Salary cap projected to rise $5M

[bleedspeed]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10808291/nba-salary-cap-projected-rise-nearly-5-million

This has to help us with resigning players. Not sure if it means we will go after a MLE player thought.

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

I wish nothing more than for this to give the Knicks the "leg up necessary" to resign Melo as article articulates. Nothing like guaranteeing mediocrity for the next 5 years! That dude is one of the most over rated players of this decade.

[TAFKASP]

I wish nothing more than for this to give the Knicks the "leg up necessary" to resign Melo as article articulates. Nothing like guaranteeing mediocrity for the next 5 years! That dude is one of the most over rated players of this decade.

He's one of those great individual players who somehow manages to make his team worse.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I wish nothing more than for this to give the Knicks the "leg up necessary" to resign Melo as article articulates. Nothing like guaranteeing mediocrity for the next 5 years! That dude is one of the most over rated players of this decade.

He's one of those great individual players who somehow manages to make his team worse.

You guys gave summed up my thoughts on Anthony exactly. I watch him and admire his skills, but he certainly does seem to drag a team down.

[thedoper]

Jackson is going to build around Anthony's strengths. The Knicks made the smartest move of any team preparing for next season. The triangle is perfect for Anthony and they will get him to take a proper contract when he realizes it. The next have a lot of bread invested in their roster to wheel and deal too. I suspect they are 2 or 3 years away from being legit.

[A Friendly Flatulence [enjin:8907904]]

This is the first year Carmelo has missed the playoffs...pretty good for someone who makes his team worse.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

This is the first year Carmelo has missed the playoffs...pretty good for someone who makes his team worse.

How many first round exits? Oh..

[kekgeek]

Honest question because I do not know, so does this mean we will have approximately 7 mil to work with this offseason (with Cunningham off the books) and a MLE, or is our MLE cut because we would be under the cap going into FA?

I was also Looking through some FA this offseason and I would like us to target some of the following

PG
1) Isiah Thomas- would be the best possible get to come off the bench probably to expensive.
2) Steve Blake
3) Sessions
4) Ridnour
5) Brian Roberts

SG
1) Jodie Meeks
2) Thabo Shefalosha
3) Alan Anderson
4) Anthony Morrow (has a Player Option, what he will probably exercise)
5) Marshon Brooks (nothing more than the min)

SF
1) Hayward (sign and trade for more than likely Pek)
2) Ariza
3) Caron Butler
4) Aminu
5) Mike Miller
WC) Brandon Rush (for league Min)

PF
1) Jordan Hill
2) Josh McRoberts
3) Ed Davis
4) Cunningham
5) Patrick Patterson (Restricted, might be to expensive)

C (only if we trade Pek)
1) Jason Smith
2) Okafor


I just went with top 5 on each category (besides Center) that I think we could realistically obtain this offseason, I would love to go Sessions, Meeks, Rush and Davis

[Lipoli390]

The extra $5 million on the cap doesn't help the Wolves. Last year's cap was about $58 million. It will be about $63 million next season. The Wolves have a guaranteed $66 million payroll for next season, which would still leave the Wolves several above the cap and that's before you count the cap holds for draft picks. Therefore, considering the cap holds, the Wolves would have to shed at least $5 million just to get down to the cap. And to make cap space more valuable than the $5 million MLE, the Wolves would need to shed at least $10 million in salary and renounce their MLE to get around $6-7 million in usable cap space for a FA. In other words, short of trading Pekovic solely for cap room, the MLE be the Wolves only avenue for acquiring a significant free agent even with the higher salary cap expected next season.

So reality is this. Any significant improvement in the Wolves roster will turn primarily on this summer's draft and trade acquisitions. Bottom line is that the Wolves are not in a very good position now to augment their roster around Love, Ricky and Pekovic. Unless Flip can pull off a Damion Lillard type coup in the draft or fleece other NBA team in a trade, we're not going to see a substantial improvement in our roster.

That means improvement from within will be critical. The answer to the following questions will largely determine this team's fate next season:

1. How much will Ricky's shooting improve -- including in the paint (already significantly improved after allstar break), mid-range and behind the arc?

2. Will Shabazz get significant minutes next season and, if so, how good will Shabazz be? Related to this, will he come to camp in shape (10-15 lbs lighter) and how much will he have worked on his game in the off-season?

3. Will Dieng get stronger and improve significantly in the off season to build on his impressive finish this season?

4. Will Pekovic and Martin stay healthy next season -- something neither one has been able to do throughout their respective careers?

5. If Budinger isn't traded, will he be able to stay healthy for a full season and play at the level expected of him when he first came here?

6. Will Shved break out of his funk and play at least at the level he was playing his first 2 months in the League before he became consistently pathetic?

The cumulative impact of the answers to these questions, along with our MLE signing and 1st round pick will determine how far this team can go next season. If we end up out of the playoffs at around .500 like this season, Love will leave and Ricky will likely sign elsewhere. Then it's rebuild mode again.

3.