Brooklyn signs G Joe Harris to a two-year, $16 million deal, and C Ed Davis to a one-year, $4.4 million deal. Great initial movements from the Nets here, agreeing with two of their targets that won't hamstring much money from 2019 while maintaining all of their cap space flexibility for this summer. How would that work? The structures of the deals and how they would absorb them. Brooklyn might have, entering free agency, around $8 million in room with ten players on the roster. Davis and Harris, who add about $12 million in salaries, would make that about twelve players. But Brooklyn can still maintain that $31 million number in terms of salary absorption through trades, for any teams that still need to unload expiring deals. Because the Nets have the Bird rights to Harris, they can wait to officially sign him until they're over the cap. Davis, agreeing to a deal below the $4.54 million of the Room MLE, could theoretically wait to put pen to paper until they're over the cap - or within $4.4 million of it - as well. What does that mean for the Nets? It means they maintain about $8 million in space to absorb other contracts, then go about signing Davis and Harris. It won't be enough to bail out a team that needs major financial flexibility, but could help the Nets get an extra asset for taking on the likes of Darrell Arthur from Denver ($7.46m expiring), Alexis Ajinca from New Orleans ($5.28m expiring), or Wesley Johnson ($6.13m expiring) from the Los Angeles Clippers. Brooklyn would then waive said player and take back a conditional draft pick and some cash for their troubles. But on its face, Brooklyn gets exactly what they need. Harris provides important floor spacing for a three-point trigger-happy team, and a coach that loves to utilize Harris off multiple screens. Davis is a highly-touted veteran that has never reached his desired ceiling, and playing as an exclusive 5-man, with a dash of good health, could give the Nets a steal. The Boston Celtics retain C Aron Baynes with a reported two-year, $10.6 million deal. The second year will be a player option. Such an easy negotiation took place between two sides that really wanted to stay together, so Baynes stays in Boston. The cap mechanics are really important here, though. Because Boston had non-Bird rights for Baynes, this was the maximum they could add. For taking the discount Boston needed, the Celts rewarded him with the second-year player option. Now the Celtics will still maintain full usage of their MLE this summer if they want it. What an unselfish move on Baynes' part. The Celtics now have $115 million in salaries against the cap and only Marcus Smart still to negotiate with. Without Smart, they'll stay clear of the luxury tax ($14.6 million from the apron), and are almost the full MLE from the tax line ($8.63 away, full MLE is $8.8m). They now have an important path to replacing Smart if he leaves, but more likely would forfeit that MLE money if they got Smart. He would bring their roster size to fifteen. Now the Celtics stand at 14 players and are in a good position to do whatever they please the rest of the summer. They can match for Smart and go into the tax (although him getting $14 million a year is highly unlikely), they can make moves for Kawhi, they can use the MLE if both fall through. Boston is in great shape. Danny Ainge is a genius. PG Derrick Rose and the Minnesota Timberwolves agree to a one-year veteran minimum deal
It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Rose would re-up with the Wolves and his former boss Thibodeau. He showed a propensity to put the ball in the basket, although in rather inefficient ways. To get that production on a minimum deal is solid, no matter your thoughts on Rose's defense and floor spacing. Yet it's striking that the Wolves prioritize getting Rose, a non-floor spacing guard, over a restricted free agent like Bjelicia or a shooter somewhere. The Wolves are at $110.2 million in salaries and only $10 million from the luxury tax, and $16 million from the tax apron. That apron is the line they don't want to cross. With ten players under contract and only $16 million to go, the team's usage of the Mid-Level Exceptions will be dependent on how they negotiate with RFA Nemanja Bjelicia. Rose is a solid signing that I don't hate for his contract or with this team. But they need outside shooting badly, and with this budget remaining it's tough. Rose doesn't hurt that budget, but he doesn't help the outside shooting. G Nik Stauskas and the Portland TrailBlazers agree on a one-year pact worth the minimum Now signings like this are why I question the Wolves prioritization of talking to Rose when they could've had similar dialogue with a player like Stauskas. This is, in basketball terms, the right marriage between skill set, team need and offensive and defensive systems. Stauskas is a shooter that plays well on the move. He's not a ball handler, struggles to guard quicker guards and is a tad undersized for the 3. In Portland he'll play the 3 but be flanked by a drop-back scheme that almost encourages him to get beat and is predicated on help. He'll also run off a ton of screens and be of value alongside ball-dominant guards like Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. The value is great for the Blazers, who are up against their backs when it comes to finances. The team's questionable decisions to renounce the cap holds of Shabazz Napier and Pat Connaughton still leave many to scratch their head, but this is a good one-year, low-risk signing on their part. Twelve players are under contract, with $1.7 million between them and the luxury tax and $7.7 million before the tax apron. Portland will likely have to head into luxury tax territory to re-sign Jusuf Nurkic though, and because of that their Mid-Level Exception spending power is weakened. Now might be the time for the Blazers to vault into the territory, keep Nurkic, and then use the $5.45 million Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to add another player. The key to this strategy was getting good, high-quality players on the minimum. Stauskas is a step in the right direction there. Now expect GM Neil Olshey to close in on some MLE targets. Miami agrees with F Derrick Jones Jr. on a two-year, $3.15 million deal, which is essentially a two-year minimum. Not every contract is exactly what it seems on the surface. This is a one-year contract for a versatile athletic forward the Heat didn't want to lose. That second year is fully non-guaranteed, which makes it like a one-year deal where the team can pick it up if they want. It's a small move, but a meaningful one that adds talent without much fanfare or finance. The Heat are now with eleven players on the roster, standing just over $7 million beneath the luxury tax apron, which they desperately will want to avoid. Three guys on the minimum (Wade, Babbitt and Haslem, if they desire), would leave about $3 million left for a Taxpayer MLE. Or, Wade on a minimum and two undrafted rookie signings would create about $4.3 million in space. This is where the Heat not being able to get into the second-round really hurts. They could use some of those low-value deals in order to circumvent the tax apron and still use the taxpayer MLE to its strongest degree.
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Adam SpinellaHead Boys Basketball Coach, Boys' Latin School (MD). Archives
September 2021
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