagent.

4) We will also have bird rights and early bird-rights on some of our players that allow us to re-sign them above the veteran minimum, despite being over the cap. If we have full bird rights we can sign a player for anything up to the league max for years in the league. If they have early-bird we can sign them to their previous year's salary +20%. This is the main way that teams pile on huge salary.

5) We also have provisions to waive players and take large amounts of salary off our cap (stretch rule) so if we had to, we could amnesty Haywood and waive Marion's salary, so he'd hit us for 3.6mill a season for 5 years against the cap instead of 8.6 next year and 9.3 the next. That would give immediate cap relief of 5million if we needed it (and couldnt trade Marion away)


A LIST OF ROSTER AND ABILITY TO RE-SIGN
Full-bird guys that are expiring- could get ANY amount of money despite cap situation
Terry
Kidd

early bird guys- could get a 20% raise on previous contract or get paid vet min+20% (both are playing under vet min, so it would be vetmin*1.2)
Cardinal
Mahinmi

guys that could only get the min - can only be offered min dependent on years in the league
Carter (although I think he's still on payroll? Team option?
Delonte
Williams
Yi

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

so full of fail. I hate when people correct others and are completely wrong

1) We would obviously sign Deron/Dwight first, which would probably get us to the cap

2) After we get to the NBA salary cap (and since we avoided the luxury tax this year), we will be issued a 5mill a year (4yr/20mill) MLE exception that can be divided between any number of players to go over their scale minimum, although their entire salary counts against the MLE and not just the amount over the min.

3) We can also use the veteran minimum as many times as we want and that is not the smallest salary in the NBA, but the smallest salary that any player in the league can earn depending on years. We are not limited to rookies as you implied. We could use the vet min on Cardinal, West, Carter and as many other people would sign here. They just have to a) Want to sign for that small amount and b) be a freeagent.

4) We will also have bird rights and early bird-rights on some of our players that allow us to re-sign them above the veteran minimum. If we have full bird rights we can sign a player for anything up to the league max for years in the league. If they have early-bird we can sign them to their previous year's salary +20%

5) We also have provisions to waive players and take large amounts of salary off our cap (stretch rule) so if we had to, we could amnesty Haywood and waive Marion's salary, so he'd hit us for 3.58mill a season for 5 years against the cap instead of 8.6 next year and 9.3 the next.

2 is wrong. Can't have the MLE once you had cap space. We would have the Cap Room exception (2.5Mil for 2 years)

4 is true, but we'll have to waive almost all of our Bird free agents to make it happen. Also, early birds can be given a league average salary, so we could give Ian roughly 5Mil in the first year of a new contract if we don't have to renounce his rights.

5 is half right, you can only use the stretch rule on new contracts. So we can use it on Vince, but not on Marion.

[Firnen]

[QUOTEso full of fail. I hate when people correct others and are completely wrong

[...]
2) After we get to the NBA salary cap (and since we avoided the luxury tax this year), we will be issued a 5mill a year (4yr/20mill) MLE exception that can be divided between any number of players to go over their scale minimum, although their entire salary counts against the MLE and not just the amount over the min. If you go under the cap at any point of the season you dont have the MLE ..> cap room exception at 2.5 Per 2 years max like jthing mentioned above

[...]

4) We will also have bird rights and early bird-rights on some of our players that allow us to re-sign them above the veteran minimum, despite being over the cap. If we have full bird rights we can sign a player for anything up to the league max for years in the league. If they have early-bird we can sign them to their previous year's salary +20%its 175% of the previous salary or nba averge (5.15 Millions this year).[This is the main way that teams pile on huge salary.
[/QUOTE]

Edit1:...jthig was faster

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by DTownKidd

The more I read into this I am starting to think that getting both is very unlikely. Cuban will need to move Marion or Haywood, Roddy, and DoJo before the trade deadline because I just don't see someone taking a trade after the season, in turn helping our cause.

If I had to take one, clearly Dwight. There are tons of good PGs in this league and I think that D will is pretty over rated

I don't know if both D's come here, but cap wise. He will be able to amnesty Haywood and trade Marion in the offseason. We've worked well with Colangelo in the past couple years, taking on Peja. Clearing them cap room to resign Carlos Delfino and Hedo Turkoglu. I remember they had to renounce Delfino in order to sign Hedo, but with the sign and trade and us taking on Humphries multi year deal cleared enough space for Toronto to do that. Casey is now up in Toronto, I'm not sure if Toronto has the cap space, but I'm sure Casey can use Marion up there. Send Marion up there with 3 million bucks...thus moving out what 15 million that way. Marion's playing himself into a nice trade market given his salary.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by jthig32

2 is wrong. Can't have the MLE once you had cap space. We would have the Cap Room exception (2.5Mil for 2 years)

4 is true, but we'll have to waive almost all of our Bird free agents to make it happen. Also, early birds can be given a league average salary, so we could give Ian roughly 5Mil in the first year of a new contract if we don't have to renounce his rights.

5 is half right, you can only use the stretch rule on new contracts. So we can use it on Vince, but not on Marion.

2) "The MLE is now $5 million for a duration of four years for teams that are over the cap either before or after the signing" Thats what I read. Maybe the article is wrong, but it sure sounds like we can use the MLE regardless of whether or not we briefly dropped below the cap-- and even if the MLE takes us from under to over.

4) thats news to me. so to utilize the cap space required to grab other team's FAs we'll need to first renounce our bird rights? Only really affects Terry and Mahinmi (who will probably demand 5mill).

6) good to know

[Kidd Karma]

Toronto's future salary structure, 41 million committed, should be enough room to swallow Marion:

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pa...es/raptors.jsp

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Firnen

[QUOTEso full of fail. I hate when people correct others and are completely wrong

[...]
2) After we get to the NBA salary cap (and since we avoided the luxury tax this year), we will be issued a 5mill a year (4yr/20mill) MLE exception that can be divided between any number of players to go over their scale minimum, although their entire salary counts against the MLE and not just the amount over the min. If you go under the cap at any point of the season you dont have the MLE ..> cap room exception at 2.5 Per 2 years max like jthing mentioned above

[...]

4) We will also have bird rights and early bird-rights on some of our players that allow us to re-sign them above the veteran minimum, despite being over the cap. If we have full bird rights we can sign a player for anything up to the league max for years in the league. If they have early-bird we can sign them to their previous year's salary +20%its 175% of the previous salary or nba averge (5.15 Millions this year).[This is the main way that teams pile on huge salary.

1) Yes, I mixed up non-bird and early-bird. Thank you for correcting me.

2) MLE source?

[Firnen]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

4) thats news to me. so to utilize the cap space required to grab other team's FAs we'll need to first renounce our bird rights? Only really affects Terry and Mahinmi (who will probably demand 5mill).

According to hoopsworld:

a. Mahinmi cap hold is at only $854,389 not 5million -> but we can give him 5 mill
b. Terry cap hold is at $15,987,000
c. Kidd ch is at $12,915,750


@Erica you have to renounce the MLE to clear the cap room... all exceptions birds, MLE count against the salary cap until renounced -> look in the new CBA
edit: here is a link that I think explains it not bad: https://webfiles.uci.edu:443/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm#Q20

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Kidd Karma

Toronto's future salary structure, 41 million committed, should be enough room to swallow Marion:

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pa...es/raptors.jsp

would they want him back? He underperformed for them something vicious and I dont see a lot of teams paying him 9mill unless they think they can improve with him on the roster.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Firnen

look in the new CBA

link?

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

would they want him back? He underperformed for them something vicious and I dont see a lot of teams paying him 9mill unless they think they can improve with him on the roster.

As long as Dwane Casey's coach, and they have a need at the 3. If I was Cuban and Nelson, I would drop a line to Colangelo and Casey, Marion might be available this summer....we'll even drop you 3 million.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

2) "The MLE is now $5 million for a duration of four years for teams that are over the cap either before or after the signing" Thats what I read. Maybe the article is wrong, but it sure sounds like we can use the MLE regardless of whether or not we briefly dropped below the cap-- and even if the MLE takes us from under to over.

You're reading the sentence wrong. I find it easiest to think about these things from a technical perspective, knowing exactly how they work. All exceptions, be it Mid Level, Larry Bird, or Traded Player (there are others as well) count against the cap for varying dollar amounts. For instance, if a team if 4Mil under the cap, but still has their MLE, they're not really under the cap. They're actually 1Mil over the cap, because the MLE counts for 5 Mil. In order to actually claim that 4Mil of cap space, you have to renounce that MLE (which would be stupid in this scenario).

So in order for the Mavs to clear all of their cap space, they have to renounce all exceptions, except maybe Mahinmi's Early Bird exception, as it will be fairly cheap.[/QUOTE]

[Firnen]

@ erica...

link

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Firnen

@ erica...

link

you know that hasnt been updated since the last CBA right?

[Firnen]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

you know that hasnt been updated since the last CBA right?

yep I know this is out of date... this link was just to explain why you have to renounce all exceptions even MLE. I ve allready said take a look at the CBA if you dont believe jthig32 and me. Or search for information why the "cap room exception" was put in the new CBA if you dont want to go through the CBA (think its know under the catchphrase "Knicks"-rule)

Hope this will help you...

edit: if you trust espn:

Breaking down changes in new CBA

[...]

Midlevel exception

• 2005 CBA: Five years starting at the average salary ($5.765 million in 2010-11), with 8 percent raises.

• 2011 CBA: For non-taxpaying teams, four years starting at $5 million (base salary grows by 3 percent annually beginning in 2013-14), with 4.5 percent raises. Taxpaying teams are limited to three years, a $3 million base salary (which grows by 3 percent annually beginning in 2013-14) and 4.5 percent raises. Teams with cap room (therefore losing their midlevel exception) get a new midlevel that is for two years and starts at $2.5 million (growing 3 percent annually).

• Who benefits? Very few full midlevel contracts handed out under the 2005 CBA turned out to be good bargains in their later years. Reducing the size and length of the midlevel exception will help teams rid themselves of bad contracts.

The new exception for teams with cap room will benefit teams that clear cap room to sign free agents. For example, in the summer of 2010 Miami gutted its roster in order to obtain James and Bosh. This left the Heat with a small amount of cap room to sign players like Mike Miller. But once they reached the salary cap, they could offer only minimum-salary contracts. Under the new CBA, once they reach the cap, they could still offer one or more players a total of $2.5 million. [...]

[jthig32]

Nothing in the new CBA changes how exceptions affect the cap.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Nothing in the new CBA changes how exceptions affect the cap.

not claiming it did, just wanted to make sure he was aware

[mac222b]

So are you all saying that we can offer Mahinmi $5.15 mil. in year one of his new contract as an "early bird" and it will only count as 850,000 against the cap?

If we were to retain Mahinmi, when can he be traded and what are the parameters? Does he become a base year guy making a trade more difficult? Is this similar to the Gortat situation with the Magic a couple years back where we can match other offers?

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by mac222b

So are you all saying that we can offer Mahinmi $5.15 mil. in year one of his new contract as an "early bird" and it will only count as 850,000 against the cap?

If we were to retain Mahinmi, when can he be traded and what are the parameters? Does he become a base year guy making a trade more difficult? Is this similar to the Gortat situation with the Magic a couple years back where we can match other offers?

1. I haven't seen anyone that truly "knows" confirm, but based on what I've read and his contract status, I'm 95% sure he's early bird eligible next season, meaning he can get a league average contract, which is roughly 5Mil, IF the Mavs don't need to renounce his rights to clear cap room. Which they may have to.

2. Whatever he signs for is what he will count towards the cap. The question is how much he counts against the cap while he's a free agent and the Mavs retain his early bird rights. He is both a league minimum player (I think), and an early bird candidate, and those two qualifiers have two different cap hold figures. So he either counts roughly 850,000 or roughly 1.2 Million, if I read everything correctly.

3. If they just sign him, the can be traded three months after signing, or on December 15th, whichever comes first. There is no Base Year Compensation anymore, except....

4. They can do a sign and trade, but then Base Year Compensation does apply.

5. No, he will not be a restricted free agent, so it is not like the Gortat situation.

[mavs777]

Marion would be a perfect fit for Toronto especially if they don't draft quincy miller or harrison barnes, they need a 3 for short term at the very least Rasual Butler is garbage but can defend some, James Johnson has his moments but is clearly a bench player.

You want both (Deron and Dwight) and I don't think there is any question the mavs front office feels the same way. While also potentially extending the dirk window a Deron Dwight combo when Dirk does retire is a great start (unlike just deron who i like but i don't think you are a contender with him without another star) and keeps us as a contender, and if both don't sign for max there is a chance that they will have money when dirk retires to entice at least a second tier star because plenty of players would be interested in playing with Dwight and Deron: also Cuban and Dallas mavs in general as organizations have a lot of respect from players.

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by jthig32

1. I haven't seen anyone that truly "knows" confirm, but based on what I've read and his contract status, I'm 95% sure he's early bird eligible next season, meaning he can get a league average contract, which is roughly 5Mil, IF the Mavs don't need to renounce his rights to clear cap room. Which they may have to.

2. Whatever he signs for is what he will count towards the cap. The question is how much he counts against the cap while he's a free agent and the Mavs retain his early bird rights. He is both a league minimum player (I think), and an early bird candidate, and those two qualifiers have two different cap hold figures. So he either counts roughly 850,000 or roughly 1.2 Million, if I read everything correctly.

3. If they just sign him, the can be traded three months after signing, or on December 15th, whichever comes first. There is no Base Year Compensation anymore, except....

4. They can do a sign and trade, but then Base Year Compensation does apply.

5. No, he will not be a restricted free agent, so it is not like the Gortat situation.

Thanks for the response. I meant also, in reference to Gortat, that it may behoove the Mavs to sign Mahinmi regardless of whether or not Dwight Howard ends up here. Say we sign D.Howard outright, Mahinmi's negative effect on our cap is negligible until AFTER he(Mahinmi) signs- right? His previous contract is used as a placeholder so that we could, theoretically, S&T him later for someone with a comparable contract. But then BYC makes that less attractive for the trading partner.

Not sure that i have this correct?
Just trying to get a handle on how to FO can maximize assets.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by mac222b

Thanks for the response. I meant also, in reference to Gortat, that it may behoove the Mavs to sign Mahinmi regardless of whether or not Dwight Howard ends up here. Say we sign D.Howard outright, Mahinmi's negative effect on our cap is negligible until AFTER he(Mahinmi) signs- right? His previous contract is used as a placeholder so that we could, theoretically, S&T him later for someone with a comparable contract. But then BYC makes that less attractive for the trading partner.

Not sure that i have this correct?
Just trying to get a handle on how to FO can maximize assets.

Yes, I would guess that if they can figure out a way to keep Ian's Bird rights while signing Dwight and Deron, they would go above above market to keep Ian (assuming someone doesn't go beyond what they can spend) because they would need to keep any asset they could.

[clutch#41]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/75...?eleven=twelve

what i want.
sign gordon, dwill, and mcgee
Dwill
Gordon
Marion?
Dirk
Mcgee
MAhimi, wright, roddy, jet? kidd?(retirement) and fillers

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by clutch#41

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/75...?eleven=twelve

what i want.
sign gordon, dwill, and mcgee
Dwill
Gordon
Marion?
Dirk
Mcgee
MAhimi, wright, roddy, jet? kidd?(retirement) and fillers

I doubt we can afford all three of those guys. And I'd definitely rather have Howard than Mcgee/Gordon.

[clutch#41]

Mcgee will be cheap. hes on a wizards team that has won 2-3 games? and has somewhat of an attitude problem that teams will probably be worried about giving him a big deal. gordon has been hurt and has only played 2 games and is 23. dwill will get 14 mil per year or more

Eric gordon is only making 3.8 mil this season
Mcgee is only making 2.5 mil this year.

and yeah i like howard and the dwill combo but thats more of a dream and a longshot than a reality situation. and if we get them 2 how is the roster going to fill out when we have so little money to add pieces around them? id rather have a "team" than just 3 guys , no bench and having to play dirk, howard,dwill 40mins a night.

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by clutch#41

Mcgee will be cheap. hes on a wizards team that has won 2-3 games? and has somewhat of an attitude problem that teams will probably be worried about giving him a big deal. gordon has been hurt and has only played 2 games and is 23. dwill will get 14 mil per year or more

Eric gordon is only making 3.8 mil this season
Mcgee is only making 2.5 mil this year.

and yeah i like howard and the dwill combo but thats more of a dream and a longshot than a reality situation. and if we get them 2 how is the roster going to fill out when we have so little money to add pieces around them? id rather have a "team" than just 3 guys , no bench and having to play dirk, howard,dwill 40mins a night.

Yea, if we don't get both, there's always a chance to buy chips and pieces and show them the 2011 Finals Run. There wasn't more than 1 superstar on that team.

[Budapest Maverick]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/74...ward-scenarios

Dwight would likely opt out, even if traded to Lakers.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by Budapest Maverick

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/74...ward-scenarios

Dwight would likely opt out, even if traded to Lakers.

He will most definitely opt out, no matter where he is. It's the only way he can sign a long term deal.

[CwDogg]

Originally Posted by clutch#41

Mcgee will be cheap. hes on a wizards team that has won 2-3 games? and has somewhat of an attitude problem that teams will probably be worried about giving him a big deal. gordon has been hurt and has only played 2 games and is 23. dwill will get 14 mil per year or more

Eric gordon is only making 3.8 mil this season
Mcgee is only making 2.5 mil this year.

Those guys are on rookie contracts, they aren't gonna be nearly that cheap when they sign new deals

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by clutch#41

Mcgee will be cheap. hes on a wizards team that has won 2-3 games? and has somewhat of an attitude problem that teams will probably be worried about giving him a big deal. gordon has been hurt and has only played 2 games and is 23. dwill will get 14 mil per year or more

Eric gordon is only making 3.8 mil this season
Mcgee is only making 2.5 mil this year.

and yeah i like howard and the dwill combo but thats more of a dream and a longshot than a reality situation. and if we get them 2 how is the roster going to fill out when we have so little money to add pieces around them? id rather have a "team" than just 3 guys , no bench and having to play dirk, howard,dwill 40mins a night.

Didn't Gordon just turn down something like 4 years, $60M? He'll probably cost more than that at the end of this season. And McGee is a superathletic big with some potential... he'll be getting at least $8-10M in free agency as well.

[nashtymavsfan13]

Any chance of signing both Dwight/Deron while still holding onto Marion? It wouldn't be possible to cut Marion and then sign him for a cheaper deal right? That would certainly be ideal.

[rabbitproof]

No can do. Can't amnesty a dude and resign. I don't know what loopholes exist around restructuring deals and if they'll take paycuts but in all likelihood, if 3D is to come true, this is Marion's swan song unfortunately.

[nashtymavsfan13]

Originally Posted by rabbitproof

No can do. Can't amnesty a dude and resign. I don't know what loopholes exist around restructuring deals and if they'll take paycuts but in all likelihood, if 3D is to come true, this is Marion's swan song unfortunately.

Thanks, yeah I figured as much. Would love 3D to happen of course, but definitely would be tough seeing Marion go, he's been such a clutch stopper for us on the defensive end.

[Budapest Maverick]

Originally Posted by jthig32

He will most definitely opt out, no matter where he is. It's the only way he can sign a long term deal.

If you're right, than half the article doesn't make sense. If it's that obvious, why the writer says this ---> "A source close to the negotiations says Howard's representatives warned the Lakers that Howard would opt out of his contract and test the free-agent market next summer -- which has the Lakers' brass understandably nervous."

Don't get it, i thought he can be sign&traded with the new contract already signed.