Basically, This. I'm still a "Big 3" kind of guy, so my goal would be looking for a 2nd. I think that's why we offered Kanter. If he learned defense, we'd have 2. So, I don't use my capspace until we get a deal a la Boston getting Ray Allen/KG. So, no I'm not interested in using cap space on Deng or such any more.
Fun factoid. Aminu is the highest paid Blazer right now, and his contract ranks 79th in the league. Ed Davis is next at #95 and no othe rplayers is in the top 100.
The move would have to make sense to Olshey. Why add a player that won't bring anything of worth back because of a high salary? Kanter at least had some upside. I think we are done. And looking at our roster, I don't see how we could get any younger or better.
I'd give a max deal to Tristian Thompson just to fuck with the Cavs. You know they'll match. Then I'd give a big deal to Dellavedova; they'll match at least $6 million per year probably a couple more. Kevin Seraphin is someone I'd be interested in. The Lakers, Wizards and Mavs are targeting him. We can pay more on a large one year deal with unguaranteed second and third years. If Kevin greatly improves we'd have him locked in. If not he'd be a valuable expiring trade chip. If Dorrell Wright is open to helping a young team I'd offer him a large one year contract with an unguaranteed second year. He could help with shooting at the 3/4, is a good teammate, and a great friend to Dame. The only question is if he'll be ok watching young players play when the team is losing. If so bring him back. His contract would have value as a trade chip. Once the season rolls around wait until some team is unexpectedly much better or worse than expected as the cap space could be more useful at that time in trades.
Right now, cap space does not have much of a premium. If I were a team that did not want to pay the luxury tax, I would wait and release players on one year deals towards the end of the year. Take Golden State and Gerald Wallace. He makes 10M+ on a one year deal and Golden State will have to pay luxury tax for that. Philly and Portland have huge space currently. If the total team salary number is below 63M, they have to pay that amount back to the players on the team. If they were to claim Wallace in say March, the full amount counts towards the 63M number even though they only pay for the portion left on his contract. This is why Philly took on McGee's contract, even though they had to pay for 2015-16 in full. If Felton and Wallace are still with Dallas and Golden State in March, it is possible that Philly and Portland would claim either if waived.
We also don't have Chicago winters. Portland winters are very mild compared to most places in the US.
amnesty is a one time thing and the player's salary goes off the cap. Waiving a player does not make that player's salary off your cap. That's why there are "bad contracts" in the NBA where the player's value to the team is much less than their contract amount.
A nice reputation. Same thing Dallas was going for by giving Wes the max. No tangible benefit that I'm aware of.
As I understand it, they get to deduct the amount Dallas is paying him and spread the remainder out over a longer period of time. It seriously reduces the amount of luxury tax they are facing.