Opportunistic Pekovic Idea

[gpap]

I wish. But Ainge seems to have something against going after free agents this offseason.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I love Pek's game, but under the new CBA, the only way I like watching him for $15 million is on League Pass for another team.  Wolves with Love/Rubio/Pek are fun as hell to watch but they ain't winning a championship

[jdub1660]

Noway we land Pek, ESPECIALLY at 15 per year. He's an advanced Perkins, worth 8-10 per year.
The only way Boston might entice Minny is
Pek at 10per and Barea
Humphries, Sully and Crawford plus picks

[Moranis]

How about this complicated 3 team trade which I'm sure no one would do, but it was still fun to come up with and at least makes sense on some level for all the teams.

Minnesota Out - Pekovic (6.85 to them), Barea (4.7)
Minnesota In - Humphries (12), Bradley (2.5), Boston 2014 1st (lottery protected)

Boston Out - Humphries (12), Bradley (2.5), Bass (6.75), Lee (5.23), 2014 1st (lottery protected)
Boston In - Pekovic (13.7 to us), Boozer (15.3)

Chicago Out - Boozer (15.3)
Chicago In - Bass (6.75), Lee (5.23), Barea (4.7)

That would give Boston a much more competitive team this year with Boozer and Pekovic down low (with Sully and Oly backing them up), Green and Wallace on the wings (with Brooks and Crawford), and Rondo at point.  Going forward Boston gets their center of the future something every team could use. 

Chicago would get more quality depth and get out of the Boozer business.  It allows a lot more time for Gibson and Bass is a great backup who can actually guard Lebron and Melo, something Chicago could use.  Lee is a solid backup to Butler and is better than Dunleavy and Barea can sort of fill the void left by Nate Robinson.

Minnesota would get a nice solid young SG in Bradley and a 2014 1st for a guy they may lose next summer while getting rid of Barea who was a total bust for them.  I'm not sure that is enough for Pekovic, but it is a lot more than nothing.

[nickagneta]

In addition to the many salient points other posters have made, it's extremely difficult to structure a sign-and-trade that actually fits under all the various salary cap rules AND pays Pekovic large sums of money.

Because Pek would be getting a raise in a sign-and-trade deal, he's subject to the base-year compensation rule.  This means that his outgoing salary is treated at only 50% of what he's getting paid for purposes of what Minnesota can take back in a trade.  (This is one reason Bogans is getting paid so much by us, since his salary only counted 50% for what the Nets could take back).  Meanwhile, we would need to send out enough salary to a) only take back 125% of what we were taking on and b) fit under the hard cap.

The most Pek can be paid this year is $13,701,250, per maximum salary rules, which is presumably what he's asking for.  This means that he would count as $6,850,625 worth of salary sent out.  In this case, Minny could only take back $10,275,938,  However, to take on $13,701,250, the Celtics would need to send out $10,881,000, so it won't work, unless the Celtics are also taking on and sending out additional players.  Also of note, we don't have anyone making those precise salary amounts.

Now, what does work salary wise is Pek+Cunningham for Humphries+Sullinger, as that leaves the C's a couple hundred thousand under the hard cap while meeting all the salary matching rules, but that trade can't happen until September 14th.  Humphries+Crawford sends Minny back too much salary, as does Hump+Bradley.  Pek+Barea allows Minny to take back more, but also means we're taking on more salary and run the risk of the hard cap.  Still, something like Pek+Barea for Hump+Crawford+Sully or Hump+Bradley+Sully works.

But we can't trade Humphries with other salaries for another 5 weeks, and he's the most logical player to make salaries sort of match (although Green+Bass+anyone on a rookie deal for Pek+Barea works).  Still, these deals now become pretty complex, and add an additional shooting/combo guard to our roster, and it just seems unlikely that there's anything that will make salaries match and make sense for both teams.  It's a topic to revisit on September 12th, or whenever it is we can trade Humphries, but probably not much earlier than that.

Also, base-year compensation is why Minny can hold pretty firm.  The only teams with cap room to sign him outright are Milwaukee and Philly, and if they wanted him he'd be signed by now.  Otherwise, for Minny to lose Pek it has to be a sign-and-trade, and those are going to be very complicated for any team to make salaries match and provide Minny with compensation worth having.  And if Pek chooses to not sign this year, Minny retains their right to match any offer he gets next year, but he no longer can leave via a sign-and-trade, so his leverage will go down.  If they don't reach an agreement by the end of camp, I'd expect Pek to sign his qualifying offer, play out the season, and test unrestricted free agency next year.  It's pretty unlikely Minnesota will make a desperate move in this situation, since Pek is the one with less leverage.

Actually under the new CBA, teams under the salary cap, which Minnesota is, are not subject to base year compensation restrictions.

87. What is "Base Year Compensation?" How does it affect trades?

Base Year Compensation (BYC) is mostly an artifact of previous collective bargaining agreements. Its intent was to prevent teams from signing free agents to new contracts with salaries specifically intended to help facilitate trades. BYC was triggered when a team was over the cap and re-signed a player using the Larry Bird or Early Bird exception with a raise over 20%. Once triggered, BYC temporarily lowered the player's salary for salary-matching purposes (only), and therefore reduced or eliminated teams' ability to target salaries for trade purposes.

The 2011 CBA mostly eliminated BYC -- in fact, the term "Base Year Compensation" was removed from the agreement entirely. The rules formerly known as BYC now apply under just one circumstance -- during sign-and-trade transactions (see question number 89). If a team is over the cap and re-signs its Larry Bird or Early Bird free agent with a raise greater than 20%, in order to trade the player in a sign-and-trade arrangement, then the player's outgoing salary for trade purposes is either his previous salary or 50% of his new salary, whichever is greater. The team receiving the player always uses his new salary.

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q87

But if Minny resigns Pek, they will be over the salary cap, so wouldn't it apply?  That's how I read it before my long post.

To further clarify, they are:
1) S&T Pek
2) he will get a greater than 20% raise
3) they have bird rights
4) with his cap hold they are over the cap.  If they signed him to a contract they would be over the cap.  If they received $4 mil or more in salary they would be over the cap.  And they used their cap-room mid-level, implying they were over the cap.

That's not how it reads. It reads, if the team is over the cap and  wants to sign and trade the player then..... It does not read, if after signing a player in a sign and trade if the team is over the cap then.....

Huge difference.

[Yogi]

How about this complicated 3 team trade which I'm sure no one would do, but it was still fun to come up with and at least makes sense on some level for all the teams.

Minnesota Out - Pekovic (6.85 to them), Barea (4.7)
Minnesota In - Humphries (12), Bradley (2.5), Boston 2014 1st (lottery protected)

Boston Out - Humphries (12), Bradley (2.5), Bass (6.75), Lee (5.23), 2014 1st (lottery protected)
Boston In - Pekovic (13.7 to us), Boozer (15.3)

Chicago Out - Boozer (15.3)
Chicago In - Bass (6.75), Lee (5.23), Barea (4.7)

That would give Boston a much more competitive team this year with Boozer and Pekovic down low (with Sully and Oly backing them up), Green and Wallace on the wings (with Brooks and Crawford), and Rondo at point.  Going forward Boston gets their center of the future something every team could use. 

Chicago would get more quality depth and get out of the Boozer business.  It allows a lot more time for Gibson and Bass is a great backup who can actually guard Lebron and Melo, something Chicago could use.  Lee is a solid backup to Butler and is better than Dunleavy and Barea can sort of fill the void left by Nate Robinson.

Minnesota would get a nice solid young SG in Bradley and a 2014 1st for a guy they may lose next summer while getting rid of Barea who was a total bust for them.  I'm not sure that is enough for Pekovic, but it is a lot more than nothing.

I don't think Chicago is looking to jump out of the Boozer frying pan into the Bass, Lee fire.

[Moranis]

How about this complicated 3 team trade which I'm sure no one would do, but it was still fun to come up with and at least makes sense on some level for all the teams.

Minnesota Out - Pekovic (6.85 to them), Barea (4.7)
Minnesota In - Humphries (12), Bradley (2.5), Boston 2014 1st (lottery protected)

Boston Out - Humphries (12), Bradley (2.5), Bass (6.75), Lee (5.23), 2014 1st (lottery protected)
Boston In - Pekovic (13.7 to us), Boozer (15.3)

Chicago Out - Boozer (15.3)
Chicago In - Bass (6.75), Lee (5.23), Barea (4.7)

That would give Boston a much more competitive team this year with Boozer and Pekovic down low (with Sully and Oly backing them up), Green and Wallace on the wings (with Brooks and Crawford), and Rondo at point.  Going forward Boston gets their center of the future something every team could use. 

Chicago would get more quality depth and get out of the Boozer business.  It allows a lot more time for Gibson and Bass is a great backup who can actually guard Lebron and Melo, something Chicago could use.  Lee is a solid backup to Butler and is better than Dunleavy and Barea can sort of fill the void left by Nate Robinson.

Minnesota would get a nice solid young SG in Bradley and a 2014 1st for a guy they may lose next summer while getting rid of Barea who was a total bust for them.  I'm not sure that is enough for Pekovic, but it is a lot more than nothing.

I don't think Chicago is looking to jump out of the Boozer frying pan into the Bass, Lee fire.

Yeah but Bass and Lee combined are more production and less dollars.

[kozlodoev]

Pekovic is the type of guy I wouldn't like to gamble on: offensive-minded big man who doesn't rebound particularly well, doesn't block shots, and generally doesn't distinguish himself on the defensive end.

He's just not good enough offensively to command the type of salary he wants.

[McHales Pits]

I don't think Chicago is looking to jump out of the Boozer frying pan into the Bass, Lee fire.
[/quote]

I'd hardly call Bass' and Lee's contract situations "a fire"...

Stars make 16-20 Mil/Year

Good/very good players make 8-12 Mil/Year

Quality rotation players make ...

4 - 6 Mil/Year would be the correct answer.

Would you consider Bass and Lee to be quality rotation players? I would...

Bass offers great mid-range shooting, solid man-to-man defense, great free throw shooting, and hustle.

Lee offers good/very good perimeter defense, decent perimeter shooting, and good ball-handling (something the Cs are dangerously low on without Rondo).

In summation...I think their contracts match their productivity and I don't think they are an albatross by any means.

[Yogi]

Chicago is a contender with Boozer.  Chicago gets worse replacing Boozer with Bass and Lee.  They don't save any money and lose cap space in 2015-16.  Why would they do this? 

The difference between Bass and Boozer is enormous and they have already found a better starting shooting guard in Jimmy Butler.  The only Boozer trade they might consider is for an expiring, to save money, because they are cheap. 

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Starting this thread has turned out to be a CBA 101 for me. Thanks for the input.