Channing Frye good? A case could be made for either way I guess but he got traded for one at some point in his career.
I agree with you. We should not do a S&T with the TPE. We would have to renounce players we likely want to sign. I do think we're paying the LT next season.
This article is a few years old, but it has some good information regarding traded player exceptions: https://www.google.com/amp/s/midlevelexceptional.com/2014/07/03/nba-salary-cap-trade-exception/amp/
The TPE is not valuable by its self. All it does is provide flexibility to teams. There's a reason that 90%+ of the TPEs league wide go un-used. To get a "decent" player using a TPE, draft picks would need to be used as the asset. So it really depends upon how much value you give the draft picks. It ludicrous to think that Portland will use the Crabbe TPE. Given the current salary commitments and LT penalties, there is no way it's going to happen. To bring in a $10M player, Portland would essentially be paying that player north of $25M. Go back to the list of players.... is there any that would be worth Portland paying $25M for? HELL NO! Even if there were, would there be any chance that the existing team would give them up for a future 1st round pick? NO! The assertion that the TPE might be used has no logical basis at all. The cost v benefit comparison just doesn't work for Portland OR the other team.
The Blazers have paid for draft picks before though. Allen was always willing to pay to add picks, that is why they added the rule limiting cash in trades. Using the TPE to take on an unwanted contract and getting a draft pick or a young player in return is a way to basically pay for that asset without trading straight cash. While some of the money paid to Varejao was offset due to being under the cap floor that year the Blazers are still going to have paid a lot of money to him for a late 1st round pick. I don't think Allen wants Dame to leave, as evident by his worry when Dame requested a meeting. The TPE represents one of the few ways the Blazers can add talent in their current situation. I wouldn't write it off as a possibility.
I had another idea too involving both of our TPE's. The Blazers could take on a bad contract with the large one in exchange for a good player on a rookie deal with the small one. Just an example, but the Blazers could send their 2018 1st to the Bucks for Malcolm Brogdon and then agree to take on Snell's contract. The Bucks probably aren't that desperate to get rid of Snell but I'll look into other situations where this might work.
Yes, PA has been willing to pay for draft picks (on the order of $2M-$4M). Using the TPE to take on a bad contract for a pick will cost the Blazers closer to $25M. That's a HUGE difference. The Varejao trade was a good trade that NO messed up on. Yes, Portland was under the floor - but they stretched his contract (which was a terrible move). So instead of taking the cap hit in the years where Portland had plenty of cap space, we still have a $2M cap hit. Portland would've been much better off by keeping the salary hits on the '15-'16 and '16-'17 seasons (it would've cost us signing Ezieli - but so what). Agreed with most of this, but Portland would be better off trading a player like Mo (or Chief) + a pick to acquire better talent than just using the TPE. Again, to give context to what you are suggesting.... Portland would end up paying over $30M per year for Snell + Brogdon. The '19-'20 year, would be another $30M and likely even more the following year. Are they good enough to move the needle sufficient to justify the cost? Especially over other options such as just using the pick ourselves.....and finding our own Brogdon.
Olshey didn't mess up the Varejao trade. We had to stretch him when we did in order to have cap space that summer. Sure, in hindsight the use of that cap space was a disaster but that is irrelevant to whether or not Varejao should have been stretched at the time of the trade. Sad to think that having Varejao's contract on the books that year would have been better than what happened but that is not because of the trade it is because of a different failure at a later date. Varejao is counting just under $2 million against the cap. 2% of the cap isn't really a huge deal either way. Why not use the TPE and also make other trades with the players you mentioned? They could trade guys like you mention for slightly smaller contracts that would offset some of the burden of using the TPE. The Milwaukee example was just one I could think of off the top of my head. I do agree that our pick could accomplish something similar, if they get it right.
I think we’re gonna use it. It’s one of the few ways we can actually improve. Yeah there’s gonna be a heavy bill, but with Meyers, Moe, and Evan turning into expirings the following season, I don’t think we’ll be repeat offenders in the future.
Do you think we use it on a player we actually want? Or do we use it to take a garbage contract with a pick attached? My bet: We use it on a player NEIL wants, but not a player WE want - another Evan Turner. Best case scenario is someone a bit long in the tooth like Courtney Lee or Wilson Chandler, and while they'd upgrade our bench I don't think either really changes the complexion of the team.
I don't think they would do Middleton straight across for CJ, Middleton is very good, on a really nice contract and relatively young - would you do the trade you proposed if you were a Bucks fan?
Courtney Lee Wilson Chandler Terrence Ross Danny Green Alec Burks Jordan Clarkson Jeremy Lin Tony Snell That’s pretty much the list for the Crabbe TPE.
When you're stuck in a hole, the first thing to do is put down the shovel, not keep digging. You don't double-down on a flawed team and hope to round it out with a high salary roster-reject, that somebody was dying to get rid of for cap relief -- that player is unlikely to solve the foundational problems that exist on this squad. Now on the other hand, if there are significant roster moves to fix those foundational issues (the CJ/Damian conundrum for instance) and then you use the TPE to take on the right kind of role-player, I'm all for it, but just taking on more salary, because, "Fuck it, why not" has disaster written all over it.
I like our options in free agency more, outside of Courtney Lee. Guys like Wayne Ellington, Hezonja, Belinelli, Seth Curry, KCP, Ian Clark interest me with the MLE. Redick and Barton do as well but they’re probably out of our price range.
Well, that's a list for guys making close to $13 million but we can also use it on multiple players or in separate deals (like for two different players making $6 million each).
Problem with that is teams probably wouldn’t be as motivated to dump a $6m contract as one closer to $13m, especially not someone that could actually help us.
How would it be a disaster? If we're already in the luxury tax the only thing it hurts is Allen's wallet. We're pretty much stuck with bad contracts for the next two seasons anyway. Most of the guys mentioned don't have more than a couple years left on their deals. If it helps us get an asset such as a draft pick or another rotational player. Sure, it probably won't lead to the missing piece but if we get an asset like a draft pick too with it then that could potentially help too.
