MountBiyombo wrote:Vanderbilt_Grad wrote:yosemiteben wrote:Is that true? I thought you used average of current plus extension, which is right around $6M. Seems like it would have gone through.
The Hornets are technically over the cap until they start renouncing folks due to all the cap holds. Until his salary actually goes up Lamb is technically a poison pill contract (#90 on the CBA FAQ). This mean that Charlotte would have treated Lamb's salary as roughly $3M in terms of what they sent out, but the Kings would have treated it as the average. The deal would still work from their side, but Charlotte wouldn't have opened enough space to take Beli back. After Lamb's salary officially goes up he's not a poison pill and the salaries match well for a trade.
I also take into account that the pre-draft rumors were Lamb + 22 for space. This was the next best thing for the Hornets, and likely means that Lin is gone.
Lin has already said that he wants to start. There is no realistic reason to expect him back.
He said it was one of the factors, but not the only one. He also listed other items like possibility to win and humble teammates.
Using the #22 pick to obtain a 6.3M contract for a 30yr old combo guard/sixth man to back up Batum at SG and Kemba at PG likely means both C.Lee and J.Lin are gone.
With MKG returning and shifting Batum's minutes to SG, it meant one of C.Lee or JLin would have been gone anyway due to lack of minutes/money. Now, with the Belinelli $6.3M contract, it means both of them are gone.
I guess Cho couldn't find any good offers for #22 + Hawes/Lamb (too expensive), so decided to use the pick on Belinelli. The philosophy of having locked in, defined costs contracts in a exploding cap seems to be the same tack taken with both the early Lamb extension and picking up Belinelli.
Instead of having to compete in the summer's free agent market, where C.Lee is expecting $11M-14M and Steve Kyler says JLin is worth at least $12M, Cho decided to stay with the the cheaper $6.5M Lamb and pick up the $6.3M Belinelli.
His first choice of moving Lamb/Hawes with the #22 pick to create cap space didn't pan out (too expensive, whatever that means), so it seems he opted to change tack and replace Lee and Lin with the cheaper tandem of Lamb and Belinelli for next season.
Don't worry....Marco will be able to replace the production lost by losing Lee to free agency. As for the money,it really doesn't matter as this is only the first move in retooling our roster with Vets. Cho knows exactly what he is doing..I suspect he will pull the trigger on a couple of more FA deals July 7th. Hawes and Lamb probably will be fillers. I believe EVERYBODY is subject to trade. This draft would not help us after pick#10..That's why we got out and are concentrating on 2nd tier NBA vets with expiring contracts.Marco would be a perfect backup for Nic or Mkg. If Batum wants Max$ we may have to pass in order to put a complete team together. Don't be suprised if Nic ends up a Laker .
