How should we use the MLE and the bi-annual exception?

[joeshmoe]

It is my understanding that we have the MLE of $5.8 million and the bi-annual exception of $1.9 million to work with this summer regardless of how much we spend on the Joshes. I think it is clear we need to make some additions. Who should we go after?

A guy I think would be perfect, and would not require us to use the entire MLE, is Azubuike from Golden State. He shoots fairly well from 3, 36%, so he could spread the floor. Also, he would be a good fit, super athletic, tough, and young, 24. As a 6'5 shooting guard he averaged 4 rebounds in only 20 minutes (he also averaged 8 pts). He is a restricted free agent this summer and could possibly be had for the bi-annual exception. But that is just a guess he made $700K last season.


EDIT: changed Azubuike to restricted free agent from unresticted

[conleyorbust]

It is my understanding that we have the MLE of $5.8 million and the bi-annual exception of $1.9 million to work with this summer regardless of how much we spend on the Joshes. I think it is clear we need to make some additions. Who should we go after?

A guy I think would be perfect, and would not require us to use the entire MLE, is Azubuike from Golden State. He shoots fairly well from 3, 36%, so he could spread the floor. Also, he would be a good fit, super athletic, tough, and young, 24. As a 6'5 shooting guard he averaged 4 rebounds in only 20 minutes (he also averaged 8 pts). He is a unrestricted free agent this summer and could possibly be had for the bi-annual exception. But that is just a guess he made $700K last season.

I would love to go after Buike' and SnT Childress for a backup big man.

The thing is, Sund and co. are going to wait until this business with the Joshes is settled because we don't know how close to the lux tax we'll be.

[Hawks]

That is why it was big for them to get Wayne and Justin on the SL team. Adding those two bigs to this team and at a cheap contract is about as good as we can hope to do in terms of signing a FA big man.

[killbuckner]

there is zero chance that the Hawks pay the luxury tax. At this point its not even a sure thing the Hawks can get both Smith and Childress under contract without paying the luxury tax.

[joeshmoe]

So we have 8 players under contract for $51.5 and the luxury cap in 2008-09 is $71.150. So almost $20 mil for the Joshes and 5 (?) other players. Things will be tight. Hopefully Josh signs for less than $11 and Childress for less than 6. Wow we are not going to have very much wiggle room, 5 players for less than $3 million. We couldn't even afford 5 at the league minimum and stay under the luxury cap unless most of them were first year players.

I say f*** it, let's go over the luxury cap.

[killbuckner]

lol- its a lot easier to say "f*** it, let's go over the luxury cap" when its not your money. I don't think that there is ANY chance the Hawks actually do pay the tax. The first dollar over the tax ends up costing the team around 3 million dollars.

[joeshmoe]

Realistically, to keep both Joshes or similar talent, we most likely have to pay some luxury tax. And yes, as a fan it is a little easier to be pro luxury tax, aren't you?

The Hawks have a lot of empty seats that they could fill a lot easier with a better team. There won't be much excitement carried over from our playoff success if we don't win. They need to go a little into the tax to get the necessary pieces. We should spend what we are aloud to to get the best shooter and the best big we can afford. All we can spend in addition to signing the Joshes is the MLE, the bi-annual exception, and league minimums..

[HoopsGuru25]

The Hawks actually don't have to pay the tax if they sign the Joshes to reasonable deals. The best case scenario is that Chil signs for the MLE and that Smith signs for something similar to what Al Jefferson got. You would then fill out the rest of the roster with minimum players.

The luxury tax would not even be a question if not for the Bibby trade....however we assumed the ASG would not be dumb enough to commit $11 million extra in salary for Bibby this year if they weren't completely sure that they would bring back both Joshes.

[lunarblues]

i don't think we are going to use the MLE this year. we might use the low level to bring back an old vet like wright or johnson.

reason being we have a bloated payroll this year with bibby being in the final year of his contract. once he goes down to something reasonable and we have a steady payroll (everyone has their extensions) we'll be able to use the MLE better. right now it'll just cost the team unnessasary dollars. i think the team is pretty set right now as it is.

[killbuckner]

Anyone want to put a bet on whether the Hawks pay the tax this year or not? I really don't think they will under any circumstances for a team that isn't at all assured of making the playoffs.

I think that if Smith signs a big deal then Childress is gone. Maybe not even with a S&T just because there are few trades where the Hawks wouldn't have to take back significant salary.

[lunarblues]

if you look at the math on hoopshype.com, we have ~ 22 million dollars that we can use between smith and childress before we hit the luxary tax (i'm holding back 2 million to use on other low-tier free agents.) with that being said 13 mil for smith and 8 for childress will keep us in the good. anything more than that and we'll be in trouble.

[conleyorbust]

if you look at the math on hoopshype.com, we have ~ 22 million dollars that we can use between smith and childress before we hit the luxary tax (i'm holding back 2 million to use on other low-tier free agents.) with that being said 13 mil for smith and 8 for childress will keep us in the good. anything more than that and we'll be in trouble.

8 for Chil goes against my philosophy of willingness to pay for top tier talent but not for role players. I don't see why we would bid against ourselves to sign Chil to that type of talent... maybe GSW would pay that much with their cap space but that would be serious overload on the wings.

If Chil's people demand 8 and they can find a team willing to pay it, I say that is a great SnT situation.

[lunarblues]

that's an extreme scenerio (things get out of hand), i think he'll get closer to 6 million which is great for a sixth man.

[killbuckner]

lunar- Hoopshype is absolute Garbage. Here is the cocktail napkin "good enough to use" math. For my money storyteller is the best site out there. http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/r ... laries.htm

Bibby 16
Johnson 14
Speedy 5.5
Marvin 5.5
Horford 4
Zaza 4
Acie 2
Jones 1
------------
Total 52 Million.

That leaves 19 before they start to hit the luxury tax.

[evildallas]

I believe they'll be too close to the luxury tax threshold if they resign the Joshes to use the MLE. The LLE is a possibility, but minimum contracts are more likely, imo. It is important to be south of the luxury tax considering how many teams will likely be over it this year for franchise profits.

If we can use the bi-annual then I say throw it Dikembe. A defensive backup C is the hardest thing for us to fill on a tight budget.

[raleigh]

Killbuckner is 100% accurate, and it's the same thing I've been trying to tell you guys for weeks. Sekou even mentions it in his latest blog.

The Hawks will be lucky to sign a single player to their roster above the league minimum once the Joshes are retained. Assuming, of course, there's no major trade made.

If you want to know what kind of player the Hawks are going to add, you can look at their summer league roster (Richardson, Simien, Williams), or can look at the high character, low-priced vets available like Jake Voskuhl. Yes, Jake Voskuhl.

If you're expecting anyone better than Voskuhl, you're likely to be disappointed.

[joeshmoe]

Yah, I realize that I'm likely to be one of the people disappointed. But I still have some hope. If we won't use the MLE on another piece then I think we should trade either Marvin Williams or Childless for a solid SF that can shoot the long ball.

[JoshB914]

There are two ways I see us really improving our depth:

1) We S&T Chillz for a couple of bench pieces or simply don't resign him and use the $$$ on someone else.

2) Rio develops into a legit defensive stopper, J-Rich develops into a legit shooter, and Zaza finds his old form.

[evildallas]

With the way free agency has played out it might turn out that we can use part of the MLE to acquire another rotation player without exceeding the luxury tax. That would be nice. First and foremost I think we need to add another backup center with some height and hopefully shotblocking ability. Zaza doesn't provide that and I am worried about Solomon Jones in light of his decision to skip summer league. If Justin Williams impresses he might just steal the slot that Solomon was going to occupy. The other reason I would opt for a big is that the better stretch the floor options have already signed elsewhere.

Kwame Brown
Dikembe Mutombo
Alonzo Mourning (out for half the season)
are still my top free agent bigs.
Malik Allen or Adonal Foyle might be a minimum salary candidate bigs.

The only shooters I still have on my radar are Kelenna Azubuike (but he's restricted) and Matt Barnes. We also need a 3rd PG if Speedy is unable to go but none of the vets look particularly appetizing. I'm intrigued to see if players like Bobby Brown, Jamont Gordon, or Darius Washington are able to stick on rosters after good summer league outings or whether they might be available at the minimum.

[zaavtra]

What do people think of Randolph Morris? He was in the mini-camp before summer league on Tuesday as a late addition. IMO, he's always been a guy who's played smaller than he actually was and couldn't really finish around the basket.