To me, anyone who wastes a high 2d round pick is quite foolish. After a high lottery pick, it’s the most valuable trade asset a team can have.

So, yes, we only have one roster spot at present, but I have hopes that via a trade we’ll wind up with 3 or even 3. We have a lot of unproductive players (despite the fan overestimation by people who seem to forget that of the 82 we played, 63 were losses), and if there’s any way to dump some of them I sure hope we do.

Why are we looking at all these 2 guards who are unlikely to be drafted? How would we ever have a spot for one of these guys? The only thing I can think is that Ernie is preparing some kind of trade that opens the roster up.

Being as we only have the one roster spot, likely to be used in the high first round we are not the first choice workout for 2nd round players.

And since we’ve said we’re looking at trading a pick we’re not the top priority for the top-end lotto players either.

Once these guys get their first round of workouts out of the way we’ll start to see the bigger names.

Personally I think, in part, Ernie works out players as a smokescreen. Not Dominic, nor JaVale, nor Blatche, nor PJR IIRC worked out for the team.

Nick did. Crittenton did. And this last point is why Ernie likes to work out guys he’s unlikely to draft. IF you see something you like, maybe you pick him up later as a principle or an add-on in a trade. Or a free agent.

But still, even if he wants to work ‘em out doesn’t mean we’re top priority on anyone’s list.

To discuss the topic further we decent a little bit into the hell that is the Salary Cap rules.

But, a few simple things to remember, most of the restrictions on trades apply only to teams that are over the Cap.

Yes there is a requirement that teams trading away a player must take back equivalent salary in trade– if they are over the cap.

In a ‘simultaneous’ trade a team can send out as many players as they want so long as all the salaries they receive total up to within 125% (plus 100k$) of what they send out. So if you send out $10M you have to take back at least $7.51M. So you can drop a little bit of salary that way in a swap.

There is also what’s called a ‘non-simultaneous’ trade. Sometimes mistakenly called the Traded Player Exception. In this kind of swap you can send out a player (1, one only) and not immediately take back another player or any salary at all so long as you promise that within the year you will take back a salary within 100%+100K of the salary you sent out.

You have a ‘credit’ for that salary.

Now here’s the nutty thing. You can then trade that Credit to another team in lieu of sending a player. And they can trade it or use it or whatever.

Memphis is not over the cap. Memphis can send out as much salary as they want and receive nothing back. They could sign off on the proverbial “send x-player for a bag of balls” or Nachos or whatever. They can take back as much salary as they can handle in a trade so long as they don’t cross the cap.

So DC would send them Blatche and land a TPE equal to Blatche plus 100K, they would have an exception that would let them pick up that much salary within the year.

Memphis would still be under the cap so they don’t have to accept any salary back. The pick is irrelevant to their cap situation until they actually ink their player.

Is LAC under the Cap? Looks like as of right now they just squeak under next year’s projected cap if Ricky Davis and Brian Skinner don’t pick up their player options. Which is why the trade checker would allow it, even if it’s implausible. DC would pick up a Nick Young Exception for this.

That’s my best understanding of it as of today. Pretty sure I got one or two details wrong, but anyone who cants to educate themselves on the topic can feel free to read up on the particulars here:

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q68

Knock yourself out.

First question is whether the Clips would be interested in Rubio and would think Nick enough of a bonus to pass on Griffin.

2d question is whether Memphis has a high grade on Andray Blatche.

From our side, it’d be a no-brainer, a great deal.