Clearing Cap Space

[Mr. E]

Am I the only person who thinks that this is a horrible strategy for trying to build a team? I'm not talking a minor deal to free up some room: I'm talking the wholesale slash & burn approach that we saw many teams do last year in pursuit of big name free agents and the ones contemplating doing the same for 2012.

[College Boy]

That is a terrible strategy. I like Morey's approach, the S&T. Load your team with assets, that way even if you miss your mark (Chris Bosh) you can still put out a competitive team. But if you miss your mark after a fire sale, you're stuck with nothing. You're left with a D-League team that nobody in your city wants to pay to see.

[Mr. E]

Yeah, I can't wrap my head around fans who will pay to see a team who is doing this.

And it's not like the strategy is terribly successful. I can't see many stars who'd want to sign long-term with a gutted team.

[College Boy]

Yeah, I can't wrap my head around fans who will pay to see a team who is doing this.

And it's not like the strategy is terribly successful. I can't see many stars who'd want to sign long-term with a gutted team.

And that's the even worse thing about it. The only players you're going to attract are the ones that are solely looking to get paid. And that's generally not going to bring you a championship. Plus cap space is like the devil's play ground. Teams that have lots of cap space tend to do dumb things with it.... (See Rashard Lewis' contract)

[rdehonney]

Shoutout to the new jersey nets on this one who got bailed out by being able to land d-will after they failed at clearing up all that cap space for nothing. I do agree with you that it's a dumb strategy, it's almost like picking out of a hat. Despite how dumb I think it is, I do think it is an okay strategy for certain teams like the knicks, lakers, etc. No matter how good/bad those teams are players are always going to want to play there. I mean mello wanted to become a knick even before stat got there and after stat got there that was the ONLY place he wanted to go. It's not like the knicks were stacked with talent, but mello is an east coast dude and where do most players from the east coast want to play... NYC.

[College Boy]

Shoutout to the new jersey nets on this one who got bailed out by being able to land d-will after they failed at clearing up all that cap space for nothing. I do agree with you that it's a dumb strategy, it's almost like picking out of a hat. Despite how dumb I think it is, I do think it is an okay strategy for certain teams like the knicks, lakers, etc. No matter how good/bad those teams are players are always going to want to play there. I mean mello wanted to become a knick even before stat got there and after stat got there that was the ONLY place he wanted to go. I mean really it's not like the knicks were stacked with talent, but mello is an east coast dude and where do most players from the east coast want to play... NYC.

Well I guess NY, LA, and probably Miami to a certain degree would always be a reasonable free agent destination. But that has to do with the location much much more than the job. Too bad Houston isn't a tourist city. CURSE YOU ENERGY & MEDICAL SECTORS!!!!

[MaxRider]

let see
Chicago lost the sweepstakes and got Boozer - #1 overall
Miami got 3 out of top 5 free agents = NBA final (top 5 being LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Dirk, Amare)
New York got 1 out of top 5 = playoff and got 1 more superstar through trade
New Jersey lost in free agent signing, but got a superstar using the cap space in mid-season
Clippers ..... no one is going there anyway
i don't know man
work 80% of the time

[College Boy]

Chicago did not have fire sale.
Miami .. well that was the first time something like that ever happened. It definitely wasn't something you would bet on.
NY would not have gotten those players had it not been NYC (as previously discussed)
NJ did not have a fire sale either, they just had a crappy team.
No one takes the Clippers seriously.

[moofs]

let see
Chicago lost the sweepstakes and got Boozer - #1 overall
Miami got 3 out of top 5 free agents = NBA final (top 5 being LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Dirk, Amare)
New York got 1 out of top 5 = playoff and got 1 more superstar through trade
New Jersey lost in free agent signing, but got a superstar using the cap space in mid-season
Clippers ..... no one is going there anyway
i don't know man
work 80% of the time

Chicago had plenty of talent already, and Boozer is one of the few current established superstar mercenaries in the league
Miami followed in the 60s Lakers and 80s/00s Celts and "got lucky beyond belief"
New York got two above average players who are mainly just able to score, and will not make any kind of REAL noise until those guys are gone, barring another significant trade / FA signing / draft pick
New Jersey got lucky that a star materialized out of nowhere.

That's just last year. It's been a long-tried technique that only occasionally works because GMs, upon missing their desired target, typically let the money burn a hole in their pocket and spend it on the next guy that comes along instead of waiting for a strategic buy.

Without looking up the numbers, I'd say the marginal success rate is probably closer to 10-20%.

[x-]

"We explore every option, but free agency is just a terrible way to build a team. [...] Usually free agents end up being the ones that cripple your team from a cap perspective, so we're pretty focused on the draft and trades." -Daryl Morey

[Ribalding]

We've probably seen the last of the slash and burn strategy. I'm betting the new CBA will allow for something like NFL franchise tags, making it harder for guys to bolt in free agency.