A couple of other things that need to be factored into this discussion about Oden: 1. The amount of money he'd get on a max contract is likely to be considerably less than it would have been under the existing CBA since it's currently tied to 25% of the salary cap. The owners are looking to push the cap down to around $45 mil from the current $58 mil. If it ends up around there, his first year salary would be about $11.25 mil rather than the $14.5 mil he'd start at based on this year's cap. 2. The decision on what to do with Oden may hinge in part on what the new CBA allows in terms of an amnesty clause. If Brandon's salary could be wiped from the books entirely, then signing Oden to a max deal would be a lot more palatable.
Yeah, at least under the current CBA, Oden and the Blazers could agree to a new contract and do a sign-and-trade with another team. They'd have to work around base year compensation issues. One of the things on the owners' list of proposed changes, however, is doing away with sign-and-trades.
I think its the opposite. If Roy's contract is off the salary cap the Blazers will be more reluctant to give Greg a large offer since it would reduce their chance of signing a future impact free agent. If Roy is still on the books it'll be unlikely we have room for a big free agent so signing Oden would have a lower opportunity cost.
Things that reduce our chance of signing a future impact free agent (in order of severity): (a) The team is not close to being under the cap by a significant amount, Roy or no Roy (b) The team is in Portland, OR (c) The team doesn't make it out of the first round (d) Only having a Big Two even if you did sign a big-money FA.
http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/crawford_trade_040805.html I think Crawford shopped his own deal and the Bulls executed it via S&T. It was after July 1. http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/curry_traded_051004.html Similar situation with Eddy Curry.
