Is it really important to have Cap Space in 2020?

I just checked the 2020 Free Agent class, and yeah, thats not a good class tbh, actually it's a weak class. I see a lot of people think that teams learned from 2016, i actually think the teams will overpay again because next year free agency class is so weak. What are our options for 2020 FAMS ?

 

It's never important for Portland to have a ton of cap space

 

If we had $11M in cap space this year we couldve gotten Warren and Okpala for free...

 

Players have more value on reasonable contracts. Having no cap space because we are paying $60 million per year to Turner/Crabbe/Meyers/Harkless hurts the team. It prevents the team from trading away those players either, they are worth much less than empty cap space.

Overpaying players prevents the team from signing MLE players. It prevents the team from adding salary in a trade. It makes management trade away assets just to avoid the luxury tax. The team may end up stretching a salary which is why we will have Nicholson on our salary cap in 2023.

Getting under the cap usually requires sacrifices elsewhere in constructing the roster, so that may not be the most beneficial strategy either. Either scenario can be an unwanted extreme.

But having players on valuable contracts most certainly helps the team, even if we never use cap space to sign a free agent.

 

We don't really have a complete idea who will be in that class yet, though. You have such a big class this year and only so much money to go around. I think there are going to be a lot of good players signing team-friendly contracts, and we already have the possibility of some good players who are considering inking one-year deals to be in the position to get more lucrative deals next year.

So maybe we aren't one of seven teams contending for the 10 really big name guys this year. With that off the table, wouldn't it be better to be one of say three teams that have money to spend in an overflow market next year?

 

I have gotten to the point where FA as a Blazer fan just sucks. Stock pile assets and make trades, we are never real players in FA.

 

I understand that feeling, but I don't know that it has to be that way. If you have an organization that people want to be part of, eventually you are going to get someone. But having cap space is a prerequisite. You can't sign anyone if you don't have money to sign them.

And that goes to what I was saying above. If you are the one team that has money to spend because everyone else blew their cap space the year before, you have an increased chance of getting a useful player. It's just supply and demand.

 

Assets like Okpala? The 17th Pick? Trades like Warren?

 

Yes I'd rather have the cap space than not. Don't extend Even Turner and Meyers just because there is fear they could walk for nothing. But if we can sign Kanter or Hood for a team friendly deal I'd certainly do it even if it uses 2020 cap space.

 

I don't buy it every year or two we (the general we) start going into all the reasons why FA's may come here and how our culture or Dame, or whatever may make an FA want to come here and it basically never happens. Absolutely agree it's better to have space to work with than not, but we will never be the one and only team with money and FA's time and time again choose other places.

 

While I'm not really high on Okpala or Warren, sure I guess. I'm not saying max out your salary every year, I realize having cap space gives you flexibility, I am saying that I don't believe cap space for the sake of making failed runs at FA's is the way to build a team here.

 

FEAR?

 

Making a run at free agents is one of many different positives and isnt doomed to fail.

 

Kanter chose us over the Warriors and Lakers.

If anyone expects cap space will get us for certain one of the three best free agents thats a bad plan to rely on. But same for the Knicks, and they are in freaking New York City. How many years have they tried to sign free agents and the best is an injured Amare Stoudamire?

Most teams don't sign all star free agents, its happens a few times a decade. Cap space still is an asset and has value. So no don't hold out hope its going to get us an allstar but also don't discount it as no value and worthless just because the team is in tiny little Oregon.

 

If you listen to Kanter he said that no one wanted him, so did he choose us or did no one want him?

 

Exactly my thought back in 2016, but hundreds of Blazer fans were yelling how we had to give Meyers that stupid contract or we'd loose him for nothing.

 

I really liked Enes Kanter no doubt about that, but is he our best FA signing? Cause while it's not doomed to fail, I certainly will believe it when I see it.

 

Did Blazer fans say that? I don't remember a single Blazer fan excited that they gave ML 4 years at 10m a year...

 

I could have seen a one year deal to have an asset for the next deadline. But anything more than ? Nobody wanted that.

 

You're ignoring three things:

1) Unbalanced trades. We got guys like Napier and Harkless for free because of having space. We also got an extra 1st round pick which became Swanigan because of cap space. This summer the AD, Conley, Warren/32nd pick, Crabbe/17th pick, and Baynes/24th pick were all trades that teams used cap space to make those deals.

2) You don't yet know which free agents will sign one year deals this summer and become free agents again next summer. I could see a good portion of the free agents falling in that category.

3) Even if we only had $12 million it's still more than the MLE so we can outbid any other team that doesn't have cap space. We wouldn't be after max slot guys so this would likely result in us adding a oretty good player of the non max slot guys. Think last year we could've had someone like a DeMarcus Cousins or Julius Randle. There are guys like that every year.

Wouldn't it be nice this summer not to be worried about tax and hard cap?