Cho At Work - Gaining Assets Utilizing Cap

[spectre]

The salary cap for the 2010–2011 season is $58.044 million. Under the league's new CBA that was ratified in December 2011, ending the 2011 lockout, the cap will remain at its 2010–11 level for the 2011–12 season (though prorated for the shortened season), and will continue to vary based on league revenues.

I think we're pretty close to the cap limit; Hoopshype has us at 56.4 with no salary listed for Derek Brown & Cory Higgins. The ESPN Trade Machine says we have 142k free. We're set with 15 spots, but Higgins isn't guaranteed for the rest of the season until after this Friday.

I don't think we are in the position to take on salary outright, but we do have a few expirings that could be parlayed into assets if we are willing to take on more contract years. I would limit those to 2 (this and next season) unless it's a helluva return.

Potential tax teams:

Memphis is 900k over the tax line
San Antonio is 3.3 over the line
Dallas is 4.7 over the line
Miami is 7 over the line
Boston is 9 over the line
Lakers is 17 over the line

And then you have the New Jersey Nets, who are desperate to free up more space in order to offer Dwight a FA contract. They've let it be known Morrow can be had for a straight up expiring.

We've also read that the Washington Wizards are engaging us on a Blatche (the knucklehead) swap.

FYI he Memphis, Miami and Portland picks cannot be traded by anyone due to the Stepien rule.

So let's help Cho out. Does anyone see a legitimate move where we gain assets (pick/young player) by taking on salary OR helping out another team in a desperate situation (Nets/Wiz)?

My first quick attempt...Morrow for Najera. We add 1.25 million this year and 4 million next year.

Another...Morrow/Farmar for Boris. We'd lose 1 million in salary this season but add 8 million next season. Farmar would allow us to have a backup to Kemba if we decide to move DJ. Cut Higgins for the roster spot.

[adam187]

Good post.

To me, this is where what we do with Diaw gets complicated. If we let Diaw expire, we'll have a decent amount of free cap space next year (assuming we don't make any mid-level type signings). Probably not that huge though, I'm guessing around 4 or 5 million. Using that cap space, we can help other teams, specifically ones over the cap, with their trades by absorbing extra salary when the salaries of the primary players don't match, usually gaining a pick or young prospect in the process. Obviously, we don't have to do the space to do this now, but we could have a little wiggle room in the future. Whether or not any potential trades would actually materialize in the next year or two remains to be seen, and of course, whether or not we can weasel our way into a deal isn't guaranteed either. So it's a gamble on whether you gain any assets, but you get definite salary relief, which is probably attractive to Jordan during our rebuild.

Obviously, if we can flip Diaw in a good deal this year, we have to do it. I haven't seen or heard any realistic deals that really intrigue me though. For example, I'm not sure the deals you listed are automatic pull the trigger type deals. It seems, give or take, Reggie Williams can do basically everything Morrow can do (they even have the same back story), but Reggie's on a much cheaper contract.

I just think we could accomplish gaining the same type of assets that you get in a trade like that (Morrow/Farmar type guys) through free agency with the new cap space we'd have from Diaw expriring and potentially for cheaper (not that Farmar or Morrow are on terrible deals or anything). I think the best type of deal the Bobcats might get would be sorta how we did with Nazr, getting back another expiring and young player (DJ White) to evaluate. Obviously, Nazr seems like a better trade piece that Diaw to me, so I don't know what teams would realistically be interested in him.

I gotta lot of free time today so maybe I'll look around and see if any of the teams that might have an interest in Diaw have young dudes that I think could be decent fits here.

[SWedd523]

I agree with everything spectra says

[Chef]

great post.

to me it boils down to what teams have picks they would give up for either dj or cap relief. unless we would look at trading kemba i don't see any of our players gaining picks back. if it is for cap relief that means we are taking back salary, which begs the question, how much money can cho convince jordan to pay for draft picks. ie if we take back 6 mil this year and next for a late lotto or worse pick that means jordan is spending 8 mil min. for that draft pick next year. with that said the two most likely candidates in my mind are utah and the lakers.

utah may part with golden state's pick if we trade dj, take some salary (maybe 3 mil next year) and don't get back devin harris. which i would do.

lakers would give both their pick and the mavs (mid to late firsts) if we gave dj AND took back someone like artest, blake and/or luke walton. i imagine we could those two plus a third pick in 2014 if we took on enough salary for them to take a run at deron williams or howard. again, how much does jordan want to pay for those picks?

[MadBOBCATfanUK]

Doesn't Robert Sarver love selling his picks we could take one of there bad contracts and a pick for an expiring and cash considerations. Don't really know who the player we would take in return is probably someone like Hackim Warrick.

[dav7z]

Im not into taking on any contracts. It would have to be a 1st round pick to get Boris and no crap contract coming back in. DJ for a 1st is a real option . I love the idea of having 12 milion next season in free agency.
Personaly i think we cut TT. But if CHO wants Blatche . The deal straight up is ok with me . Blatche shows more skills than TT , But both are a headcases to me . But thats how much i trust in Cho talent evals;;;

[spectre]

OKC did some nice work with their cap as Cleveland did taking on Davis...tho it might be a long time for that kind of deal rolls around again. We don't have space under the cap but we do have some before the LT, allowing us to take on more salary in trade. Thing is most don't have their picks, and those who do are projected to be fairly late...making it less than ideal for us.

Adam you make a good point about FA, but I think next year and probably the year after (til the new CBA fully kicks in) FAs are going to continue to get overpaid. Making trades now would allow us to then flip those guys for potentially better return next year.

Also..do we really need to worry about "fit"? I think it's more about just acquiring/upgrading our assets vs. them working with what we ultimately hope to accomplish. Wouldn't you figure Morrow & Farmar (example) would have more value on the market next year considering their better production vs. Boris this year?

PT might be an issue, but the way it's looking we can be short on players for a certain position and we still have a hard time getting them consistent minutes.

I'd be shocked if Jordan bought a pick. Stunned even. I think our only chance of getting more of those is thru trade.

I agree with everything spectra says

As you always should. I knew there was hope regardless of what everyone said.

[spectre]

2012 Picks Available - RGM Trade Board

Getting picks won't be that easy. Here's a listing of who still have their picks and are thus available to trade.