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TPE will be the new currency
Posted by: Jazzdependency on January 23rd, 2013
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Lately I have played around with espn trade machine too much, like so many Jazz fans. It would be amazing to swap Jefferson for Rondo or Jrue Holiday, and Millsap for an unprotected first round pick…from the Wizards – but this is real life, not NBA2k.
If you look at the Utah Jazz from the outside, it looks a little different than it does from our perspective as Jazz fans. This is a team with exactly zero all stars, that crept into the playoffs last year. Our trade assets of Al and Paul, even Burks, are not as impressive as we may believe them to be.
There seems to be a doomsday vibe around Jazz nation when it comes to the approaching trade deadline and offseason (and actually quite a few subjects). I see a different path emerging, maybe Dennis is driving us down a slow dirt frontage road to the TPE super-highway. Traded player exception will be the new currency of trades under the NBA’s new CBA.
The Jazz have roughly $39M coming off the books at the end of the season…hopefully DMC is resigned for around 3 million/year, maybe Foye for 3 or 4, …there are alot of scenarios that could happen, but in the end, the Jazz could end up with $23-32 million in TPE. Al will most likely sign for around 15 million again, Millsap will sign for more like 4/44 million…just those two would become 26M in TPE.
Imagine going into next season with a crew of Kanter, Favors/Evans, DMC/Marv, Hayward/Burks/Murph, maybe Foye, perhaps Mo and a couple rookies…and the flexibility to take back any contract in the NBA. Its not uncommon that a team with high expectations is many millions into the luxury tax quicksand and just wants to write off their losses. In that situation it would be ideal for a team looking to rebuild to ship the Jazz a player that signed a huge FA contract with them just one or two years prior, with 2, 3 or 4 years remaining. The Jazz would be in a position to trade for two players making 12-15million each, or any number of options.
There will be quite a few teams looking to shed some salary, and only a handful of teams with the ability to take back the contracts without exchanging just as much. This would also put the Jazz in an ideal position to benefit from being the third team in a trade.
One team that is dealing in TPE is the Denver Nuggets, they used TPE from the Melo, Billups trade to bring in Iguodala… and they currently are sitting on a $13Million Nene TPE. TPE is how the Jazz were able to pick up Mo Williams and Al Jefferson … my guess is they go back to the well this time around too.
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7 Responses
its not just jazz fans that think the trade assets we have are amazing.. you can find articles all over about Jefferson and Millsap as trade targets for a bunch of teams because they will produce and can help out a lot for any team.. now the TPE works great but i would want to see some draft picks come of it also for the 2014 NBA draft —- that draft is going to be one of the best in a very long time – wiggins – parker the twins and may more players.
I understand the idea, but I really like draft picks just simply because of the potential to hit a home run, and pay the player rookie salary! Look at Faried, Lillard, etc, they are are getting a fraction of what some overpaid vets get paid and produce more. Cuz of that potential teams will be willing to give up some all star caliber players to get draft picks.
Plus I do not like waiting til the end of the season to get rid of one of the bigs. As it is, Favors (over a 3 year career) is about 51 minutes below the total averages of #3 picks in their 3rd year. Thats horrible. We could have an impact player that has superstar potential, and we would rather be keep Al and/or Millsap. By Adam Morrison’s 3rd year, everyone could see he was a bust, yet Favors’ minutes are on par with Adam Morrison over their 3 year careers?! Figure that one out.
Unfortunately the TPE is now a lost thing under the new CBA. It makes it incredibly hard to do it. If your over the Cap then you can not do a S&T which is when you get the TPE. But there are about half the teams over the cap so they can’t do it. Then there is about 12 teams that have the cap room to just flat out sign the player and not work with you. So that is 26 of the teams. There are four teams that could do a S&T for one of our big men. Clippers,Wolves,Wizards, Raptors. The chances of those teams getting either of those players in the 1st place? Not high. So the chances of us getting a TPE? Not high.
We can hope for that but it has changed a lot and hurts the team that has the player in the first place. So unfortunately it is not smart to go after the TPE if that is the FO plans. Hopefully they have someone that would know this and fill them in on it.
@dallan – that would be true as of now, but during the offseason all but a handful of teams will dip below the salary cap, at least until they sign their own FAs.
All the better that TPE is so hard to come by, that will leave the Jazz holding more of the one thing only a couple teams will have to offer.
@omar and eric – draft picks can be cool, I wish the league would take away the draft pick protections… It should be either trade your pick or don’t
It would be awesome if Favors and Kanter played more, and they will. I’m ok with them coming up the way they have been so far, slow and steady, on a competitive team … I just got home from the Wizards game, they are a really terrible team. I was struck by no.1 picks Okafor and Wall, as well as several other can’t miss lottery picks stinkin it up … I feel sorry for the current #3 pick Beal, he looks more lost than Burks out there. …also, Tinsley and Watson have no business trying to defend NBA point guards.
I’m not sure I follow you. If you are $10m under the cap, less cap holds, you can trade for a player with minimal compensation, ie the salaries don’t have to come within 150%.
If you trade a player to a team under the cap for, say a 2nd round pick, and they pick up his $11m salary, like the Jazz/BKN Memo trade, you pick up the unused portion of his salary, in this case $11m, since draft pick have no value, as a TPE, which can be used in any trade, up to $11, in the next 12 mo., regardless of your salary cap position.
That’s how the Jazz got Big Al, from the sign and trade to CHI generating the TPE to bring Big Al in, despite the Jazz being over the cap.
Being under the cap is the best and a TPE is next best.
Jazzaholic
Do the Jazz still have the TPE from the memo trade or was that the one used to get Mo? My biggest concern is still having to overpay FA to come to the Jazz and also the quality of FA in the areas the Jazz need to improve. I also think the Wizards game was a bit of a danger game considering how they’ve been playing recently.
@disco – the Memo TPE was used to aqquire Mo, and the remaining amount expired in December, one year after the Memo trade … I think the genius of holding TPE is that the Jazz don’t have to go after an overpriced FA, instead we can sit back all next season and wait for the right deal on a player with multiple years remaining.