Trades possibilities....and what teams are open for business

You may have missed my point

Starting in July, according to that article, a MLE is just like a TPE. It can be used to acquire a player in trade. For instance, if some team wanted Thybulle and had the full-MLE, his salary would fit into the exception

the other side of that is if Portland was reasonably under the tax line, they could use their MLE to acquire a player in a a trade

it may be that some teams will save their MLE's for the trade deadline leverage

 

As you mentioned, Portland actually could take advantage of this new rule. It opens up the ability to move both Thybulle and RWIII directly in to cap space, versus having to take on some other contract. It opens up potential trade partners that might not have had specific matching salaries.

 

Yes this season allows more trade options to teams with the full MLE.

However 2nd apron teams now have less trade options as they cannot aggregate salaries nor bring a larger salary back (even $1 more) in trades.

Might be a wash.

Last year was supposed to be a trading frenzy before these 2nd apron restrictions kicked in but it seemed relatively normal with trades.

 

true. And moving either one of those guys for a TPE might actually open enough margin under the tax line to use either the MLE or TPE

I really like the change; I think it will create more trades

 

I did not know about that new rule. Thanks

However, it only slightly changes my question. What good young player could we absorb if we had our MLE? Or better yet why would any team want to dump a good young player in that salary range? And it seems we are only interested in young players at the moment.

I like that we can dump "small salaries" but it doesn't make us better, it just saves Jody money.

Now if you already are a contender and you need help from an older vet to get you over the hump, then it would be a huge advantage, but it is also unlikely that many contenders have their MLE.

Yes ideally it would be good to have the MLE available, but I am not losing any sleep over not having it.
I am sure you can come up with examples of why it would be advantageous, (Maybe to help facilitate a trade?) but at this point, we need a star player, not role players. I am not sure how the MLE will help with that.

 

it doesn't have to be a 'good young player'

there are two major changes I'm focused on in this discussion. One is what we're talking about here in the MLE now being like cap-space or a TPE for trade purposes

the other is the minimum team salary rules. Under the old CBA's a team just needed to reach the minimum before the season ended, and the only 'penalty' was they had to pay the NBA the differential between their payroll and 90% of the salary cap

but the penalties have changed under the new CBA. Teams have to reach the salary floor by the beginning of the season. If they don't, the rules erase any unused space a team has below the floor. But that's not all, for the rest of the season that team can not make any trade that reduces team salary; none (even if they first perform a trade that gets them above the floor). AND, they do not get to share in luxury disbursements. Those are significant penalties...

...meaning that teams with off-season cap-space will be doing everything they can to reach the salary floor before the season starts. I think we may see some surprisingly large 1 year contracts. And some UFA's are going to get major paydays. But more than that is that teams are not going to be able to finesse their cap so well that they end up with exactly 10% of the cap as cap-space. The coming season the cap is projected to be 141M. That would mean the maximum cap-space any team can carry into the season would be 14.1M. Meanwhile the MLE is 12.8M. But assuming no team hits the salary floor perfectly, it could mean that during the season and approaching the trade deadline, other than a couple of large TPE's, the largest single blocks of exceptions/cap-space around the league would be unused non-tax-MLE's.

and for teams looking to shed salary to get under either of the two aprons, or get out of the tax, or just save millions in tax payments, those teams that have the full MLE could end up collecting decent draft picks for simply taking on an unwanted contract. Which would greatly benefit Portland....assuming they weren't so damn close to the tax line with the Vulcans circling overhead

 

Is that the guy who told us dame is going to Miami, no matter what?

 

Different guy, I think. Certainly doesn't have any cred, either way... Lol

 

Just for conversations sake, who would they be interested in?
Grant would be a BIG upgrade over DJJ. Malcolm off the bench to steady the second unit? Ant off the bench for instant offense? RWIII doesn't make any sense.

 

They were rumored to liking Grant at the deadline. Would not surprise me if those discussions were rehashed.

I would like any unprotected or lightly protected picks in a salary dump for Grant.

 

I would think Grant.

 

Didn't they want 'Tisse before? As a DJJ replacement?

 

They have average player assets that would be realistic options coming back to Portland and draft picks -- ROFL -- nothing for the most part -- so I do not think it's for Grant unless they get a 3rd team involved --my guess ...

Thybulle -- remember Mavs signed him to offer sheet and the Blazers matched and he would be much easier to to get a trade done

 

I just saw Nico Harrison quoted as saying that re-signing DJJr was "job 1A and 1B" this offseason, FWIW.

I want to know what THEY can do for US. I doubt very much that they'll give up Lively, so... Josh Green? I'm sure they want to offload Tim Hardaway Jr., but I will be PISSED if we take him.

 

Only pick Dallas has they can trade is 2025, would have to be unprotected or a turns in to 2nds arrangement. Beyond that, no interesting young guys, I suppose OMP, and then contracts. Don't love it

 

Dallas is this offseason's Miami. Fuck Dallas!

 

I'd have to look later also,but Dallas might be in that 2nd apron territory, where they wouldn't be able to aggregate salaries,and have no 1-1 marching for grant

 

Grant for OMax + 25 pick + filler

 

Someone correct me if wrong, but Dallas is a 2nd apron team, so they cannot aggregate players in a trade..... after July 1.

So they have clear incentive to get a deal done while the season is still in the previous calendar year.

Hardaway + Kleber + Prosper for Grant works. Now get as many picks from them as possible