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Can the Portland Trailblazers sign LeBron James?

sportscrazy
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Can the Portland Trailblazers sign LeBron James? 

Post#1 » by sportscrazy » Mon Jun 2, 2008 6:28 pm

http://realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php? ... 9#16586819

Read that thread. Basically the discussion is whether or not, the Blazers could extend their qualifying offers to Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, sign LeBron James, then go over the cap to re-sign Roy and Aldridge all in the same offseason.
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Post#2 » by loserX » Mon Jun 2, 2008 7:20 pm

Mentioned this on the Trade Board too, but just to make sure you see it here...

If the question is whether all those things can happen in the SAME offseason, the answer is "no".

Whether or not the QO is extended, until it is ACCEPTED by Roy and Aldridge, they count as 250%/300% of their previous year's salary (I figure you're assuming the team picks up the options they have to save money). That means Portland will not have max capspace to offer LeBron unless they ditch literally everyone else on the team.

If Roy and Aldridge do accept their QOs, you cannot sign them to a different, bigger contract in the same off-season. They are officially under contract for the year, and will be come unrestricted FAs the following year. You can always try to re-sign them then, but since they are unrestricted that is a big gamble.
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Post#3 » by FGump » Mon Jun 2, 2008 8:18 pm

Actually, if the Trailblazers have no other contractual obligations for that year besides the ones on the books now (Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Przybilla) then it appears to me a cap that's about $65.5M (I didn't figure it exactly, just a quick rough calculation) would indeed give them room to make a max offer to Lebron.

Here's how I figured it.

I did a reverse solve for how big of a cap is needed to fit all those pieces in.

Lebron (30%) and Aldridge (25%) will require 55% of whatever cap there is. That leaves 45% for the rest.

The other 3 will add up to about $26M (in round numbers, Roy at 300% is 12M, Przybilla is 7.5, Oden is 6.5), and 7 empty roster slots are another 3.5M, totaling $29.5 altogether.

That number, 45% of the cap, makes the cap at about 65.5M.

To do that is of course pure lunacy and the Blazers won't head in that direction, because it would require they jettison EVERY other player (have no other veteran players whatsoever, renounce Rodriguez, renounce all other veteran free agents, renounce all draft picks in the interim, renounce all draft picks that season, etc) in order to chase an unlikely signing of Lebron that they had no guarantee would happen.

But if the cap was about 65.5 or above, it appears to me they indeed could give Lebron a max offer that summer, if they only had Oden, Przybilla, Aldridge, and Roy on the books.
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Post#4 » by sportscrazy » Mon Jun 2, 2008 8:38 pm

FGump wrote:Actually, if the Trailblazers have no other contractual obligations for that year besides the ones on the books now (Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Przybilla) then it appears to me a cap that's about $65.5M (I didn't figure it exactly, just a quick rough calculation) would indeed give them room to make a max offer to Lebron.

Here's how I figured it.

I did a reverse solve for how big of a cap is needed to fit all those pieces in.

Lebron (30%) and Aldridge (25%) will require 55% of whatever cap there is. That leaves 45% for the rest.

The other 3 will add up to about $26M (in round numbers, Roy at 300% is 12M, Przybilla is 7.5, Oden is 6.5), and 7 empty roster slots are another 3.5M, totaling $29.5 altogether.

That number, 45% of the cap, makes the cap at about 65.5M.

To do that is of course pure lunacy and the Blazers won't head in that direction, because it would require they jettison EVERY other player (have no other veteran players whatsoever, renounce Rodriguez, renounce all other veteran free agents, renounce all draft picks in the interim, renounce all draft picks that season, etc) in order to chase an unlikely signing of Lebron that they had no guarantee would happen.

But if the cap was about 65.5 or above, it appears to me they indeed could give Lebron a max offer that summer, if they only had Oden, Przybilla, Aldridge, and Roy on the books.


What I'm suggesting is that those $3.5 Million in empty roster slots go towards Peteri Koponen, Joel Freeland, Rudy Fernandez, 2008 First Round Draft Pick, 2009 First Round Draft Pick, and 2010 First Round Draft Pick. Whatever of those puts them over that $3.5 Million they have remaining after Oden, Przybilla, Aldridge and Roy can go to Cleveland in a sign and trade with Przybilla's expiring contract and they can keep a combined total of the previously mentioned group that's equal to $3.5 Million.
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Post#5 » by FGump » Mon Jun 2, 2008 9:48 pm

sportscrazy wrote:What I'm suggesting is that those $3.5 Million in empty roster slots go towards ..........


If the cap is at exactly 65.5M, there would be no room for ANY of those contracts or picks. All of them are trash, gone, or traded somehow, if you are trying to sign Lebron with cap room.

If on the other hand now you're talking about fiddling with a sign-and-trade, then what's the point of all this? Any team can do a sign-and trade. It doesn't matter if they have a little bit of cap room, a lot, or if they are even so far over the cap they are paying tax: all they have to do is meet the sign and trade rules and they're good to go.
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Re: Can the Portland Trailblazers sign LeBron James? 

Post#6 » by bstein14 » Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:50 am

I see them having no problem signing a max FA in 2010.

Alderidge isn't going to get a MAX deal IMO.

I could see 6 years starting at $12 million with 10.5% increases. That's still a huge deal. But starting at 25% of the cap with 10.5% increases would be a HUGE deal. I don't think Brandon Roy will even get that deal.

That's close to this...
Year 1: $16.5
Year 2: $18.0
Year 3: $19.5
Year 4: $21.0
Year 5: $23.5
Year 6: $25.0
TOTAL 6 years $123.5 million

Give Roy and Alderidge deals both starting at $12 million with max increases over 6 years and they should be happy.

Then the big 3 are on the books for just $31 million that season.

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