
Originally Posted by
bajaden
Well, the first thing you have to consider is the salary cap, and how much room the Kings have, or might have depending on what they want to accomplish. Cisco's money comes off the books, and without looking it up, I believe its around 6.4 mil. We can still amnesty Salmons, and remove his salary from the books. We still have to pay him, and it gets a little expensive, because if you amnesty him, you guarantee his last year, which is only guaranteed for a mil if we just let the last year play out. Don't quote me on the 1 mil part, but point is, there's a huge difference between the 7.5 mil he's owed if it becomes guaranteed and the amount owed if it just plays out.
But, if you were to amnesty Salmons, along with Cisco's contract ending, you then have some serious money to play with. Esentially you would have around 33.3 mil counting against the cap, and the cap is likely to go up to around 60 mil. Just a guess on my part. It was at around 59.5 mil last season, and I would think that realisticly it would go up, maybe to as much as 61 mil. However, that amount against the cap doesn't take into account the projected salaries, (if we decide to retain them) of Evans, a restricted freeagent, Johnson, a restricted freeagent, or Honeycutt and Thomas, both of whom are on non-guaranteed contracts, which means we don't have to tender and offer to any of them, and they just walk. The one lone wildcard is Brooks, who has an early termination option, which means its his option. So if he decides the grass is greener somewhere else, he walks.
So we could be as much as 37 mil under the cap depending on who we want to keep and what Brooks decides. Obviously, we want to resolve the Evans situation, and that all depends on how much money he wants. I seriously doubt he'll get offered the max allowed. And last night is an example of why. There are times when he just throws BBIQ out the window, and many times the results are not good. He's a very good basketball player, but Dwayne Wade he's not. So do we want to keep him? Damm right! The question is, how much does he want? Do we want to keep IT? I'd say yes to that one as well, but I still don't like him as a starter. But thats just my personal opinion. You certainly get a lot of bang for the buck with IT. I'd let JJ and Honeycutt walk, and I'd encourage Brooks to look elsewhere.
So if everything goes the way your want, and you resign Tyreke and IT for the amounts you want, then maybe you still have around 25 mil under the cap to work with. Certainly enough to be a player in the freeagent market.
As to your list, I would add Chris Kaman and Dalembert to your list of centers. I look at Josh Smith as a PF, and I'd love to have him, but he's a real longshot. I'm not a big fan of Aminu. I didn't like him in college, and so far he hasn't shown me much. He's still young, and has time to develop, but right now, in freeagency, I'm looking to add veteran players that are proven and know how to play the game of basketball. I'm willing to overlook their youth if they bring a particular skill, like shotblocking etc. I'd also add McRoberts to the list. He's a very versatile player. He could be had for a reasonable price, and he would add length to our front line. He can also play some center is needed. No one leaps out at me at the SG position. I think you either go with a good outside shooter, or a very good defender. If you can find both, such as in a Tony Allen type, so much the better. But that might be a position you trade for. Or you might go for a Randy Foye, a player that can really shoot the ball off the bench, and play a little point as well. Hmmm! Maybe not!
I believe in having star players, or go to players. I think every team has to have one or two of those guys. But I'm not a believer in having every other player on the team as an average role player. I'm not into this, my player has to get his 15 to 18 shots a game, and if someone else has a good night, its at the expense of the star player. While that can be true, I think that people have to recognize that you can't put all your eggs into one basket. Otherwise you'll live and die with those star players on a nightly basis. To build a contender, you also have to have players that can step up when needed and pick up the slack. The trick is, to have players, and a coach that knows the difference.
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