RealGM

Ok, I understand a good deal of the CBA rules for transactions, operating under the cap, and exceptions, but I'm really shaky on my comprehension of unrestricted free agents. I apologize if this has been brought up before, as I haven't had much time to get on the message boards in the last few months. Rather than asking questions, I'll just lay out what I hope I know, and I'm hoping you guys won't mind correcting my theory and adding to it as needed for the sake of shared knowledge.

Based on Larry Coon's FAQ in the GM resources, I'm guessing that a team has to be under the cap to sign an unrestricted free agent. However, I understand that our "own" free agents count against our cap until we resign or release them. By using the term "own" though, I don't know if Larry Coon is including a team's unrestricted free agent as being their "own" free agent or if that only applies to restricted free agents. I'm guessing that maybe we sign Joe to a offer sheet for 7 days, and he counts against our cap until the end of that 7 day period when he is signed or releases? (Maybe I have that wrong and it is only for restricted free agents though?) The amount that Joe's salary woudl count against our cap seems to be 120% of his old salary, if he is non-bird, or something more like 250% or so of his old salary if we have bird rights. I'm really confused there as to whether bird rights only apply to restricted free agents or unrestricted free agents.

What it all comes down to is: how much does Joe count against our cap until he is signed, and does this prevent us from signing another free agent? Depending on how much he counts against the cap, it seems like it would prevent us from signing a different player unless we first failed to reach an agreement with Joe. I appreciate any incite.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/hawks.jsp

Even unrestricted free agents result in cap holds. If you renounce an unrestricted free agent then you lose his bird rights (if you had them) and cannot exceed the salary cap to sign them. On restricted free agents you lose bird rights as well as right to match if you renounce. You can negotiate with free agents, but when it comes down to signing them you must have the cap space available. You also need to count 12 players when figuring out cap space. We have 7 under contract for 45.1M (if Evans opts out) and a cap hold for the 24th pick. The remaining 4 positions require minimum salary holds. That adds up to 48M (approximately). With a projected cap of 55.9M cap that means that if we renounced everyone it would be around 8M that we could offer a free agent.

You should notice from the link that Joe Johnson and Josh Childress individually push us over the cap with their respective holds. This means that we would have to renounce both to be able to offer anyone more than the MLE. Renouncing one accomplishes nothing. So realistically the MLE is all we can offer anyone until dealing with our own assets unless it is a S&T deal which involves convincing a free agent to sign and a team to do a deal as well.

I appreciate it Dallas. I knew I could count on you for an explanation. Sorry I had to write my inquire so quickly and haphazardly.

I believe it would take something like renouncing Joe and Childress, Mo opting out and our trading Marvelous and Zaza for nothing (like Delonte West, who we'd then drop) in order to be able to offer one max FA.

parson wrote:I believe it would take something like renouncing Joe and Childress, Mo opting out and our trading Marvelous and Zaza for nothing (like Delonte West, who we'd then drop) in order to be able to offer one max FA.

Marvin or Zaza could be sent to a team with cap room for nothing back, but you've summed up how hard it would be.

looking at some of the rumors out there I'm starting to believe that if joe wants to leave atlanta it's in his best interest to do a sign/trade.