Another way to work with Utah

by Clevelander among roses on Jul 11, 2009 2:24 PM PDT

I'm interested in seeing the chess match going on with Portland, Utah, and the other teams in the NBA. It seems to me that Portland and Utah are natural partners in that Portland wants to aquire talent, but doesn't have big salaries to send back, and Utah wants to clear cap space and has big salaried talent (Boozer) that they want to move. Supposedly any potential cooperation between the two in meeting both of their team needs will be a week away, since all of Portland's cap space is tied up in Millsap until Utah matches, but I don't actually believe that to be the case.

Portland's cap space is actually tied up until Utah comes to a decision whether to match Millsap or not. If Utah and Portland agreed to a deal using Portland's cap space, then it would only take Utah saying they would match, and Portland's cap space would instantly be available. Normally Utah would wait it's week to screw with Portland, but in this case they would be a willing partner because they need us to have flexibility in order to facilitate their own trade.

Suddenly, the Millsap signing makes much more sense to me. Previously it seemed like a waste since our cap space is taken up, and because Utah was sure to match, but now it seems like we've put pressure on Utah to work with us. Even if Utah, for reasons unknown, decides not to match, we still have an asset in Millsap that we can trade after this year if we want to give us flexibility in improving our team in the future.

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The last point, that Millsap will be tradeable, is the reason KP went for a 4 year offer rather than a more toxic 5 year offer, I think.

He knew Utah would match both 4 or 5 or neither 4 nor 5 — and in the event that he landed Millsap, he wanted he to be as tradeable as possible. Shorter contract = less liability for the acquiring team.

"A bizarre and extremely rare hybrid Blazer/Laker fan, Timbo has always struggled to contain the Beast Within, like Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, or Ted Kennedy." — Miled Animal

by timbo on Jul 11, 2009 3:12 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Something else to consider

in regards to Millsap being tradeable, because of his signing bonus, his cap hit is higher than his actual salary.

For example, if the Blazers decide to trade him in 3 years as an expiring contract, even though his cap hit is $8,625,000, the actual amount of salary due to him in the final year of his contract is $7,225,000.

If a team is truly looking to save $$$ and cap room, that’s appealing. Who would you rather get, a player with a $8.625 million cap hit that you have to pay $8.625 million OR a player with a $8.625 million cap hit that you only have to pay $7.225 million?

by Storyteller on Jul 11, 2009 7:50 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs