nate33 wrote:We would retain his Bird Rights in that scenario. I don't think it really matters because we'd be under the cap.
I doubt Howard signs for $2M for 1 year. Somebody out there is either going to offer him more money for 1-year, or they'll offer a longer deal.
In theory, my point of having Bird Rights is to do an end run around the cap, even if the team is technically under the cap. Suppose a team has $16M in cap space, not including a FA that is expiring. If his cap hold is $4M and they don't renounce him, they're down to $12M of pure cap space. They then use that $12M to sign a big-name FA and turn to their own FA. Since they have Bird Rights, they can sign him to a deal starting above the $4M cap hold if they want - say starting at $6M. So now they get both players, instead of starting their own guy at $6M to start and losing out on the other FA.
I'm not saying it's necessarily wise or feasible, and probably just being too clever by half, but it might be worth a look.
And Dat - you may be right about Howard's market value being somewhat depressed. In fact, he just might go for a $2-3M deal from the Wiz, specifically based on the scenario I laid out. It wouldn't even have to be a wink-wink, it could be a legitimate discussion between him & the team: Go out and show us what you can do and we'll talk again next summer. No promises, no strings. No violation of the cap, but each side understands the benefit of working together. Probably won't happen, but interesting nonetheless.
"A society that puts equality - in the sense of equality of outcome - ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom" Milton Friedman, Free to Choose
