not only do we have to pay a higher price at this point to trade for Lowry (1st round pick, 2 young prospects, and likely no salary dump like with Fetlton, MWP/Pablo, but we would also give leverage to Lowry to a 8-12m contract extension in order to keep him
ALL while we have no indication if Melo will stay or walk, it is a big price, and high risk to take to be able to contend this year
And most importantly will effect our chances in building a core in 2015, instead of getting back picks, development of young players, and if we resigned Melo and Lowry, that will be our core, with little room to get a 3rd STAR much less ALL STAR since they would add up to about 40m of the 60m in able to use in a 12 man roster
Without getting rid of Felton, JR, and Pablo, adding in the salary cap hold for 12 man roster we have little room to improve
Tyler and Tim Hardaway JR have shown some potential and are keepers that can be part of our future
If this happens, we give total leverage to Melo, Lowry, and future deals *that we will make, redoing the same mistakes we have done after trading for Melo* both of which would be in the early 30's
But Dolan is expected to repeat what he has done with H20, the deal for Melo (turning Melo and Amare to an older Melo and Lowry instead)
With 40m of cap room, you can sign Kevin Love (17m), Dragic (8-10m) or Lin (4-5m), and Rudy Gay at (8-15m), with the possibility of even getting all 4 similar talents instead of just Melo and Lowry
In addition, we would likely have a top 5 pick in 2015 if we decided to tank for 1.5 seasons in 2015, instead of staying mediocre
We will not be even in good enough to contend vs The Pacer's if we indeed decide to keep Melo at a max extension and trading for Lowry (and resigning him at 10m)
Like I said many times earlier, if we Melo doesn't opt out this summer, and is willing to recruit in 2015 (possibly taking a little bit less) we would still be able to build a core with Melo that would be a championship contender, however, it just isn't financially possible if Melo wants that max extension this summer
However, if he gets an opt out, in 2016, I don't mind if Dolan pays him a max contract AFTER we are able to build a core/foundation of a team