Bender

[bleedspeed]

It seems like the Warriors brought in guys with upside this year. Alec Burks, Marquese Chriss and Willie Cauley-Stein all seemed like guys that need a change, but we don't seem to do that.

Why no give Dragan Bender a 10 day?

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/nba-rumors-warriors-wont-dragan-172653608.html

[AbeVigodaLive]

Upside?

Bender has been consistently one of the worst offensive players in the league for four years running now... without (m)any signs of improvement.

Meanwhile, Naz Reid has upside. McLaughlin. Beasley. I'm not sold on everything Rosas has done, but I do like that all three of those guys seem to have their best days ahead of them.

[Leado01]

I still think Chasson Randle has great upside as a guard coming of the bench ...he's back from China and GSW is giving him a look.

[Monster]

Man I was so wrong on Bender as a prospect. Upside? It's theoretical Because he isn't just some guy with no skills and he did turn 22 in November. I think he actually has some decent defensive numbers but yeah offense not so much. He just simply hasn't been good. It's a bit funny he and Chriss were playing on the same team and I think even together when I watched a recent condensed game of the Warriors win with Wiggins dishing out assists like candy and Bender (and sometimes Chriss) looked good in the highlights. Honestly at this point Spellman is probably a better player (for sure better 3 point shooter) and we aren't even playing him.

Also Burks fit into more of a bin of guys like Graham, Napier and evening Crabbe than the young upside guys. GR3 was a youngish vet they signed. I guess Bleed forgot this team signed Vonleh, Bell and Jake Layman.

[kekgeek]

I can actually answer why the Wolves won't bring in Bender or a guy on a 10 day contract and it is related to Jordan McLaughlin.

I was listening to the Raised by Wolves podcast today (just one segment) and Dane Moore talked about how he is concerned that the Wolves will not re-sign JMAC. After all the trades the Wolves made over the trade deadline they ended up over the lux tax line. Meaning if they can't get under the tax they will be a repeater tax team. After buying out Crabbe according to Sportac the wolves are 414,017 over the cap so they need to get under the cap or they are at risk of being at being hamstrung a little bit next year by a possible repeater tax. Meaning if the Wolves next year are 4 million over the tax line and a repeater tax team Glen Taylor would have to pay 10 million is just taxes and he won't want to do that for a team not going to compete for a championship.

So apparently Martin and McLaughlin are not practicing with the team so they aren't using up their NBA services as quickly of 45 days. If that is the assumption that McLaughlin haven't used any days of NBA service on practice time he has 18 NBA games left. So the Wolves have 3 options with McLaughlin they can let him walk after his 2-way deal is up (or not play him in all 18 games making him a RFA in the offseason), resign him to a contract once his NBA service is up and just eat the Lux Tax punishments and be a little hamstrung in next year with being a possible repeater tax team. Or they can find a way to get under the tax and resign McLaughlin to an NBA deal. (What is obviously preferred).

The problem is its going to be really hard to get under the tax, we can try and buyout Turner but Turner has no incentive anymore to agree to a buyout, the playoff deadline has passed so he can't go and sign with a playoff team and play in the playoffs for them, so there is no real reason for Turner to give back money. The Wolves could also waive Spellman but there is risk to that, if Spellman is claimed on waivers by another team his cap comes off the wolves books and they would be able to sign McLaughlin but if not claimed his salary is just dead cap for the wolves and the wolves lost a possible cheap asset for nothing and they get no reward of getting out of the Lux Tax, so it is super risky.

This is why the Wolves are not bringing in any 10 day contract guys or taking a risk on guys with that last roster spot (like Bender) because it is just going to increase the wolves cap space making it even harder to resign Martin or McLaughlin if they want without being a repeat tax team.

In the end Taylor and Rosas have to make the decision on McLaughlin. It like a trade is McLaughlin worth being a repeat tax guy. It could possibly hamstring the wolves next year. You pretty much have to make a commitment to McLaughlin to be your backup PG for the next 2-4 years and be comfortable with him starting when Russel gets hurt. Its a big decision for the Wolves and a lot of money Taylor could in theory have to pay in tax punishments for a team not a contender. I want McLaughlin back but it is going to be an interesting situation to end the year. Also I would be shocked because of this to see Martin signed to an NBA contract during the season (risky because he can sign elsewhere) because of the lux tax punishments.

This was a long way to say that the Wolves are not taking shots at 10-day guys because it increases the cap and the wolves need to make a decisions on their 2-way guys who one already hit into a legit NBA backup PG.

Probably the only story line Im interested for the rest of the year is, do the Wolves take the Lux Tax (and threatening to be a repeater team) and resign McLaughlin or do they let their cheap PG walk and try and find another one of those type of guys next year.

[AbeVigodaLive]

So what you're saying is that the Wolves finally found a random young somewhat promising player for super duper cheap... and still can't afford to keep him.

[Monster]

I can actually answer why the Wolves won't bring in Bender or a guy on a 10 day contract and it is related to Jordan McLaughlin.

I was listening to the Raised by Wolves podcast today (just one segment) and Dane Moore talked about how he is concerned that the Wolves will not re-sign JMAC. After all the trades the Wolves made over the trade deadline they ended up over the lux tax line. Meaning if they can't get under the tax they will be a repeater tax team. After buying out Crabbe according to Sportac the wolves are 414,017 over the cap so they need to get under the cap or they are at risk of being at being hamstrung a little bit next year by a possible repeater tax. Meaning if the Wolves next year are 4 million over the tax line and a repeater tax team Glen Taylor would have to pay 10 million is just taxes and he won't want to do that for a team not going to compete for a championship.

So apparently Martin and McLaughlin are not practicing with the team so they aren't using up their NBA services as quickly of 45 days. If that is the assumption that McLaughlin haven't used any days of NBA service on practice time he has 18 NBA games left. So the Wolves have 3 options with McLaughlin they can let him walk after his 2-way deal is up (or not play him in all 18 games making him a RFA in the offseason), resign him to a contract once his NBA service is up and just eat the Lux Tax punishments and be a little hamstrung in next year with being a possible repeater tax team. Or they can find a way to get under the tax and resign McLaughlin to an NBA deal. (What is obviously preferred).

The problem is its going to be really hard to get under the tax, we can try and buyout Turner but Turner has no incentive anymore to agree to a buyout, the playoff deadline has passed so he can't go and sign with a playoff team and play in the playoffs for them, so there is no real reason for Turner to give back money. The Wolves could also waive Spellman but there is risk to that, if Spellman is claimed on waivers by another team his cap comes off the wolves books and they would be able to sign McLaughlin but if not claimed his salary is just dead cap for the wolves and the wolves lost a possible cheap asset for nothing and they get no reward of getting out of the Lux Tax, so it is super risky.

This is why the Wolves are not bringing in any 10 day contract guys or taking a risk on guys with that last roster spot (like Bender) because it is just going to increase the wolves cap space making it even harder to resign Martin or McLaughlin if they want without being a repeat tax team.

In the end Taylor and Rosas have to make the decision on McLaughlin. It like a trade is McLaughlin worth being a repeat tax guy. It could possibly hamstring the wolves next year. You pretty much have to make a commitment to McLaughlin to be your backup PG for the next 2-4 years and be comfortable with him starting when Russel gets hurt. Its a big decision for the Wolves and a lot of money Taylor could in theory have to pay in tax punishments for a team not a contender. I want McLaughlin back but it is going to be an interesting situation to end the year. Also I would be shocked because of this to see Martin signed to an NBA contract during the season (risky because he can sign elsewhere) because of the lux tax punishments.

This was a long way to say that the Wolves are not taking shots at 10-day guys because it increases the cap and the wolves need to make a decisions on their 2-way guys who one already hit into a legit NBA backup PG.

Probably the only story line Im interested for the rest of the year is, do the Wolves take the Lux Tax (and threatening to be a repeater team) and resign McLaughlin or do they let their cheap PG walk and try and find another one of those type of guys next year.

You make a good point unless the Wolves drop some more salary they likely won't be signing any more players this season. Here are a couple more considerations.

1. Turner could decide to take a buyout IF some team wanted to sign him to at least one 10 day contract. That's not exactly likely but 10 day contracts are actually a nice chunk of money. I'd guess Turner being a vet like he is just one 10 day contract would be nearly 100k. Turner still wouldn't be eligible for The playoffs but getting out could get him a different opportunity although this is unlikely.

2. James Johnson has 220k of incentives which depending on if he reaches them will be a factor. It looks like some of them are tied to his minutes played. The Wolves may be closer to Being than the lux tax if he doesn't reach those incentives.

3. The reality is the Wolves are not in any real risk of losing either Martin or J-mac because of their 2-way status. The qualifying offer is another 2-way contract. The most any other team can offer them is a vet min deal. Obviously the Wolves would match that. This scenario played out with Tyronne Wallace of the Clippers who signed an offer sheet with the Pelicans which somewhat surprisingly the Clippers matched even though they had a lot of guys on contracts at the time. The advantages of signing Martin or McLaughlin now or sometime in season:

They can play and practice as much as they want with the Wolves this season after signing the deal.

They can sign them to a bit more to do the sam Hienke specials and have them locked in cheap for multiple years.

They won't have their 2-way spots tied up heading into the draft.

For Martin and McLaughlin they would likely love to get NBA deals but at this point they are already way ahead of their likely expectations and are getting a pretty nice paycheck going back and forth on their 2 way deals. They are going to make over $400,000 this year and play in a bunch of NBA games. They are likely pretty happy with this outcome and a possible NBA deal in their realistic future.

After doing a bit more research I believe that both in terms of salary and salary cap and therefore lux tax players with converted 2-way deals will have prorated salaries. So the Wolves could sign McLaughlin and or Martin the last day and they would cost the team very little in terms of salary lux tax this year. I'm not positive about this point but it makes the most sense. My guess is this happens with McLaughlin unless signing him somehow takes them into the luxury tax.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

There's one crucial workaround for that 45-day limit. Here's how it's written in the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement:

"If a player provides one or more NBA Days of Service before the first day of any NBADL training camp or after the final game of the player's team's NBADL Regular Season, such day(s) will not count toward the 45-Day Two-Way Service Limit."

In other words, once a player's G League team finishes its regular season schedule, the player is free to rejoin his NBA team without having to worry about the 45-day service limit -- even if the NBAGL squad is playoff-bound.

March 28th is the end of the G-League season. The Wolves will get to have J-Mac with the NBA team free from the 45-day limit for the weeks after that. April 15th is the Wolves last game.

J-Mac has played in 27 games for the NBA team and reportedly doesn't practice with them to save some of those days against the 45 day limit. There are 11 games from now until March 28th. That would put J-Mac at 38 days, assuming he hasn't practiced a day with the NBA club. There's some wiggle room there, but not much.

I don't think we'll see J-Mac get an NBA deal until this summer, and hopefully it'll be with the Wolves because he's a fine young player worth keeping around on a team-friendly contract.

[bleedspeed]

Thank you! I get it now. We mismanaged the cap on a team that is going now where.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

With huge salaries coming off the books why is it gonna be hard to be under the tax next year? Letting Turner and Juan walk gets us almost 10 million under the cap. That should be plenty of room for Beasley and a pick to stay under the tax.