06-01-2023, 10:33 PM
(06-01-2023, 09:42 PM)IamDougieFresh Wrote: Denver is showing that you just need the right 7 guys for the playoffs - 8 if you count Braun's limited minutes. Also, I'm thinking it's not a bad idea to start building rosters with countering the Nuggets in mind.
Their top 5 guys will make $147mm next season. That is 90% of the amount free of tax and 82% of the 'hard cap'. The have three max contracts (though two of them are young maxes) and Gordon at $21mm and KCP at $14mm. That leaves $33mm to the hard cap for 10 players.
One of the things I've been playing with today is what the best strategy for this might be. FG posted a 40/40/20/20/10 top five if I recall. Obviously, you can spend more on the 4-7 slots if you spend less on the top 3. As we think through Luka/Kyrie/X/X, the names of Allen and Collins came up (it doesn't have to be them specifically). That's between $125mm-$132mm depending on Kyrie's number. I can see teams scrambling to get rid of guys like Collins (if they already have big commitments on the books). I can see teams grabbing them also (if he really is worth that money as a 3rd/4th best guy type).
If Dallas didn't have so much money invested in the wrong places ($35mm next season in THJ and Bertans), they could take advantage of teams starting to work toward getting their books in order. We might see some decent third/fourth options change hands because their teams can't afford to keep them and the first and second options. Dallas has those first and second options and could afford both someone like Allen and someone like Collins if they can move off of some of their other money.