https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_salary_cap Base year compensation Certain players in the first few months of a new contract are subject to base year compensation (BYC). The intent of BYC is to prevent teams from re-signing players to salaries specifically targeted to match other salaries in a trade (in other words, salary should be based on basketball value, not trade value). A BYC player's trade value as outgoing salary is 50% of his new salary, or his previous salary, whichever is greater. BYC applies only to players who re-sign with their previous team and receive a raise greater than 20%. It also applies only when (and as long as) the team is over the salary cap. Under the 2011 CBA, players subject to BYC cannot be traded before January 15 except in a sign-and-trade, and BYC is only applied to outgoing salary in sign-and-trade deals.[6]
We obviously need a rebounder/rim protector in the middle. But w/o a time table or even diagnosis on Ezeli, it's hard to say what we should give up. I don't get it. Mid-November we heard he was seeking a medical/2nd opinion on his ailing knee. That was almost a month ago, and no word. Quick Tweeted yesterday that there has been no update from Ezeli or the team, & that Ezeli has requested that everyone stop asking for an update. Uh, Ok . . . They should at least release what the 2nd opinion was, even if there's no set time table. Is he likely out for the year? The answer to that impacts the decision to trade for a big or stand pat.
I was a big fan of the Ezeli signing at the time (for the amount) but I think you have to go forward with thinking you get nothing from him at all this year and if you do then that is just a nice added bonus. I certainly wouldn't be making my trade plans according to what I thought or didn't think he would provide at this point.
There's a reason Ezeli was available for the price he settled on. Honestly, I doubt he plays at all this year.
Here are some things to consider. NO had a use it or lose it issue with cap space. Next year, CJ's new big contract kicks in and is going to eat up a lot of our salary structure. The ideal strategy for building a roster, every year, is to go as near the LT as possible. If you get under the cap, you will have a hard time getting back over. You can only do so by re-signing your own players using exceptions, or making a trade that fits the CBA and is slightly more incoming than outgoing. Whatever the cap situation is this year doesn't affect our cap for next. The salary structure is like a puzzle with all the players and their salaries the pieces. If we need to move a piece so another fits, NO can make it happen. This is the least of my worries. If NO didn't re-sign our FAs, the guys we'e have instead would be minimum salary type guys. Nowhere near as good as the guys we have, no matter how they are underachieving. The other option would have been S&T, but even those are subject to CBA ballast. The ET signing was more than decent. I think he's a really big step up over Hendo (who signed a $9M/season deal). The only move NO made, IMO, that was questionable in any sense at all was the re-signing of Crabbe. Not that Crabbe wasn't worth re-signing but that he was forced against his will to stay instead of getting a starting job where he would have preferred to go. I can see Crabbe being upset with his situation and that it can affect his game. He's a grown man, though, and I think he'll dedicate himself to the team and winning soon enough.
I'm guessing they're hiding Ezeli's timeline to maintain some leverage in trade talks. Teams know we are pretty much desperate for a center, so we could use anything at this point, even something as minimal as the Ezeli situation. I doubt that his health will affect any decisions going forward however. Even if he were healthy, he'd still be a backup type player.
i kind of have the feeling that he is of value matching salaries in trade scenarios at this point as an expiring because of the team option in his contract. even if he blew up and became the defensive anchor in two years, we wouldn't hold bird rights so couldn't go over cap to resign anyway and would lose for nothing unless our cap situation changes through trades. if he showed any durability he wouldn't resign for current salary
I could definitely see that. Olshey loves Plumlee anyway, and Davis knows his role and is one of the leaders of the team.
