Right! It's Lee vs. Przybilla. Both are equally good big men, but with different skills. We're probably no better next season with this deal alone, but we will be better down the road as Przybilla's play diminishes and, most importantly, we're able to upgrade at a position of need (small forward or point guard). We get better with this move, short term and long term.
I'd love to get David Lee. Even if he's not the best fit, he's the best talent available out there this offseason. We can always trade him after Dec 15th to a team that really has a need/desire for him. Or we can trade Aldridge for a REAL pg upgrade.
Does he want to be richer with minutes on good-to-great team or does he want to be paid less as a starter on an inferior team?
I think David Lee would be a lot like getting Brian Grant back in the day. He would be on the floor enough, and people would love him. I am all for the second coming of the Rasta Mansta.
We can't. He'll be BYC till the end of the year. Well, technically we can, but it will be extremely hard.
Okay. But is Aldridge and Blake (or Bayless or Andre Miller) better than Lee and Devin Harris (for example)? No.
Hm. Yeah, we'd lose about $3.5M in salary cap space by trading for Lee. We'd be down to about $4.5M I think. But, we could still do a lopsided trade or cut a prospect or two to open up more (I'm not in favor of this) and then sign a free agent. If I'm Portland, I'd be very tempted to sign Lee to an offer sheet, and structuring next year's salary at the highest possible amount, hopefully cutting into NY's play money after next season.
That would be pretty hilarious to just keep your team $1 under the cap so you could do a lopsided trade.
I think Lee's value will take a significant hit if you wait a whole year. Even if teams know he's playing behind Aldridge and Oden, a ~$10 Million player playing around 20 MPG doesn't look good.
I think we should package Travis & Blake - but seek both Lee and Nate Robinson in return via S&T. This should leave us with some cap room...and we wait until the trade deadline - where our options could be: Package Pryz & Nat R. for a better PG; Package Pryz & Webster for a better PG or SF Package Pryz & Bayless for a better PG Package Lee & one of Nate R./Webs/Bayless for a better PG So we start out the season by adding Lee and Nate R., replacing Travis, Blake and Sergio. with more to come at the trade deadline. I see no point in signing Miller or Hinrich. Might as well wait until the trade deadline and look to land Harris or Sessions, etc.
It sounds possible based on your example, but there's another catch to BYC players called the poison pill provision. From Larry Coon Let's assume Lee signs for $7M with maximum raises of 10.5% per season. Current contract - $2,682,050 Year 1 - $7M Year 2 - $7.735M Year 3 - $8.547M Year 4 - $9.444M Year 5 - $10.44M Portland would need $7.6M in cap space to get the deal done. Knicks would be able to take back maximum salary of $4.475 ($3.5M x 125%) + $100K It should work based on paying Lee a starting salary of $7M.
Sorry if I'm out of it, but what are you all talking about? Why would Lee become BYC? It's not an extension, it's a new contract.
If the increase between his previous salary and his new one is more than a certain percentage increase, he becomes a base year contract. His new contract will almost certainly trigger that clause of the CBA.
Ultimately, when certain players, for instance Lee, signs for a salary amount greater than 20% of his previous amount he becomes a Base Year Compensation player. This is a rule that prohibits teams from signing players to amounts that solely work in their favor just to make a future deal work.
