To sum it up a bit, all the movement and pre-planning that has been going on in the NBA in anticipation of the several big name free agents coming up in the Summer of 2010 has been with the mindset that the 2010-2011 salary cap would be on the upper side of $60 mil. It has now been projected that the cap will ACTUALLY be more like $50-53 million.
What does this mean? It means that for anyone trying to sign one of the big name free agents (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, and Tracy McGrady are the big ones I think), and anyone trying to sign TWO of said free agents, may be in some big trouble now. Teams like Cleveland and New York were said to be trying to get Chris Bosh and LeBron James and may not be able to get EITHER unless they get both. Now with this news about the cap, they may be in big trouble. In the video Chris Broussard suggests that this news may mean we're not going to see as much movement as we initially thought.
Cleveland would be able to sign 2 max players, as they could sign Bosh or Wade and then sign LeBron, as you can go over the cap to re-sign your own players. This does potentially short-circuit the Knickerbockers master plan, thus it is amusing. Now, it will be interesting to see how many guys re-up with their current teams this off-season, as the free agent market won't be as lucrative.
Originally posted by redsoxnationCleveland would be able to sign 2 max players, as they could sign Bosh or Wade and then sign LeBron, as you can go over the cap to re-sign your own players. This does potentially short-circuit the Knickerbockers master plan, thus it is amusing. Now, it will be interesting to see how many guys re-up with their current teams this off-season, as the free agent market won't be as lucrative.
Right now the Knicks are still fucked anyways and have no way of signing two top picks with Eddy Curry and Jared Jefferies eating up cap room. It might even be a stretch to get one premium FA and a second tier guy like Steve Nash.
Add to that the fact that the Knicks will have barely any returning players (that actually play) in 2010 and what we still have is a big mess. It's amazing that it is still this bad even with all the contracts that were shipped out last year.
They would have to be awfully close to winning it all for it to happen. I have to believe he would prefer a major media market and a championship ring.