Amnesty Free Agency

[Krapinsky]

If I had to guess, right now I would say Webster is probably our starting 2 guard.

[shrink]

I have one question. Do these players that are amnestied have the option to go seek deals in other leagues, or are the forced to play out there contract. I ask because if we did decide to amnesty Darko or Pek, I think especially Darko would rather just go play in Europe. Which then probably wouldn't cover his pay out from Taylor.

Since the contract doesn't disappear, I believe the same rules would apply. Euroleagues honor our contracts and we honor theirs -- that's not necessarily true in China.

If it came to that, we could still waive Darko, just like the old days, and the stretch provision would allow us to stretch out the cap hit.

If people know more, please pipe in here.

[shangrila]

If I had to guess, right now I would say Webster is probably our starting 2 guard.

That would be bad. The guy is a 3, more so than Johnson.

[Foye]

For the Wolves, Brad Miller still looks like the odds on favorite to be amnestied, but an argument could be made to make it Martell Webster. Webster's salary is a bit higher ($0.5 mil) to provide a slight boost to our available cap space. Also, it may save Glen Taylor a little money in the short run.

If we put Miller up, no one will make a bid on him, and while his salary doesn't count against the cap, Taylor would still have to write the $4.75 mil checks. If he puts up Webster, he has some value. If a team even puts up a $3.5 mil bid on him, that's money Taylor doesn't have to pay, and he's only stuck with the remaining $1.75 mil.

1. I'd like to amplify on this choice on who to amnesty. If these are both reasonable scenarios, Taylor would compare and have to decide if he has the roster minutes to give to Webster to be worth paying $3 mil difference in cash. My guess would be yes, but as you can see, even though there is a big difference in the value of the contracts, the choice of who to amnesty is very close.

2. I'd also add that if Taylor wanted to amnesty BOTH Webster and Brad Miller, he can accomplish the same end result by trading Webster directly.

For example, if MIN made some phone calls and found out who was going to make the $3.5 mil offer on Webster, they could do a straight trade to any team with the cap space to be in the auction (or with a TPE, for that matter).

MIN GIVES: Martell Webster + $1.75 mil in cash
MIN GETS: cap space

For the other team, they can lock in their bid at the price they want, and not worry about being outbid. This enhances their ability to plan, and account for cap space. For Taylor, this trade would have the exact same end result as using amnesty clause, but he doesn't have to waste the amnesty (which he would use on Brad Miller).

Wouldn't we have to pay more by using Amnesty now if we got rid of Miller or Webster right now?
Or do players get only the guaranteed part of their salary when a team uses the amnesty on them?

[wolves_fan_82au]

ill be happy to take one of Hamilton,Prince or Gorden from detriot

[shrink]

Wouldn't we have to pay more by using Amnesty now if we got rid of Miller or Webster right now?
Or do players get only the guaranteed part of their salary when a team uses the amnesty on them?

I'm not sure I understand, but here's how it works:

Say we amnesty Webster at $5.25 mil. MIN immediately gains $5.25 in cap space, regardless of what happens. However, MIN still has to write checks for Webster's guaranteed $5.25 mil.

Webster then enters the special draft for amnesty candidates. Now suppose someone makes a winning offer for Webster at $3.5 mil. They would then pay $3.5 mil of his salary, but MIN would be responsible for the other $1.75.

[younggunsmn]

I think we may save the amnesty for a situation like things going sour with Darko again because Adelman thinks he's too tall to play C.
If we do unload someone there should be a definite obtainable target in mind.

[younggunsmn]

Wouldn't we have to pay more by using Amnesty now if we got rid of Miller or Webster right now?
Or do players get only the guaranteed part of their salary when a team uses the amnesty on them?

I'm not sure I understand, but here's how it works:

Say we amnesty Webster at $5.25 mil. MIN immediately gains $5.25 in cap space, regardless of what happens. However, MIN still has to write checks for Webster's guaranteed $5.25 mil.

Webster then enters the special draft for amnesty candidates. Now suppose someone makes a winning offer for Webster at $3.5 mil. They would then pay $3.5 mil of his salary, but MIN would be responsible for the other $1.75.

I like the Miller-Webster trade chip (with new 150% matching) next summer better. 10 million in salary with only 1,448,000 guaranteed for next year , and we can now take back up to 15 million for them.

[shrink]

I agree that their small 2012 partial guarantees makes them nice candidates - like a low cost TPE that can be used after the season. The downside is:

1. Paying $10 mil for them this year

2. If we amnesty one, since we're under the cap, it becomes more raw cap space. It's tough to know right now though just how valuable that cap space is, as a trade tool, in free agency, and/or in the modified free agency for amnesty players.

[younggunsmn]

I don't think it's such a good market for cap space with so many teams now having it and few decent players to spend it on. If Webster can be a decent 6th man, keep up his shooting, and improve his d, he is probably worth what he has left on his contract.

I wouldn't amnesty anyone until we are sure we can make immediate use of the cap space. If it weren't for the Carmelo saga we wouldn't have made use of all the space we had last year.

Amnesty is like having a gun with only one bullet. You don't want to blow your whole load early and regret it later.

[Grits n Gravy]

I agree that their small 2012 partial guarantees makes them nice candidates - like a low cost TPE that can be used after the season. The downside is:

1. Paying $10 mil for them this year

2. If we amnesty one, since we're under the cap, it becomes more raw cap space. It's tough to know right now though just how valuable that cap space is, as a trade tool, in free agency, and/or in the modified free agency for amnesty players.

i think we'll only have to pay for half of brad miller because insurance will cover him until he returns in a few months.

youngguns - the second part of your analogy made me laugh, i could think of a few replacements for the first part