Posted by TMS:

Posted by 4949:

Posted by TMS:

49, we don't have any cap space to offer Paul any kind of deal... no way no how are we gonna get him unless our lottery pick this season turns out to be a straight up stud & we package that kid w/more assets if we even have any to deal, which ain't gonna happen... the salary coming off the books doesn't put us under the cap that season, we have no chance at luring Paul here in '10, not because i don't think he'd wanna come here, but because it's simply not possible under the present CBA & our current capped out situation... this is why it's absolutely necessary to unload Zach Randolph's contract at least 1 year before it expires & get rid of that money from the payroll, & why Isiah was such a stupid nincompoop for making that trade to begin with.

[Edited by - TMS on 06-02-2008 8:04 PM]

Let's save Zbo, jeffries, curry and jerome for Dwight. If those ending contracts don't free up cap, then nothing will.

Zbo, Jefferies, Curry & Jerome's expirings won't do a thing to help our chances of landing Dwight bro... ORL ain't taking back those guys even on expiring contracts for a player like Dwight Howard... like i said the only chance we got of getting bigname guys down the road is if we develop our own star through the draft like fish has been saying, but also by NOT taking on any bad longterm contracts that kills any flexibility we might have like you & I have been saying... we need to take a responsible approach to building this team & try to unload some salary in 2010 & not just focus all our hopes on any 1 player when we get there... we need to keep our options open because when that shopping spree sets off it would be a damn shame for us not even to be a player.

No' dude. They will be gone' by the time Dwight becomes free. They won't be expirings. That's another 45 million coming off the books. And I made a mistake. Jerome will be gone in two' years. It's Crawford 10 million that will be ending with curry, zbo and jeffries.

$45 million off the books! Count it!

Dwight Howard doesn't have an option until 2012... we should be in a position to offer him a max contract as long as we don't keep taking on longterm deals... that's a ways off to start talking about now anyway.

Chris Paul becomes a RFA after next season, unless i'm missing something here? if we add up the salaries after next season of:

Zach $16m
Curry $10.5m
Q Rich $9.3m
Jamal $9.3m
Turd $6.6m
fishlips $6.5m
whoever we pick in the lottery this year $3.5m
Nate $2.9m (& that's not even if we re-sign him to an extension)
D Lee $2.6m (& that's not even if we re-sign him to an extension)

right there that comes to $67.5 million in guaranteed dollars we are obligated to pay out even w/Malik & Marbury's contracts off the books, & that's not even including Balkman, Chandler & Mardy's salaries either (we have team options on those guys)... plus the fact that we still have 3 roster spots to fill to make the minimum roster requirements... that means we're still capped out regardless... there's no chance we can target Chris Paul when he turns RFA unless we unload both Zach Randolph's contract & at least 1 of the other big contracts on our books for expirings now, which is never going to happen unless we end up giving away both D Lee & most likely the lottery pick this year to do it.

then after the '09/10 season, we will still be on the hook for at least $50 mil in guaranteed dollars & that's only from the salaries of 5 players (Zach, Curry, Jamal, fishlips & our lottery pick this year)... so let's say we'll have around $10 mil in cap space that year to offer some bigname FA if we don't re-sign D Lee, Nate, Balk, Chandler & Mardy, that's still not enough to sign guys like Lebron, Wade, etc. cuz they'll be wanting max contract extensions... plus we still need to fill the 7 other roster spots somehow, so that's even less cap space we'll have... this is why that Zach contract kills any chances we have of going after any bignames when they all become available & why i was so damn pissed when we made that trade to begin with... i do NOT wanna repeat of that boneheaded trade ever again, i don't care if there's a chance in hell of signing Lebron or not... i wanna maintain whatever flexibility we will have & try our best to unload this dead weight w/o sacrificing every young asset we have to do it unless it's to bring a bonafide franchise guy to NYC (like Boston did w/KG).

i don't want any Vince Carters, no Baron Davises, no KMarts, no Michael Redds, none of those guys unless we're getting rid of Zach Randolph in the process... no TJ Fords unless we get rid of Curry in the process... no Boris Diaws unless we're getting rid of Curry or fishlips in the process... all of their contracts run past 2010... as long as the same longterm salary is going out that is coming in, i have no problem with it... we gotta think responsibly now about the cap & so far it seems like Walsh gets this point too from what he's been saying... hopefully he follows through w/that plan & doesn't cave to the Dolan pressure of bringing in whoever we can get our hands on to make the playoffs by any means necessary w/no thought whatsoever of future ramifications.

basically, we have to try & get rid of Zach, Curry, Jamal or fishlips for shorter term contracts & not take on any more crap contracts in other deals... then we can start talking bigname FA's like Paul, Kobe, Lebron or Wade... get it now? please tell me you do.

Posted by 4949:

$28 million coming off the books and Chris Paul in his option year! Plus another solid player.

$45 million coming off the books and Dwight Howard, and his player option year coming up. Plus another couple solid players.

As you can see, we have some flex here. When we get flex like this, we need to seize the moments. Agreed?

4949, you realize that it doesn't matter how much comes off the books until it gets us under the cap right?

Just becuase we lose $28 million next year doesn't mean we can turn around and spend $28 mil that summer. We have to get under the cap to spend anything but the MLE.