2021 Playoff and Offseason Speculation - the playoffs. PLAYOFFS????

[bwgood77]

I don't think it's about getting a star player, we definitely don't have that kind of money. Its about the difference between getting a guy on a minimum and getting an MLE quality guy for our rotation, while avoiding serious luxury tax implications.

Do we go get Kelly Olynyk for the MLE to replace Saric?
Could we convince a Richuan Holmes to play for the MLE?
Do you get a Josh Richardson? A Tony Snell? a Will Barton? to be our backup for Devin Booker.

It's that level of guy, making us deeper and giving us even more options on offense and defense that we'd be looking at with the MLE.

Or conversely, it's being able to have the ability to dip into part of the MLE money and making sure we get the guy we want, instead of only being able to offer a minimum contract and hope that the situation in PHX has enough appeal.

Or, in terms of the DPE...it's a question of, do we offer Pick #29+DPE to Milwaukee for Bobby Portis?

It's about giving us options and continuing to get deeper. We saw in the regular season our inability to settle on a 4th guard in the rotation as we cycled through Galloway, Moore and Carter. We saw Frank in and out of the rotation. And now we have Saric's minutes to fill.

Payne and Craig hopefully come back, but even then we are only 8 deep as currently constructed, and Monty has shown the desire to go 10 deep.

No one is saying we get DeMar Derozan to sign here, it's more about finding high quality guys to fill in some of our 6-10th man minutes.

I don't think know that we will use the MLE or all of it if it puts us in the tax if we know we are in the tax the following year. Plus a good player who wants minutes or could start would likely not get a lot of minutes if you want our starting 5 and the Cam's to get a lot of minutes, especially if we keep Craig. Craig was already eating into Saric's minutes.

Now if there is an Olynyk type that doesn't get an offer and we could stay under the tax, I think we could or should try a one year deal...both sides might want it.

Holmes isn't going to take a MLE deal to play like 15 minutes a night. He's a legit starting C.

I don't know why we are looking for someone who would likely want or get major minutes when we have a team on the cusp of a championship with a bunch of young players improving.

Because in this league, if you're standing still, you're falling behind. If nothing else, we have all of Saric's minutes to replace, and despite being on the cusp of winning it all, we do have some areas for improvement.

The idea is to make us repeat contenders and not let this just be one historic run. We do that by improving the roster.

It's not like I'm saying blow the team up, or trade one of our key pieces. I'm saying let's improve on Kaminsky, Moore, Galloway, Carter and Nader. I'm saying let's find an adequate replacement for Dario.

That shouldn't be a bold statement.

Sure, maybe improvements to our 11-15 guys but you just don't have much money. Standing still for championship contenders can be important. We may fall due to health of other teams, but to make a difference that moves the needle much, you'd need to replace a high minutes guy, and the team has so much chemistry I wouldn't mess with it. There is probably a bigger chance it backfires. But absolutely I take upgrades on the people you name...even though I think those guys are not bad 11-15 guys (or 10-14 or whatever). Our players are also getting valuable experience, are young, and will continue to learn from Paul...especially a guy like Jalen Smith.

[bwgood77]

I don't think it's about getting a star player, we definitely don't have that kind of money. Its about the difference between getting a guy on a minimum and getting an MLE quality guy for our rotation, while avoiding serious luxury tax implications.

Do we go get Kelly Olynyk for the MLE to replace Saric?
Could we convince a Richuan Holmes to play for the MLE?
Do you get a Josh Richardson? A Tony Snell? a Will Barton? to be our backup for Devin Booker.

It's that level of guy, making us deeper and giving us even more options on offense and defense that we'd be looking at with the MLE.

Or conversely, it's being able to have the ability to dip into part of the MLE money and making sure we get the guy we want, instead of only being able to offer a minimum contract and hope that the situation in PHX has enough appeal.

Or, in terms of the DPE...it's a question of, do we offer Pick #29+DPE to Milwaukee for Bobby Portis?

It's about giving us options and continuing to get deeper. We saw in the regular season our inability to settle on a 4th guard in the rotation as we cycled through Galloway, Moore and Carter. We saw Frank in and out of the rotation. And now we have Saric's minutes to fill.

Payne and Craig hopefully come back, but even then we are only 8 deep as currently constructed, and Monty has shown the desire to go 10 deep.

No one is saying we get DeMar Derozan to sign here, it's more about finding high quality guys to fill in some of our 6-10th man minutes.

I agree - the Suns do not need a start player. I just wanta better bench - if possible. And with the MLE, BAE, maybe using the Bird Rights for Payne plus a possible injury salary slot for Saric - I think the Suns can improve the depth.

I think the Suns have shown that with Paul and Booker as the top guys, plus Ayton, Bridges, Crowder and Cam J - they have a good solid core. Now its just about - Can you get Craig and Payne back? What veterans can you sign that will help the bench more than say Moore, Galloway and Kaminsky. Granted, Moore and Langston were very good vets for the team but still

I am not expecting a Derozan. But like you said - just upgrading spots that second unit if possible.

Exactly. We struggled to find a 4th guard to play minutes when Book and Paul sat at the same time. Maybe the recency of the playoffs when that doesn't ever happen has made us forget, but none of Moore, Galloway or Carter were able to really lock down those minutes. And as Paul ages, he's going to need to longer in game rest. Finding someone to play that spot is really important. Signing a Tony Snell or Will Barton, who are 29/30 respectively, fits in well with the Galloway/Moore type mold (good veteran shooters), the only difference is both of them have good size at the 2 guard, and can play a little 3 when needed, which helps us not get picked on by playing Payne and another small guard.

We need to find a big man to play the Saric minutes. To me, that list should start with Olynyk as he's the closest thing out there to Saric's game, and he seems like a great fit for our team. Would I love to bring in Holmes? Of course. Is the MLE close to the value of contracts that have been given out to non All-Star centers in recent years? yes. So why not make a push for him? With Saric out, it would not be difficult to carve out 25mpg for Holmes. Would it be best case scenario that Stix steps up and becomes the player James Jones thought he could be? Of course. But we won't know that during Free Agency this year, so we need to make sure we have someone in place in case Stix isn't ready.

The "just bring everyone back and run it back" is a prosaic notion that is going to lead to us being figured out and surpassed by other teams. We already know Denver will be better with Murray back. Utah is a good team. The Clippers are a good team. Golden State will be better when healthy. The Lakers will be better when healthy. Portland is going to make big moves. Dallas has the tools to build around Doncic.

That's 7 teams that are going to be gunning for us. If we don't take the necessary steps to get better, we'll be looking at a second round exit.

I would definitely not play Holmes 25 minutes. You don't play him more minutes than Ayton who would be at 23 and obviously don't play them together. Olynyk would be a good addition. Will Barton will want more minutes somewhere. Tony Snell we could probably get for minimum, but not that good.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I'd love Snell at the minimum, he's a serviceable end of the bench wing.

Plus you get all the weird Tony Snell stuff like shooting like 60% from 3 but going games without actually attempting a shot. He also hasn't missed a FT in two years but never gets to the line.

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[King4Day]

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[Saberestar]

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[suns12345]

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Thats a bummer but I assume there will be no shortage of good assistants wanting to come here now. Some new blood might be good too to keep things fresh.

[Barkley6]

I don't think know that we will use the MLE or all of it if it puts us in the tax if we know we are in the tax the following year. Plus a good player who wants minutes or could start would likely not get a lot of minutes if you want our starting 5 and the Cam's to get a lot of minutes, especially if we keep Craig. Craig was already eating into Saric's minutes.

Now if there is an Olynyk type that doesn't get an offer and we could stay under the tax, I think we could or should try a one year deal...both sides might want it.

Holmes isn't going to take a MLE deal to play like 15 minutes a night. He's a legit starting C.

I don't know why we are looking for someone who would likely want or get major minutes when we have a team on the cusp of a championship with a bunch of young players improving.

Because in this league, if you're standing still, you're falling behind. If nothing else, we have all of Saric's minutes to replace, and despite being on the cusp of winning it all, we do have some areas for improvement.

The idea is to make us repeat contenders and not let this just be one historic run. We do that by improving the roster.

It's not like I'm saying blow the team up, or trade one of our key pieces. I'm saying let's improve on Kaminsky, Moore, Galloway, Carter and Nader. I'm saying let's find an adequate replacement for Dario.

That shouldn't be a bold statement.

Sure, maybe improvements to our 11-15 guys but you just don't have much money. Standing still for championship contenders can be important. We may fall due to health of other teams, but to make a difference that moves the needle much, you'd need to replace a high minutes guy, and the team has so much chemistry I wouldn't mess with it. There is probably a bigger chance it backfires. But absolutely I take upgrades on the people you name...even though I think those guys are not bad 11-15 guys (or 10-14 or whatever). Our players are also getting valuable experience, are young, and will continue to learn from Paul...especially a guy like Jalen Smith.

It seems clear to me that Monty wants to play a 10 man rotation in the regular season. 9 players played over 50 games this season, with Kaminsky at 47. Obviously Craig would have been up there too had he been here the whole season.

Our starting 5 is pretty well set, then you have Cameron Johnson. We hopefully bring back Craig and Payne, but that leaves two spots up for grabs.

At the very least, we need someone to soak up Dario's 17-20 minutes per night. Is that guy on the roster already? I don't know. I hope it's Smith, but we can't guarantee that. We won't even get the chance to see him in Summer League before free agency kicks off, so we need to make a contingency plan.

We then need a guard, preferably a 2 guard with a little size, because that's what made it hard to play Moore, Galloway and Carter at times.

Rather than pinch pennies on guys who are going to play 15-20 minutes a night for us, I'd rather use the exceptions we have to find high quality guys. Additionally, I'd rather us have those high quality guys in case of injuries, so that we can feel comfortable missing a Booker, Ayton or Paul for a few games at a time. Lastly, every team benefits from competition for places. Dario and Frank battled each other for the backup 4 minutes. Payne had to beat out Moore, Carter, and Galloway to be the 3rd guard. Bridges and CamJo benefit from competing with each other. Monty gives guys chances as we saw him give Nader some run, threw Craig straight into the fire and rotated between the 3 guards. I'd rather have a guy who I feel like has a good opportunity to make the most of those chances.

[Barkley6]

I don't think know that we will use the MLE or all of it if it puts us in the tax if we know we are in the tax the following year. Plus a good player who wants minutes or could start would likely not get a lot of minutes if you want our starting 5 and the Cam's to get a lot of minutes, especially if we keep Craig. Craig was already eating into Saric's minutes.

Now if there is an Olynyk type that doesn't get an offer and we could stay under the tax, I think we could or should try a one year deal...both sides might want it.

Holmes isn't going to take a MLE deal to play like 15 minutes a night. He's a legit starting C.

I don't know why we are looking for someone who would likely want or get major minutes when we have a team on the cusp of a championship with a bunch of young players improving.

Because in this league, if you're standing still, you're falling behind. If nothing else, we have all of Saric's minutes to replace, and despite being on the cusp of winning it all, we do have some areas for improvement.

The idea is to make us repeat contenders and not let this just be one historic run. We do that by improving the roster.

It's not like I'm saying blow the team up, or trade one of our key pieces. I'm saying let's improve on Kaminsky, Moore, Galloway, Carter and Nader. I'm saying let's find an adequate replacement for Dario.

That shouldn't be a bold statement.

Sure, maybe improvements to our 11-15 guys but you just don't have much money. Standing still for championship contenders can be important. We may fall due to health of other teams, but to make a difference that moves the needle much, you'd need to replace a high minutes guy, and the team has so much chemistry I wouldn't mess with it. There is probably a bigger chance it backfires. But absolutely I take upgrades on the people you name...even though I think those guys are not bad 11-15 guys (or 10-14 or whatever). Our players are also getting valuable experience, are young, and will continue to learn from Paul...especially a guy like Jalen Smith.

One of the biggest critiques of the team during the Nash years was never really finding a decent enough bench to go deep into the playoffs and deal with injuries. We pinched pennies and had guys like Walter McCarty, Pat Burke, Paul Shirley, Eric Piatkowski, Brian Grant, Jalen Rose, Jumaine Jones etc. who never saw the floor and never suited up in the NBA again after their time with us.

Imagine you're Amare and you're in practice against Paul f*cking Shirley. How does that help you get better as a young player? You're Raja Bell and they say "Hey, guard Piatkowski" in practice. Raja could guard him drunk, and half conscious.

The ONLY years we had decent depth was the year Amare missed and 2009-2010.

Let's not make the same mistake again.

[Saberestar]

Exactly. We struggled to find a 4th guard to play minutes when Book and Paul sat at the same time. Maybe the recency of the playoffs when that doesn't ever happen has made us forget, but none of Moore, Galloway or Carter were able to really lock down those minutes. And as Paul ages, he's going to need to longer in game rest. Finding someone to play that spot is really important. Signing a Tony Snell or Will Barton, who are 29/30 respectively, fits in well with the Galloway/Moore type mold (good veteran shooters), the only difference is both of them have good size at the 2 guard, and can play a little 3 when needed, which helps us not get picked on by playing Payne and another small guard.

We need to find a big man to play the Saric minutes. To me, that list should start with Olynyk as he's the closest thing out there to Saric's game, and he seems like a great fit for our team. Would I love to bring in Holmes? Of course. Is the MLE close to the value of contracts that have been given out to non All-Star centers in recent years? yes. So why not make a push for him? With Saric out, it would not be difficult to carve out 25mpg for Holmes. Would it be best case scenario that Stix steps up and becomes the player James Jones thought he could be? Of course. But we won't know that during Free Agency this year, so we need to make sure we have someone in place in case Stix isn't ready.

The "just bring everyone back and run it back" is a prosaic notion that is going to lead to us being figured out and surpassed by other teams. We already know Denver will be better with Murray back. Utah is a good team. The Clippers are a good team. Golden State will be better when healthy. The Lakers will be better when healthy. Portland is going to make big moves. Dallas has the tools to build around Doncic.

That's 7 teams that are going to be gunning for us. If we don't take the necessary steps to get better, we'll be looking at a second round exit.

I am all about improving our roster, but I would not make lateral moves.

We have GREAT chemistry and a nice group of guys, those 11-15 players on our rotation are good for real and some of them are playing less minutes than they deserve.

Do you think that Snell is better than Nader or Galloway? I am not sure.I value them about the same so I would prefer to bring them over Snell.

BTW Snell can not handle the ball so I think they would play SF/PF for us...just like Nader.

[bwgood77]

Because in this league, if you're standing still, you're falling behind. If nothing else, we have all of Saric's minutes to replace, and despite being on the cusp of winning it all, we do have some areas for improvement.

The idea is to make us repeat contenders and not let this just be one historic run. We do that by improving the roster.

It's not like I'm saying blow the team up, or trade one of our key pieces. I'm saying let's improve on Kaminsky, Moore, Galloway, Carter and Nader. I'm saying let's find an adequate replacement for Dario.

That shouldn't be a bold statement.

Sure, maybe improvements to our 11-15 guys but you just don't have much money. Standing still for championship contenders can be important. We may fall due to health of other teams, but to make a difference that moves the needle much, you'd need to replace a high minutes guy, and the team has so much chemistry I wouldn't mess with it. There is probably a bigger chance it backfires. But absolutely I take upgrades on the people you name...even though I think those guys are not bad 11-15 guys (or 10-14 or whatever). Our players are also getting valuable experience, are young, and will continue to learn from Paul...especially a guy like Jalen Smith.

It seems clear to me that Monty wants to play a 10 man rotation in the regular season. 9 players played over 50 games this season, with Kaminsky at 47. Obviously Craig would have been up there too had he been here the whole season.

Our starting 5 is pretty well set, then you have Cameron Johnson. We hopefully bring back Craig and Payne, but that leaves two spots up for grabs.

At the very least, we need someone to soak up Dario's 17-20 minutes per night. Is that guy on the roster already? I don't know. I hope it's Smith, but we can't guarantee that. We won't even get the chance to see him in Summer League before free agency kicks off, so we need to make a contingency plan.

We then need a guard, preferably a 2 guard with a little size, because that's what made it hard to play Moore, Galloway and Carter at times.

Rather than pinch pennies on guys who are going to play 15-20 minutes a night for us, I'd rather use the exceptions we have to find high quality guys. Additionally, I'd rather us have those high quality guys in case of injuries, so that we can feel comfortable missing a Booker, Ayton or Paul for a few games at a time. Lastly, every team benefits from competition for places. Dario and Frank battled each other for the backup 4 minutes. Payne had to beat out Moore, Carter, and Galloway to be the 3rd guard. Bridges and CamJo benefit from competing with each other. Monty gives guys chances as we saw him give Nader some run, threw Craig straight into the fire and rotated between the 3 guards. I'd rather have a guy who I feel like has a good opportunity to make the most of those chances.

I don't think he normally wants to play 10, but injuries will make it so more play games. Saric missed 22 so Kaminsky played in those games. Saric was in a very bad stretch the last 20 games or so, so Kaminsky played a lot more. Crowder and Cam Johnson also missed 12.

So more players were forced to play. And while it's good to have depth for injuries, I doubt a player who could start or get major rotation minutes would sign. Though we can offer that for at least 1 year with Saric out.

[bwgood77]

Because in this league, if you're standing still, you're falling behind. If nothing else, we have all of Saric's minutes to replace, and despite being on the cusp of winning it all, we do have some areas for improvement.

The idea is to make us repeat contenders and not let this just be one historic run. We do that by improving the roster.

It's not like I'm saying blow the team up, or trade one of our key pieces. I'm saying let's improve on Kaminsky, Moore, Galloway, Carter and Nader. I'm saying let's find an adequate replacement for Dario.

That shouldn't be a bold statement.

Sure, maybe improvements to our 11-15 guys but you just don't have much money. Standing still for championship contenders can be important. We may fall due to health of other teams, but to make a difference that moves the needle much, you'd need to replace a high minutes guy, and the team has so much chemistry I wouldn't mess with it. There is probably a bigger chance it backfires. But absolutely I take upgrades on the people you name...even though I think those guys are not bad 11-15 guys (or 10-14 or whatever). Our players are also getting valuable experience, are young, and will continue to learn from Paul...especially a guy like Jalen Smith.

One of the biggest critiques of the team during the Nash years was never really finding a decent enough bench to go deep into the playoffs and deal with injuries. We pinched pennies and had guys like Walter McCarty, Pat Burke, Paul Shirley, Eric Piatkowski, Brian Grant, Jalen Rose, Jumaine Jones etc. who never saw the floor and never suited up in the NBA again after their time with us.

Imagine you're Amare and you're in practice against Paul f*cking Shirley. How does that help you get better as a young player? You're Raja Bell and they say "Hey, guard Piatkowski" in practice. Raja could guard him drunk, and half conscious.

The ONLY years we had decent depth was the year Amare missed and 2009-2010.

Let's not make the same mistake again.

A lot of people felt we had one of the deepest teams in the league.

[Frank Lee]

Redundantly deep

[AtheJ415]

I'd honestly have rather kept Damian Jones than be playing Kaminsky right now.

[lilfishi22]

I'd honestly have rather kept Damian Jones than be playing Kaminsky right now.

I know he sucked tonight and on many nights but I'll chalked this up to recency bias. Damian Jones was bad, like really really REALLY bad. Dude plays like a 6'10 high jumper who started playing basketball a week ago and uses the only strength he knows he has and that's jumping really high and doing it for no basketball reasons.

[BobbieL]

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Thats a bummer but I assume there will be no shortage of good assistants wanting to come here now. Some new blood might be good too to keep things fresh.

This is a good thing for the Suns that Willie Green is probably moving on - means you have assistant coaches worth a damn

I think a guy like Brett Brown might be on Monty's radar. Granted, he can move up a guy too. But Monty will have no problem getting a good assistant

As for Cam Payne - really hasn't had a good game since the one Clipper game. HIs price is back to 8-9m per year.

[BobbieL]

I'd honestly have rather kept Damian Jones than be playing Kaminsky right now.

its been said before by me and others but if Javale McGee is willing to take the minimum - I think he will be the Suns back up Center next year

[Desertfox]

The two probably obtainable players we could really use next year: Daniel Theis and Thomas Satorsnky

[Barkley6]

Sure, maybe improvements to our 11-15 guys but you just don't have much money. Standing still for championship contenders can be important. We may fall due to health of other teams, but to make a difference that moves the needle much, you'd need to replace a high minutes guy, and the team has so much chemistry I wouldn't mess with it. There is probably a bigger chance it backfires. But absolutely I take upgrades on the people you name...even though I think those guys are not bad 11-15 guys (or 10-14 or whatever). Our players are also getting valuable experience, are young, and will continue to learn from Paul...especially a guy like Jalen Smith.

One of the biggest critiques of the team during the Nash years was never really finding a decent enough bench to go deep into the playoffs and deal with injuries. We pinched pennies and had guys like Walter McCarty, Pat Burke, Paul Shirley, Eric Piatkowski, Brian Grant, Jalen Rose, Jumaine Jones etc. who never saw the floor and never suited up in the NBA again after their time with us.

Imagine you're Amare and you're in practice against Paul f*cking Shirley. How does that help you get better as a young player? You're Raja Bell and they say "Hey, guard Piatkowski" in practice. Raja could guard him drunk, and half conscious.

The ONLY years we had decent depth was the year Amare missed and 2009-2010.

Let's not make the same mistake again.

A lot of people felt we had one of the deepest teams in the league.

Which year? Because I looked at those rosters before posting this and.....no.

[bwgood77]

One of the biggest critiques of the team during the Nash years was never really finding a decent enough bench to go deep into the playoffs and deal with injuries. We pinched pennies and had guys like Walter McCarty, Pat Burke, Paul Shirley, Eric Piatkowski, Brian Grant, Jalen Rose, Jumaine Jones etc. who never saw the floor and never suited up in the NBA again after their time with us.

Imagine you're Amare and you're in practice against Paul f*cking Shirley. How does that help you get better as a young player? You're Raja Bell and they say "Hey, guard Piatkowski" in practice. Raja could guard him drunk, and half conscious.

The ONLY years we had decent depth was the year Amare missed and 2009-2010.

Let's not make the same mistake again.

A lot of people felt we had one of the deepest teams in the league.

Which year? Because I looked at those rosters before posting this and.....no.

This year. And on this board. That are depth was part of the reason we were so tough. Of course we also knew we were thin at backup traditional big but that never really became an issue...just one people were concerned about.

I think what they will do is try and negotiate extensions for Ayton/Bridges, see what happens with Paul, opt/in or out and see if we sign to longer deal and for how much, re-sign Payne unless for some reason he leaves (doubtful) and then will assess where we are at regarding the tax....and then assess where we will be next year with the tax.

I don't think any team would sign someone to put them into the tax this next year if they knew they would be in the tax the following year for sure (which is almost a given with Ayton/Bridges extension) while we still have Crowder/Saric.

The repeater tax is too punitive. If we were $20 million over the tax line in year 2, we would actually pay near $50 million. Lets say we were going to be $10 million with Paul/Ayton/Bridges/Saric/Crowder/Payne still being there 2022-23 without using the MLE this next year.

Then if we use the full MLE this year for more than a year we would hit like $20 million above the tax line the following year, and the real cost with repeater penalties is somewhere between 47.5 million and 50 million.

I haven't figured it out, but I know currently we would be like $12 million under the tax next year without Payne resigned or any other minimums re-signed. So we will likely be right at the tax line if Paul opts in.

If he takes a lesser salary, which he will if we extend, and we re-signed everyone...lets say Payne's contract and Paul's were a wash, we would have about $12 million to work with I believe...so maybe we could use the MLE for a 1 year deal and still be right under the tax. That is a quick analysis. Link to cap space below tax rules below.

Now the following year when Ayton/Bridges kick in our salaries go up by about $27 million or something like that....so that being a repeater would be probably a guesstimate of over $70 million in repeater tax.

If you are worried they let Bridges go we should not sign a MLE guy for longer than a year unless you're rather have that guy then say, Bridges.

That’s just Tier 1. The luxury tax is a progressive tax, meaning that for every dollar over the line between $1 and $4,999,999, teams are taxed $1.50. Then from $5 million to $9.99 million, they are taxed $1.75 for every dollar spent in that bracket.

The NBA’s luxury tax delivers a stiffer penalty as teams continue spending. Exceeding $10 million beyond the tax, normally costs $2.50 for every dollar up to $15 million, $3.25 for every dollar between $15-$20 million, and $3.75 for every dollar between $20-$25 million.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/phoenix-suns/cap/2021/

[Barkley6]

A lot of people felt we had one of the deepest teams in the league.

Which year? Because I looked at those rosters before posting this and.....no.

This year. And on this board. That are depth was part of the reason we were so tough. Of course we also knew we were thin at backup traditional big but that never really became an issue...just one people were concerned about.

I think what they will do is try and negotiate extensions for Ayton/Bridges, see what happens with Paul, opt/in or out and see if we sign to longer deal and for how much, re-sign Payne unless for some reason he leaves (doubtful) and then will assess where we are at regarding the tax....and then assess where we will be next year with the tax.

I don't think any team would sign someone to put them into the tax this next year if they knew they would be in the tax the following year for sure (which is almost a given with Ayton/Bridges extension) while we still have Crowder/Saric.

The repeater tax is too punitive. If we were $20 million over the tax line in year 2, we would actually pay near $50 million. Lets say we were going to be $10 million with Paul/Ayton/Bridges/Saric/Crowder/Payne still being there 2022-23 without using the MLE this next year.

Then if we use the full MLE this year for more than a year we would hit like $20 million above the tax line the following year, and the real cost with repeater penalties is somewhere between 47.5 million and 50 million.

I haven't figured it out, but I know currently we would be like $12 million under the tax next year without Payne resigned or any other minimums re-signed. So we will likely be right at the tax line if Paul opts in.

If he takes a lesser salary, which he will if we extend, and we re-signed everyone...lets say Payne's contract and Paul's were a wash, we would have about $12 million to work with I believe...so maybe we could use the MLE for a 1 year deal and still be right under the tax. That is a quick analysis. Link to cap space below tax rules below.

Now the following year when Ayton/Bridges kick in our salaries go up by about $27 million or something like that....so that being a repeater would be probably a guesstimate of over $70 million in repeater tax.

If you are worried they let Bridges go we should not sign a MLE guy for longer than a year unless you're rather have that guy then say, Bridges.

That’s just Tier 1. The luxury tax is a progressive tax, meaning that for every dollar over the line between $1 and $4,999,999, teams are taxed $1.50. Then from $5 million to $9.99 million, they are taxed $1.75 for every dollar spent in that bracket.

The NBA’s luxury tax delivers a stiffer penalty as teams continue spending. Exceeding $10 million beyond the tax, normally costs $2.50 for every dollar up to $15 million, $3.25 for every dollar between $15-$20 million, and $3.75 for every dollar between $20-$25 million.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/phoenix-suns/cap/2021/

The repeater tax is poorly named, it only kicks in if you're over the tax for 3 of the last 4 seasons. So we could safely go over for the next two years without being in danger of paying it.