Link : http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/basketball/15229003.htm 76ers' trade exception to expire There is $4.45 million to play with; Billy King says "there's nobody out there to use it on." By Joe Juliano Inquirer Staff Writer The plan looked like a good one at the time. The 76ers entered the off-season armed with a $4.45 million trade exception, hoping it would help them obtain a player, preferably a tough-minded veteran who could provide a spark and get the team back into playoff contention. However, as the expiration date of the trade exception arrives today, Sixers president and general manager Billy King is going to allow it to run out without using it. The team acquired the exception from the New Jersey Nets last August in exchange for Marc Jackson. "There's nobody out there to use it on," King said yesterday. "There is no one out there that makes sense." That goes double for the Sixers' midlevel exception of $5.215 million, which will be available throughout this season. "There's nobody out there to use that on, either," King said. The team is in a bind. King confirmed that the Sixers are over the NBA's luxury-tax threshold of $65.42 million but would not go into specifics. The Sixers are believed to be about $4.3 million over the tax number. They are paying the 12 players on their roster about $66.4 million. A 2004 buyout of former guard Greg Buckner's contract counts for an additional $3.36 million. Under the rules of the luxury tax, the Sixers must pay a dollar-for-dollar tax on any total over the NBA-mandated figure. The Sixers also are paying $6.5 million on their contract with Aaron McKie, who was released last year under a clause in the new collective-bargaining agreement that allowed a team to waive a player and avoid paying luxury tax on his remaining contract. McKie now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. What the Sixers are paying him still counts against the team's salary cap. Contributing to the Sixers' high payroll is the fact that their roster includes two of the six highest-paid players in the NBA. Chris Webber ranks second in 2006-07 salary at $20.72 million, while Allen Iverson is sixth at $18.28 million. Their $39 million combined salaries account for nearly 59 percent of the team's payroll. King said the Sixers' goal is to start the season under the luxury-tax figure but added that ownership is not pressuring him to do that. "It's not a mandate, and it doesn't really hamstring us if we want to do something," he said. "Our goal is to put the best possible team on the floor. If we can make a trade, we're not just going to sit there and say, 'Hey, we've got to strip [the roster] clean.' "... We've still been talking to people [about potential trades], but there hasn't been a lot of movement throughout the league." The Sixers traded Jackson, a veteran forward who played at Temple, to New Jersey on Aug. 9, 2005. The Nets gave the Sixers a trade exception for Jackson's salary, $4.45 million, to be used within one year. Even though the Sixers are well over the salary cap of $53.135 million, they are allowed to use exceptions as permitted by the NBA's collective-bargaining agreement. Contact staff writer Joe Juliano at 215-854-4494 or jjuliano@phillynews.com. Also from the Realgm recap of the same : 9th August, 2006 - 3:27 am Philadelphia Inquirer - The 76ers entered the off-season armed with a $4.45 million trade exception, hoping it would help them obtain a player, preferably a tough-minded veteran who could provide a spark and get the team back into playoff contention. However, as the expiration date of the trade exception arrives today, Sixers president and general manager Billy King is going to allow it to run out without using it. The team acquired the exception from the New Jersey Nets last August in exchange for Marc Jackson. "There's nobody out there to use it on," King said yesterday. "There is no one out there that makes sense." That goes double for the Sixers' midlevel exception of $5.215 million, which will be available throughout this season. "There's nobody out there to use that on, either," King said.
LOL. Billy King has put this franchise in a salary strangehold. Webber, Dalembert, McKie, Mashburn... easily the worst GM out there. His idea of giving this team a direction was to acquire and handout bloated contracts. Ownership is done adding contracts, if they are going to add new players it will be via trade. Still plenty of options for Houston to use their TE on, as they would still be under the luxury cap if they added a $4-5 million contract.
I've basically adopted Philadelphia as a second team due to college and all, and I have to say that after five minutes browsing through their recent personnel moves, it's very hard to make a case for Billy King still having a job. No, in fact, I think it's worse. If Jim Paxson can get fired after missing the playoffs with LeBron, I definitely think that Billy King should be fired twice over for losing with Allen Iverson. It's pretty ironic that their trade exception is going to expire, since they actually have three players who would be excellent targets; Kevin Ollie, Steven Hunter and Kyle Korver. The 76ers are basically in a position that the Rockets were in a few years ago; Big, long term contracts (Rice, Taylor, Cato); a 3rd string PG who played himself into a fat contract (Moochie), an injury prone scoring guard (take a guess), a former superstar who's a shell of his former self (Dream), a hyper athletic talent who hasn't put it all together entering his third season (Eddie Griffin (comes with handgun, removable brain, and p*rn DVD to watch in the car)). (And I know Dream and Griffin never played together. I'm stretching a bit; I suppose I could say Samuel Dalembert and Cuttino Mobley both have really long arms, too...) So what's the solution? 1. Allen Iverson gets headaches. Don't know how, but make it happen. 2. Chris Webber goes out for the year. If Billy King has problems finding some kind of planetar fasciitis on CWebb, then I really don't know what to say. 3. Trade Sam Daly and Kyle Korver for Steve Francis. Let him lead you to the lottery. 4. Let Steve Draw the Lottery Ball. 5. Win Lottery. 6. Attempt to trade pick for Shawn Marion and Atlanta's Lottery pick. Realize how stupid that is and pick Greg Oden. 7. Trade away Steve Francis for Rashard Lewis and Earl Watson. Seattle is in disarray, with a lack of leadership and Lewis threatening to opt out. Rookie GM Bill Bavasi decides to get "something" instead of nothing. 8. Make the playoffs as the 5 seed, and take Cleveland to 7 games, even though most are predicting a sweep. In the all important 5th game, LeBron James gets a huge And-1. When his elbow is fouled by Iguodala's face. After catching the ball out of bounds first. And 5 steps. 9. Get Rashard Lewis's back to act up. Trade away your Number 1 draft pick for veteran help. Create a website with over 19,000 registered users. 10. Win the Championship. A pretty simple plan, I think; time tested and proven effective...
Rockets TE for Steven hunter would help get them there. If free agency repeats itself next year do we really want the Badman or Hayes as Yao's primary backup?
Hi Mana, That was an awesome post. Thanks for taking the time to show us History repeating itself! That ~^*# could happen!
is this unheard of? Has it been done before that a team would just let their TE walk unused? Sure it's a weak market, but I hope we dont just crap away our TE, even if we have to take a flyer on an unproven commodity.
For him to say there was nobody out there that makes sense is garbage. They didn't use the TE or MLE because they are on the luxury tax threshhold. Why? The very bad decision to trade for Webber, who they are stuck with 2 more years. The completely ludicrous decision to sign Dalembert to a huge contract. I pounced on that one as soon as it happened. Giving Steven Hunter a 5 year contract is also a head-scratcher. Hiring Mo Cheeks as head coach was another wrong move. This season it should become abundantly clear to everyone Cheeks is not NBA head coach material. Just what has Billy King done right? Maybe I should start the "Philly is Burning" thread now instead of waiting for the regular season to even start.
They want to be below the luxury tax threshold before the start of the season? Give us Korver for our TE then! Perfect for both teams!
