i was just looking at the cap situation on hoopshype. first off, it is absolutely imperative to get under the cap after the 2009-10 season.
here are the likely unrestricted free agents:

lebron (player option), KOBE (player option), d-wade (player option), amare (player option), bosh (player option), joe johnson (expiring contract), michael redd (player option), manu (expiring contract), dirk (player option), rip hamilton (expiring contract), stephen jackson (expiring contract), tracy mcgrady (expiring contract), jermaine oneal (expiring contract/is he even worth mentioning?), mike miller (expiring contract).

just a staggering amount of good players who will probably exercise opt-outs or be outright free agents. with cap space two of these guys can be signed. this is the only way to "rebuild the team." have a good draft in june, absolutely tank in 2008-09 and utilize the good draft pick, then spend the nov, dec, jan, and feb of the 2009-10 season auditioning the remaining players.

marbury (21M) and rose (7M) are off the books after next season. (08-09) there are 2 expiring contract in the 09-10 season: q-rich (9.4M), jerome james (6.7M).

during the 09-10 season they need to find a way to get rid of some or all of the following:

zach randolph (16M, 17M), eddy curry (10.5M, 11.3M), crawford (9.3M, 10M), jared jeffries (6.4M, 6.8M).

i mean, that is just bleak. in the next 2 years, if any combination of these players were put together in a trade with lee for expiring contracts, i would pull the trigger. obviously i don't see how any team would want any of these guys, but there are some dumb ass GMs in the NBA so i hold out hope.

lee and nate have qualifying offers. balkman, collins, and chandler all can be released if the knicks want to.

out of the player option guys, i think lebron and amare are probables, dwade, redd, and bosh are 50/50, and kobe and dirk are unlikely.

then the fact that joe johnson, manu, rip, tmac, and captain jack are all unrestricted free agents is very interesting.

Posted by franco12:

Couple things- some of those names are good players- but we will likely need more- there is really only lebron on that list that would be worth signing to a long term max deal.

In terms of being under the salary cap- we don't have to be- we just need the kinds of assets we can use in a S&T - so imagine Lebron forces cleveland to trade him or lose him for nothing- if we could offer up decent assets- even zach then might have value...

This is really the only way it is going to happen unless we luck into an Isiah type trade with a dumb GM. We have to build up our assets, including the pick this year and next, and hope we can put together enough pieces to convince a player to come here and also put together a package that will entice a team to do a sign and trade. It will not be easy but that is what we got Walsh for.

Yup, bad for two years is correct.

Posted by GKFv2:

4949, any reason you are bumping 10 day old or more discussions?

just testing to see if anyone is paying attention. I thought the board was broken or something.

Posted by TMS:

instead of bumping old discussions to bump up your post totals, just post more Alba pics.

ahh, it's not about bumping up my #'s. I'm bored.