Will we keep CA or trade him if we are unable to build a legit contender?
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If we are unable to build a roster within the next 2 years to be contenders, he is a great manilupator
Will Phil Jackson make the first move *who knows how to use the media to his advantage* or will CA repeat his previous moves to get what he wants, after he gets his contract

My question is who really has the leverage in terms of CA's contract, we all know CA wants his money and wants to win *and NOTHING is wrong with that*, however, like in his past CA will force a trade/get his coach fired if needed to do so, to get what he wants
CA will demand a trade and put a hissy fit if Phil Jackson is unable to build a contending roster and Phil Jackson can grant him that, and get back good value for him, as long as he sends him to a team that can give him back asset's, trade exemptions, and players needed to continue PJ's goal of winning

Sending him out West is the key, to have less competition in building our own enemy, and getting back the asset's/cap space needed to build a contender when our time comes, possibly even getting trade exemption like Cleveland is currently doing with non guaranteed contracts, as they can continue to improve their roster in addition to their current roster and vet min's fleeing to Cleveland as complete steals like Marion and likely Ray Allen, and Mike Miller willing to take much less to join Lebron in hopes of getting more rings
Having Lebron is a great luxury, he not only is a great player, but attracts both STARS, VET MIN players that are worth more, and talents willing to take less
Off the court, Lebron is still a great leader, GM, Head Coach, Development Coach, money maker for adverstisements, as he makes everyone around him better with his skill set and ability to attract talents
On the court, he is not only a lock down defender but also a great team defender, leader to can push and make everyone around him better
After all those comments from Jordan/Kobe, Mount Rushmore, and his speech after "The Decision" he put a bounty on himself to eat his own words
He has the drive and understands he must now win more rings than Kobe, possibly even Jordan *even though he could be 40 and a rotation player*, I believe he will be chasing those rings to shut those critics/comments up
And this drive for winning has a great multiple effect, with the rules of the CBA, to continue the trend of having 3 ALL STAR's + playing together and sacrificing to have one goal and one goal alone, RINGS!

Though CA has the "leverage" with the no trade clause, I would not be surprised for CA to request a trade to team up with another team with the likes of Durant/Lebron/Noah/CP3 etc
With that process, we would need to do what teams like Philly/Boston are doing right now and previously what The Rockets were almost able to do had CA/Lebron decided to team up with D12, Harden, and likely would have match Parsons contract if so, with still many picks/assets/MLE to continue to improve the roster, in addition to some solid role players in Patrick Beverely/ some of the PG's, Terrence Jones, DMO, Kouso Pap *the Greek G/F that the Knick's previously drafted but not sure if he would have went to Houston with just the mini MLE *though it goes up in the future and both Florida/Texas teams have the luxury of being STATE tax free to earn more money when compared to NYK *which he unlikely would have went to with just the MINI MLE and have the scrutiny of the NY media*

With The Sun's they have decided to keep Bledsoe to a max contract in hopes of teaming him up with other ALL STAR's, especially with his physical abilities and LOCK DOWN POTENTIAL on both ends, he is easily worth his contract, which is 10m less than CA's
They have like half their roster with undeniable PG and PG/SG talents
Having the bird rights to the role players already, if they can package Dragic and some of their fills in for another ALL STAR, they will do it
Now if you add in another trade to bring in another ALL STAR, which they can sign and trade a talent that they have the bird rights for with Gereld Green, Morris Brothers, and need to send them out in a package by overpaying them in a team option to add up salaries *both the players and team will also look to do so, as they both benefit*

Confidence, Chemistry, and FIT are the keys, and The Sun's just missed the play offs, however, had Bledsoe was able to play more games they surely would have made the play offs
Though Bledsoe was out, fill ins from the trade that netted them a 1st rounder from the Pacer's with Scola *who was just picked up after being amenstied*
Then you throw in Gereld Green and Plumlee *who is probably better than Scola himself if he ever got the chance to play*

So Sun's were able to gain

1st rounder
Plumlee *a former 1st rounder*
Gereld Green who got no PT and loss all value despite his improvements that netted him the contract to begin with to go with his athleticism
For Gereld Green and Plumlee, playing with a team that played with GREAT PG in Dragic that could score/penetrate/facilitate/push the tempo it totally changed Green's career and gave him confidence and the PT he lacked

CrushAlot wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:Phil Jackson needs to start making moves now because the 2015 free agent well is drying up quickly. Looks like we'll have plenty of cap space with no one to spend it on besides Greg Monroe (who will be a surefire Knick).

That's what makes the 'build through free agency' so difficult- hardly any of the top players even make it to free agency. However the back up plan is to use your cap space to take on a salary in exchange for picks. You can then either use those picks or trade them to get players you do want. The problem with that is with the cap due to become much higher in a couple of seasons, that makes cap space pretty worthless for the first year or so the higher cap is introduced.

The other problem is, if we do bomb next offseason, we don't have our pick for 2016 so we'd be pretty much screwed.

I am really hoping the Knicks trade Stat at the deadline to Philly for picks and possibly a prospect. It makes a lot of sense for both teams and saves the sixers around 16 million I believe. Hopefully Phil continues to make moves and gain flexibility with salary/assets.

Sixers just traded for Bogans, so that's added $5mil to their pay roll, and means they only need to spend about $13mil more to get to the minimum amount- I just don't see us doing the Amar'e trade, because it makes little sense to us. You could argue it would reduce our luxury tax bill, but then why would teams under the tax help us with that? It would mean they'd get less of a payout at the end of the season.

Now the Cavs dip under the luxury tax line but still have all of the benefits of making a move with Bogans salary. For the Sixers, they start inching back toward that salary floor, but don't pay any more than they would have had to in the first place. They're still roughly $20 million under the salary cap and about $13 million away from the salary floor. If they don't reach that salary floor, they just divide the difference up amongst the players on their roster.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24726523/report-cleveland-cavaliers-trade-keith-bogans-to-philadelphia-76ers