Hollinger says the Nets cannot get Dwight now because of 74.3 million hard cap

[Admin]

Am I reading this right? Is he saying that's the hard cap THIS YEAR?

johnhollinger John Hollinger

One fact covers pretty much every @reply I'm getting: 74.3 million. Hard cap. No exceptions. Once you sign Mirza, that's the rules.

Monster contracts:

Dwill - $20 million

JJ - $19.7 million

Wallace - $10 million

Sub-Total - $49.7 million

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Smaller contracts:

Lopez - $4.5 million (Qualifying offer but this should end up around $10 million or so, right?)

Brooks - $1.2 million

Sub-Total - $5.7 - $11.2 million

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Free agent

Humphries - $8 million last year so should get at least that this time

Sub-Total - $8 million (guestimate)

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Total - $55.4 million (with Lopez at QO and not re-signing Humphries) (5 players under contract)

Total - $63.4 million (with Lopez at QO and re-signing Humphries) (6 players under contract)

Total - $69.2 million (with Lopez re-signed at $10 million and re-signing Humphries) (6 players under contract)

So they're anywhere from $55.4 million to $69.2 million, assuming they keep 2 very valuable players in Lopez and Humphries but they'll still need 7 more players who'll have cap holds.

And they have Mirza that I forgot about so that's another what $6 million?

Oh yeah and I heard they also signed Reggie Evans, is that so?

If there really is a $74.3 million hard cap then there's no way in hell they'd even be able to SnT for Dwight as you'd have to figure Dwight will get $20 million, which would mean damn near $70 million for their 4 highest paid players.

So now that Dwight can't be traded to Brooklyn and he can't sign there as a FA, what does that mean for him as a FA next year? Are we now a real threat to trade or sign for him? I'd guess that the Lakers with Bynum could be our biggest opponent in getting him and maybe the Rockets but I don't see them having anything nearly as good as Horford or Bynum to send to Orlando.

*I am not cap expert so please don't accept my #'s as legit - I'm just a clueless fan!

[capstone21]

It would be nice to get him next year and keep horford instead of smith. Horford's game would be perfect next to Howard.

[Admin]

It would be nice to get him next year and keep horford instead of smith. Horford's game would be perfect next to Howard.

I agree that he would be better with him but I think he has to be here to get Howard to stay long term. Would be nice if we could get Smoove to buy into being a SF who doesn't take long jumpers then we could keep Horford and still have room to sign Paul.

[ATLHawks3]

One thought..If LA traded Bynum for Howard..Would Bynum resign with them? Would that mean that the Orlando Magic traded the best Center in the league for a 1 year rental? If I were Orlando, unless Bynum is willing to resign I would say HECK NO. Then theres Houston and like you said they don't have attractive peices. Then theres Dallas, they have nothing to offer. AND NOW.... Atlanta. It could only mean Atlanta is the front runner. And if you are going to get a commitment from him that he will resign with this team, you also attract 2013-14 Free Agent, Chris Paul. Get Josh Smith to resign, you have yourself an NBA Championship Calibur team, if they can find roll players to take pay cuts.

[vext]

That appears to be correct. I don't understand all the specifics, but the bottom line is that it looks like if Brooklyn traded everyone on the team no named Deron, Gerald, or Joe then they would only cut 750k off of the team salary due to cap holds required for the team to have 12 players while remaining under this magic number. This would leave them 1.103 million shy of being able to trade for Howard. From what I understand, the rule only applies to non-luxury tax playing teams. The irony of it all to me is that Brooks is set to make 1.193 million this year. I could be wrong, but that would seem to imply that had the Nets traded him to the Hawks like we requested then they wouldn't be in this position. They still probably wouldn't be able to trade for Howard, but there would be an option. Again, this is based on my interpretation on Hollingers math.

[ATLHawks3]

Logically, Atlanta is the frontrunner as of right now.

[sturt]

In a perfect world, we pluck him out of FA... Smoove, Horf and Superman, with Horf playing both the 4 and the 5.

[GameTime]

In a perfect world, we pluck him out of FA... Smoove, Horf and Superman, with Horf playing both the 4 and the 5.

Don't forget the 1.

[Admin]

Yes...for new jersey. Everyone has a "hard cap" which just means the tops you can spend for a particular season. It just turned out to be easy to calculate for NJ this year.

Oh boy so a different hard cap for each team? Can they make it more of a PITA to keep this stuff straight for us normal joes? So this is correct that they cannot get Dwight now? Unless they were to trade one of their high priced players for cap space I'm guessing.

[ATLHawks3]

Oh boy so a different hard cap for each team? Can they make it more of a PITA to keep this stuff straight for us normal joes? So this is correct that they cannot get Dwight now? Unless they were to trade one of their high priced players for cap space I'm guessing.

Do they have the Amnesty clause?

[Admin]

Do they have the Amnesty clause?

Nope because they traded for JJ so they can't amnesty him and they've re-signed Deron and Wallace so they can't amnesty them either.

Well, everyone has a "hard cap" but it is just kinda tough to determine. Hell, if NJ makes some trades then their "hard vap" could change. It is just some fancy catch phrase ESPN came up with. Pay no mind to it.

Interesting... so bottom line, can they still get Dwight this year or next?

[ATLHawks3]

It's time for Dwight to come home.

[NJHAWK]

Jenkins and Morrow will be good guys to have on the court with Howard. Im not sure about Smoove with him, lol. Im sure if it came down to it NJ would find a way to make it work. I think what Sekou or maybe JWalker said was true ( in one of those Shanks interviews) that Orlando are the ones putting it out there that the Nets are still close to getting him to get other teams to up the offers.

[ATLHawks3]

Danny Ferry smartest GM in Hawks History. Best GM in the league today. Just amazing.

[capstone21]

I agree that he would be better with him but I think he has to be here to get Howard to stay long term. Would be nice if we could get Smoove to buy into being a SF who doesn't take long jumpers then we could keep Horford and still have room to sign Paul.

I don't want Smith as a SF. It will be a detriment to the team. Smith for a Granger or Rudy Gay

[capstone21]

Danny Ferry smartest GM in Hawks History. Best GM in the league today. Just amazing.

Way way to early for that...yes he made a great trade with Marvin for Harris and we got JJ's contract off the books. However, this could easily fall apart and we could end up being a long term lottery team like we were in the early 2000s.

[MaceCase]

124 million dollar man. The gift that keeps on giving (headaches).

[Sothron]

From what I heard the Nets have to stagger the deals and signings in a certain way but they need a third team to make it happen to get Howard. Otherwise the cap numbers don't work to bring him in a trade.

[capstone21]

DWill signed 100 million contract but they might have structured it so that they can still pay Howard

[KB21]

Regardless of whether New Jersey can afford him or not, what is getting overlooked is that Orlando isn't going to just trade him to New Jersey for a package centered around Brook Lopez when the Lakers are potentially offering a package centered around Andrew Bynum and the Hawks can counter with one centered around Al Horford. Both Bynum and Horford are much better players than Lopez. Brook Lopez is not a building block. I know that Hawks fans seem to think that size is the only thing that matters, but Brook Lopez doesn't do a lot that contributes to winning. He doesn't rebound, and he is a below average defender. Orlando isn't going to accept that deal just because Dwight has preferred New Jersey in the past.