assuming we can move curry the real question is: do we keep DLee or try to sign two max players?

and people need to remember that even if we sign lee to a deal, as long as it's reasonable, it still might be possible to trade him to a team for an expiring contract sometime during the 09-10 season or even at the 2010 draft. once he signs a contract it's harder to trade him, as he's Base Year Compensation, but not impossible, especially if we're only trading him for an expiring deal and draft picks or something and most especially if we trade him to a team with cap room.

Posted by djsunyc:

you don't get cap space and the MLE. you pick one or the other.

You are right, you don't get both at the same time, but if you use up your cap space I think you get the mid level back.

Sorry...I think this is how it works. Your exceptions count against your cap unless you renounce them. If the Knicks want to use their mid level we would have to add it to the counted salary.

andrew, an MLE is awarded to a team over the cap or that has cap space less than the value of the MLE.

forget the MLE in 2010. knicks don't have one.

Posted by Andrew:

DJ, Not sure if you read my latest responses. The Knicks should have their mid level unless they renounce it to clear up more cap space.

I think this link explains it better than I could.

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

according to this, if we're under the cap, those exceptions don't exist so they don't have a cap hold.

edit, sorry, this part:

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. h

[Edited by - crzymdups on 03-12-2008 2:16 PM]

Posted by Andrew:

I think I'm very confused now.

i think basically if we under the cap we do not have any exceptions at all and they have no cap hold. we don't have to renounce them because we don't have them if we under the cap.

the only question is whether we get those exceptions once we go over the cap? i think we do.

crzymdups, I guess that is my question as well. If we have cap space, sign lebron (using most of the space), sign Duhon for more than his salary cap hold and subsequently go over the cap in doing so....do we get the exceptions back?

I'm beginning to think DJ is correct and we don't get the exception, however I don't think that should impact the ability to fill out the roster. Granted you are not going to get really great players but you may find some decent ones. Philly filled out their roster with Royal Ivey, Kareem Rush, Donyell Marshall after they signed Brand.

Posted by Andrew:

6.8 - Jared Jeffries
3.3 - Danilo
2.1 - Chandler
7.8 - Duhon (cap hold)
3.3 - 2009 1st round pick
10.0 - Lee (estimated)
6.0 - Nate (estimated)

39.3 - Total

58.7 - Salary Cap (estimated)

19.4 - Cap Space

16.5 - Lebron Max Salary

Based on these numbers (if Curry is gone) we could keep Lee, Duhon, Nate and still sign 1 Max FA. Did I miss anything here?

I can't see Duhon starting salary @ 8 mil.
Instead we could re-up him with a long term 5yr/35mil deal that starts at 4 mil in year 1 and maybe hits 8 in year five.

That gives you 4 more mil to play with. Can't give DLee 10mil either to start. Perhaps he gets 7 mil in year one. There's another 3 mil. Nate gets 4 mil in year one, there's another 2 mil.

Thats $10 mil right there you were too generous with. We can add that to whatever is left over after signing LeBrawn and have about $13mil. Also i think your cap figure might be low about 4 mil. Thats 17mil and Chris Bosh :)

Still have Lee, Duhon, Chandler and Nate.
Add Bron and Bosh.
Jeffries and Gallo and the 2009 1st.

Thats nine. Fill out the rest of the roster with D-leage players and voila! Take a trip to happy town.


[Edited by - kam77 on 12-03-2008 7:03 PM]

i'm of the mind that guys of the caliber of Bosh and Bron will not want to be on the same team. We need to find a player who is content to be a Pippen.

Look at the Lakers: they don't have two superstars. They have Kobe, then Gasol,then Bynum.

We need to draft extremely well in 2009, hold onto our true core and add one superstar and maybe one more second tier guy.

i basically agree about Bosh, but then there was an article where i read he started thinking about winning MVP trophies this summer.

i think anyone knows if they play with Bron they will never win an MVP. maybe if it was Wade and Bosh. But Bron and Bosh? Bron is going to get the accolades.