Re: What now?

["Icarus" <skmishra@sprintmail.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Meninno, James A. <JMENINNO@PARTNERS.ORG>

>[Meninno, James A.]  Not necessarily.  They could do the same with
>Travis as they did with Eric Williams and get draft picks.  This is
>assuming you have already gotten a free agent to commit.

Eric Williams had a small contract something like 3 years 4 mill or so with
1 year left on it, and he was a pretty good player for that kind of money.
It was easy to move him for draft picks in fact that was a bad trade we
could have gotten a low first rounder for him. Knight has a 7 year 22 mill
contract with 6 years remaining, it may not be easy to move him without
taking sombody in return.

> Are you saying
>that 1.5 x Popeye's salary goes against our cap?  Why is that?  Is that
>just him?

First we have about 5 mill+<increase in cap> of cap room subject to
renouncing of Popeye Jones, Zan Tabak, Tyus Edney some part of it will be
consumed by the increments and some by the Pierce signing. If we don't
renounce the players who are FA's then 1-1/2 of their 1997-98 salary counts
towards the cap.


> If it were true for everyone, we'd be 50% over the cap.

This is only true in case of FA's.
I
> Are you saying that as things stand right now, we have zero cap space?

As of now we have zero cap space, by july 1 we will have as much cap space
as the amount the cap goes up by - (50% of 97-98 salarys of un-renounced
FA's - (first year salary of Paul Pierce).

> If that's true you're right, we have no way of signing any free agent of
note.

That is why if Geiger wants 7 mill we won't be able to sign him, if he wants
5 we have a good shot because then one could start at somewhere around 3
increment it by 20% every year for 7 years to reach an average of 7.

> Why haven't you mentioned
>this to the list?  Everyone has been deciding whether they'd rather have
>Geiger, Ratliff or Stewart, but you're saying we won't get any of them.

People in the list already know. Stewart would be the cheapoest of the 3
somewhere in the range of 2-3 mill. Ratliff will be the most expensive 7-8
mill and Geiger in between i.e. 5-7.

>So, what do you suggest the C's do for a center?  Sounds like you think
>they will have to stick with what they have.  If that's true, you'd
>better hope Travis turns into more than the backup power forward you
>think he is.


If we can't get Geiger, we still have a shot at Stewart and he will help but
not much. We need a wide body who can set screens on the offensive end and
clog the middle on the defensive end. Let's see what RP does..I am quite
confident that  Travis Knight will have a good season but he doesn't have
the body type for the type of center we need. - Mishra