Trade/Free Agency Thread, pt 5, 2023-24 – (6PM [ET], Fri, June 30)

[hugepatsfan]

Assuming we sign Jordan Walsh to a rookie minimum deal like the new CBA allows with second round picks, we are at $174,377,249 in salary for 12 players (pkus the last year of Demetrius Jackson's dead money lol):

White / Brogdon / Pritchard
Brown
Tatum / Hauser / Walsh
Porzingis / Champagnie
RWilliams / Horford / Kornet

(I just listed guys at their most natural position, please do not take this literally to mean that I think Champganie would be a second unit player over Pritchard, Kornet or even Walsh)

The key benchmarks to compare that salary to, with 3 open spots to fill:

1) The luxury tax line is $165M. We are $9,377,249 into the luxury tax right now.
2) The first tax apron is $172M. We are $2,377,249 over that line. This is the level you become hard capped at if you use the full MLE or acquire a player via sign & trade.
3) The second tax apron is $182.5M. We are $8,122,751 below that line. This is what we would be hard capped at if we use the tax payers MLE.

Key salary levels that apply to different free agents:

1) Rookie minimum = $1,102,829. This is what would apply to Mader or Begarin if we brought them over, as well as any UDFAs.
2) 2nd year minimum = $1,801,491. This would apply to JD Davison if we signe dhim to an NBA deal.
3) Vet minimum = $1,927,896. This is what the tax number would be for any vet we sign with 2 or more years of NBA service (if more than 2 years they would actually be paid more than this, but this is all that would count on our tax calc, unless the deal is more than 1 year then they count actual salary).
4) Tax payers MLE = $5M
5) Bi-Annual exception = $4.515M
6) Full MLE = $12.403M


Right now, if we used the tax payers MLE ($5M), signed JD Davison, and signed Begarin to fill the last 3 spots, I'd have us at $182,281,569 in salary. So we'd be juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust below the $182.5M 2nd tax apron.

Interesting. So we can't do a sign and trade with Grant? And there's no way we can resign Grant?

I thought a S&T with Grant was a possibility - there were rumors about us discussing it with teams like Dallas. Or did that go out the window when we traded for KP?

What if we trade Brogdon and take on less salary coming back? Can we then resign grant or take salary back for him in a S&T?

We can do a S&T with Grant if we want. Hard capped applies to acquiring a player via S&T, not sending someone out. There is no hard cap restriction there.

HOWEVER, as the payroll currently stands, if we do a Grant S&T to take back a player, it's likely pushing us past the second apron without a follow up move. As would re-signing him even to his qualifying offer. Can always do a S&T that acquires a TPE though, which may or may not come in handy over the next year.

Trading Brogdon for a lower salary player would be one way to open up some wiggle room. Also consider roster spots. For example, let's just hypothetically we traded Brogdon to the Mavericks for Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee. Combined those guys make $23,632,008, which is $1,132,008 more than Brogdon's $22.5M salary. However, consider that it also means one less roster spot to fill. So that could be looked at as a money saving deal even though we're taking on more money.

The other "bloated" salary is Pritchard at $4M. I think most of us would like to believe that given a role he could be worth that, maybe more, but if he's limited to a 15 minute/night type of role, you can fill that with a vet min and save a couple of million.

Those are the moves I'd be looking at... trading Brogdon for a lower salary player or multiple players making close to the same amount as him (so roster spot savings can be applied) and then moving Pritchard to a team that wants to take a flier on him and finding a vet min type of guy. That combo of moves could get you to where I think you can take a player back in a Grant S&T.

[Hal14]

I want Jalen Suggs. Sign and trade Grant Williams into their cap room, CBA only lets us take back 8 million-ish anyway, Suggs fits.

Then trade Brogdon for another big, a backup 2-guard and/or a cheaper point guard?

Suggs and anthony or okeke

Okeke is a bum.

Suggs or Anthony I would take but I feel like we have a bigger need for a wing/forward type. If we snag Suggs or Anthony, then we have no need for Pritchard so we could move him in a separate deal (or send him to Orlando).

Suggs was just a top 5 pick only 2 yrs ago, though. So it would be expensive to obtain him and not sure it'd be worth giving up all of that for a guy who would be our 4th best guard..

[165bows]

I would try to trade Pritchard into cap space or a TPE somewhere and sign Jevon Carter to a vet min deal. I'm guessing we could net a future 2nd for him to add to the newfound treasure chest of them.

We'd save $2,109,382 on that switch and stay the same or better on the court IMO. I broke the math down a few posts ago, but while that sounds small we're really in a huge numbers crunch against the second apron. An extra $2.1M of wiggle room would help a lot towards being able to potentially take someone back in a Grant S&T vs. only having the MLE to use.

Article on his past year with MIL talking about Carter's great defense: https://behindthebuckpass.com/2023/03/18/analyzing-jevon-carters-potential-all-defensive-bucks/

In his career he shoots 39.7% on 3 attempts from 3 per game. 42.1% on 4.2 attempts per game this past year. He's been a fringey playoff rotation guy for MIL these past two years, much like Pritchard has for us.

Can't find it now (might be back in the asst coach thread) but pretty sure I read that Carter was one of three guys directly working with Charles Lee, new Cs assistant.

Ok it was three different guards (mainly worked with the 2/3s there sounds like) but he did work there lol.

[Gant]

One thing that is a reality is the physical vulnerability of the big men. Horford is older and needs minute limitation. Porzingis and Rob Williams have some fragility. Keeping them all going will be an issue.

Grant Williams was the guy that filled in before, but if he's gone, having all* the rotation big men in the breakable category could lead to some issues.

Horford and Porzingis won't be traded. Is it possible that Rob Williams could be dealt if a healthier versatile big man came back? I'm not pushing for it, just wondering if it's possible.


*Kornet exists too.

[hugepatsfan]

Assuming we sign Jordan Walsh to a rookie minimum deal like the new CBA allows with second round picks, we are at $174,377,249 in salary for 12 players (pkus the last year of Demetrius Jackson's dead money lol):

White / Brogdon / Pritchard
Brown
Tatum / Hauser / Walsh
Porzingis / Champagnie
RWilliams / Horford / Kornet

(I just listed guys at their most natural position, please do not take this literally to mean that I think Champganie would be a second unit player over Pritchard, Kornet or even Walsh)

The key benchmarks to compare that salary to, with 3 open spots to fill:

1) The luxury tax line is $165M. We are $9,377,249 into the luxury tax right now.
2) The first tax apron is $172M. We are $2,377,249 over that line. This is the level you become hard capped at if you use the full MLE or acquire a player via sign & trade.
3) The second tax apron is $182.5M. We are $8,122,751 below that line. This is what we would be hard capped at if we use the tax payers MLE.

Key salary levels that apply to different free agents:

1) Rookie minimum = $1,102,829. This is what would apply to Mader or Begarin if we brought them over, as well as any UDFAs.
2) 2nd year minimum = $1,801,491. This would apply to JD Davison if we signe dhim to an NBA deal.
3) Vet minimum = $1,927,896. This is what the tax number would be for any vet we sign with 2 or more years of NBA service (if more than 2 years they would actually be paid more than this, but this is all that would count on our tax calc, unless the deal is more than 1 year then they count actual salary).
4) Tax payers MLE = $5M
5) Bi-Annual exception = $4.515M
6) Full MLE = $12.403M


Right now, if we used the tax payers MLE ($5M), signed JD Davison, and signed Begarin to fill the last 3 spots, I'd have us at $182,281,569 in salary. So we'd be juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust below the $182.5M 2nd tax apron.

This is a great breakdown.

I would add that at that sub $1M under the apron, imo you have to assume they plan on going over. They will likely have 1-3 two-way guys, and teams may only carry 14 but they almost always have 15 at least to 20 total players over the year as bench guys come and go and the salaries they make get accrued to the total.

So my thought on this is: they either 1). blow past the second apron. or, 2.) don't use the MLE (or at most ~3M).

Tl;dr It's safe to assume imo that they go to one extreme or the other. Sitting $200k under the apron will push them over with bench guys, incentives for playoff wins, etc.

Obviously depends on trades but mainly feeling like Grant Williams is prob better than what they can get for 3-5M on the FA market. Personally I think they just go over but it's doable to stay under with a lot of cheap depth if that is better for flexibility.

Good point on incentives. All likely to be earned incentives were counted in my calcs. We have an additional $1,946,431 in unlikely incentives. $500K of that is for White (needs more than 185 3 pointers made). $1,446,431 is for Rob (would need to play more thna 69 games, make the all defense team, and us play in the conf finals for him to earn all of it). Those are reasonable enough that you want to budget for them.

I did count $3.321M in incentives for Jaylen Brown likely to be in earned that are in part on him making all NBA again and $750K in incentives for White based on making all defense. Definitely possible savings there because neither is a lock for those awards again.

The other move to consider, is that tax is based on what you end the year with not start. So let's say we sign a vet min player to start the year. Then midseason you dump him into someone's open roster spot. Then on the last day of the season you sign a random 15th player to a minimum deal like we did Champagnie this past year. Only the last day of pro rated salary for that minimum player would count on your final tax calc. So you maybe don't need to budget for that last roster spot counting on your tax.

[Hal14]

One thing that is a reality is the physical vulnerability of the big men. Horford is older and needs minute limitation. Porzingis and Rob Williams have some fragility. Keeping them all going will be an issue.

Grant Williams was the guy that filled in before, but if he's gone, having all* the rotation big men in the breakable category could lead to some issues.

Horford and Porzingis won't be traded. Is it possible that Rob Williams could be dealt if a healthier versatile big man came back? I'm not pushing for it, just wondering if it's possible.


*Kornet exists too.

It's a fair question. But at least there's 3 of them now (rob, al, KP). Last season we only had 2 of them (rob, al) and Rob missed the first half of the season with knee surgery (he should be healthy to start the season this year).

So Kornet (and possibly Griffin if we bring him back) should be alright as our 4th and 5th bigs.

With that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if we make a move (either via veterans minimum, MLE or grant S&T) for a big who can be our 4th big, but someone better than kornet/griffin. It's tricky though, you'd want to get someone who's better than kornet/griffin, but if you get a guy who's *really good*, well it wouldn't really make sense getting someone who's that good, just to be the 4th big.

[Andrew McCeltic]

They probably need to move Brogdon. Get some breathing room. Maybe keep Grant.

Grant sign-and-trade that brings a point guard back lets you move Brogdon for smaller contracts or cap relief + a big.

[Hal14]

Assuming we sign Jordan Walsh to a rookie minimum deal like the new CBA allows with second round picks, we are at $174,377,249 in salary for 12 players (pkus the last year of Demetrius Jackson's dead money lol):

White / Brogdon / Pritchard
Brown
Tatum / Hauser / Walsh
Porzingis / Champagnie
RWilliams / Horford / Kornet

(I just listed guys at their most natural position, please do not take this literally to mean that I think Champganie would be a second unit player over Pritchard, Kornet or even Walsh)

The key benchmarks to compare that salary to, with 3 open spots to fill:

1) The luxury tax line is $165M. We are $9,377,249 into the luxury tax right now.
2) The first tax apron is $172M. We are $2,377,249 over that line. This is the level you become hard capped at if you use the full MLE or acquire a player via sign & trade.
3) The second tax apron is $182.5M. We are $8,122,751 below that line. This is what we would be hard capped at if we use the tax payers MLE.

Key salary levels that apply to different free agents:

1) Rookie minimum = $1,102,829. This is what would apply to Mader or Begarin if we brought them over, as well as any UDFAs.
2) 2nd year minimum = $1,801,491. This would apply to JD Davison if we signe dhim to an NBA deal.
3) Vet minimum = $1,927,896. This is what the tax number would be for any vet we sign with 2 or more years of NBA service (if more than 2 years they would actually be paid more than this, but this is all that would count on our tax calc, unless the deal is more than 1 year then they count actual salary).
4) Tax payers MLE = $5M
5) Bi-Annual exception = $4.515M
6) Full MLE = $12.403M


Right now, if we used the tax payers MLE ($5M), signed JD Davison, and signed Begarin to fill the last 3 spots, I'd have us at $182,281,569 in salary. So we'd be juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust below the $182.5M 2nd tax apron.

Interesting. So we can't do a sign and trade with Grant? And there's no way we can resign Grant?

I thought a S&T with Grant was a possibility - there were rumors about us discussing it with teams like Dallas. Or did that go out the window when we traded for KP?

What if we trade Brogdon and take on less salary coming back? Can we then resign grant or take salary back for him in a S&T?

We can do a S&T with Grant if we want. Hard capped applies to acquiring a player via S&T, not sending someone out. There is no hard cap restriction there.

HOWEVER, as the payroll currently stands, if we do a Grant S&T to take back a player, it's likely pushing us past the second apron without a follow up move. As would re-signing him even to his qualifying offer. Can always do a S&T that acquires a TPE though, which may or may not come in handy over the next year.

Trading Brogdon for a lower salary player would be one way to open up some wiggle room. Also consider roster spots. For example, let's just hypothetically we traded Brogdon to the Mavericks for Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee. Combined those guys make $23,632,008, which is $1,132,008 more than Brogdon's $22.5M salary. However, consider that it also means one less roster spot to fill. So that could be looked at as a money saving deal even though we're taking on more money.

The other "bloated" salary is Pritchard at $4M. I think most of us would like to believe that given a role he could be worth that, maybe more, but if he's limited to a 15 minute/night type of role, you can fill that with a vet min and save a couple of million.

Those are the moves I'd be looking at... trading Brogdon for a lower salary player or multiple players making close to the same amount as him (so roster spot savings can be applied) and then moving Pritchard to a team that wants to take a flier on him and finding a vet min type of guy. That combo of moves could get you to where I think you can take a player back in a Grant S&T.

Good to know. But if we do all of that, we wouldn't have the taxpaer MLE to sign a vet for $5 mil...or would we?

[hugepatsfan]

Interesting. So we can't do a sign and trade with Grant? And there's no way we can resign Grant?

I thought a S&T with Grant was a possibility - there were rumors about us discussing it with teams like Dallas. Or did that go out the window when we traded for KP?

What if we trade Brogdon and take on less salary coming back? Can we then resign grant or take salary back for him in a S&T?

We can do a S&T with Grant if we want. Hard capped applies to acquiring a player via S&T, not sending someone out. There is no hard cap restriction there.

HOWEVER, as the payroll currently stands, if we do a Grant S&T to take back a player, it's likely pushing us past the second apron without a follow up move. As would re-signing him even to his qualifying offer. Can always do a S&T that acquires a TPE though, which may or may not come in handy over the next year.

Trading Brogdon for a lower salary player would be one way to open up some wiggle room. Also consider roster spots. For example, let's just hypothetically we traded Brogdon to the Mavericks for Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee. Combined those guys make $23,632,008, which is $1,132,008 more than Brogdon's $22.5M salary. However, consider that it also means one less roster spot to fill. So that could be looked at as a money saving deal even though we're taking on more money.

The other "bloated" salary is Pritchard at $4M. I think most of us would like to believe that given a role he could be worth that, maybe more, but if he's limited to a 15 minute/night type of role, you can fill that with a vet min and save a couple of million.

Those are the moves I'd be looking at... trading Brogdon for a lower salary player or multiple players making close to the same amount as him (so roster spot savings can be applied) and then moving Pritchard to a team that wants to take a flier on him and finding a vet min type of guy. That combo of moves could get you to where I think you can take a player back in a Grant S&T.

Good to know. But if we do all of that, we wouldn't have the taxpaer MLE to sign a vet for $5 mil...or would we?

We'd have to stay below the $182.5M 2nd apron to use that taxpayers MLE. So the combo of moves with Brogdon/Grant/Pritchard would have to leave us with $5M to spend below that still.

Seems to me like an either-or scenario of taking back salary in a Grant S&T or using the tax payers MLE. Feels improbable to me we could do both. And doing the Grant S&T salary take-back might mean going over the 2nd apron.

[Dannyboy36]

Nope. Its really not though. Look back at the games. Doesn't matter why he did it. The fact is more often than not Smart had the ball with the game on the line. The guy would also shoot 3s like he was Steph Curry. Really good role player but he will never be a star player. He is what he is and this organization spent years pumping his tires to the point that he felt he was on the same level as the other two.

Also who was wide open for a pass back . White eoukd have had an unguarded jumper . I’m sure that was an option discussed in the huddle. Nope. Marcus tried to play hero AGAIN. Good riddance.


wrong,

In this past playoff smart tied for the 4th most fga in the clutch time...converting on 57% of them (behind only Williams)
In the regular seaon he was 4th

you are just throwing out statements that are not true.

Disagree. Watch the games. Who takes the last shot? You seldom see Tatum or Brown doing it. You even said it yourself, the reason why he does that is because Tatum and Brown are covered or they had "no choice". Who shot the ball with the game on the line in the playoffs? Wasn't Brown and Wasn't Tatum. I get you're not pumped that Smart is gone but its going to make both of them better by not relying on someone else to finish a game. Smart was your finisher. You can't sit here and say the statement isn't true when we literally just watched this scenario play out vs Philly and Miami. Even Game 6 vs Miami when the season was on the line who took the shot? Yeah White tipped it in but who was it that took the shot? Game 4 in Philly...who took that shot. Game 7 vs Miami last year that the Celtics won, who almost shot them out of that game?

Again I like the player but his importance on offense here was magnified and you can't deny that. He wants to be Steph but he's not that guy. There's nothing wrong with being an excellent defensive guard with a little offense.

[hugepatsfan]

Brogdon/Pritchard/pick to Utah for Sexton.
Sign Jevon Carter to a vet min deal to re-unite with coach Lee

That combination of moves swapping Brogdon/Pritchard for Sexton/Lee would save $7,284,382 and, IMO, make us as good or better on the court.

We'd be $15,407,133 below the second apron which gives plenty of wiggle room to take back a MLE type player for Grant. Or just let him go (try to salvage a TPE to stash for next year) and use the tax payers MLE and have some room to work with at the deadline if you need.

[Dannyboy36]

Nope. Its really not though. Look back at the games. Doesn't matter why he did it. The fact is more often than not Smart had the ball with the game on the line. The guy would also shoot 3s like he was Steph Curry. Really good role player but he will never be a star player. He is what he is and this organization spent years pumping his tires to the point that he felt he was on the same level as the other two.

wrong,

In this past playoff smart tied for the 4th most fga in the clutch time...converting on 57% of them (behind only Williams)
In the regular seaon he was 4th

you are just throwing out statements that are not true.

Disagree. Watch the games. Who takes the last shot? You seldom see Tatum or Brown doing it. You even said it yourself, the reason why he does that is because Tatum and Brown are covered or they had "no choice". Who shot the ball with the game on the line in the playoffs? Wasn't Brown and Wasn't Tatum. I get you're not pumped that Smart is gone but its going to make both of them better by not relying on someone else to finish a game. Smart was your finisher. You can't sit here and say the statement isn't true when we literally just watched this scenario play out vs Philly and Miami. Even Game 6 vs Miami when the season was on the line who took the shot? Yeah White tipped it in but who was it that took the shot? Game 4 in Philly...who took that shot. Game 7 vs Miami last year that the Celtics won, who almost shot them out of that game?

Again I like the player but his importance on offense here was magnified and you can't deny that. He wants to be Steph but he's not that guy. There's nothing wrong with being an excellent defensive guard with a little offense.

Also who was wide open for a pass back . White eoukd have had an unguarded jumper . I’m sure that was an option discussed in the huddle. Nope. Marcus tried to play hero AGAIN. Good riddance.

[hugepatsfan]

I hate this player but I'll throw it out there for financial reasons...

Brogdon to DET for Marvin Bagley. They have cap space to absorb the salary difference. As a 4th big and with us having the option to play Tatum as a PF for stretches, we don't need Bagley to be a key player. Just fill in regular season minutes while guys are load managed. If he ever breaks out, all the better. We save $10M flat each of the next two years (he makes $12.5M this year and next compared to Brogdon at $22.5M).

[165bows]

Brogdon/Pritchard/pick to Utah for Sexton.
Sign Jevon Carter to a vet min deal to re-unite with coach Lee

That combination of moves swapping Brogdon/Pritchard for Sexton/Lee would save $7,284,382 and, IMO, make us as good or better on the court.

We'd be $15,407,133 below the second apron which gives plenty of wiggle room to take back a MLE type player for Grant. Or just let him go (try to salvage a TPE to stash for next year) and use the tax payers MLE and have some room to work with at the deadline if you need.

This deal makes a lot of sense, def one of the better ones out there. Given Sexton's health, not totally sure on that.

PS not saying you need to do anything more than have fun with this, but the posts on this page are better breakdown/analysis than 98% of what is published in media sites, or even including the sort of well known blogger types.

[Jellybeans]

Read on Twitter

tyus maybe?

Monte Morris would look good in a Celtics uniform. Revise the original Clipper deal!

Read on Twitter

Delon was better then Monte. Is cheaper and still good defender

[Celts17Pride]

Monte Morris would look good in a Celtics uniform. Revise the original Clipper deal!

Read on Twitter

Delon was better then Monte. Is cheaper and still good defender

Why not both? Brogdon makes $22.5 million, Morris and Wright makes a combined $17.9 million. Two depth pieces and $4.6 million more cap room.

[keevsnick1]

Assuming we sign Jordan Walsh to a rookie minimum deal like the new CBA allows with second round picks, we are at $174,377,249 in salary for 12 players (pkus the last year of Demetrius Jackson's dead money lol):

White / Brogdon / Pritchard
Brown
Tatum / Hauser / Walsh
Porzingis / Champagnie
RWilliams / Horford / Kornet

(I just listed guys at their most natural position, please do not take this literally to mean that I think Champganie would be a second unit player over Pritchard, Kornet or even Walsh)

The key benchmarks to compare that salary to, with 3 open spots to fill:

1) The luxury tax line is $165M. We are $9,377,249 into the luxury tax right now.
2) The first tax apron is $172M. We are $2,377,249 over that line. This is the level you become hard capped at if you use the full MLE or acquire a player via sign & trade.
3) The second tax apron is $182.5M. We are $8,122,751 below that line. This is what we would be hard capped at if we use the tax payers MLE.

Key salary levels that apply to different free agents:

1) Rookie minimum = $1,102,829. This is what would apply to Mader or Begarin if we brought them over, as well as any UDFAs.
2) 2nd year minimum = $1,801,491. This would apply to JD Davison if we signe dhim to an NBA deal.
3) Vet minimum = $1,927,896. This is what the tax number would be for any vet we sign with 2 or more years of NBA service (if more than 2 years they would actually be paid more than this, but this is all that would count on our tax calc, unless the deal is more than 1 year then they count actual salary).
4) Tax payers MLE = $5M
5) Bi-Annual exception = $4.515M
6) Full MLE = $12.403M


Right now, if we used the tax payers MLE ($5M), signed JD Davison, and signed Begarin to fill the last 3 spots, I'd have us at $182,281,569 in salary. So we'd be juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust below the $182.5M 2nd tax apron.

Interesting. So we can't do a sign and trade with Grant? And there's no way we can resign Grant?

I thought a S&T with Grant was a possibility - there were rumors about us discussing it with teams like Dallas. Or did that go out the window when we traded for KP?

What if we trade Brogdon and take on less salary coming back? Can we then resign grant or take salary back for him in a S&T?

We can do a S&T with Grant if we want. Hard capped applies to acquiring a player via S&T, not sending someone out. There is no hard cap restriction there.

HOWEVER, as the payroll currently stands, if we do a Grant S&T to take back a player, it's likely pushing us past the second apron without a follow up move. As would re-signing him even to his qualifying offer. Can always do a S&T that acquires a TPE though, which may or may not come in handy over the next year.

Trading Brogdon for a lower salary player would be one way to open up some wiggle room. Also consider roster spots. For example, let's just hypothetically we traded Brogdon to the Mavericks for Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee. Combined those guys make $23,632,008, which is $1,132,008 more than Brogdon's $22.5M salary. However, consider that it also means one less roster spot to fill. So that could be looked at as a money saving deal even though we're taking on more money.

The other "bloated" salary is Pritchard at $4M. I think most of us would like to believe that given a role he could be worth that, maybe more, but if he's limited to a 15 minute/night type of role, you can fill that with a vet min and save a couple of million.

Those are the moves I'd be looking at... trading Brogdon for a lower salary player or multiple players making close to the same amount as him (so roster spot savings can be applied) and then moving Pritchard to a team that wants to take a flier on him and finding a vet min type of guy. That combo of moves could get you to where I think you can take a player back in a Grant S&T.

I'm not sure I get all the focus on the taxpayer MLE. The new CBA essentially nuked the taxMLE making it barely more useful than a vet min. The taxMLE is only 5.0M, that's not much more than the 10 year vet min of 3.2 million. And it hard caps you at the 2nd apron. The solution to all of this is simple: Just don't use the taxMLE. Let's be clear here: The quality of player you'll get with the taxMLE isn't much if any different than the guy you'll get with a vet min. And that guy is probably a back end of the rotation player anyway at best. Its better to keep your options over whether its matching a Grant contract, acquiring more salary mid season, ect. The flexibility alone is far more valuable than the taxMLE.

And as a reminder: The penalties for the second apron don't kick in this year, so its literally just tax money. They should feel free to go over the 2nd apron, and they SHOULD go over it. Its their last chance to do so penalty free.

If the c's ownership try to cheap out and use the "well, we wanted to use the taxMLE" as an excuse they should be roasted for it. Spend money this year, there's no reason not to.

The only thing you have to avoid is bad money going forward.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Brogdon + 1st for Dejounte Murray saves us 4.3 million this year but he's in the last year of his contract..

Decision on extension for Porzingis (can you tie incentives to games played?) would make a little room if they get him for 22-25 million. But that encroaches on the money for a Brown supermax. (Which you can't give him).

[GoGreen]

Anyone else feel like there's something missing with this roster construction?

I hope Brad isn't done. Something about it feels like we need just one more piece. Maybe a wing, or established PG.

[Andrew McCeltic]

I worry about underestimating cohesiveness but as someone who hates Jaylen's supermax:

Brown and Brogdon for Murray, De'Andre Hunter, Okongwu, 1st(s):

We have better defense, less money coming on a Murray extension, and we turn Jaylen/Marcus/Malcolm's offense into Porzingis (second option), Murray (third option), Hunter (fourth option)..

Dejounte/Pritchard/Davison
Hunter/White(/AJ Griffin?)
Tatum/Hauser/Walsh
Porzingis/Okongwu
Al/Rob/Luke

That's 54 million out, 46 million in.. - plus tax MLE and/or whatever you can do with Grant.