2010 Free Agents
The 2010 committed contract amounts for Curry, Jefferies, Gallinari, Chandler, Hill and Douglas add up to about $27.33M. I do not know the extent to which we might commit to Bender beyond the current year. Let us assume there is no commitment. Let us also assume that the cap is $54M, which is a little bit above of the high end projection at $53.6M.
The committed $27.33M will be included in "Team Salary." We will have to renounce our bird rights to all of our expiring contracts to avoid inclusion of their salaries in 2010 "Team Salary." The bi-annual and mid-level exceptions also have to be renounced in order to avoid inclusion in "Team Salary." The mid-level is about $5.8M and the bi-annual about $1.9.
Since we have only 6 committed players, our "Team Salary" will be increased as if we also had six minimum salary players because the roster for "Team Salary" purposes must be at least 12. The minimum player salary for 2010 is $473,604. For six the total is $2,841,624,
Assuming no movement of either Curry or Jefferies, our "Team Salary" for 2010 will be at least $30,171M. If the cap is about $54M, the diffence between that and our "Team Salary" will be our cap space. That difference, on the cap projection of $54M, is $22.829M.
A max contract is limited to $30% of the cap. Thirty percent of $54M is $16.2M. With one max contract, there is only $6.629M of cap space left. That will not be enough to keep Lee or get any one equivalent to Lee.
The CBA does not permit backloading of contracts. I believe that there can be a 10.5 % raise for each year but it is not compounded. Thus if the first year of a contract is $5M, the second year can be $5.55M, the third year $6.1M etc.
It will not help to wait until after signing a max contract before renouncing the mid-level, because you cannot add the mid-level to salary cap space.
If we buy out Curry's last year we can add whatever discount he will take to our cap space. He should be cooperative at least to a point because he will need some playing time for any chance of a new contract.
If we do not get LeBron, I do not think anyone else, even DWade, is worth a max contract. I would rather keep Lee, with all his defensive weaknesses than give a max contract to Bosh or Amare and lose Lee. Perhaps, if LeBron is not an option, we should start thinking about free agents not expected to get max contracts.
It would help to move Jefferies. Moving Curry is hopeless.