MLE

[Hydroponic3385]

Do you think the Cavs will use their MLE this offseason? What kind of guys should they target with it? Here are some possibilities (all unrestricted):

Devin Brown
James Posey
Matt Barnes
Jason Williams
Desagana Diop
Brian Skinner
Beno Udrih
Patricky O'Bryant
Michael Finley
Mickael Pietrus
Kareem Rush
Chris Anderson
Bonzi Wells
Keyon Dooling
Robert Horry
Maurice Evans
Trevor Ariza
Kurt Thomas
Jarvis Hayes
Primoz Brezec

Is there any chance that a veteran guy would wanna take a serious pay cut to win a title with Lebron? God, why can't someone like Arenas, Jamison, Artest or Jermaine say "f*ck it" and just join the Cavs.

Also, don't the Cavs have a trade exception they can use? How much is it, and when can they use it (is it only in a trade)?

[the edge]

I like Barnes in this bunch. He is a fiery guy, athletic, young enough and can hit the outside shot, at times. I just wonder why he did'nt get more than 20 min. a game?

[Benedict_Boozer]

Out of that list, Barnes/Pietrus/Dooling could all help us

I doubt Ferry uses the full MLE because we are already in cap hell and would be reaching NYK territory. Especially if the plan is to dump all of our expiring contracts

[Hydroponic3385]

How about that trade exception? How much is it, and do we just add it in as salary filler for a trade?

[Hydroponic3385]

Out of that list, Barnes/Pietrus/Dooling could all help us

I doubt Ferry uses the full MLE because we are already in cap hell and would be reaching NYK territory. Especially if the plan is to dump all of our expiring contracts

I understand we're in cap hell, and I understand we want to use our expirings in trades instead of signing anyone (aside from resigning West, Boobie), but I have to think that Gilbert would say "f*ck it" and sign someone if it was the right guy for the right price. I mean he's said he doesn't care about the $, and signing a guy for a year or two won't hurt our 2010 situation. It's not like we have to use the whole MLE either, it could just be a portion. But a guy like Posey, Barnes or Pietrus would be very solid for us I think. And of course a dream would be having a guy like Jamison or O'Neal take a huge pay cut (how much is the MLE anyway) in order to be a title contender with Lebron.

[eyejayem]

At the very least to be competitive until we realize what to do with our expirings, is to use the MLE on JR Smith. If you want Michael Redd at a discount price go for Smith. Dont just look at his numbers because he is capable of scoring 20 per but he gets shots will playing with Melo and AI and that's a feat in itself. He's 21 and has top tier athletics(remember dunk contest). Coach Brown said he'd rather teach a shooter defense then teach a defender how to shoot.

And then all we have to do is move up and get Darrell Arthur to be our young scoring PF. Learn from Joe Smith until the trading deadline.

[Benedict_Boozer]

You throw a MLE offer at JR Smith the Nuggets match immediately and get a steal. Basically impossible to get JR unless it was a trade

[Hydroponic3385]

Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of good players (like JR) who are restricted, so I didn't include them in my previous post. Are there any restricted free agents who teams are very likely not going to want to match offers for (and of course, these would be players we'd actually want)?

[1bhcavsfan]

How about this since the MLE is 5.5 mill and Devin Brown comes of the books which is additional 3.5 if I'm not mistaken. That gives us 9 mill to go after a side-kick named JR Smith. Their would be no way Denver would be able to match. That's why Denver is trying to test the market with Camby & Melo so they would be able to re-sign J.R. To me its simple offer J.R. 8-9 mill you'll have your athletic side-kick and then draft a big Z replacement. and then dump salary during the middle of the year at the trading dead line. So in essence we wouldn't be in cap hell for longer than a year. Don't forget we can trade Sasha & Andy after December, along with the rest of the CRAP Wally, D-Jones, E-Snow.

[Hydroponic3385]

How about this since the MLE is 5.5 mill and Devin Brown comes of the books which is additional 3.5 if I'm not mistaken. That gives us 9 mill to go after a side-kick named JR Smith. Their would be no way Denver would be able to match. That's why Denver is trying to test the market with Camby & Melo so they would be able to re-sign J.R. To me its simple offer J.R. 8-9 mill you'll have your athletic side-kick and then draft a big Z replacement. and then dump salary during the middle of the year at the trading dead line. So in essence we wouldn't be in cap hell for longer than a year. Don't forget we can trade Sasha & Andy after December, along with the rest of the CRAP Wally, D-Jones, E-Snow.

I don't know if I want JR Smith bad enough for 8-9 million. But if that were the case...signing JR Smith, drafting Kosta Koufos, and then waiting til some point between December and February to trade Wally (and other expirings) plus Andy and/or Sasha for whatever good SG is on the block (whether it's Miller, Redd, Maggette, Vince at the time) doesn't sound too horrible. Perhaps trade for another big instead of the SG as well, since we'd have JR. I'm just not really sold on JR for that much. At least that plan would give the rest of the team time to gel since we never got to until the playoffs this year really.

*edit*

This would be our team before a midseason trade:

Z / Andy / Koufos
Wallace / Smith
James / Pavlovic
Smith / Wally (or perhaps start Wally, and have JR be a 6th man?)
West / Gibson / Jones

Then use Wally/Snow/Jones and Andy/Sasha for a trade during the season, for the best PF or SG we could get. Wouldn't hurt including JR if teams wouldn't mind his contract, or perhaps even West or Gibson if a PG would be possible to trade for. Who knows.

[LeQuitterNotMVP]

You don't get extra MLE money if a player's contract expires.

[1bhcavsfan]

True but you won't be on the books for 3.5 mill so I was looking at the 3.5 mill as saved. Not adding it to the MLE

[LeQuitterNotMVP]

True but you won't be on the books for 3.5 mill so I was looking at the 3.5 mill as saved. Not adding it to the MLE

Even if we wanted to offer JR Smith $8 million, we couldn't because of the salary cap.

[cavshats]

You throw a MLE offer at JR Smith the Nuggets match immediately and get a steal. Basically impossible to get JR unless it was a trade

aren't the nuggets currently shopping marcus camby for cap release? Im pretty sure they don't match for smith but it's unlikely that smith doesnt get a better offer than the mle.

[Flash4thewin]

They would match that in a heart beat. They are trying to get rid of old player not lose there young talent. They probably let AI contract expire the JR moves into the starting SG spot.