I know, I know; I am getting way ahead of myself here.
The NBA season isn't even over, the draft is still weeks away and with the collective bargaining issues facing the league, free agency let alone next season are not guaranteed.
But I am a Detroit Pistons fan, and having to choose between rooting for the "Heatles" and a team from Texas is enough to drive me to the top of a ledge somewhere.
The league no doubt is facing some real changes. There will probably be a hard salary cap, team owners are sure to try to grab back some of the huge amounts of money they have been dishing out and there may even be an NFL-style franchise tag.
That being said, there will still probably be free agency, and the Pistons will no doubt be a part of that.
Before we know how much we can spend, we need to know how much we have on the books and how much the cap will be.
The Pistons are committed to about $48 million next year. That does not include Jonas Jerebko, who is a free agent but is sure to come back for a raise, or Rodney Stuckey, who is a restricted free agent but has a qualifying offer of about $4 million.
If all goes to plan and you figure in about $5 million more for the rookies that Detroit will draft, you are probably looking at about a $58 million team salary.
That seems like a lot, but that would put Detroit at about 25th in the league if we went by this year. It is actually a decrease of about $7 million from last year due in large part to Tayshaun Prince and Tracy McGrady coming off the books.
Now we have to figure out the hard cap. Last year's luxury tax threshold was about $70 million. I have heard rumors ranging from a hard cap of $75 million all the way down to $45 million.
Since all but the Sacramento Kings were above $45 million and 10 teams are at about $70 million or more, let's figure it is somewhere in the higher range. Besides, unless teams are granted one get out of jail free card that allows them to cut one or two big salaries, it will be hard to re-write contracts.
I am going to set the salary cap at $65 million with the likelihood that it will probably have a sliding scale and stiff ramifications for teams that can't abide.
With a $65 million salary cap, Detroit will have some options that few teams will have but more holes than the average team.
Here are the top five potential free agents that Detroit should target.
Claudette Ortiz Julia Stiles Marisa Miller AnnaLynne McCord Emma Heming
No comments:
Post a Comment