I think if we make the blockbuster deal of CJ and picks for Simmons, we could get Bobby Portis for the BAE and a backup PG for the taxpayer MLE.
I noticed on the list Melo and Batum made the same vet minimum last season....Ed Davis and Enes Kanter made the same money last season..all 4 are free agents...
Using the BAE will hard cap Portland. Most likely, Portland will be over the hard cap line - so the BAE is likely not an option to use
one potential problem is that if Portland goes after Batum it could mean that Powell is leaving. Nic would be a hell of a lot better than Jones though
you think Batum would necessitate the full MLE? Hardcapping ourselves for Batum is a nonstarter if it costs more than the taxpayers MLE imo.
Yeah Batum even with how well he played with the clippers is a vet minimum at this point of his career. He was overpaid for so freaking long that he doesn’t deserve more money
Instead of going after last year's bargain players (who are certainly getting paid) lets find next year's bargain player and sign Otto Porter
That is ridiculous. Clippers would at least offer him 120% of his previous salary to try and keep him since they don't have to use any exceptions to do it and they don't have many avenues to improve their roster. Why not try to keep someone that averaged almost 30 MPG for you last season for nothing if it only cost you a bit more than the vet min? He's also a wing, that plays defense, and hits 3s. Those types of players are at a premium. Another factor is that he's still getting paid 18 million by Charlotte for the next few years. Maybe he doesn't care about how much he's getting paid. In that case, if he has a line of suitors willing to give him the vet min (and why wouldn't he?), he can choose which team he wants to go to. He seemed to like playing with the Clippers last year, can't see him choosing us over them. Realistically, I think he will have a line of teams willing to give him the taxpayers MLE at the very least. He had a line of teams willing to give him the vet min last year and that was when many people were saying he is completely washed. I think Utah would offer the taxpayer MLE in a heartbeat. Gobert tried to get Batum to sign last year for the minimum but Batum chose LAC, and the Jazz are clearly lacking perimeter defense. Wouldn't even be surprised if he had a full MLE offer somewhere, although at that price I wouldn't be too happy to take him on.
Well, not sure how that relates to Powell leaving then. Likely they spend the tax MLE even if they keep Powell.
you said, in response to me talking about Batum: "you think Batum would necessitate the full MLE? Hardcapping ourselves for Batum is a nonstarter if it costs more than the taxpayers MLE imo." so I simply pointed out that I had never said anything about the full-MLE and specifically had mentioned the tax-MLE my assumption is that if Portland signed Batum for the tax-MLE at the same time they have Jones, if he opts in, it would likely mean Powell had walked. Paying 16M for two backup SF's would be pretty extravagant if Dame-CJ-Powell-RoCo were combining for 100M
I guess I just don't see how it relates to Powell walking unless we have to use the full MLE to sign Batum. Batum played mostly (84% of his minutes) PF according to PBP info: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/batumni01.html. He even played a bunch of small ball center for the Clippers in the playoffs. But either way, doesn't really matter. Wings are interchangeable now and 82games has him playing 4 positions for various minutes. He may even be able to to play some backup point if he can tap into some of that playmaking ability he had when he was here. Seems like the bigger issue for retaining Powell is whether CJ remains on the roster. I think everyone agrees that starting Powell at SF is less than ideal, but even if that happens there is enough backup minutes at all three wing positions SG-SF-PF for both Jones and Batum to play. It's unlikely you will find a starter using the tax-MLE, so what's the issue with using it on someone that can play multiple positions and could reliably be an injury starter? If the greater issue is salary, then for the sake of argument, let's go with the hypothetical situation where we re-sign Powell to the expected 4/80. Right now the Blazers are sitting at ~115 million in guaranteed money and 8 players assuming Powell opts out, Jones opts in, and with the Nicholson dead cap. Powell's contract will start at around 17.8, bringing the cap figure to ~133M. They will then need to fill 5 roster spots, which I assume they will do with a combination of vet min/rookie deals. Assuming an average of ~2 million per vet min brings us to 143M, which is the tax apron and well into the tax. Add 3 million to that payroll if they decide use the tax MLE (regardless of who it is). Doesn't seem like it would be that big of a difference if they are already willing to go up to the apron. If they weren't willing to foot the tax bill, then not retaining Powell would seem to be more related to his expected salary rather than using the full tax-payers MLE. One thing to note is that if either of these happen: 1.) Dump Jones contract with some draft capital. 2.) Convince Jones not to opt in. 3.) Not re-sign Powell We can actually open up the full-MLE, at which point there may be better targets than Batum.
