A first round pick as well?
I think Josh Smith is the guy they are targeting. By all indications, he is ready to sign an offer sheet with Philadelphia.
This is still a bit confusing to me though. If I'm not mistaken, even if Philadelphia does secure the rights to Josh Smith if Atlanta chooses not to match, can Andre Iguodala still be able to re-sign at a max level contract? Meaning, even if a team is over the cap, or too close to it to sign just any player to a max contract, if they have still retained the bird rights to said player, he can be given a max contract am I right?
My understanding of the situation is that all those "projections" of cap space for Philly are already assuming that Iguodala signs a large extension. Looking at their salaries on Hoopshype, with Carney and Booth still on the books and not counting any salary for Iguodala, they are locked in at 34.6 mil, about 25 mil under the cap. I think people are guessing 13 mil for A.I., which is why initial projections were for 12 mil in cap space; trading Carney and Booth for no contracts bumps the overall cap space to around 28 mil, 13 for A.I. and 15 to lure a biggie.
It is my understanding that, say, if Philly had 13 mil in space, they could NOT use that 13 to get a free agent, then turn around and exercise their bird rights to sign Iggy over the cap. there are holds, etc. that prevent this.
This is why the clippers would have to renounce their bird rights on brand and maggette et al in order to remove the holds so that they'd have the space to sign davis, with enough room left over for brand maybe.
Hey Roy: if all the above happens, once Philly is over the cap, would they THEN be able to use the MLE? or is your ability to use the MLE established once at the beginning of the FA period?
Edit: I just visited the ol' FAQ, and Philly will not be able to use the MLE this year.