The player evaluation series will continue with Nick Young later today, but before we get there, a couple quick site-related items:
The BF "You Be the GM" contest: Let's face it, June is the one month on the NBA calendar that is filled with speculation. That's why I don't really have a problem when people post things like "let's trade Andray Blatche, DeShawn Stevenson and Etan Thomas for Elton Brand," because June is all about that type of promise. So for all you Armchair GMs out there, here's a chance to propose a plan.
Here's the deal. You all have one month to write a comprehensive plan of what the Wizards should do this offseason. List all the specific moves you'd make down to the last player. If you're proposing a trade, list all the players involved. Say who you think the Wizards should draft if they keep their picks. Tell me who they should sign, and for exactly how much money. Then, give me the depth chart for next year's team at the end.
The ground rules are as follows:
- The salaries have to match in any trade: For all the data you need on players' salaries, go to Sham Sports' salary page (see the Wizards page for this year's salary data). The rule is that the combined salaries of the players coming in must be within 125 percent of the combined salary for the outgoing players. Real GM and ESPN have trade checkers that you can use, but if they don't work because some player has a special status (for example, a base year player), spell out why the salaries would match.
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Don't forget rookies: For the purposes of this exercise, the salary cap will be 58.5 million, and the luxury tax with be 71 million. Rookie contracts count, so be sure to leave space for them in your model. Last year, the 18th pick (Marco Belinelli), made about $1.4 million, while the 47th pick (our very own Dominic McGuire) made $427,000. If you trade the pick for another one, you need to look up the salary for the player picked in that spot in the 2007 draft.
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Operate by the rules: The Wizards are right near the salary cap, so they can only use the built-in exception when signing free agents. For a list of salary cap FAQs, go here, or for the abridged version, go here. For the purposes of this exercise, the mid-level exception is 5.5 million.
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Don't go over the luxury tax unless there's a very good reason: The 71 million dollar figure is the absolute line as far as salaries go. If your updated Wizards roster has a higher team salary than that, you need to get it under that number. That is, unless you provide a very good reason for going over. Saying something like "We're going for the championship" isn't sufficient. Explain why Abe Pollin would approve your plan if it means he needs to spend extra money out of his own pocket.
Jake, Truth and I will look over the proposals after draft day and collectively judge them, but there will be a BF reader approval vote as well that can trump our analysis. That means everyone should either post their proposal as a diary or send me an e-mail so I can post it. You can find my e-mail on the sidebar. The winner gets a prize of some kind (I'm accepting ideas for this, by the way).
Everyone has until draft day if they wish to participate. Good luck GMing!
Draft prospect profiles: We ran a couple last year, but I'm hoping we can do more this time. But we need your help. Let us know who you'd like us to profile, and if possible, let us know if you'd like to profile them yourselves. If so, post them as a diary and I'll promote them to the front page. There's one guy in particular that I really like and will profile soon, but otherwise, anyone's fair game. Just let us know who you all would prefer.
The BF Top 20: In case you're new, we decided to collectively profile who we considered to be the top 20 Bullets/Wizards of all time. The list is on the left sidebar, with links to the profiles we've done. We got all the way up to Number 8, leaving seven players left to profile this summer. Hotplate has already sent me the Jeff Malone profile, but otherwise, the top six are open. Let me know if you have interest in writing something about Walt Bellamy, Phil Chenier, Earl Monroe, Gilbert Arenas, Elvin Hayes or Wes Unseld.
Any questions?: With the new platform, I've noticed a lot of new voices here, which is outstanding. Even for those who have been here a while, SB Nation 2.0 offers a lot of new features that you may not have fully explored yet. If you have any questions about anything, or if you have any types of posts you'd like to see, please drop me a line. My e-mail's on the side, and I'd like to say I'm pretty good at answering it.
Happy June!