Where the Hawks are with the Cap

[thecampster]

Ton of talking about what we can do in a few days. I'm hoping to clear that up right now.

Salary Cap - 57.7 million

Josh Smith - 11.6 million

J Crawford - 10.08 million

M Williams - 6.7 million

Mike Bibby - 5.56 million

Z Pachulia - 4.25 million

A Horford - 5.45 million

M Evans - 2.5 million

Total - 47.63 million. Space remaining 10.07 million

Cap holds

JJ - 14.976 million

Childress - 10.89 million

Jordan Crawford - .85 million

empty roster spots 5 - 5x$473k = 2.36 million

Assuming the rookie signs and plays (why wouldn't he?) and assuming Chillz resigns at about 5 million (his worth) which would clear his cap hold. Assuming Joe walks for nothing (clearing his cap hold once he signs elsewhere).

that would put us at 47.63 + .85 + 5 + (3x473k) = 54.899 million. Leaving us 2.8 million to sign free agents. For each player signed, a 473k credit goes back toward the cap.

If Chillz isn't signed or signed and traded, his cap hold eats up the rest of the cap.

Regardless of what happens, We need to offer an extension to Al next year or the year after and therefore can not handcuff ourselves with salary.

Now this is where it gets tricky. Assuming we resign Joe, it's going to be for 16.5 million the first year. This would undoubtedly push the Hawks with their other roster adds into the luxury tax.

Before last season started, Joe was offered 4 years, 60 million dollars. His max value is 6 years 119. The teams are starting 59 million apart when negotiating. This is not a small number. Joe is leaving, get used to it. You can not bridge a 59 million dollar gap when other teams are willing to offer him the max. The only answer here is to sign and trade him to get cap value back but we don't want more than 10 million in cap value back because we need to avoid the luxury tax threshhold.

So looking at it from a business standpoint, your 3 highest paid players right now are JS, MW, JC. The simple fact is that Jamal is getting paid starter money and needs to start. Bibby as your 4th highest paid starter is not producing and needs to be traded. Marvin Williams needs to step up and put up starter numbers. 10 million comes off the books next year with Jamal and Evans being FA, Bibby can be traded as an expiring contract. Quit trying to trade Marvin as his production is not worth the future cap hit to most contending teams. Only a rebuilder could afford to take him on.

[Guest]

that would put us at 47.63 + .85 + 5 + (3x473k) = 54.899 million. Leaving us 2.8 million to sign free agents. For each player signed, a 473k credit goes back toward the cap.

In your scenario, we would never have $2.8 million to sign free agents. We would not renounce the LLE and MLE, we would have those two exceptions to sign people with. The value of the MLE and LLE is greater than cap space, so it would not make sense to renounce them.

We won't use cap space this offseason unless the potential cap space is greater than the value of the MLE and LLE. Or in some strange situation that cap space is greater than the MLE but less than the [MLE + LLE] and we wanted to sign only one player for that exact amount. But that last hypothetical situation has such a small probability of occurring that we should ignore it.

[mrhonline]

empty roster spots 5 - 5x$473k = 2.36 million

FWIW, players with cap holds reduce this number.

[NJHAWK]

I almost feel bad for Gearon because he and Levenson have a tough choice here. If Joe walks for nothing we lose our best player and imo drop to a team that will be lucky to go .500. If we keep Joe we may handcuff the franchise for years if he breaks down quicker then expected. 6 YEARS 119 mill is alot of money and in a salary cap and guar contract world it can be an albetross. No wonder they are looking for investors. They need THEM TO HELP to pay JJ.

[mrhonline]

If the Hawks hadn't been so conservative over the past two years, they wouldn't be in this situation IMHO.

[thecampster]

FWIW, players with cap holds reduce this number.

You know what, that just stands to explain how confusing this is. I completely forgot that when figuring it. And Hawksfanatic is right, we really wouldn't have that money which was the point of me saying "IF". JJ would have to walk and we'd have to sign Chillz on the cheap to even have cap space at all which at that low amount is really none.

I just get frustrated when I keep reading what we should have done or should do. There is no room to do it and more importantly, the crowd screaming "sign JJ or else" doesn't realize the situation that puts the team in. They already have reasonable contracts on a few players and a few more are either coming off the book or are very tradeable in the next 2 seasons. But if you pay JJ 17 million a season, added to the money you will be giving Horford and adding in Josh Smith and Marvin's salary....none of those 3 are going anywhere....then you are saying this is our team for 4 years. Marvin, Josh, Al will be making a combined 33-35 million within 2 years. Add 17 million for JJ and there is no room for anyone else. Signing JJ to a max contract will handcuff the franchise for 3-5 years.

Marvin isn't going anywhere is a big part of that. Love him or hate him, he makes a reasonable salary if producing, but not if he's not. If Marvin produces we hold on to him, if he doesn't, no one will want him. Josh Smith is not a tradeable commodity. He's too valuable when you consider his salary. You will never get equal value back for him. Players that produce what he does, don't make 10.8 a year, they are near max players. We all know Horford is a must keep player. So these 3 players are your franchise right now. They will hold 30+ million in Salary by the 2012 season...if you give Joe the max, you won't be able to sign/bring in another star level player without hitting the luxury tax. You are settling for above average but not great play.