Does anyone know the deadline to decide on Chris Kaman's contract? If its a team option then it would be by June 30th but if its an unguaranteed contract the date could be in July or later. I think the majority of Blazer fans would like to bring him back but with so much up in the air for this teams starters and long term roster first I think you may need to have the cap space available for those higher priorities. $4 million of the $5 million in his contract is unguaranteed. I suspect we do have to decide first on his contract so I'll assume so for the remainder of my post. I would decline the team option but let him know we are eager to bring him back. We have the ability to use the cap space to negotiate with free agents. The team is able to use Batum in a sign and trade, or use Lopez, Afflalo in two way sign and trades. Ultimately we reach deals with free agents and or LaMarcus but are able to work sign and trades to stay above the cap. Or we stay above the cap and stand pat just bringing nearly the entire roster back. Then we can resign Kaman for $4million or whatever amount is agreed upon. If however we do need the cap space we renounce Kaman's rights and hope he signs for the $3 million room exception or veteran minimum. He worked great with Meyers which many fans like but he also was very productive on the court with the third highest PER on the team over 17 behind only LMA and Dame. Ideally he'd be the 4th or 5th big on the roster. Turning 34 in October he's not getting any younger but I think he would be happy to sit on the bench watching Meyers, Lopez, or a newly acquired starting center play. He would also be available for a big reserve role if the team needs it. Thats what you need out of the end of the bench; players who can play when called upon but are content with a DNP.
From what I recall, it isn't a team option contract; it just has only $1 million guaranteed next year. That would mean that, if necessary, they can waive him anytime this summer and only have a cap hit of $1 mil.
IIRC It becomes fully guaranteed last day of July. He can be traded up till that point and be waived for savings.
e_ is correct. It's not an option, it's just a contract with a small guaranteed portion. And we could save a team even more money, potentially. Kaman set to make 5 million, so a team could trade a guy making up to 7.6 million in salary, and save themselves over 6 million dollars.
Kaman is most likely to be moved for that reason alone. I think the Blazer's hope would be he is waived and then brought back to mentor Meyers more though.
I would do Batum/Kaman for Hibbert. Then let Rolo/Wes walk and try to sign Danny Green to take his spot.
Thus replacing three good players with 2 good players for the same price. Actually it's 4 for 2 including Kaman. Let's bundle Aldridge and Lillard for a superstar and petition the league to change to 3-on-3.
Contracts are generally guaranteed the last day of JUNE. Therefore he would have to be traded BEFORE free agency begins.
Right now we have no idea if Wes is still good. We have no idea if he will ever be as good as he was. As I've said in other threads, I'm extremely wary of throwing a big contract at a guy who is on the verge of hitting 30 who is coming off a major injury. I would much rather give that money to Danny Green. Kaman and Rolo did nothing for us in the playoffs. I would prefer to consolidate and grab someone like Hibbert while we develop Meyers.
Actually that's not totally true. The date a contract becomes fully Guaranteed is January 10th. But there is a date when the whole amount of the non-guaranteed amount can be waived without it being prorated, and it's in the summer, Trying to find that date.
Reading a little further , the Guarantee date is something that is negotiated at the time of the contract between the player and the team. there is no hard date for a partial guarantee.
The problem with that is we won't have money to really offer a swap of Matthews for Danny Green. We would basically need to free up about 10 mil IMO. Renouncing just Matthews won't do that
So use Kaman and Batum for Hibbert? Then renounce Rolo and Wes for Green? That's a huge risk that I doubt would convince Aldridge to stay. Now if we trade Batum for a resigned Green and filler, you maybe onto something. I think Parker would love to have another frenchie in SAS!
Give up on wes after how tough hes been for this city? Dont fly with me boe. Dude would murder us everytime we played. Hes coming back strong, just watch.
