Re: The Strategy
The only strategy that I am worried about is winning that trophy THIS season then all this chatter will finally die off.
Understandable SplitVizionz....
However, I think that is also part of the strategy. The point of this thread wasn't so much what LeBron was thinking, but rather, what Ferry and Gilbert was thinking. If Danny and Gilbert believe that there ability to get LeBron to extend next summer rests in their ability to put together a team that is the defending Champions, and a likely dynasty (by next summer), then there is a good possibility that the Cavaliers have a road mapped-out.
LeBron is an emotional guy. If we win the Championship this year, and a certain reporter asks him about New York... What happens when LeBron says, loud and clear: "I'm not leaving Cleveland." ???
Suppose for a moment that this media madness is not the lone work of "WorldWide"... Imagine for a moment, that Gilbert used his connections (much deeper than Wes's outside the NBA) and Ferry helped out. What if LeBron and the front office used this as a strategy?
Wes,Dan,Danny,LeBron get together and make a plan. By getting all of those teams talking, that means teams will be dumping players en-masse'; all for the shot at LeBron...and Wade & Bosh.
Meanwhile, the Cavs have positioned themselves to take advantage of the situation. Look at the deals that expire over the next year and a half (not including Anderson Varejao): <label for="362">
Zydrunas Ilgauskas , </label>
Sasha Pavlovic,
Eric Snow,
Wally Szczerbiak, <label for="885">
Ben Wallace, </label><label for="959">
Lorenzen Wright , </label><label for="2850">
Jawad Williams, </label>
Tarence Kinsey
Thats 10 players, not including Anderson. Those 10 players represent $53,000,000 , and if you add Varejao to that, it's 60 million.
If LeBron signs an extension, then that means his salary stays on the current contract for 2010, which also means that the Cavaliers won't have a $19 million hold against their cap. The players definitely under contract that year would be
Lebron, Hickson, Jackson, West, Gibson, and Mo Williams. If we re-sign Anderson to say... 10 million a year, then you only remove 4 million from the 53+ million of expiring deals. That means we'd have 49 million. Lets assume we sign someone to the mid-level exception next year..and use the rest of this year's too, and that they BOTH run past 2010 (unlikely...but lets do it for argument's sake). That would take away another 11 million. So we now ould have 38 million. Let us assume if we sign 2 mid-level deals that run that long, that they will be rotation players (duh) and one will be a big and one a wing. Let's also assume that we re-sign Ilgauskas to a team friendly deal in 2010... say 3 million a year. That leaves us with 35 million.
Yeah, but we are probably going to trade Wally this year, you say?
Okay, let's trade wally for a guy signed for 5 years, at the exact same salary as Wally. We now havebetween 20-22 million to spend.
And that is with a championship caliber team. Our rotation:
C: Hickson/Ilgauskas/Mid-level guy#1
PF:Anderson/Jackson/
SF:LeBron/Mid-Level guy#2
SG
elonte West/Daniel Gibson
PG: Mo Williams/Gibson
(I haven't added the player we traded Wally for, as it could be any number of people..but would definitely be a starter type player...even if we use him off the bench)
(I also haven't added the likely free-agent signings we's make - see below-)
With the money left (20-22 million) we can sign Chris Bosh to a max deal. And if W&G is right, then that is where he'd sign...with us. After Bosh is signed, we'd have between 5-7 million left to sign another free-agent.
And add to that, the players who would sign for the Vet minimum to play for a champion... Jason Kidd...Steve Nash?
Now... let's say that we use the Knicks... the team that
EVERYONE seems to think LeBron is headed to. Let's see what they could do (we have to do some assuming here, because their players aren't accomplished yet, so we will assume that certain players work-out for them).
The New York Knicks, in 2010 only have one player with a guaranteed contract( as of today): Jared Jeffries. Let's assume they trade him for some lug that expires in 2010.
The Knicks will have 78 million is salary cap holds. This includes: <label for="3194">
Wilson Chandler, </label><label for="990">
Eddy Curry, </label>The player(s) they get for
Jared Jeffries, <label for="566">
Cuttino Mobley, </label>
Quentin Richardson, <label for="847">
Tim Thomas</label> , and <label for="2817">
Anthony Roberson</label>
If we assume they let Malik, Jerome and Harrington go, denouncing their rights, and signing 3 free-agents to minimum 1 year deals, that now puts their hold at 80 million.... plus the 11 million for the contracts of Robinson and Lee. That puts them at 91 million.
Let us assume that Chris Duhon is re-signed for the same amount he makes that year, 7 Million. Let us also assume that Tyson Chandler is everything they hope for, but not quite a star (else they'd have to pay him big bucks)...let's just say that he is a real good player. He re-signs for a contract starting at 6 million a year (probably more...but left give them the benefit of the doubt). That put their cap at 94 million. Lets say that
Danilo Gallinari also works out; doesnt have any more injuries, and plays like a fringe all-star. He re-signs for 8 million a year. Now the cap is at 98 million. Then they have their first round pick that year, and the second rounder that year plus the previous year. those will equal about 5 million assuming they dont win the lottery. 103 million. Now, let us assume they renounce the rights to ALL of their free-agents AND to all of their exceptions (exceptions count against the cap if a team is under the slary cap).
That puts them at: That puts their signed players at $38 million dollars. However, since they have less that 12 players on their roster, they have a roster charge for each player under 12 that equals the Rookie minimum salary for 2010 ($457,588). They have:
Duhon,Lee,Robinson,Chandler, and Danilo plus the three draft picks (they dont have a 1st round pick in 09). That means they have 8 players under contract. 4 player roster charge equals about 2 million.
That puts their payroll at 40 million. Their roster is made-up of sophmore, 2 rookies, Duhon, Chandler, Lee, Robinson, and Danilo. They have approximately $25 million in cap space.
Notice their line-up. Do you expect that group to be better than the supporting cast LeBron had in 06 or 07?
They also will need to convince Bosh or another star to take less than the Max.... AND they still have to sign role-players, as even with Bosh and LeBron, they only have 10 players... 3 under the minimum.
IF their current players ALL pan out, then they would have a decent starting line-up, and no bench, no chemistry, and unlikely to win a championship.
Cleveland on the other hand, may be coming off of back-to-back championships, have an entire roster of young, championship-tested players, and have the ability to sign a maximum free-agent...plus another free-agent.
Don't get me wrong. New York "could" possibly put together a good team by then, but they'll need to trade Curry next year for a very-good talent... they will need to trade either Richardson or Mobley for a couple of good role-players (next summer), they will need to trade Jeffries for more than an expiring contract.
New York's job is a LOT more difficult than Cleveland's, even if the media is trying to convince you otherwise.
