Everyone is talking about which FAs we should sign. I think our chances of landing a top dog this summer are slim, if not nonexistant. I don't want us to blow all our cap space overspending on third tier FAs like David Lee o Rudy Gay.

There's the possibility of using that cap space in trades. Teams that are under the cap don't need to match the salaries of the players they're receiving in trades as long as they have enough cap space to take on that contract. That's how the Clippers got Marcus Camby for a 2nd rd pick. The Suns gave the Sonics a couple of draft picks for taking on Kurt Thomas' deal. The Tunder got Maynor because they were willing to take Harpring's contract off Utah's hands.

There are a lot of teams that would be willing to shed some contracts for little else than instant salary relief.

If, as should be expected, we strike out on the top tier FAs, I'd rather take on a bloated expiring contract than overpay guys like Lee or Gay. Two names that I think could be interesting are Andrei Kirilenko and Troy Murphy. Their contracts expire in 2011. For instance, we could trade our 2nd rounder for AK (like the Clips did to get Camby), which would give Utah tremendous salary relief. Or we could trade Yi for Murphy straight up, which would save Indiana nearly $8 million.