Acquiring the 3rd first round pick in this draft

[MirORich]

Jason Lloyd and others have made it clear the Cavs would like to acquire a 3rd first round pick in this draft. This thread can be devoted to strictly discussions on the different way to go about acquiring that 3rd #1. I'm going to cover a bunch of different scenarios that I think are realistic in this post.

Mid level picks for salary dumps(picks before or just after the Cavs pick #19)

Dallas #13: We trade our 21,33 + 3million for #13 and Marion. Maximizes the Mavs ability to fit in a Max guy next to Dirk and gices them 2 non guaranteed high second rd pick.

Boston #16: If Garnett retires and they decide the need to do a quick retooling(they would still have Rondo, Green, Sullinger, Bass, Bradley, and Lee), trade the 2 seconds and 3 million for #16 and Paul Pierce. Boston would lose the first round pick but suddenly have about 18-19 million in cap space.

Chicago #20: The Bulls are are above the Tax line and saddled with bad deals. There's a couple of ways to approach them.
A: - straight "avoid the luxury tax" deal. Trade them 31,33 for #20 and Rip Hamilton. They just barely scoot under the luxury tax and still get two picks on cheaper deals at the top of the 2nd rd
B: - "get under the luxury tax and out of a bad contract" deal. Trade them 31,33 for Deng and #20. They get well under the luxury tax line, get the 2 cheaper picks at 31, 33 and get the right back to use the full MLE
C: "Grant goes for the homerun" - trade them 31,33 for Deng, Hamilton, and the future Charlotte pick Chicago owns(top 10 protected in 2014, top 8 in 2015, unprotected in 2016. Chicago saves a TON of money, keeps their #20 pick, and regains the right to use the full MLE. Chicago could also get super radical and amnesty Boozer, giving them room to sign a Max guy next to Rose, Noah, Butler, Gibson, and the #20 pick. Cavs get another premium future 1st from a historically bad franchise(charlotte) that will be delivered no later than 2016

Brooklyn #22: Brooklyn is 10 million+ into luxury territory and have a player who is completely worthless. Trade the future Memphis 2nd round pick for Kris Humphies and the #22. Brooklyn save over $20 million total in salary and luxury tax. Stays out of the repeat offender escalators for the tax. May even dip far enough under the tax apron that they can reclaim some portion of their MLE. Cavs gain 22 and still have 31,33 to use for trading up from one of our first round slots.


Value swaps purely to save money - no players involved

Indiana #23: Pacers have a ton of people to pay this offseason and next(West, George, Stephenson) Trade 31,33 for 23. Indiana gets to draft two players but on shorter non guaranteed deals.

Knicks at #24: Knicks well into Luxury tax. 33 and 3 million for 24. Knicks save money, still get to pick a player and get 3 million from the Cavs to help with their luxury payments. Cavs get 24 and get to keep 31 for more maneuvering

Clippers #25: Clippers hovering just below luxury line. 33 and 3 million for 25. Same logic as the Knicks deal for both the Clips and Cavs.

Those are all trades that don't involve us trading #1, #19, or any player on our roster. The more likely ones are the ones at pick 20 at below, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Cavs pulled off one of these scenarios and I would be outright shocked if at least one of these scenarios didn't go down whether its the Cavs or another team at the receiving end of the first rd pick and/or bad contract. The manuevering around the luxury tax, hard apron for teams that use the MLE(can't go over 74 million in an offseason where you use the MLE) and repeat tax offender escalators will make for so many trades of these type of the next few offseasons.

 

[CornerThree]

RE:Humphries-They can just stretch provision him at 4/4/4 and free up 8m in 2013/14 space and not give up any assets. Seems like a more likely solution for them.

 

[MirORich]

RE:Humphries-They can just stretch provision him at 4/4/4 and free up 8m in 2013/14 space and not give up any assets. Seems like a more likely solution for them.

Good point regarding the Stretch Provision, but in the Nets case they are not trying to free up space, they are looking to get out of the luxury tax and save money on an awful contract. If they use the stretch on Hump, they still have to pay him the $12 million salary and would still be above the tax apron next year, so their would be some luxury tax to pay. By trading him and the #22 to the Cavs, Dan Gilbert pays the $12 million salary for the nets and they duck out of the tax payments as well. That would be Gilbert going to an extreme on a pick that low(#22) for $12 million on a useless player, so it would be one of the last options I would explore if I was Grant. Perhaps just trying to pitch them on 31,33 for #22 is the far better idea.