You should look at our cap situation after this season. Especially if we amnesty Paul pierce when the big 3 retire. Not saying it's the only option, but if we acquire Chris Paul, and Howard really wants to play with him that bad, we can offer the laundry.
IP, this is something I thought of in great depth last night - amnesty Pierce. Heresy on this board, but could taking on some contracts and being willing to offer long term money to a few free agents really boost our chances in getting Dwight?
I was thinking something like:
Re-sign BBD for multiple years
Use whatever MLE/mini-MLE we have on the best available free agent (JR Smith, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, etc.)
Get Ariza in the deal for CP (this would further entice NO)
Then we amnesty Pierce and we have a core of:
CP, Ariza, BBD, decent '11 free agent, bird rights for Ray and KG to lure Dwight. It think this is more enticing than simply CP, an aging Pierce, and bird rights for Ray and KG. And I think (?) we'd still have some money left over in summer '12 to spend on another FA too?
Also, being able to freely spend and acquire this season would improve our chances of a title this season, which would further entice CP and Dwight to come here if we could win it.