Regarding the MLE: the only importnace of the $$ spent relates to who would have been here instead and what contribution that person would have made. This, we have absolutely no way of knowing. BUT, I'll say with pretty good certainty that we wouldn't be much better than 37-12 with the #2 record in the NBA.
Wasting the MLE this year (and for the last 3 years running) has far wider implications than the Cs record on February 5th, 2011. Implications that include how far this team can go in the playoffs, how many assets this team has going forward, and what kinds of moves will be necessitated in the future because of bad moves made in the past.
Dorrell Wright, Kurt Thomas, Shannon Brown, the list goes on and on and on--there were plenty of guys available for LESS than what JO got, and all of them would have helped much more on this team, not only on February 5th, 2011, but also in the playoffs and next season.
It's a testament to this team's core that they could go 3 straight seasons without adding another player to that core via the full MLE and still end up being one of the best teams in the league. It's amazing; and it's also sad. Just imagine what we could have been had we been able to add just other good player to this team?