How good was the NJ deal for us?

[ScoobyDoo]

After reading the post about "how bad does Brooklyn's future look?", it really sunk in just how good this trade was for the Celtics.

I've posted this before as what my strategy as GM would be, but let's assume it is in fact what we do as a franchise over the next few seasons and as one possible, hypothetical scenario, this is how it plays out if all the cards go correctly:

Two year span:

1. With Rondo at the helm we develop Bradley, Brooks, Green, Sully, Olynyk, Faverani, Iverson and Pressey
* Probably go to the lottery this year

2. We trade away Humphries, Wallace, Bass and possibly Courtney Lee over this year and next

3. Clear major cap space by the summer of 2015 - add a max level player...


So by the time 2015 rolls around, we're "sniffing" contention again - I do think that's possible.

If this is the case, because we have Brooklyn's unprotected 2016, 2017 & 2018 picks, we "could" be receiving high lottery picks for three straight years at the same time we are contending for championships - if Brooklyn implodes after Pierce and KG retire or move on.

After this season and next (2014 & 2015), Pierce and KG will definitely be gone from Brooklyn. Who knows what happens to that team from there. Some of those other players like Joe Johnson, Lopez and William's contracts could also come up and they could move on...

Here's the break down of the the picks we get from Brooklyn that the other guy posted. Thanks for that post, seeing it written out like that made it clear how much we could potentially receive from those picks.


2014
First round: No pick. The Hawks can swap picks with the Nets as part of last year’s Joe Johnson deal, and the lesser of the two picks is now owed to Boston from the Garnett-Pierce-Wallace trade.
Second round: No pick. It was traded to Boston (along with the rights to JaJuan Johnson) in 2011 for the rights to MarShon Brooks. Philadelphia now owns this pick.

2015
First round: The Hawks can swap picks with the Nets as part of the Johnson deal.
Second round: No pick. It was traded to Utah for Mehmet Okur in 2011.

2016
First round: No pick. It was traded to Boston in the Garnett-Pierce-Wallace deal.
Second round: The Clippers can swap picks with the Nets as part of the the Evans sign-and-trade deal last year. (The Clippers lose the ability to swap second-round picks if their own choice falls in the 56-60 range.)

2017
First round: The Celtics can swap picks with the Nets as part of the Garnett-Pierce-Wallace deal.
Second round: No pick. It was traded to Atlanta in the Johnson deal.

2018
First round: No pick. It was traded to Boston in the Garnett-Pierce-Wallace deal.
Second round: Brooklyn has this selection.


This still doesn't account for our own picks each year.

Now, Brooklyn could reload after Pierce and KG leave but who knows if their other core players stay?

Either way, we'll be getting what I think at worst will be first round picks in the 14-18 spots from Brooklyn in years 2016 through 2018, where you can find great value.

But there's a decent chance the picks could be much higher.       

That's just sick. We might have a rough couple years here, but we could be bouncing back very nicely by the summer of 2015 and be just stacked moving forward from there.

[lightspeed5]

What's nj

[Interceptor]

Net's Junk, perhaps. Meaning their players.

The picks are good even as potential: Ainge doesn't have to use them, he can sell them to another GM. Which may be a better strategy, since there's a lot of picks coming down the pike for us.

[Eric M VAN]

Just an aside pertaining to the Brooklyn salary cap situation. I'm just going to assume this analysis is correct, YMMV.

This summer Mikhail Prokhorov and his checkbook have been one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Nets owner has let the spending run wild, bringing in a number of players to make the team a competitor this season. The Nets payroll is over $100 million and they will be paying an additional $80 million in luxury tax penalties. Despite the immediate spending by the Nets front office in an effort to win now, they have also improved their cap situation for the future.

When the Nets acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics they took on quite a bit of money owed to the trio, but Pierce is in the final year of his contract and Garnett and Terry’s contracts are up after the 2014-2015 season. Meanwhile in the trade the Nets sent away Gerald Wallace and the $30 million owed to him over the next three years. By dumping this contract the Nets have gotten themselves out of the way of paying the repeater tax in 2015-2016, for the time being.

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Also the 2015-2016 season will be Joe Johnson’s final season under contract, which means the team could use this expiring contract as trade bait.

http://www.sportsmedia101.com/brooklynnets/2013/08/05/how-the-brooklyn-nets-have-improved-their-long-term-salary-cap-situation/

This indicates that things may not be as bleak as I painted  using just Draft Picks as the indicator, as NYC is a much more attractive place for FA to sign than, oh, let's say, Boston.

The lack of picks sure would hamper a team trying to unload a contract that's up, but given the owners proclivity to SPEND, maybe not as much as one would think.

[Chris]

Just an aside pertaining to the Brooklyn salary cap situation. I'm just going to assume this analysis is correct, YMMV.

This summer Mikhail Prokhorov and his checkbook have been one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Nets owner has let the spending run wild, bringing in a number of players to make the team a competitor this season. The Nets payroll is over $100 million and they will be paying an additional $80 million in luxury tax penalties. Despite the immediate spending by the Nets front office in an effort to win now, they have also improved their cap situation for the future.

When the Nets acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics they took on quite a bit of money owed to the trio, but Pierce is in the final year of his contract and Garnett and Terry’s contracts are up after the 2014-2015 season. Meanwhile in the trade the Nets sent away Gerald Wallace and the $30 million owed to him over the next three years. By dumping this contract the Nets have gotten themselves out of the way of paying the repeater tax in 2015-2016, for the time being.

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Also the 2015-2016 season will be Joe Johnson’s final season under contract, which means the team could use this expiring contract as trade bait.

http://www.sportsmedia101.com/brooklynnets/2013/08/05/how-the-brooklyn-nets-have-improved-their-long-term-salary-cap-situation/

This indicates that things may not be as bleak as I painted  using just Draft Picks as the indicator, as NYC is a much more attractive place for FA to sign than, oh, let's say, Boston.

The lack of picks sure would hamper a team trying to unload a contract that's up, but given the owners proclivity to SPEND, maybe not as much as one would think.

It's not correct.  Yes, they will only have 4 guys under contract in the summer of 2015, but they will STILL be over the cap.  The only way for them to be under the cap (short of trading one of their 3 big money players), is Lopez opting out (which could very well happen).  But, then they would still likely be close to the cap, and they would be losing likely their best player (depending on how Williams ages).

[Fan from VT]

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Johnson, Williams, and Lopez make over 60 million combined. So it' either those three and basically no capspace or, if Lopez opts out, it's just Johnson, Williams, and about 17 million in space.

[LooseCannon]

It's better than the rumors of KG to the Clippers for Bledsoe/Jordan and PP to the Cavs for two second-round picks and a trade exception.

[Moranis]

Just an aside pertaining to the Brooklyn salary cap situation. I'm just going to assume this analysis is correct, YMMV.

This summer Mikhail Prokhorov and his checkbook have been one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Nets owner has let the spending run wild, bringing in a number of players to make the team a competitor this season. The Nets payroll is over $100 million and they will be paying an additional $80 million in luxury tax penalties. Despite the immediate spending by the Nets front office in an effort to win now, they have also improved their cap situation for the future.

When the Nets acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics they took on quite a bit of money owed to the trio, but Pierce is in the final year of his contract and Garnett and Terry’s contracts are up after the 2014-2015 season. Meanwhile in the trade the Nets sent away Gerald Wallace and the $30 million owed to him over the next three years. By dumping this contract the Nets have gotten themselves out of the way of paying the repeater tax in 2015-2016, for the time being.

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Also the 2015-2016 season will be Joe Johnson’s final season under contract, which means the team could use this expiring contract as trade bait.

http://www.sportsmedia101.com/brooklynnets/2013/08/05/how-the-brooklyn-nets-have-improved-their-long-term-salary-cap-situation/

This indicates that things may not be as bleak as I painted  using just Draft Picks as the indicator, as NYC is a much more attractive place for FA to sign than, oh, let's say, Boston.

The lack of picks sure would hamper a team trying to unload a contract that's up, but given the owners proclivity to SPEND, maybe not as much as one would think.

It's not correct.  Yes, they will only have 4 guys under contract in the summer of 2015, but they will STILL be over the cap.  The only way for them to be under the cap (short of trading one of their 3 big money players), is Lopez opting out (which could very well happen).  But, then they would still likely be close to the cap, and they would be losing likely their best player (depending on how Williams ages).

I thought the article meant the summer of 2016 because that is when Lebron was coming due (if he opts in), but the other guys are all free agents in 2015.  Just a mess of an article all around.

[gpap]

It's better than the rumors of KG to the Clippers for Bledsoe/Jordan and PP to the Cavs for two second-round picks and a trade exception.

Disagree. Acquiring Bledsoe (point guard) and Jordan (center) would've fit two far bigger needs for the Celtics.

Actually, looking back, that would've been the PERFECT trade for a rebuilding team.

Now whether it was the Celtics or the Clippers who dragged this out, I don't know, but eventually the league step in and put the kibosh on the whole fiasco, which was unfortunate.

As for the Brooklyn deal, at first I was a fan of it. Now, I am not. We got overcrowded at the shooting guard, small forward and power forward position with a series of under-achieving players.

As for the draft picks, to me, they are meaningless. Brooklyn figures to be a 4th or 5th seed in the NBA for the next 3-4 years. So, those draft picks are essentially going to be in late teens, early 20s. Hence, they are really not terribly more beneficial to the Celts than the 2nd round picks they would've gotten from Cleveland.

The only way the Nets deal goes down as a good one is if Danny can turn around and package some of the Nets "assets" as part of a deal for a legit star.

Until then, we were better off coming back with Pierce and KG for one more year and this is coming from someone who was anxious to deal them for a fresh start.

I may have made the same decision Danny did which I then would've regretted.

[Moranis]

It's better than the rumors of KG to the Clippers for Bledsoe/Jordan and PP to the Cavs for two second-round picks and a trade exception.

Disagree. Acquiring Bledsoe (point guard) and Jordan (center) would've fit two far bigger needs for the Celtics.

Actually, looking back, that would've been the PERFECT trade for a rebuilding team.

Now whether it was the Celtics or the Clippers who dragged this out, I don't know, but eventually the league step in and put the kibosh on the whole fiasco, which was unfortunate.

As for the Brooklyn deal, at first I was a fan of it. Now, I am not. We got overcrowded at the shooting guard, small forward and power forward position with a series of under-achieving players.

As for the draft picks, to me, they are meaningless. Brooklyn figures to be a 4th or 5th seed in the NBA for the next 3-4 years. So, those draft picks are essentially going to be in late teens, early 20s. Hence, they are really not terribly more beneficial to the Celts than the 2nd round picks they would've gotten from Cleveland.

The only way the Nets deal goes down as a good one is if Danny can turn around and package some of the Nets "assets" as part of a deal for a legit star.

Until then, we were better off coming back with Pierce and KG for one more year and this is coming from someone who was anxious to deal them for a fresh start.

I may have made the same decision Danny did which I then would've regretted.

you only worry about overcrowding at positions if you have multiple players that are long term solutions at the positions.  Boston doesn't have that, so who cares if they have a bunch of role players.  The whole purpose of the Brooklyn trade was to throw in the towel this year and hopefully hit it big in the future with Brooklyn tailing off quickly.

[Eric M VAN]

Just an aside pertaining to the Brooklyn salary cap situation. I'm just going to assume this analysis is correct, YMMV.

This summer Mikhail Prokhorov and his checkbook have been one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Nets owner has let the spending run wild, bringing in a number of players to make the team a competitor this season. The Nets payroll is over $100 million and they will be paying an additional $80 million in luxury tax penalties. Despite the immediate spending by the Nets front office in an effort to win now, they have also improved their cap situation for the future.

When the Nets acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics they took on quite a bit of money owed to the trio, but Pierce is in the final year of his contract and Garnett and Terry’s contracts are up after the 2014-2015 season. Meanwhile in the trade the Nets sent away Gerald Wallace and the $30 million owed to him over the next three years. By dumping this contract the Nets have gotten themselves out of the way of paying the repeater tax in 2015-2016, for the time being.

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Also the 2015-2016 season will be Joe Johnson’s final season under contract, which means the team could use this expiring contract as trade bait.

http://www.sportsmedia101.com/brooklynnets/2013/08/05/how-the-brooklyn-nets-have-improved-their-long-term-salary-cap-situation/

This indicates that things may not be as bleak as I painted  using just Draft Picks as the indicator, as NYC is a much more attractive place for FA to sign than, oh, let's say, Boston.

The lack of picks sure would hamper a team trying to unload a contract that's up, but given the owners proclivity to SPEND, maybe not as much as one would think.

It's not correct.  Yes, they will only have 4 guys under contract in the summer of 2015, but they will STILL be over the cap.  The only way for them to be under the cap (short of trading one of their 3 big money players), is Lopez opting out (which could very well happen).  But, then they would still likely be close to the cap, and they would be losing likely their best player (depending on how Williams ages).

Like I said YMMV. I haven't found the definitive answer to their SC situation going forward, but if this "article" is indeed manure, then that bodes better for how the "awful" the Nets could be when these draft picks are due.

Poster Moranis writes in another thread similar to this

It is correct that the Nets will have cap space heading into 16, but that is if they let at least 2 of the Williams, Johnson, Lopez trio walk and sign no one else long term.  Williams has a 22 million player option that year, and Johnson and Lopez will have cap holds in the 20-30 million range.  Now sure I can't see them keeping Johnson, but if they keep Williams and Lopez they will have a salary (or cap hold) over 40 million, which while giving them some salary cap space, won't be enough for a max deal unless Williams and Lopez both re-sign for far less than the maximum they could.  I could see Williams maybe doing that, but not Lopez.  he will still be too young for that sort of thing (he might give up some money, but not a lot).

[gpap]

It's better than the rumors of KG to the Clippers for Bledsoe/Jordan and PP to the Cavs for two second-round picks and a trade exception.

Disagree. Acquiring Bledsoe (point guard) and Jordan (center) would've fit two far bigger needs for the Celtics.

Actually, looking back, that would've been the PERFECT trade for a rebuilding team.

Now whether it was the Celtics or the Clippers who dragged this out, I don't know, but eventually the league step in and put the kibosh on the whole fiasco, which was unfortunate.

As for the Brooklyn deal, at first I was a fan of it. Now, I am not. We got overcrowded at the shooting guard, small forward and power forward position with a series of under-achieving players.

As for the draft picks, to me, they are meaningless. Brooklyn figures to be a 4th or 5th seed in the NBA for the next 3-4 years. So, those draft picks are essentially going to be in late teens, early 20s. Hence, they are really not terribly more beneficial to the Celts than the 2nd round picks they would've gotten from Cleveland.

The only way the Nets deal goes down as a good one is if Danny can turn around and package some of the Nets "assets" as part of a deal for a legit star.

Until then, we were better off coming back with Pierce and KG for one more year and this is coming from someone who was anxious to deal them for a fresh start.

I may have made the same decision Danny did which I then would've regretted.

you only worry about overcrowding at positions if you have multiple players that are long term solutions at the positions.  Boston doesn't have that, so who cares if they have a bunch of role players.  The whole purpose of the Brooklyn trade was to throw in the towel this year and hopefully hit it big in the future with Brooklyn tailing off quickly.

Who's to say Brooklyn is going to tail off quickly?

I am not convinced they are going to be NBA champions anytime soon, but they also don't seem to be declining anytime soon either (despite Paul and KG being on the wrong side of 30.).

Mikhael Prokorov seems adamant about doing whatever he can to make Brooklyn a yearly contender.

Thus, I am not sure that any of the first round picks we got from Brooklyn are going to amount to anything significant.

Again, to me, the only way this deal goes down as a success is if Danny can package all the draft picks as part of a deal either get a legit star OR to possibly move up in one of the upcoming drafts.

[Interceptor]

Mikhael Prokorov seems adamant about doing whatever he can to make Brooklyn a yearly contender.

Well, he still needs to abide by the rules of the CBA.

[Chris]

Just an aside pertaining to the Brooklyn salary cap situation. I'm just going to assume this analysis is correct, YMMV.

This summer Mikhail Prokhorov and his checkbook have been one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Nets owner has let the spending run wild, bringing in a number of players to make the team a competitor this season. The Nets payroll is over $100 million and they will be paying an additional $80 million in luxury tax penalties. Despite the immediate spending by the Nets front office in an effort to win now, they have also improved their cap situation for the future.

When the Nets acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics they took on quite a bit of money owed to the trio, but Pierce is in the final year of his contract and Garnett and Terry’s contracts are up after the 2014-2015 season. Meanwhile in the trade the Nets sent away Gerald Wallace and the $30 million owed to him over the next three years. By dumping this contract the Nets have gotten themselves out of the way of paying the repeater tax in 2015-2016, for the time being.

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Also the 2015-2016 season will be Joe Johnson’s final season under contract, which means the team could use this expiring contract as trade bait.

http://www.sportsmedia101.com/brooklynnets/2013/08/05/how-the-brooklyn-nets-have-improved-their-long-term-salary-cap-situation/

This indicates that things may not be as bleak as I painted  using just Draft Picks as the indicator, as NYC is a much more attractive place for FA to sign than, oh, let's say, Boston.

The lack of picks sure would hamper a team trying to unload a contract that's up, but given the owners proclivity to SPEND, maybe not as much as one would think.

It's not correct.  Yes, they will only have 4 guys under contract in the summer of 2015, but they will STILL be over the cap.  The only way for them to be under the cap (short of trading one of their 3 big money players), is Lopez opting out (which could very well happen).  But, then they would still likely be close to the cap, and they would be losing likely their best player (depending on how Williams ages).

Like I said YMMV. I haven't found the definitive answer to their SC situation going forward, but if this "article" is indeed manure, then that bodes better for how the "awful" the Nets could be when these draft picks are due.

Poster Moranis writes in another thread similar to this

It is correct that the Nets will have cap space heading into 16, but that is if they let at least 2 of the Williams, Johnson, Lopez trio walk and sign no one else long term.  Williams has a 22 million player option that year, and Johnson and Lopez will have cap holds in the 20-30 million range.  Now sure I can't see them keeping Johnson, but if they keep Williams and Lopez they will have a salary (or cap hold) over 40 million, which while giving them some salary cap space, won't be enough for a max deal unless Williams and Lopez both re-sign for far less than the maximum they could.  I could see Williams maybe doing that, but not Lopez.  he will still be too young for that sort of thing (he might give up some money, but not a lot).

Moranis is usually on top of these things, but I think he looked at the salaries wrong. 

Williams' option year isn't until the summer of 2016.  Only Lopez has an option in 2015.

So, in the summer of 2015, they have over $45 million in guaranteed salary committed to Williams and Johnson, and $64 million if Lopez doesn't opt out.  Unless the cap jumps considerably, even if Lopez opts out, they wouldn't have that much cap space after cap holds, etc. are taken into account.

[Moranis]

Just an aside pertaining to the Brooklyn salary cap situation. I'm just going to assume this analysis is correct, YMMV.

This summer Mikhail Prokhorov and his checkbook have been one of the biggest stories in the NBA. The Nets owner has let the spending run wild, bringing in a number of players to make the team a competitor this season. The Nets payroll is over $100 million and they will be paying an additional $80 million in luxury tax penalties. Despite the immediate spending by the Nets front office in an effort to win now, they have also improved their cap situation for the future.

When the Nets acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics they took on quite a bit of money owed to the trio, but Pierce is in the final year of his contract and Garnett and Terry’s contracts are up after the 2014-2015 season. Meanwhile in the trade the Nets sent away Gerald Wallace and the $30 million owed to him over the next three years. By dumping this contract the Nets have gotten themselves out of the way of paying the repeater tax in 2015-2016, for the time being.

Going into the 2015-2016 season the Nets only have four players under contract, Deron Williams, Joe  Johnson,  Brook Lopez (who has a player option) and Mason Plumlee (team option.) This means that the Nets will have cap space going into that summer, which has a number of potential big name free agents including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James (if they don’t opt out in 2014,)LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio and Kawhi Leonard.

Also the 2015-2016 season will be Joe Johnson’s final season under contract, which means the team could use this expiring contract as trade bait.

http://www.sportsmedia101.com/brooklynnets/2013/08/05/how-the-brooklyn-nets-have-improved-their-long-term-salary-cap-situation/

This indicates that things may not be as bleak as I painted  using just Draft Picks as the indicator, as NYC is a much more attractive place for FA to sign than, oh, let's say, Boston.

The lack of picks sure would hamper a team trying to unload a contract that's up, but given the owners proclivity to SPEND, maybe not as much as one would think.

It's not correct.  Yes, they will only have 4 guys under contract in the summer of 2015, but they will STILL be over the cap.  The only way for them to be under the cap (short of trading one of their 3 big money players), is Lopez opting out (which could very well happen).  But, then they would still likely be close to the cap, and they would be losing likely their best player (depending on how Williams ages).

Like I said YMMV. I haven't found the definitive answer to their SC situation going forward, but if this "article" is indeed manure, then that bodes better for how the "awful" the Nets could be when these draft picks are due.

Poster Moranis writes in another thread similar to this

It is correct that the Nets will have cap space heading into 16, but that is if they let at least 2 of the Williams, Johnson, Lopez trio walk and sign no one else long term.  Williams has a 22 million player option that year, and Johnson and Lopez will have cap holds in the 20-30 million range.  Now sure I can't see them keeping Johnson, but if they keep Williams and Lopez they will have a salary (or cap hold) over 40 million, which while giving them some salary cap space, won't be enough for a max deal unless Williams and Lopez both re-sign for far less than the maximum they could.  I could see Williams maybe doing that, but not Lopez.  he will still be too young for that sort of thing (he might give up some money, but not a lot).

Moranis is usually on top of these things, but I think he looked at the salaries wrong. 

Williams' option year isn't until the summer of 2016.  Only Lopez has an option in 2015.

So, in the summer of 2015, they have over $45 million in guaranteed salary committed to Williams and Johnson, and $64 million if Lopez doesn't opt out.  Unless the cap jumps considerably, even if Lopez opts out, they wouldn't have that much cap space after cap holds, etc. are taken into account.

my post was based on the summer of 2016 when Lebron James would be a free agent (if he opts in next summer).  I didn't check the other players he identified and just assumed they all also were coming due in 2016, but they are all free agents in the summer of 2015 (unlike Lebron).  There was just a lot wrong with that article.