The difference is that Sessions would be paid 10 million and Bayless/Outlaw/Sergio/Batum are all on cheap as dirt contracts. How do you get rid of the unsigned rookie salaries? Don't we also have to sign our first round pick to a ~1.5 million deal?
Not true, I'm pretty sure even if Koponen and Freeland don't come over, that you still have their cap holds on any available cap space you may have that offseason
Not true. If you remove Ike, and renounce Frye Portland's salary will be 48,898,118, add whatever the cap-hold is for the rookie - and they are very likely over the MLE.
My point is Sessions, a 22 year old PG, appears to be a rising star taking similar strides as Devin Harris several years ago. He's much more advanced than Bayless or Sergio, even Blake and has been playing at a high level (which is continually improving) for over a year now. If KP "believes" in his guys like Sergio, Batum and Bayless (the 2nd two playing with under a year of experience) to perform this season, why wouldn't KP "believe" in another one of his "guys" he had eyed at the draft a few years ago? Sessions was on his list and was impressive at the team tryout if I recall. It's just a gut feeling, but Sessions is probably much higher on KP's "get" list than Carter and Jefferson ever will be or were.
How does "driving a hard bargain" equate with passing up on a huge upside player for "even the MLE?" Truth is KP has never had cap flexibility to play around with heading into an off-season to make any kind of moves so we really don't know what he'll do when presented an opportunity like this. Heh, now is it possible he passes on Sessions? Sure, but I don't think it'll be because of an unwillingness to pay for talent.
Granted, the money could be thrown at Milsap, Lee, Ariza or someone else (B.Gordon...no thanks). Another option is that Atlanta may commit a lot of money to Marvin Williams and someone else, like Sessions, and then Portland can pry someone like Josh Childress at a cheaper price. But KP is smart enough that he knows he needs to spend money and maximize the talent level on the team now, as we'll be over the cap for the foreseeable future. So he'll look to add a solid piece, such as a Sessions. I'm not enamored by most of the SF FA's (Artest, Hedo) and don't think that Ariza would be enough of an upgrade to commit money with Webster and Batum around. PG is clearly our need of help, and we have a good opportunity here to get a player who has shown to be a more than capable player.
KP already passed on Sessions once - in the 2007 draft when he took Kopo over him with the #30 pick. Time will tell if he still thinks this was the right move or if he tries to get him come this summer.
I was working with the numbers before that deal, as on Storyteller's salaries page. Sure, substitute Ruffin and realize the trade exception. It comes out to the same net effect.
Because it's easier to believe when that player is only owed ~2 million. If a guy is being owned 5x that amount, you better be damn sure you know what you're doing. A lot of players end up getting great contracts after having a great season, but then they end up failing to live up to the hype and become Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Bobby Simmons etc. You can't just throw money at fairly unproven FAs and hope it works out for the best. I've followed Sessions since last year, but I wouldn't offer him more than the MLE at this point.
After seeing Sessions go off a few weeks ago I too put him on top of my list of guys I would love to see in a Blazer uniform. Because he's only had 2 years of NBA experience he's an Early Bird Free Agent, and we're restricted in the contract we're allowed to off him. Because of that he can't be given an offer sheet with a starting salary over the league average, but the contract can be structured in a way as to average far more than the MLE. Larry Coon does a good job of explaining it here: http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q37 Basically Milwaukee can match any offer for Sessions by just using their MLE, and they also have the Bird Rights to Villanueva, so they can match any offer to both guys. Basically we have to hope that they just can't financially sustain a payroll that big, and that no one offers them any big cap relief. Then hope that they make resigning Villanueva a bigger priority than resigning Sessions. It's definitely plausible and it would be my dream scenario of how to use our cap room this offseason, hell Skiles played Ridinour instead of Sessions all year so they may not really think he's all that.
Passing on somebody in the draft is a little bit different than passing on somebody who has already shown a little something in the league ... I'm not saying KP is perfect, but this is kind of an apples to oranges comparison.
I'm not sure of Milwaukie's cap....sorry for not caring enough about the Bucks....But since Sessions is only in his second year, I don't believe Milwaukie can go over the cap to re-sign him, or at least I think there are some sort of limitations.
