From the Q&A you quoted:
Teams with a team salary below the minimum are surcharged for their shortfall, with the money distributed among the players on that team.
That's my point: the Sixers don't need to reach the salary floor since the only "penalty" is that they have to make up the difference by paying their players more. The only incentive in taking on dead salary is for the assets a team would receive, which is why it seems silly to act as though the Celtics are the ones doing the Sixers a favor by dumping Wallace on them and that Boston shouldn't need to include a first-round pick. They'd only be interested in the deal because of the first-round pick, among other things.
But the point is that they've got to spend the money anyway and Wallace becomes an expiring deal after next season, making it an asset that Philly could trade. It would be ridiculous to give Philly a 1st round pick when...
A. They already have to spend the money.
B. Adding Wallace's contract won't really effect them because their plan was clearly to tank this year anyway.
C. Philly can spend the extra money and GET NOTHING for it or spend the money and GET SOMETHING for it. The latter seems better than the former.
There's no reason to give away a first just to get rid of Wallace's contract, unless Wyc orders Ainge to do it to save money. Philly, however, is one team that MIGHT be willing to take Wallace for only a 2nd round pick or some lesser price. I don't know if they'd be interested but it's a possible option.
Mike
A. So they can spend the money on guys they're actually interested in, i.e. borderline NBA players who they want to evaluate, much like they did last year. They can also use the cap space to facilitate trades for guys they're actually interested in. I can assure you that Gerald Wallace is not such a guy. No need to spend the money on him just because.
B. It's still their cap space - they're not in any way inclined to help another team, even if they can easily facilitate it.
C. A second-round pick isn't enough compensation for Wallace's contract, especially for Philly (who were demanding at least a first rounder for Lin). They can use that space and get more than a second rounder later in the season, just like the Celtics did last year with Joel Anthony.
Here's a list of recent salary dumps since last summer:
* Utah took on $24 million in expiring contracts belonging to useless players from Golden State because they got a bevy of picks, including two unprotected firsts.
* Boston took on Joel Anthony and the year and a half remaining on his contract because they got a first rounder and a second rounder from Philly via Miami.
* Memphis took on Courtney Lee and the two and a half years remaining on his contract because they're actually competitive and he was a useful player. The second rounder they got from Boston as a sweetener didn't hurt matters, either.
* Boston took on Marcus Thornton's expiring contract because they got a young prospect in Tyler Zeller and a first rounder from Cleveland.
* The Lakers took on Jeremy Lin's expiring contract because they got a first rounder and a second rounder from Houston.
The one salary dump to buck this trend? Omer Asik to the Pelicans, which involved a desired commodity who also happens to have an expiring contract.
My point is renting cap space is expensive. The only possible way you even get to the table with the Sixers is by starting with a first rounder for swallowing Wallace's contract. He has no value to them as a player at this point in their rebuild and he would just tie up their finances. It doesn't matter if they have to spend that money, anyway - they want to spend it however they desire on the players they want. Can they be convinced to take on a player they don't want? Sure, but offering just a second rounder is an insult and they would never accept such a deal.
The Sixers weren't willing to take on Amare Stoudemire's expiring contract for Iman Shumpert alone; they're definitely not going to say, "sure, we'll take two years of Gerald Wallace and a second rounder." You say there's no reason for the Celtics to use a first rounder to dump Wallace's contract on the Sixers? There's even less reason for the Sixers to accept that dump for a second round pick -- something a team can easily purchase.
I mean, hell, even the Celtics weren't willing to take on Gerald Wallace without at least one of those first rounders they received in the Nets trade being used as compensation.
Topic: Trade Idea: Gerald Wallace to Philly (Read 5188 times)