I know the immediate reaction is that he'll definitely get offers at the MLE, especially from championship-level teams like Boston. And despite his claims that he'll accept less money, I don't think he realizes that if we sign 2 max FA's, there is no cap room for even the likes of Sergio, let alone TMac.
But here's an interesting rule in the CBA, pulled from Larry Coon's FAQ:
"If the player does not sign with any team (his prior team or any other team) for the entire season, then his renouncement continues. In other words, the team is not permitted to renounce a player, let him lie idle for the year, then re-sign him the following summer using Bird rights. However, if the player re-signs with his prior team, then his renouncement is no longer in effect when his contract ends. For example, if a team renounces their Larry Bird rights to a player, then re-signs that player to a one-year contract using cap room, then the player is once again a Larry Bird free agent the following summer."
Basically, if TMac resigns with us for the minimum for one year, we still retain his bird-rights for the summer of 2011. Meaning Walsh can make the pitch to TMac, "sign with us for the minimum for one-year, and we'll resign you for $8-10M over 3 years the following summer."
This obviously won't work for the likes of Lee who's still looking for his big pay day, but for TMac, who's in the final years of his career, he may just resign with us for one year, and keep his bird rights, especially if we sign 2 maxes. He's no longer looking to be the man, the #1 scoring option. Pretty sure, at this point, he's only looking for a ring (or to at least get past the 2nd round lol), and would love to play with LeBron.
edit - link to Larry Coon's salary FAQ: http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q33
