The stretch of Varejao didn't take place until the following season so being under the cap that year didn't matter. What did matter is losing that cap space that summer (Ughhhh 2016 damn it!). @wizenheimer points out that we probably just wouldn't have signed Ezeli but it would have likely ended with offering Turner slightly less money too so that would be one of the benefits. Everything after that point would be different. Not having Ezeli means no need to stretch him. Trading Crabbe for Nicholson might have lead to not needing to trade Vonleh last year to get under the line. It may be fun to speculate but impossible to know for sure.
You're right, Morris is for this season. When I went back to check, was rushing and looked at something else. There will be some discrepancies but it's pretty close for the most part. But in adjusting the Knicks, I had to go back and accidentally used 2019 for their 2020 number. It should be around $7M instead of what is listed....which is for 2019.
So the list is not as objectively authoritative as it looks. Some numbers may be way off, but the list is useful in the aggregate, in displaying how the Blazers don't have the expiring contract advantage that some posters were claiming. The purpose of the list is to provide an answer in context of this board's arguments, rather than to serve as something people can cite in the future.
^^^^Yes, the list was secondary to the original post. It took so long to put together and when it was obvious that not all the info I was relying on was completely correct, I just tried to make it as close as possible for a 'larger picture' example of what the Blazers were up against. I'm sure a more accurate list will be available after this summer when different players make decisions about opt-outs and the 1-year salaries are decided on.