Amnesty Clause

[reeballin4]

An amnesty clause will allow us to rid ourselves of a "bad contract," and the most likely target is Marvin Williams. We would clear up cap space which would help us sign other free agents. We are likely going to lose Jamal Crawford to free agency but it seems as if our 3 guard rotation will be effective. We need to look for a big man such as: Tyson Chandler or Marc Gasol. Horford would excel at the 4 and Smoove could play the 3, which would enhance our defense. Another player who could help is Wilson Chandler who could add another scoring option.

We may be able to restructure Marvin's contract as he could still be a viable option off the bench as a combo forward, but his days as a starter should be over.

A lineup of Teague, JJ, Smoove, Horford, Chandler/Gasol would be very effective with Hinrich, Marvin, Zaza, and maybe another guard off the bench. Also Shannon Brown is a free agent that could add more athletic ability to this team.

Also 3pt shooters James Jones & Deaquan Cook are FAs as we need a spot-up shooter. They both could come cheap.

[AHF]

How would an amnesty clause help us get a big man? Especially one who will cost more than Marvin?

If the amnesty clause wiped Marvin's contract off the books completely (reports are that it would only wipe off 75% of the contract), that would still leave us over the salary cap if the cap was the same as last season.

In 2011, according to sources close to the negotiations, there will be significant cap relief in addition to tax relief: 75 percent of a player's contract value will not count against the salary cap when shed via amnesty. ESPN.com also reported Friday that San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt has been at the forefront of a successful push to allow teams to have at least two years to decide whether or not to release one player via amnesty, as opposed to the '05 version that gave clubs two weeks in August to use or lose the amnesty option forever.

The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.com subsequently reported Saturday that the owners and players have reached tentative agreement on an amnesty provision that will allow teams to release one player -- with pay -- at any point during the life of the next collective bargaining agreement. Its one-time use, according to The Times, will be restricted to players under contract as of July 1, 2011, with the team making the move, but sources told ESPN.com that a handful of teams are lobbying for the freedom to use it on a player signed down the road, based on the argument that some teams don't currently have a bad contract on their books but deserve the right to capitalize on the amnesty mechanism to undo a future mistake.

So our owners would pay Marvin his $8M per season, but would remove $8M from our cap but we are scheduled to be over the cap by more than 8M anyway:

http://www.shamsport...aries/hawks.jsp

Last season's cap was 58M and we are paying out over 66M in salaries so that doesn't free any cap space for us by cutting Marvin.

So how do we get to sign someone if we waive Marvin under the amnesty clause? To even resign Marvin on a lower restructured contract, we would have to use an exception to the cap.

Talking about Chandler and Gasol is pie in the sky stuff.

Edited November 1, 2011 by AHF

[capstone21]

Oh and Smith is not that great a defender at the 3 so I don't see how it would enhance our defense

[sturt]

Agreed that we have some payroll problems that make it unlikely...

But at the same time, I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out if there is this exponentially increasing luxury tax that keeps some of these released guys from making very much more than the minimum--having lost leverage since they are still making the same money, and are, by definition, not even worth THAT amount or they'd continue to play for their same team.

[hawkshomer]

Yeah I think the waiving benefits a team with deep pockets. We don't have that. A team like Orlando might benefit from it more.

[coachx]

Yeah I think the waiving benefits a team with deep pockets. We don't have that. A team like Orlando might benefit from it more.

It benefits any team who is close to the luxury tax threshold......including the Hawks.

But at the same time, I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out if there is this exponentially increasing luxury tax that keeps some of these released guys from making very much more than the minimum--having lost leverage since they are still making the same money, and are, by definition, not even worth THAT amount or they'd continue to play for their same team.

Excellent point.

So how do we get to sign someone if we waive Marvin under the amnesty clause? To even resign Marvin on a lower restructured contract, we would have to use an exception to the cap.

Talking about Chandler and Gasol is pie in the sky stuff.

Thanks for keeping it real with the newbies.

[sturt]

Indeed, the more you think about it, there could be some bargains on the rack that even make releasing Joe worth serious consideration... ya think?

http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-cba-scenarios-amnesty-cut/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nba-cba-scenarios-amnesty-cut

http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-cba-scenarios-amnesty-cut/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nba-cba-scenarios-amnesty-cut

[hawkshomer]

I read cunninghams article earlier today and it has potential to help but I just think it won't help that much because we will have a lower cap by waiving said player. I guess if you can replace the waived player with someone who makes half as much and still improve the team then there is a benefit. But our franchise is cheap and I'm sure they wouldn't really like to pay the player who got waived and pay the new player to replace him.

Edited November 2, 2011 by hawkshomer

[MaceCase]

This proposal actually makes waiving Joe an actually plausible scenario considering that it can be utilized at a much later date when the overall cash commitment may be less but his annual salary may be too restrictive. I'd say the ASG or whoever holds onto that ace until the time is right rather than blowing it right away on Marvin. The "stretch" provision could easily take care of him.