Day 1 FA Results

[KingsGM-old]

HAHA...

[NetsGM]

If you are worried about big contracts, then he isn't for you, however, after this year's FA I don't know why anyone would ever worry about cap space again.

Because people target FA's wrong.

most people offer huge contracts to the top few guys in free agency.  TMac, Gatling, etc, and let 2nd tier guys go.  

The top names don't leave in free agency.  They don't here, they don't in the NBA.  Sure, make an offer, but concentrate on the 2nd tier.  

Guys like Troy Murphy, Ray Allen, Marbuy, Brad Miller, etc could have been had on the cheap.  No game changes, but nice additions.  You could have gotten Troy Murphy to be a great backup big for nothing.

In the past I've gotten 2 starters in FA.  Stromile Swift was had in free agency.  As was Mike Dunleavy.

You get contributors with cap space.  Not franchise guys.

The problem is everybody either goes to franchise guys, or they take guys that would be great additions (Mike Dunleavy, JDN at the time) and max them out.  Rather than getting a great contributor and potential trade asset if they don't work out, they're now untradable.

Untradable contracts are never good, because there are very few players in the league who can fit with any group of players.  Take Dunleavy for example.  The Pistons core changes, Dunleavy doesn't.  now he goes to get rid of him and he can't get value back, only expirings.  Gooden's another example.  Gooden has value in this league, but somebody signs him thinking "doesn't matter, won't ever be under the cap!", but then gooden no longer fits (excess of post players), and you're taking $0.50 on the dollar just to get rid of him.

contracts aren't just about managing cap, but about managing tradability.  I think that's where a lot of people have erred.

[JazzGM-old]

I was sure to ink Hughes to a short contract, expensive, but I feel it's worth it when Kirilenko is inked for his career, and Meyers is still a little short of being a starter. Picking up Jerome Moiso was a wonderful addition to my depth chart and a nice adjunct to Curran in the paint. Last year my MLE was used for Rousseau who I barely used and had limited talent, Moiso, already will be a nice improvement. One more roster space left and I like how my team is sitting, at least slightly better than last year (particularly with rebounding) where I still was 7th in the West, of course all of this is projection because TC throws its surprises.

[SpursGM-old]

I would have loved to have signed Russell for less than the max for 7 years.  At this point in his career he isn't worth a max salary.  Hopefully he will continue to improve and make my decision a good one.

However I was afraid that I would lose him to either the Magic or Sonics since his loyalty rating is so low and his greed so high.  I was really hoping he wouldn't accept the contract and that after day 1 that no other team would have enough cap space left to compete with me.

[HawksGM]

I like my signing of Steve Francis with the LLE.  All I need from him is 10-12 minutes of defense every night and I will be very happy with him.  I'm just worried about his to's.

[OldNuggetsGM]

If you are worried about big contracts, then he isn't for you, however, after this year's FA I don't know why anyone would ever worry about cap space again.

Because people target FA's wrong.

most people offer huge contracts to the top few guys in free agency.  TMac, Gatling, etc, and let 2nd tier guys go.  

The top names don't leave in free agency.  They don't here, they don't in the NBA.  Sure, make an offer, but concentrate on the 2nd tier.  

Guys like Troy Murphy, Ray Allen, Marbuy, Brad Miller, etc could have been had on the cheap.  No game changes, but nice additions.  You could have gotten Troy Murphy to be a great backup big for nothing.

In the past I've gotten 2 starters in FA.  Stromile Swift was had in free agency.  As was Mike Dunleavy.

You get contributors with cap space.  Not franchise guys.

The problem is everybody either goes to franchise guys, or they take guys that would be great additions (Mike Dunleavy, JDN at the time) and max them out.  Rather than getting a great contributor and potential trade asset if they don't work out, they're now untradable.

Untradable contracts are never good, because there are very few players in the league who can fit with any group of players.  Take Dunleavy for example.  The Pistons core changes, Dunleavy doesn't.  now he goes to get rid of him and he can't get value back, only expirings.  Gooden's another example.  Gooden has value in this league, but somebody signs him thinking "doesn't matter, won't ever be under the cap!", but then gooden no longer fits (excess of post players), and you're taking $0.50 on the dollar just to get rid of him.

contracts aren't just about managing cap, but about managing tradability.  I think that's where a lot of people have erred.

Sorry to quote the whole post, but....

This doesn't work either, bods.  The last time I had caproom, a couple seasons ago, I did exactly what you mentioned.  I knew people would go for the big names, so I tried to get Del Negro and/or Luke Jackson on 5 year deals starting around $7 million.  But that didn't work, because the second half of your post came true: gm's maxed out players that had no business being maxed out.

I agree with Raptors, in that in this league, capspace is not worth a damn.  Well, it might, if you're a decent team and are just looking to add a piece or two.  Of course, when I tried this tactic, it didn't work, but I probably wasn't a decent team then.  Regardless, the point still stands.  It's hard to be competitive in this league without a big payroll, so those teams that could take advantage of adding a piece usually can't, either because teams overpay to keep players or because having caproom usually implies that the team has multiple holes to fill.  Very rare is the team that has cap room and only needs another piece, which is really the only way it can work here, IMO.

And rebuilding through the draft hasn't been proven to do much, generally because the drafts are not that strong overall.  So really, the only way I see to improve your team in this league is by trading.  At least, that's my opinion.

[NetsGM]

I think part of the limitation on rebuilding through draft is the huge payrolls.  Why let a contributor go, say....someone even in the class of Antonio Turkoglu, when you can just give him a 1 year, max deal, with no consequence?


That's why we will be having a hard cap.

[KingsGM-old]

It worked for me. When i traded Gooden, Miller and co for expirings i had somewhere around 20 millions of cap. All of that was enough to sign several trade pieces like Prince, Pietrus and Bosh. I added couple of picks i recived during my rebuilding and all of that transformed into Hoffa and Posey which made me a contender last year.

[GoldenStateGM]

And rebuilding through the draft hasn't been proven to do much, generally because the drafts are not that strong overall.  So really, the only way I see to improve your team in this league is by trading.  At least, that's my opinion.

That is a funny statement, since you are probably the team that has done the best rebuilding through the draft...

[OldNuggetsGM]

How so?  I got lucky with Berkowitz (which is my whole point regarding the draft....only 5 or so picks are can't-miss), and I also got lucky on Butler.  I liked him, but I sure didn't think he'd increase his ratings that quickly and dramatically.

Plus, Berkowitz pales in comparison to Tyler.  I was comparing their ratings, and Tyler blows him out of the water.  But other than these top guys, who really ends up playing any significant starting role?

That's kinda where I was going.  Not that it can't be done, but that it's really more luck than skill.

[BullsGM-old]

Lol, I got cheap with Gasol and I lost him.  As long as Anderson doesn't decrease in defense after TC I'm perfectly happy though

[CelticsGM]

Lol, I got cheap with Gasol and I lost him.  As long as Anderson doesn't decrease in defense after TC I'm perfectly happy though

You lost Gasol, one of the premiere forwards in the game, and are perfectly happy? Why?

[GrizzliesGM]

That's why we will be having a hard cap.

I didn't realize we made that official. When does that begin?

[RaptorsGM]

Lol, I got cheap with Gasol and I lost him.  As long as Anderson doesn't decrease in defense after TC I'm perfectly happy though

You lost Gasol, one of the premiere forwards in the game, and are perfectly happy? Why?

Glad you think so, Celtics.

I just hope he can maintain his ability to defend and rebound for 3-4 years.

[NetsGM]

I didn't realize we made that official. When does that begin?

It hasn't yet.