Free agent cap hold of declined rookie scale

[Garf]

Hey guys, could anybody please clarify which one of these two possible Coon interpretations is correct?

Question: rookie scale contract, 4th year declined. What's the free agent cap hold?
http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q37

First possibility: Q37 explicitly mentions Q25, which says: Bird max = 28m. So is the free agent cap hold enormous, thus making immediate renouncement the only feasible option?

Second possibility: per Q47, if the team declines either option and the player becomes a free agent, the team cannot re-sign him to a salary greater than he would have received had the team exercised its option. In other words, teams can't decline an option year in order to get around the rookie salary scale and give the player more money. This applies to all types of signings, including the Bird exception, the Mid-Level exception, and cap room.

Soooo is the free agent cap hold = Bird max = declined salary? Which is relatively low, and simply prohibits sneakily declining good players?

PS Historically, are there any good stories of resigning those declined dudes on the cheap?

[DBoys]

This really isn't a thing of any consequence.

I'm not sure what you're asking exactly, and I think you might be mixing up terms, and their implications. But in general...

When a player's rookie scale option is declined, it's because he's been very mediocre and not even worth keeping. His upcoming contract will be quite low, because he sucks. If a team declines such an option, the setup (a low limit on what his prior team can offer) makes it so that every other team can easily outbid them, if there's any value in the player, so the prior team has no incentive to develop him after that.

Those players typically do sign for cheap and it might be with anyone. Cap holds just impact what a team can offer elsewhere, and don't drive the contract size at all - player ability does.

[Garf]

I'm not sure what you're asking exactly

I'm asking what the free agent cap hold of a player is after he enters the free agency as UFA following a declined rookie scale year 4 team option.

I think you might be mixing up terms

Why do you think so?

[DBoys]

In general, "cap holds" are designed to account for financial possibilities (at least to some extent), but not impossibilities. As a result, the cap hold for any player never exceeds the most the team is allowed by rule to pay him.

[Garf]

Thank you. I'm also leaning towards the second possibility. If I were Coon, I'd actually directly refer to Q47 in Q37 in order to avoid this unclarity.