Capologist?

[nyceltsfan]

I'm not sure if there is anyone that can answer this, but if Wallace retires and Allen leaves, can we afford a good free agent.  How much space will we have?

Would Pierce have to take a pay cut?

How much do you think it would take to get Dirk here?

[Lucky17]

I'm not sure if there is anyone that can answer this, but if Wallace retires and Allen leaves, can we afford a good free agent.  How much space will we have?

Would Pierce have to take a pay cut?

How much do you think it would take to get Dirk here?

Even without Ray or Sheed on our payroll, we would have no or negligable cap space. The most we could offer a free agent would be the MLE.

Now, if Pierce were to opt out, and then resign for something well below the price of the last year of his contract ($21 mil), then we might have some cap space.

To get Dirk, it would take incriminating photos, I'm afraid. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts he stays in Dallas.

[FallGuy]

How about targeting Melo in the summer of 2011?

He's a monster scorer who will be looking for a new situation.

[WeMadeIt17]

From what I believe if Sheed retires Ray leaves and pierce opts out we may be able to get a big free agent. I doubt we will but we shall see. I didn't expect Ray ray and KG coming in after 07 but it happened.

[rjsuperfly67]

Sheed wouldn't come off the books unless he and the team would work something out.  Theres some rule that a team can state that they don't want Player X to retire so he has to retire through the league I believe.  By doing that, Player X's salary would come off the books.  Thats the only way.  The downside to that for the Player is that he can't play for one season I believe, meaning he can't sign mid-season to a contender for a playoff run (i.e. PJ Brown).

[jdpapa3]

If the team were to renounce Ray, Pierce were to opt out, and Rasheed retired with his number coming off of the books: that would put us at 36 mill with 4 guys under contract.

You then consider the cap holds of 8 vet min. signings of about 450k a pop and then you are at 39.6 million. Actually enough or close to enough to signing a max free agent, depending on what the actual number is. Also have to factor in the cap hold of the first draft pick...which I think would be a little over 1 million(can then subract the 450k of one of the cap holds)....People might jump to play with Rondo, Perkins, and KG, but I doubt it very much. And we'd be losing Pierce.

I can definitely get behind Melo in 2011.

[Lucky17]

BTW, this is what Larry Coon has to say about cap implications for retired players:

54. What are the rules for retired players?

There's nothing binding about a player announcing his retirement. The player could still sign a new contract and continue playing (if he's not under contract), or return to his team (if he is still under contract) and resume his career.

The only exception to this is when a player is still under contract, wants to quit, and his team doesn't want to let him out of his contract. Under these circumstances the player can file for retirement with the league. The player is placed on the league's Voluntarily Retired list, forgoes his remaining salary, and cannot return to the league for one year. The latter requirement prevents players from using retirement as an underhanded way to change teams, but can be overridden with unanimous approval from all 30 teams.

Any money paid to a player is included in team salary, even if the player is no longer playing or has retired.

There is one exception whereby a player can continue to receive his salary, but the salary is not included in the team's team salary. This is when a player is forced to retire for medical reasons and a league-appointed physician confirms that he is medically unfit to continue playing. There is a waiting period of one year following the injury or illness before a team can apply for this salary cap relief. If the waiting period expires mid-season (on any date prior to the last day of the regular season), then the player's entire salary for that season is removed from the team's team salary. For example, in March 2003 the Knicks were allowed to remove Luc Longley's entire 2002-03 salary from their books (and since the luxury tax is based on the team salary as of the last day of the regular season, the Knicks avoided paying any tax on Longley's salary). This provision can also be used when a player dies while under contract.

If the player "proves the doctors wrong" and resumes his career, then his salary is returned to his team's team salary when he plays in his 10th game in any one season (including pre-season, regular season and playoff games). This allows a player to attempt to resume his career without affecting his team unless his comeback is ultimately successful. A team loses this salary cap relief even if the player later signs and plays 10 games with a different team.

Teams are not allowed to trade for disabled players and then apply for this salary cap relief. Only the team for which the player was playing when he was disabled may request this relief.

If a player retires, even for medical reasons, his team does not receive a salary cap exception to acquire a replacement player.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q54

[vinnie]

If the team were to renounce Ray, Pierce were to opt out, and Rasheed retired with his number coming off of the books: that would put us at 36 mill with 4 guys under contract.

You then consider the cap holds of 8 vet min. signings of about 450k a pop and then you are at 39.6 million. Actually enough or close to enough to signing a max free agent, depending on what the actual number is. Also have to factor in the cap hold of the first draft pick...which I think would be a little over 1 million(can then subract the 450k of one of the cap holds)....People might jump to play with Rondo, Perkins, and KG, but I doubt it very much. And we'd be losing Pierce.

I can definitely get behind Melo in 2011.

I would much rather have Paul Pierce on this team than not. Unless someone can guarantee Lebron or Wade coming here if Pierce does opt out. Unfortunately, I just do not see that happening.