The last two years you all have joined us for the 6th Pick and 10th Pick Tournaments. They were, by far, our most popular series and while most of us would do the Holiday trade again, the big casualty in that deal was that we lost the right to have another tournament this year. Well, a draft tournament at least.
But the MLE Tournament might be even more fun. For those who don’t know, the MLE is the Mid-Level Exception. It is an exception that teams at or near the cap can use to sign a player. This year, the MLE will allow teams to give out a contract up to 4 years and 22.8 million dollars. The Pelicans can also get close to $7 million under the cap and give up a slightly bigger contract too if they decline all options and renounce all Bird Rights.
Either way, they are looking at the ability to give up somewhere between $5-8 million per year over the length of the contract to one free agent or they can split that money up amongst two or three cheaper ones. The unique part of this tournament is we have assigned certain contracts to each player in order to make the debate even more fierce. Our writers all got together and gave their best guess as to what kind of contract the player will get. We averaged those out, and that is how we came up with the numbers.
So unlike the Draft Tournaments, it is not just player vs. player, but player and contract vs. player and contract. Keep that in mind when you vote and when you weigh the arguments. Below are the contracts that each player will have. The tourney kicks off tomorrow!
Bracket 1
Trevor Ariza (3 yr/19 mil)
Emeka Okafor (1 yr/5.5 mil)
Marvin Williams (2/9.5 mil)
Kevin Seraphin (3/10 mil)
Bracket 2
Jordan Hill (2/8 mil)
CJ Miles (3/8.5 mil)
Nick Young (3/13 mil)
Andray Blatche (3/15 mil)
Bracket 3
(3/22 mil) Spencer Hawes
(1/ 3 mil) Richard Jefferson
(2/7 mil) Caron Butler
(3/12 mil) Thabo Sefolosha
Bracket 4
(2/5.5 mil) Jordan Hamilton
(2/9 mil) Kris Humphries
(1/5 mil) Danny Granger
(3/16 mil) PJ Tucker
12 responses to “Welcome to the New Orleans Pelicans MLE Tournament”
Why not just give Tucker that 4th year and the full MLE? Doesn’t make sense to only give three years and 5.3m/yr as opposed to four years and 5.7m/yr if you’re trying to outbid the other teams for his services. I realize that the contracts above are an average of what you guys expect the players to receive, but surely Tucker will require the full MLE at the very least, no?
eMariii123 I think the reason you don’t give him the full MLE, because they’ll try to get 2 players with the exception…..I hope it would be a big who can board and defend…..
The brackets don’t work for me. I want no one in Brackets 1 or 3, virtually everyone in Bracket 2 (Young only to replace Morrow, if we lose Morrow), and half of Bracket 4 (Hamilton and Tucker). Speaking of Morrow, why isn’t he in the tournament?
(I could possibly tolerate Okafor or maybe Seraphin at C, but wouldn’t be happy about not getting a starting SF with the MLE; Seraphin would basically take Withey’s minutes and how does Seraphin only take about 25% of his shots 0-3 feet from the basket? That scares me!)
I would take Jordan Hamilton, he’s young and has some upside….I would bring in Dejuan Blair or Jeff Adrien, both guys can board and play defense and are high motor……
I would love to add Ariza to this lineup. He’s the guy who could be
your number 1 option but he is a guy who could be that wing player that
we need. The Pelicans are in a position where they don’t need a star
player. They need solid role players. It would be nice if they could work a trade with the Pacers to get Iammini.
So what if they do a Gordon for Hibbert trade? There is some buzz and I don’t mind trading lemons for a position of need. Then mle morrow and a wing.
Treme86 i would do that trade in a heartbeat…..then go after a tucker or ariza…and we are set…
I’d like to add Ariza, but 3 yrs/$19M is a significant commitment to an aging player who already didn’t work out here once.
I really wouldn’t mind getting Humphries. He has a non-stop motor and will fight for every lose ball and rebound. He would add a physicality that’s not on this roster currently.
Isn’t the tourney supposed to start today?
eMariii123 U have to remember Tucker is no spring chicken. He just turned 29.
hornet21 eMariii123 Yeah, nobody in the NBA finals is 29 or older. All young guys or bust!