If i did the calculations right this is what I think Danny's Option A is:
Players under contract
KG 11M
Pierce 16.8M
Bradley 1.6M
Rondo 11M
Melo 1.045M
Sullinger 1.089M
JJJ 1.1M
Total 46.234M
Estimated Salary Cap 58M
Luxury Tax Apron 74M
* We only can sign other teams free agents up to the 58M salary cap.
* If we have cap space we cannot use the 5M MLE
* We can go over the cap with our Bird rights free agents (Ray, Bass, Green) but Danny needs to have the minimum number of players including exceptions (13) signed below 69M so he has the Full Mid Level Exception (5M) to use (69M + 5M MLE = 74 luxury tax.
* He can also get the 1.96M bi annual exception so he needs to have a minimum of 11 players under 67M to use both exceptions (67M + 5M MLE + 1.96 bi annual exception = 73.96M total for 13 players) This keeps him under the luxury tax.
Danny said he wants to re-sign Ray, Bass, and Green. I believe he will do so if he can get the total payroll (before exceptions) under 65.71M (74 luxury tax - 5M MLE - 1.96M bi annual -1.33 minimum contract = 65.71M) He needs subtract 1.33M because signing Ray, Bass, Green and the two exceptions give him a total of only 12 players and he needs 13 under contract.
So 65.71M - 46.234M current payroll = 19.476 to spend on our own free agents. 19.476 / 3 players = 6.492M each for Ray, Bass, and Green. This makes sense because Danny offered Ray 6M/yr and I believe that will be his offer to both Green and Bass as well. He has a little wiggle room for example he could offer Green and Bass 6M each and up Ray to 7.476M which will total 19.476M. Or he can keep all 3 at 6M and offer Stiemsma up to 2.776M. This is why Stiemsma will be taken care of last.
If he is able to sign those three players to a combined 19.476M then he will be able to use both the MLE and the bi-annual on two other free agents from either other teams or our own.
The MLE could then be used on Terry and the bi-annual on Camby (wishful thinking) and he needs to sign another player to reach the minimum number of players under contract.
To sum it all up:
KG 11M
Pierce 16.8M
Bradley 1.6M
Rondo 11M
Melo 1.045M
Sullinger 1.089M
JJJ 1.1M
Ray 6M
Green 6M
Bass 6M
Stiemsma 2M
Terry 5M (MLE)
Camby 1.96M (Bi Annual exception)
Free agent 1.3M (minimum contract)Pietrus?
Free agent 1.3M (minimum contract)
Total: 15 players at 73.194M
During this past week we've heard 1) Danny & Doc say they want to re-sign Ray, Green, Bass, and eventually Stiemsma 2)Doc said he thinks they can get both Ray and Terry 3)Celtics are on Camby's short list and that he wants a starting posistion 4)Danny wants to avoid the luxury tax so they can use the full MLE.
This plan accomplishes all of that.
My apologies for the long confusing post. I just started rambling. Hope this makes sense and of course I may be totally wrong on the numbers or rules.