Danny offered House more than the minimum last year so I reckon he'll be comfortable offering him more than the minimum this year.
What I wonder is how many years Danny is comfortable at? .... and now that the MLE is back in play how much of a raise is he willing to offer?
Interesting thought, but I don't think the MLE affects how we're looking at House. Ainge tried to get him for the minimum. I don't see why he'd jump from that to anything higher than $1.8 million, which is what we can give Eddie without using any midlevel or biannual exception money (that would be under the veteran free agent exception). I think that's our limit - rather, that would be my limit, Ainge's limit may be much lower. In any event, I don't see us using MLE money to get him. If House wants more than $1.8 a year (I doubt he'll sniff that) If Ainge doesn't see anybody he likes, he'll probably save the MLE in case somebody much better comes available during the season.
On that note, can anybody tell me whether we can still use the VFA exception to resign Tony Allen using Bird rights even though we did not extend a qualifying offer. I understand that makes him unrestricted, but can we still avoid the use of exception money in resigning him?
If Ainge wouldn't even offer Lue the vet minimum, what are the chances House received more than the minimum from the Celtics? Could Ainge value House more than Lue and give House more than the minimum?
You cannot 'not offer' the vet minimum to someone. That's why it is a minimum.
1.2 million is the veteran minimum for Lue. 1.8 million, on the other hand, isn't.
You can 'not offer' the vet minimum. Ainge definitely did not offer the vet minimum to me. Just kidding.
And yes, I can see Ainge valuing House more than Lue. I personally think House is a better overall player. I would offer both the vet minimum, but would offer House more than I would offer Lue, personally. However, seeing that Lue got $1.91 million (biannual exception) from Milwaukee - I would not offer House more than Lue got. A contract starting at 1.8 is fair for House - question becomes, how many years, and if it's more than 2, do we offer a bit less money (like a flat 1.5 per year for three seasons)?