Regarding the Jeff Green Contract....

[nostar]

Also, once Jeff Green's contract becomes official, there is almost no way we can get under the soft cap just by amnestying (I don't think this is actually a word-ugh!) Pierce.

Let me do a quick bit of math.

Tax line is at $70.307M + 4 million apron = $74.307M
Soft cap is at $58.044M
Pierce 2013-14 salary is $15.333M.

74.307M
-
15.333M
-------
58.974M

That assumes we're at the $74M cap limit. Right now I think we're ~2M beneath it. If you add in that both Wilcox and Collins are on 1-year deals it puts us underneath to soft cap by about 3-4 million next season before the raises (which I don't have numbers on).

The benefit I'm referring to is cap space. It would allow us to acquire a max contract player and take on a bad contract while still putting us underneath the MLE-optioned "hard-cap" of 74.307.

What I learned today, however, makes that information somewhat moot. We used the MLE on Jason Terry for 2012-13 but since the MLE can be used every year (and we'll have JT for 3 years) it will be freed up next season. That is good for acquiring another talented player but maybe more importantly it eliminates the "hard-cap" that using the MLE brought on us this year.

So then the problem becomes matching salaries. We can't acquire more than 125% plus $100,000 of the salary we trade away. If we say, take on Howard and Richardson's contracts we have to trade away ~20M to Orlando (or someone). That almost certainly means either a Green/Bass/Lee package OR Pierce (expiring/retiring) + young talent and picks. Orlando might actually want Pierce to shed cap space, but really we should give them the option of either young guns or cap space, both with picks of course. Either deal is worth it for us.

Anyway my point stands that there would be some benefit to using the amnesty on Pierce. It might not be worth it but that is more of a cost/benefit argument. I personally think that letting Pierce retire/trade/amnesty is a good proposition because the opportunity to make a strong bid for the best center in the league and a top 5 player isn't something to pass up if it is on the table. Even if you have to do something that feels wrong, contending for the next decade (which Pierce certainly understands) is more important.

And Ainge knows it too.