gt4403

Can some of our Cap experts clear something up? According to Hoopshype, we had 52 million committed before the trade. Now we have approximately 44 million. With Horford's Caphold at 18 million that would take us up to 62 million. I believe the new cap is 94 million. Does that mean we now have 32 million to work with even including Horford?

I know I'm probably in the minority but if I was in Danny Ferry's position, I don't know that I would have done anything different. Would I have traded last years No #1 pick for cap space? Maybe. We don't know what information he has on Lucas's health. Also, Danny may have been trying to do something else with the cap space that didn't work out. Would I go out there and sign some of these free agents just to say I did something? Absolutely not. I'm tired of paying top dollar for fringe talent. Even if it half way works out, you handicap yourself with the salary cap going forward. It's easy to criticize but what would you have reasonably done if you were in his position.

I have a question. I'm sorry if it has already been asked but I'm curious how extending the waiver deadline helps Salmons. I keep hearing he would have to agree with it but my understanding is he would just be waiting to go to another team and then be waived. Financially he gets the same money. If he refuses it, he can then start negotiating his next job before all the money is gone from other teams. I must be looking at this wrong.

We are in such a difficult position right now. Teams without stars don't win big and we don't have any. I'm not a proponent of tanking because it's too unpredictable and for the most part the good organizations never tank, they just make good decisions. I'm also not a proponent of signing mid career veterans to large contracts who are not stars and have reached their ceiling. I think the only way to move forward is to identify the young player or players that you can build around. They can be in the draft or on some teams roster right now. You identify them and then find a way to make a deal to get them. Then when you have your new core, you fill in the gaps with veterans to build a team that can compete for titles.

The thing you have to ask yourself is whether that team is any better than the team we just dismantled last summer. I believe Joe Johnson's contract runs three more years. My opinion is if we go that direction, we should have just stayed the course and settled for the second round each year. My guess is, Ferry doesn't do anything that he doesn't believe would lead to a championship and those players are not leading us to a championship.

I totally agree that we will fall back to an afterthought if we try to use cap space as our way to improve. Unless you land a superstar, you usually pay more and get less than just improving through the draft which isn't any fun. Of course he wants LA and LA wants him, the majority of athletes feel that way but nobody would follow sports if everyone played in NY or LA. The proposal I have seen for Orlando in this deal is not very good. If I was them, I would hold onto him til next year and do a sign and trade at that time. He won't have any team options or abilty to get the money without their help. They have nothing to lose and these offers are not going to help their team.

There is one thing that a lot of people are forgetting. Maybe there is another reason Orlando is not keen on the idea of sending Dwight to LA no matter what the deal is. Orlando has already been down this road in supplying LA an all world HOF center. Orlando had Shaq and he took them to the finals but they couldn't win. He goes to LA and gets them multiple titles. They have Dwight and he takes them to the finals but they don't win again. So now they just going to send him to LA and watch them play for tiltles for the next ten years. I know it's a business but it's a busines ran by people who can get just a sick as us at LA always getting what they want. I mean look at the list of centers they have had Mican, Chamberlain, Jabbar, Shaq, and now maybe Dwight. Compare that to other teams in the league and it seems unfair. At some point, I think teams will get tired of helping them and maybe Orlando is there right now especially since they have been here before. It is really up to them because if they don't trade him there, he won't be able to get there. I'm of the opinion that Orlando has a lot more leverage than people think because wherever they trade is the most likely place he resigns. I don't see him walking away from the money to go to a bad team with cap space. Every title contender I see won't have any room next year unless they can work out a trade.

I'm not worried about this rumor or whatever you call it. The trade wouldn't help the team now or in the future. The truth is Horford is better than any player you can get at #2. He has already been through the NBA growing pains, young, on a reasonable contract, an all star, a big, and good in the locker room. This is the kind of player you want to have unless you can use him to get a superstar. The trade really has no upside for us.

As much as it pains me to admit, I don't believe there is a whole lot that can be done. The team is too poorly built in both skill sets and dollars spent to ever compete for a championship. They have the wrong players playing together and way too much money spent on players that don't peform to their contracts. I'm not one of the fans who says the ownership is cheap although there are some examples where they have seemed that way. My biggest issue is how they spent their money. They didn't really make sound business decisions that would most benefit the team down the road. It seems nobody in the organization has a direction. As far as what can be done. Us fans are going to have to be patient again because the most likely next step is the team will eventually be sold. I don't think anyone believes that they just changed their minds and decided to stay in for the long haul. The real question is when. I doubt they will make any changes that might look like they are starting over since this will make it more difficult to sale. I see the team not changing a whole lot until the new owners are on board and then things may happen swiftly. If it happens say in the next year, you will have several players getting close to the end of their contracts making it much easier to make changes. Even someone like Joe can be traded with a couple of years left if the team he goes to thinks they can get a title. Our team can rebuild quickly if they make good moves which is something we as fans are not used to seeing. Their are too many examples in the NBA of teams going from bottom dwellers to the playoffs to believe it will take 5 or 6 years to be relevant again. For goodness sake half the teams make the playoffs. With the right moves, the team could be back where they are pretty soon but better constructed. Let's be honest, the only reason it took so long the first time is our ownership was attrocious in the draft basically wasting picks every year.

It does seem as though we can not sign their players the same way. We have to wait until their contracts end or work on a buyout. Unless I am missing something, it seems a little one sided. It seems the NBA would find a way to discourage players from not honoring the CBA maybe a by banning said player for a certain amount of time.

I have a question I have been wondering about for a while. Why was an overseas team able to even sign chillz to a contract. I know he was a restricted free agent. He was allowed to sign an offer sheet which we could match or he could take our qualifying offer and play it out to free agency. But this sounds like they signed him outrigt with us not being able to match no that we would have any way. It is my understanding that for us to sign overseas players we have to wait until there contract is up or they have an opt out. This doesn't seem to apply to chillz. I'm sure ther is a reason. I just don't know what it is.

Unfortunately they won't. This is one of times where the best basketball decision and what's best for public perception don't match. Cleveland doesn't have the stones to make the right call for the team. They will keep him and pray he stays. This is why teams like the Lakers and Celtics have been good for so long. They don't always do what the public wants and this keeps them from going through long re-building stretches.

I totally agree with your opinion on the possible results of him leaving but I do believe the larger market teams have better resources to surround him with talent long term as long as they have proper leadership. But the bottom line is if he wants to stay in Cleveland, why not sign the max extension now and save the drama. It would help Cleveland sell itself to other players because everyone would know he will be there long term. As is, they will be in limbo for no good reason.

There is no way I would consider trading him if I felt he would be there long term. But I would have to ask myself why would he not sign a max extension. It can't be about the money so what is it. We have one of the best teams in the NBA and it's his home and he still wont sign in fact he has set himself up to be able to leave. The only answer is he wants something we can't give him so what to do. Are we going to get equal value? Absolutely not. Could we get enough to keep us relevant? Possibly. You let Lebron walk and this team is worse off than our beloved Hawks were. Can we see Cleveland being a hot destination for any top free agents? I believe you have to confess your love for him and offer him the max extension and expect the same committment back. If he is unwilling to work with you, then something is fishy. I do think New York would look to do the deal so they could start their return to prominence a year early. They will justify it by all the money they will make from him. They can re-build their roster by signing the top free agents and if it puts them in luxary tax then so what. They have been there before with nothing to show for it but if they are winning, nobody will care. If they don't bite, look at the other teams. There will be quite a few willing to take the chance on a possible one year rental. It happens all the time.