tonman wrote: Which is my point but you miss the flexibility point. Lin goes you need a backup point and guard unless you say Jorge or Harrison and Daniels with Lamb are going to be your bench. So now you have to decide who and how much. Yes you could use the mle to bring a vet but you could also do that for Marv because we have frank or Lee because of mkg or al because we already have Cody and Hawes. Sure make trades we can always do that. Point is lin fills a few needs of point, off guard, facilitator, vet, intangibles, scorer, 6th man. Not debating your cap logic just you are over simplifying Lin's impact and replaceability.
I'm looking at it as a business owner. Lin can be individually versatile while his contract simultaneously limits Charlotte's overall flexibility to maximize the rules of the CBA. Basically, signing Lin with cap space signifies surrendering 1, if not 2, additional high value assets in order to fill a 15-20 minute need.
- Signing Backup PG X with $8M in created cap space requires renouncing Bird Rights for Al and 1 of Courtney or Marvin...or renouncing Al and dumping some combination of Hawes, Lamb, Harrison, and pick #22.
- Signing Backup PG X requires surrendering the full MLE because Charlotte dipped under the soft cap to do so.
- Signing Backup PG X removes $8M out of the $16-17M in cap space Charlotte presumably cleared for their center. Which would suck because quality centers for $7M don't exist, unfortunately compounded by CHA renouncing Al's Bird Rights.
vs.......
Lin maximizing his earning potential elsewhere, CHA trading for a cheaper backup PG clearing cap room in the process, rolling quarters into a crisp FA center dollar bill, then doubling back for Marvin, Lee, and Batum using their Bird Rights to exceed the soft cap.
Kemba, Cheaper Backup PG X, Lee, Batum, MKG, Marvin, Frank, Cody, FA center X, and pick #22 is a lineup almost every franchise would be happy with. It's also 1-2 additional appealing trade chips otherwise unavailable without Bird Rights or maximizing cap space should it be cleared.





























