If there is a hard cap it makes 100% sense. Even if not, it would save our owner a ton of money, and he might be more willing to sign or re-sign a player to put him into the luxury tax that could produce more consistently. It also helps with trades if there is a bit of cap flexability. I thought I read somewhere that the new CBA would have a lot more restrictions on player movement. Being tied down even more by a crappy contract would be bad
Yes, Paul wants to win above all else, Roy being gone with an amnesty clause increases the team's winning chances by allowing some flexibility to acquire other players and not being hampered by his huge contract, and that therefore "pleases PA", see its not that difficult.
Since it's so easy to acquire other high caliber players. Fact is PA loves his players, and believes in them. I highly doubt he'll give up on his Seattle boy. actually it's how I live my life, baggage free, Imagine how much happier people would be if they didn't lug around all their heavy baggage of the past. Look at Lebron, obvious he's got some $hit weighing on his mind that's not serving him well
Everything I've read says that there would be a phase-in of the hard cap. I guess until we know the terms of the new CBA, it's pretty hard to say for sure whether waiving Brandon would make sense.
If it wasn't for vintage Brandon Roy in game 4 of the playoffs I would say your probably right, but with PA sitting on the floor watching it all go down, I find it hard to believe he's not going to do everything in his power to keep B and make it work. Time will tell indeed.
I hate doing this (comparing my own medical history to a pro athlete's, because it's not the same thing) but if you've ever had multiple major injuries and surgeries on the same body part -- in this case a knee -- you'd know that the condition of that knee is going nowhere but downhill with continued high impact activity. I used to be a pretty serious climber and mountaineer and I did a lot of long distance trail running to train for my climbs and after a torn meniscus, a torn ACL and a torn MCL (football in high-school) I can say with a great deal of confidence that the only thing "time will tell" in Roy's case is that he's going to be needing a knee replacement in ten years if he tries to play NBA basketball for another 4 or 5 years. With no menisci left in either knee, his condition is going to get worse and the rate at which it gets worse is going to accelerate. There's no amount of "hope" or "belief" that is going to reverse that barring a major medical breakthrough.
Mike Rice just had double knee replacement surgery 2 weeks ago and he's already back working in basketball.
LaMarcus and Wesley are the only salaries guaranteed to be on our payroll after next season (if we amnesty cut Roy). That is about equivalent to 1 max contract. If they get a low hard cap they may reduce the amount previous contracts count against the cap so we would potentially have much more cap room then in you're example.
So, you think the plan should be to cut Brandon, not re-sign Oden, don't pick up the last year of Wallace's contract, and let Batum go just so you can try to pick up one FA to go with Aldridge and Matthews? I'll pass on that plan.
Not sure if serious? But... Activity levels of an older sports broadcaster compared to a 20-something NBA athlete is not a fair comparison at all. Knee replacement surgery is meant to allow for basic daily activities and mildly physically demanding sports/exercise. I don't think there has ever been an NBA player who has played with even a single knee replacement surgery...
