Raptors Cap Situation Post DD Trade & Options?

[El Mas Chingon]

The only real difference is for 2019/2020, they are out of the luxury tax if Kawhi leaves, and Green is not resigned.

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

This! Thank you. Why do so few people see this?

Like I posted in the "MLSE Winning" thread, the genius of this trade was pulling the wool over everyone's eyes and avoiding discussion about the financial implications of the trade.

[lebron stopper]

The only real difference is for 2019/2020, they are out of the luxury tax if Kawhi leaves, and Green is not resigned.

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

Just an all-around amazing trade by Masai honestly.

[execoftheyear]

Am i the only one who wants to see norm play on this squad

Norm and Leonard seem like a dynamic defensive duo at the SG/SF position

You might be the only one. I'm hoping they can bring back Delon next summer on a bridge contract like FVV's 2 year $9 million per season. Powell must go for nothing. Him or CJ Miles with his player option next season which I think he would 90% opt in.

I think we should cash in on Delon as an asset before he expires. We're going to be major buyers next offseason with all these big names becoming free agents and we should set ourselves up to be able to acquire more than 1 of them. We more than likely won't have enough money to re-sign Delon so why not use him in a trade.

Something like Delon, Miles, Green for Jimmy Butler.

Miles has been linked to Minnesota. He almost signed with them but Minnesota didn't have enough money so there is interest in him.

[kj_]

The only real difference is for 2019/2020, they are out of the luxury tax if Kawhi leaves, and Green is not resigned.

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

Are you really saying that trading for a top 5 player was simply to get out from under a tax bill and not about winning? I love how your opinion will be “confirmed” if things don’t go the way you think they should ... forget about the possibility that a trade you speak of may not present itself as an option. I’ve read a lot of crazy opinions here before, but that my man, is the tops! Congrats on elevating the level of crazy on here.


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[Alpha Mentality]

Our cap situation is wonderful in 2020. Only Norman Powell is signed after that. Which sucks but hopefully he can turn it around and atleast be serviceable during that contract.

[Chandan]

Norm's defense is pretty overrated honestly. It was okay in his first two years, but he regressed defensively last year.

Green/Wright are better defenders at the 2-guard imo

Norm reminds me of Lowry defensively in the sense that when it comes to tight spaces, they are really good defenders. For example, when Norm shut down PG in the playoffs, PG wasn't operating with a lot of space and getting to his dribble moves. He would catch the ball on the wing and attempt to get in to triple threat position but Norm would do a good job crowding his space and that shot pocket of his. Lowry is very similar in that he can't guard that well in open space anymore like he used to be able to. But in tight spaces, he still passes the eye test by my standards.

I don't think the impact of Powell is way above Green and Wright. I think Green is ahead of Powell in 3+D, Wright is ahead in terms of facilitator / ball handling, Miles ahead of Wright in terms of firepower. Regardless how good his defense is, he might only get spot minutes for situation.

But norms mother connection ahead of all of them.

In all seriousness though... Norm need to start hitting shots for him to be even in the discussion. He was putrid last year in that regards.

[agkagk]

I’m pretty sure if Leonard bolts were close to capped out. And pretty much forced to rebuild.

I bet once Masai figures out Powell and ibaka are dead weight cap space wise it takes him five minutes flat to ship cj out for a couple of 2nd rd picks. It would save the team quite a lot of tax.

[dhackett1565]

Hopefully you don't mind me linking my own stuff here:

https://www.raptorshq.com/2018/7/18/17585370/nba-free-agency-toronto-raptors-kawhi-leonard-trade-demar-derozan

Wrote a full article on the cap situation.

[Ackshun]

I hope we don't do anything major unless it involves Ibaka or Norman. This squad showed us they could compete without DD often enough. I wouldn't want to mess with the chemistry too much if winning is our priority.

Bringing in a Kevin Love type player would make sense on paper but since we only have a year to sell it to Kawhi, I wouldn't risk it. Our squad is dynamic enough without the clear cut #3.

[Gold Dragon]

I have excluded options that are unlikely to be exercised (Kawhi, Malachi) and included those that are likely to be exercised (JV, CJ, OG, Pascal).

The 1st year max for 7-9 year vets next offseason is 32.7M. I can't see how any team can make an offer for 3 max contracts in the upcoming free agency if they want the Butler/Kyrie duo and a third max contract. With the empty roster spot cap holds you can't have more than 1M in committed salaries to have 98.1M in cap room in a 109M cap. One of the players needs to either accept a smaller contract or have a significantly smaller cap hold.

The unlikely ways a Kawhi, Butler and Kyrie super team would work is if:

1) you already had all 3 on your team before free agency and used Bird rights to resign them to the max

2) you trade for one of Kyrie or Butler before free agency, have him exercise his player option, then ...

A) ... trade Lowry, Ibaka, Powell, JV and CJ Miles for expiring contracts, use cap space to sign the other one. We would also lose our Bird rights for Delon in this scenario.

B) ... trade Lowry for the other one as a sign and trade. We would be hard capped to the tax apron (138M) in this scenario which could be achieved by salary dumping Ibaka and Norm.

[StopitLeo]

Hopefully you don't mind me linking my own stuff here:

https://www.raptorshq.com/2018/7/18/17585370/nba-free-agency-toronto-raptors-kawhi-leonard-trade-demar-derozan

Wrote a full article on the cap situation.

I don't mind because your writing is well thought-out, clear, and helpful.

Can I make one suggestion? It is something one of the newspapers do for their online articles (funny enough I can't recall which one). I think it would be helpful to add a short bullet pointed summary at the start of the article to highlight the key points because the numbers can get lost in the text imo. Something like:

• Raptors' team salary has risen to $X with the Kawhi Leonard trade, which represents a tax bill of $X
• The team still has the <exception> that can be used to sign a free agent this season
• With a maximum extension for Leonard in 2019 the team's projected salary will be $X with a tax bill of $X
• If Leonard does not re-sign the Raptors' team salary projects to be $X, which is over the projected salary cap of $X

Great job regardless of my suggestion.

[Vlade Divac]

Hopefully you don't mind me linking my own stuff here:

https://www.raptorshq.com/2018/7/18/17585370/nba-free-agency-toronto-raptors-kawhi-leonard-trade-demar-derozan

Wrote a full article on the cap situation.

Good read. Thank you!

PS
You should not be rookie here LOL. But again maybe you are a rookie because you have more productive things to do then to waste time here.

[dhackett1565]

Hopefully you don't mind me linking my own stuff here:

https://www.raptorshq.com/2018/7/18/17585370/nba-free-agency-toronto-raptors-kawhi-leonard-trade-demar-derozan

Wrote a full article on the cap situation.

Good read. Thank you!

PS
You should not be rookie here LOL. But again maybe you are a rookie because you have more productive things to do then to waste time here.

Nah, I just waste time more other places than here, that's all.

[KrazyP]

The only real difference is for 2019/2020, they are out of the luxury tax if Kawhi leaves, and Green is not resigned.

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

Are you really saying that trading for a top 5 player was simply to get out from under a tax bill and not about winning? I love how your opinion will be “confirmed” if things don’t go the way you think they should ... forget about the possibility that a trade you speak of may not present itself as an option. I’ve read a lot of crazy opinions here before, but that my man, is the tops! Congrats on elevating the level of crazy on here.


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FACT: Kawhi is a free agent in 1 year
FACT: Kawhi has previously said he has no interest in playing here.
FACT: Kawhi has publically stated he's going to LA

What part of this dont your understand? The only way this deal makes sense is if the Raps plan to blow it up in 2019.

[dhackett1565]

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

Are you really saying that trading for a top 5 player was simply to get out from under a tax bill and not about winning? I love how your opinion will be “confirmed” if things don’t go the way you think they should ... forget about the possibility that a trade you speak of may not present itself as an option. I’ve read a lot of crazy opinions here before, but that my man, is the tops! Congrats on elevating the level of crazy on here.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

FACT: Kawhi is a free agent in 1 year
FACT: Kawhi has previously said he has no interest in playing here.
FACT: Kawhi has publically stated he's going to LA

What part of this dont your understand? The only way this deal makes sense is if the Raps plan to blow it up in 2019.

The Raptors clearly planned to blow it up after this core's window had run out. So that plan is still in place, except now they have an alternative, one that's actually preferred to that outcome. Re-signing Leonard is clearly 100% plan A. The tangential benefit of the deal, a secondary value, is that if plan A fails, plan B can get kicked off one year sooner, and with greater ease.

[mcHAPPY]

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

Are you really saying that trading for a top 5 player was simply to get out from under a tax bill and not about winning? I love how your opinion will be “confirmed” if things don’t go the way you think they should ... forget about the possibility that a trade you speak of may not present itself as an option. I’ve read a lot of crazy opinions here before, but that my man, is the tops! Congrats on elevating the level of crazy on here.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

FACT: Kawhi is a free agent in 1 year
FACT: Kawhi has previously said he has no interest in playing here.
FACT: Kawhi has publically stated he's going to LA

What part of this dont your understand? The only way this deal makes sense is if the Raps plan to blow it up in 2019.

Can you provide links to those facts? I have not read or heard those words come from Kawhi's mouth. If they are out there, I'd like to see the articles or interviews.

[RapsFanInOhio]

The only real difference is for 2019/2020, they are out of the luxury tax if Kawhi leaves, and Green is not resigned.

This.

This trade to me still looks like it was made to get out of luxury tax in 2019. If this team is truly interesting in "winning" then you will see Ujiri trade valuable expiring contracts like Green and/or Miles along with a young asset for an upgrade before the trade deadline. If that doesnt happen or if there aren't any legit rumours about that happenning then it will confirm that winning was a farce and the real plan was to save money.

This! Thank you. Why do so few people see this?

Like I posted in the "MLSE Winning" thread, the genius of this trade was pulling the wool over everyone's eyes and avoiding discussion about the financial implications of the trade.

Pull the wool? You think they’re not going to offer Kawhi the full max and jump right back into the tax if he takes it? Please. If the DD move was strictly financial, it would have made more sense to take on someone younger on a rookie deal. They’ll be out of the tax after 2020 no matter what.