Posted by Anji:

Posted by crzymdups:

anji, good run down. that's why I think we can't accept the options on balkman, collins and maybe even chandler. unless they develop into something special or at the least a top 8 rotation guy on the team, let them expire - sign a free for league minimum to take their spots. that would cut 5 to 10 million off the cap for summer 2010.

Basically we can't use MLE unless we subtract another one of the four(JC,JJ, JJ2, Zach) that are on the books in 10/11

Yes we can if necessary. We don't need to offer anything more than 2yrs. If we feel there's a player or players out there who can help us be competitive for the next 2yrs then we could offer the MLE or split it amongst those players.

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by crzymdups:

anji, good run down. that's why I think we can't accept the options on balkman, collins and maybe even chandler. unless they develop into something special or at the least a top 8 rotation guy on the team, let them expire - sign a free for league minimum to take their spots. that would cut 5 to 10 million off the cap for summer 2010.

Actually there are few errors/unknowns in Anji's breakdown.

First of all our Cap number the start of 2008-2009 will be over $90mil once you include the pick if we move no one in the off-season. Anji meant to say at the end of the 2008-2009 season our cap number could look closer to $65mil all things unchanged with exception to what he cited.

Second of all we have no idea what DW's true intentions are for the MLE. He sounded like in the press conference he may not use it but in order to fill out the roster if he starts dumping contracts, he just might have too. Just because it's more advantageous for a player to sign a contract for 3ys or more does not mean we won't sign anyone to an MLE deal or for a good portion of the MLE. Nor does it mean DW will let it sit dormant for 2yrs(actually it would 3 considering we didn't use it this past season). Don't fool ourselves into thinking we'll sign someone like Ron Artest to a 2yr MLE contract is the main point. Take for instance Matt Barnes will be a Free Agent this summer, a player like him may want to sign an MLE deal say 2yrs at $4mil/yr. Theoretically we could(not to saying we will or should) use our MLE to sign someone of his caliber if DW were to dump some dead weight and young talent such as Jeffries/Chandler and/or Balkman/Q. Our Cap figure could increase over the next 2 seasons from trades, draft picks, and Contract Exemptions exercised. That's ok as long as when we hit the 3rd yr the greater majority comes off.

Third, come on, no way Nate signs for considerably less than the MLE. $4mil/yr for Nate are you kidding me. Marcus Banks got that and he's absolute garbage. 4yrs/$16mil would mean Nate's first yr salary would be less than $4mil. Keep on thinking we can low ball our own players and retain them. And I'm called a hater good grief. Nate would have to suffer a major injury keeping him out next yr for this to happen and even then it's doubtful. The MLE will be closer to $6mil than it will be $4mil.

Fourth at the end of the 2009-2010 season our cap number will not be $48mil more like $54-55mil all things unchanged with exception to draft picks, and Nate's low ball $4mil deal



[Edited by - TrueBlue on 04-08-2008 1:03 PM]

MID-LEVEL SALARY EXCEPTION -- This exception allows a team to sign any free agent to a contract equal to the average salary, even if they are over the cap (see question number 24 for the definition of "average salary." Also note that for 2005-06 they used a defined figure of $5 million). This exception may be split and given to multiple players. It may be used for contracts of up to five years in length, and raises are limited to 8% of the salary in the first year of the contract. Signing a player to a multi-year contract does not affect a team's ability to use this exception every year. For example, a team can sign a player to a five-year contract using this exception and still use the exception the following year to sign another player. Also see question number 20 for more information on the availability and use of this exception.

If the player is a restricted free agent with one or two years of service and receives an offer sheet from a new team, the player's prior team may use the Mid-Level exception to match the offer sheet (see question number 36 for restricted free agency).

Here are the actual values of this exception for each season. Note that since this exception is based on the average player salary, the actual value of this exception is not determined until the start of the free agent signing period.