our two traded-player exceptions, mid-level salary exception, and the veterans minimum exception, right?
We never had the vet's minimum or the mid-level, as you have to be over the cap to get either of those.
Well, there was some confusion in my head about that. That's the way I understood it too. What about those traded-player exceptions. The salary cap holds must have been counting against that $7.7M. I'm thinking we had to renounce that.
Major mistake, made out of desperation.... I don't think Miller will improve the team enough to be worth the cost. Could be wrong, but JMHO. If it's a done deal (in 24 hrs as reports say) I welcome Miller to our team and wish him the best!
I think teams always have the LLE when they are over the cap. The MLE had to be renounced because it ate cap space, but now when the team goes over the cap, I think they can still sign players for the minimum.
I don't think you can sign players up to the cap and then get the MLE. It's an either/or proposition. You either are under the cap and can use the cap space, or you are over the cap and can use the exception. The loophole to this is that if you are under the cap, you can do a sign-and-trade, taking back a player that eats up your cap space. Then you acquire the mid-level (see: what Toronto did with the Hedo Turkoglu acquisition). But I don't think you can sign free agents with your cap space and then get the MLE after you use up the space.
I could be wrong, but here' how I think they work: I believe TPE's do not affect the cap in any way, and last until a specified time at which point they expire if not used. I don't believe we ever had the MLE, because we had cap space that exceeded the MLE. The vet's minimum is an exception that is always available to every team.
Then why is it called an "exception." If every team gets it, doesn't that sort of contradict the use of the term "exception"?
Because it allows you to go over the cap. It's an "exception" to the normal rules restricting the ability to sign players while over the cap.
So sorry... when Foulzilla and I wrote the CBA, we obviously used the wrong term. We'll get right on that. Why niggle over the semantics? It is what it is.
Nope. Exceptions count against the cap and must be renounced if you want to use available cap space to sign a player ... unless of course you had so much cap room that you could sign a player without the exception affecting your ability to extend an offer.
I don't think the LLE is ever "gone." It can always be used. Teams under the cap, of course, don't need to use it. Teams over the cap can always sign players for the minimum. If you go over the cap and have only filled 7 roster spots, you don't play the season with 7 players. You can (and must) fill out roster spots at minimum salaries. So the LLE is still "available."
Yes, both of which are different from the LLE. And since the bi-annual exception can only be used once every other year, that's not really a loss. They can use it next year, if they desire.
