State of the Salary Cap for all teams in Summer of 2016

[ralphie9898]

Magic made an offer which only helped Milsap gain leverage with the team he wanted to stay with.

Yeah sure because you know what what was in his head and what his agent wanted. LOL, just an opinion and not fact. But even so it does not close the door on us being able to attract a free agent of higher value then what we have been getting recently even if we don't make the playoffs.

Yea, its impossible to know for sure what Milsap and his agent's motives were. On the one hand, Milsap had a good thing going and had no reason to leave, but once Atlanta traded for Splitter that changed everything.

Splitter and Budenholzer have worked together and Tiago is a legit starting center that allows Horford to move to his preferred PF role. That move had to have triggered alarms for Milsap, so its likely that's why he went out and got a safety net and/or leverage to ensure he would get paid what he felt he deserved.

As far as the Magic needing to make the playoffs to attract high calibre free agents...I agree to a certain extent, but another element that could substitute for that is the break out of one of the core - regardless of playoffs or not. If one of the young guys has a high profile all-star season that also attracts free agents.

Also if we luck into one of the top three selections(mainly via the lottery) that could help as well. And we have seen high profile guys go to bad teams before. Al jefferson is one of many examples. Of course it easier to attract free agents when you are closer to contending than not but if we have enough in place and can add enough whether that be another free agent or get someone through a trade or luck into a good draft pick(that could be traded too) than you never truly know. All I am saying is that I wouldn't say that unless we get into we won't have a shot at a better free agent.

[ralphie9898]

Magic made an offer which only helped Milsap gain leverage with the team he wanted to stay with.

Yeah sure because you know what what was in his head and what his agent wanted. LOL, just an opinion and not fact. But even so it does not close the door on us being able to attract a free agent of higher value then what we have been getting recently even if we don't make the playoffs.

FYI. If Milsap was attracted, he would be here.

Also, I don't think signing a 30 year old declining player to a long term high priced contract as a win win situation. I am happy the Magic didn't waste the money and don't consider him a prized Free Agent.

He was attracted to us. If it was just just a matter of leverage I am sure he could have gotten it from someone else. But he chose us and he was going to play here if Atlanta didn't ante up. They did and we lost out but he did have interest in us.

Though I totally agree that it was good that we didn't get him. I too think paying him the max is over-paying for what he brings and age doesn't make things any better. But he is better than what we have been getting. All I am saying is that we could still miss out on the playoffs and still be attractive to some free agents and not just the same free agents we have been getting but better guys.

[drsd]

Some more realities to Orlandoäs cap levels:

Let's say the Magic squeeze the 8th seed, they draft 15 in that scenario and that's a 1.5M hold. Dedmon has a hold of 1.2M.

Yeah the salary cap doesn't matter much if there aren't any good and realistic free agents. Horford is one, but if Gordon and Tobias improve and play well together, why bother? Let's see what happens first.

Agreed. It is about maintaining cap flexibility so that a big move can easily be facilitated.

..

[Hilltop]

The obvious answer is to go after Horford, however there is about 0% chance of him leaving Atlanta for Orlando. I'd even like to go after Ryan Anderson if possible, especially if this team can somehow dump Frye.

I don't think it's that unrealistic TBH. If Atlanta doesn't enjoy the same level of success, we could very well be in the mix. Plenty of personal reasons for him to play here and as long as there is a track record of improvement (regardless of whether we make the Playoffs or not), I think we have a decent shot at him.

[ralphie9898]

The obvious answer is to go after Horford, however there is about 0% chance of him leaving Atlanta for Orlando. I'd even like to go after Ryan Anderson if possible, especially if this team can somehow dump Frye.

I don't think it's that unrealistic TBH. If Atlanta doesn't enjoy the same level of success, we could very well be in the mix. Plenty of personal reasons for him to play here and as long as there is a track record of improvement (regardless of whether we make the Playoffs or not), I think we have a decent shot at him.

Yeah if Milsap at least considered signing here you gotta think it is possible for Horford being a guy that chose to play his college ball in Florida. We will have to wait and see though. And there are other guys in free agency as well as I have seen some people say that Horford is the best of only a few. Durant, Noah, Al Jefferson, Howard(ETO), Drummond(RFA has some work to do to restore that early promise he had), Terrence Jones(RFA), Hibbert(UFA, if he can resurrect his career in LA), Whiteside(if he can keep up what he did last year), John Henson(RFA), Jared Sullinger(RFA) and even Bradley Beal(RFA) are guys worthy of bigger money that could possibly be available. Not sure of who would consider us but who knows. I guess we shall see what happens.

[The Other Ankle]

I actually think that Horford's minutes might fit better here than in Atlanta. For Orlando Horford would be the starting PF and the Complementary Center (not saying back-up). He has always said he wants to play PF and yet usually gets roped into being the primary center.

This Summer Atlanta added two centers and Milsap ONLY plays PF. So their line-ups are in flux a bit compared to the role we would offer him. If things don't fit too well in Atlanta this year after losing Carroll, our chances go up for next Summer.

Also, there is this: "Georgia's personal income tax system consists of six brackets and a top rate of 6%. That rate ranks 19th highest among states levying an individual income tax."

[ralphie9898]

I actually think that Horford's minutes might fit better here than in Atlanta. For Orlando Horford would be the starting PF and the Complementary Center (not saying back-up). He has always said he wants to play PF and yet usually gets roped into being the primary center.

This Summer Atlanta added two centers and Milsap ONLY plays PF. So their line-ups are in flux a bit compared to the role we would offer him. If things don't fit too well in Atlanta this year after losing Carroll, our chances go up for next Summer.

Also, there is this: "Georgia's personal income tax system consists of six brackets and a top rate of 6%. That rate ranks 19th highest among states levying an individual income tax."

Yeah Atlanta does have a bit of a crowded PF and center position. Splitter could very well start for them or could just be a high usage backup in a 3 man rotation of him Milsap and Horford. Not sure how much they can rely on that other center addition Walter Tavares as he looks more like a project for now. So we shall see as they also got Mike Scott at PF who got about 15 minutes a game for them last year as well as aging Elton Brand who saw about 13 minutes a game last regular season but almost none in the playoffs so that could mean Horford won't quite be getting as much time at PF as you may think. I would say he gets equal time at both PF and center with him Milsap and Splitter getting mist of the big man minutes with Mike Scott getting 10-16 minutes a night as well.

But good news is that he not pursuing an extension with the Hawks and will wait for free agency where he can land more money so there looks like there is a chance he could leave Atlanta. And yeah we do have a glaring hole at PF with no sure thing starter going forward(yeah Gordon and Harris will likely be our starters at forward but I am not sure either is the PF we need going forward) so yeah Horford would get most of his minutes here at PF which seems to be his preferred position which does help our cause.