LyricalRico wrote:I'll say this as plainly as I can: there will be NO salary dump. The #5 pick will either be used to select a player (probably Harden if he slips, possibly Curry) or traded for a veteran who can help now (but not Josh Howard - see my post above). Any cap related benefits will be icing on the cake. I'm not saying our payroll will end up looking like what Isaiah did to the Knicks, but the consensus in DC is that the team is willing to pay the tax for at least the next two years.
I hope that helps clear things up!
Sounds reasonable. I'm only speaking as an outsider about what would be plausible for Washington to do; not what they're really planning on doing...
The two plausible things tradewise would be to
1. Trade the #5 pick and dump some big salaried/bad players for a vet. The salary dump would be necessary to offset the vet's salary.
2. Trade some big salaried/good player (like Jamison) for expirings as a salary dump, keep the #5, and rebuild. Like you say, this wouldn't make much sense after they just invested in Jamison et al.
But people on here are implying that Washington would throw in the #5 pick to entice someone into taking Jamison's contract, and that's just laughable. That would be like Memphis throwing in a #1 to get the Lakers to take Gasol. Giving someone like Jamison away for expirings would be bad enough!