Was thinking about the future for this team and how big of a step back we'd have to take to consider trading Millsap's expiring deal. Basically, do we keep pushing to have our best season in decades or do we keep building for the future.
But I'm not so sure that's an issue, actually.
We have have $41M on the books for next season across a LOT of key players (Horford, Teague, Korver, Scott, Schroeder, Mack, Thabo, Bazemore, Payne) with a projected cap of $66M (tax level $81M), and I guess we could free up $8M more if Schroeder goes crazy and takes the starting role.
So with $25M could we expect to keep Millsap, keep/replace DeMarre, and fill in the bench? Probably.
But then we're capped out at $12M to offer Horford after next season right which means we'd definitely lose him, right? Nooooope! Because 2016/17 is the year that the NBA salary cap could go bananas, maybe up to $90M+ giving us another $25M to spend on Horford + FAs.
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/writer/...l-pie-be-split
After that point it'll come down to keeping contracts short and replacing the key cogs as they get old.
If we land one stud in the next 2 drafts and avoid injury, this team is set up really really well for a while.