We should have the Courtside poll that runs the spectrum of Rice to Harlow. Each one of their opinions sounded tailor made for poll questions. Rice: We are going to slide the standing without a trade and other teams hitting their stride. Make a deal. Barrett: I'm wary of any trades since this team's chemistry is so good. Maybe make a deal. Harlow: No trades! I love these guys! They are my buddies! No Way.
I'm amazed that so many smart posters are still not recognizing the value for the Blazers not trading Raef and having him come off of their own cap. Teams want RLEC because it slashes salary and lowers their cap figure right? Some teams want to get under the Lux tax and others might want to become FA players. But if Portland lets RLEC, Ike, & Frye come off their cap this offseason, then they will be about 6-8M under the cap. If they then renounce either Blake or Travis they'd be 10-13M under and both they'd have >16M of space. Teams can trade for this capspace. Acquiring it would immediately slash salary and lower the team's cap figure just like trading for RLEC now would. I've thought for a while that they've got too many guys who deserve minutes so they do have some motivation to make a move right now, but of course someone else has to be offering the guy they want. But on the other side of the coin KP has stated that he is hesitant to mess with team chemistry during the season. Anyway, I'd imagine he is talking to teams and seeing who has interest in what. Every report we get is that Portland's management is always talking to others about various possible deals... certainly the annual flurry of draft day deals seem to indicate that KP weighs a lot of different scenarios and isn't afraid to make moves. But just to be clear, Raef's contract probably holds a lot of value to some teams now. But a similar amount of Blazer capspace this offseason should hold the same value. ...btw, of course I went with the Ed O option. Making good moves is always preferred. STOMP
$6-8 million means we are competing with any team that has the MLE available. Yes, we can increase the amount by dumping Blake and/or Outlaw...but that leaves no margin for error. The guy you sign has to be worth $16 million AND the loss of future cap flexibility AND the loss of 2 productive players. Who do you have in mind?
Portland is going to lose that "future cap flexibility" anyway as they re-sign their players. I could definitely see renouncing Blake, to get to something like $12 million under the cap and offering that to Sessions. I don't believe Milwaukee can match that, let alone top it.
The MLE should be about 5.7M next year. I've seen different figures for where Portland projects but they are all are greater then that. When you factor in the yearly max % increases, you're talking millions of dollars of difference between a max MLE offer and what Portland can offer over the length of the contract. Technically they'd be competing with the MLE teams for FAs but they'd have a significantly better offer even without cutting TO or SB.... those guys could be a traded as well. There really isn't that much in the way of FAs that I'm eyeballing though. I think the 6-8M is much more likely to be used to trade for someone already under contract which is of course something that MLE's can not be used for. First of all, what is the future cap flexibility you speak of? LA and Roy are due extensions after next season right? Are they going to cut ties with either or both of them? Retain both and they are over the cap for the foreseeable future. Because I feel Portland has too many merely productive players and are 3 deep at both PG and SF, I would happily cut Travis and/or Blake to add a superior talent at either spot. Hell I'd happily include the 2009 #1 or Petteri if need be. The net effect from Portland's end would be the same as a consolidating quantity for quality trade. I'd still be interested in the usual suspects we've been mentioning (Prince, Wallace, Butler...) but I'd be open to other options too. There are too many attractive players/scenarios to list but of course the other team has to be looking to cut costs/turn over their roster. STOMP
That's assuming we don't package a lower salaried player, let's say Outlaw...plus the 7 million in cap space, to take on a contract of up to 12 million, maybe even in a sign and trade. There's a lot of things we can do. We could also trade the cap space for a pick and a player. Plenty of things we can do.
