KI4MVP
formerly LJ4MVP
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2005
- Messages
- 31,294
- Reaction score
- 41,436
- Points
- 148
While we are disappointed to not get Redd or Allen, we may be in a stronger overall position in free agency if we don't panic and overpay people. Stick with the plan that players will want to come to cleveland to play along side LeBron. If Redd seriously considered turning down $22 million to come here, we have to believe we don't have to overpay to attract players, but rather go after the players we aren't at CBA imposed disadvantage in the salary we can offer.
What has happened with Redd and Allen staying with their team is the list of teams who can offer free agents they don't have bird rights to anything more than the MLE has shrunk to just 4 teams. Atlanta, Charlotte, the Clippers and Cleveland. Any free agent worth more than the MLE only has those 4 choices (along with their current team if their team has bird rights).
Charlotte has some cap restrictions as an expansion team - I'm not sure exactly what they are, but the speculation is they won't spend too much money this year and will save it for next year when the restrictions are lifted. The Clippers no longer can compete with us if they sign their own players.
We have the most money available to spend on free agents in the history of the NBA. We have a ton of leverage here. If we offer 4 different players who's team doesn't have full bird rights an average of $7 million, the other team can't match it and there at most 3 other teams who could even try to outbid us. We could squeeze out a 5th player if we drop down to the max other teams can offer - the MLE.
here are some players who are out there. This list breaks it down by restricted vs unrestricted and isn't complete. That's not as significant as bird rights vs no bird rights. If there are no bird rights, restricted isn't too important since we can offer contracts that can't be matched.
Antoine Walker - Atlanta - (UFA - no bird)
Gary Payton - Boston - (UFA)
Brevin Knight - Charlotte - (UFA)
Gerald Wallace - Charlotte - (RFA)
Tyson Chandler - Chicago - (RFA)
Eddy Curry - Chicago - (RFA)
Chris Duhon - Chicago - (RFA)
Zydrunas Ilgauskas - Cleveland - (UFA - bird)
Nikoloz Tskitishvili - Denver - (UFA)
Marko Jaric - L.A. Clippers - (RFA)
Kerry Kittles - L.A. Clippers - (UFA)
Bobby Simmons - L.A. Clippers - (UFA)
Stromile Swift - Memphis - (UFA)
Earl Watson - Memphis - (RFA)
Damon Jones - Miami - (UFA - no bird)
Udonis Haslem - Miami - (RFA - early bird)
Dan Gadzuric - Milwaukee - (RFA)
Eddie Griffin - Minnesota - (RFA)
Ervin Johnson - Minnesota - (UFA)
Latrell Sprewell - Minnesota - (UFA)
Samuel Dalembert - Philadelphia - (RFA)
Kyle Korver - Philadelphia - (RFA)
Joe Johnson - Phoenix - (RFA)
Stephen Hunter - Phoneix - (RFA)
Shareef Abdur-Rahim - Portland - (UFA)
Damon Stoudamire - Portland - (UFA)
Bobby Jackson - Sacramento - (UFA)
Cuttino Mobley - Sacramento - (UFA)
Antonio Daniels - Seattle - (UFA)
Reggie Evans - Seattle - (RFA)
Jerome James - Seattle - (UFA)
Ronald Murray - Seattle - (RFA)
Vladimir Radmanovic - Seattle - (RFA)
Matt Bonner - Toronto - (RFA)
Donyell Marshall - Toronto - (UFA)
Kwame Brown - Washington - (RFA - bird)
Larry Hughes - Washington - (UFA - bird)
Sarunas Jasikevicius
Arvydas Macijauskas
I noted bird, early bird, no bird on the ones I'm sure about. Let me know if you have the status of other players and I'll update the list or if there are players I should add/remove from the list.
The bottom line is we should be able to land at least 4 guys from that list. Who do we go after? We can get two new starting guards, keep Z, and sign a quality backup big man. We could take both of the Heat's players away from them, thus downgrade one of our top competitors. Being under the cap, we also have the option to trade for players who's team wants to unload salary, either for next year's free agents or simply to save luxury tax money.
What has happened with Redd and Allen staying with their team is the list of teams who can offer free agents they don't have bird rights to anything more than the MLE has shrunk to just 4 teams. Atlanta, Charlotte, the Clippers and Cleveland. Any free agent worth more than the MLE only has those 4 choices (along with their current team if their team has bird rights).
Charlotte has some cap restrictions as an expansion team - I'm not sure exactly what they are, but the speculation is they won't spend too much money this year and will save it for next year when the restrictions are lifted. The Clippers no longer can compete with us if they sign their own players.
We have the most money available to spend on free agents in the history of the NBA. We have a ton of leverage here. If we offer 4 different players who's team doesn't have full bird rights an average of $7 million, the other team can't match it and there at most 3 other teams who could even try to outbid us. We could squeeze out a 5th player if we drop down to the max other teams can offer - the MLE.
here are some players who are out there. This list breaks it down by restricted vs unrestricted and isn't complete. That's not as significant as bird rights vs no bird rights. If there are no bird rights, restricted isn't too important since we can offer contracts that can't be matched.
Antoine Walker - Atlanta - (UFA - no bird)
Gary Payton - Boston - (UFA)
Brevin Knight - Charlotte - (UFA)
Gerald Wallace - Charlotte - (RFA)
Tyson Chandler - Chicago - (RFA)
Eddy Curry - Chicago - (RFA)
Chris Duhon - Chicago - (RFA)
Zydrunas Ilgauskas - Cleveland - (UFA - bird)
Nikoloz Tskitishvili - Denver - (UFA)
Marko Jaric - L.A. Clippers - (RFA)
Kerry Kittles - L.A. Clippers - (UFA)
Bobby Simmons - L.A. Clippers - (UFA)
Stromile Swift - Memphis - (UFA)
Earl Watson - Memphis - (RFA)
Damon Jones - Miami - (UFA - no bird)
Udonis Haslem - Miami - (RFA - early bird)
Dan Gadzuric - Milwaukee - (RFA)
Eddie Griffin - Minnesota - (RFA)
Ervin Johnson - Minnesota - (UFA)
Latrell Sprewell - Minnesota - (UFA)
Samuel Dalembert - Philadelphia - (RFA)
Kyle Korver - Philadelphia - (RFA)
Joe Johnson - Phoenix - (RFA)
Stephen Hunter - Phoneix - (RFA)
Shareef Abdur-Rahim - Portland - (UFA)
Damon Stoudamire - Portland - (UFA)
Bobby Jackson - Sacramento - (UFA)
Cuttino Mobley - Sacramento - (UFA)
Antonio Daniels - Seattle - (UFA)
Reggie Evans - Seattle - (RFA)
Jerome James - Seattle - (UFA)
Ronald Murray - Seattle - (RFA)
Vladimir Radmanovic - Seattle - (RFA)
Matt Bonner - Toronto - (RFA)
Donyell Marshall - Toronto - (UFA)
Kwame Brown - Washington - (RFA - bird)
Larry Hughes - Washington - (UFA - bird)
Sarunas Jasikevicius
Arvydas Macijauskas
I noted bird, early bird, no bird on the ones I'm sure about. Let me know if you have the status of other players and I'll update the list or if there are players I should add/remove from the list.
The bottom line is we should be able to land at least 4 guys from that list. Who do we go after? We can get two new starting guards, keep Z, and sign a quality backup big man. We could take both of the Heat's players away from them, thus downgrade one of our top competitors. Being under the cap, we also have the option to trade for players who's team wants to unload salary, either for next year's free agents or simply to save luxury tax money.