demens wrote:I'll repeat one more time, maybe it'll get through out thick skull this time. EVERY deal i talked about left room not only for Lebron but also for a MAX free agent the year after.
It's time for some math and salary cap lessons:
Here are the current salaries committed for 2011/12. I'm assuming the team options for Lopez/Williams/Lee are exercised and Yi/CDR are not tendered as RFAs.
Harris: $9,319,000
Lopez: $3,076,983
Williams: $2,369,040
Lee: $2,225,093
Total: $16,990,116
Now you have pick #3 and #27 in this draft (2nd rounders aren't on guaranteed contracts so we'll ignore pick #31 for the moment). Here are the Year 2 salaries for the 2009 #3 and #27 picks: James Harden ($4,304,520) and DeMarre Carroll ($1,085,400).
Add those 2 salaries and we are at $22,380,036 for 6 players.
Now here is where your plan falls apart. A MAX free agent contract for a guy with 7 or more years in the league (applies to all potential MAX guys) is 30%. The maximum annual raise you can offer to another team's FA (ie: no s&t) is 8% per season. This year's projected salary cap is $56.1 million. Based on these figures, if you sign a MAX free agent the 2010/11 salary is $16,830,000. The 2011/12 salary would be $18,176,400. This does not take into account the higher raise rate (10.5%) a FA can get through a s&t.
Now add that $18,176,400 salary and you have $40,556,436 committed to just 7 players. This has yet to account for the salary of your 2011 1st rounder, this year's pick 31 (if you want to keep him), or the cap holds for having less than 12 players under contract.
The cap this year is expected to be $56.1 million, it marks the second straight year the cap has gone down. Is there really any reason to believe the cap is going to go up a year from now? If the cap stays the same, you are roughly $5 million short of a MAX deal.
The bottom line is this. It is financially impossible to keep your 3 most valuable current assets (Harris, Lopez and pick #3), a MAX free agent in 2010 and a MAX free agent in 2011.