Brooklyn Nets: Sean Marks Not Concerned With Salary Floor
Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks is not worried about hitting the salary floor, as he is happy with the salary cap flexibility the team possesses.
The Brooklyn Nets free agency plans were thrown for a loop when two of their targets, restricted free agents Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson, had their offer sheets matched. Because they were restricted free agents, their respective teams, the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat, had a chance to match the offer sheets the Nets signed them to, and they exercised that right.
As a result, the Nets were forced to go to their Plan B. That included signing Greivis Vasquez, Luis Scola, Anthony Bennett, Randy Foye and Joe Harris. While not as flashy as Crabbe and Johnson would have been, the Nets brought in veterans that will help change the culture in Brooklyn and younger players that will have a chance to realize their potential.
Prior to that, the Nets had also signed Jeremy Lin, Trevor Booker and Justin Hamilton to deals, giving the Nets eight new players signed as free agents. In addition to their two picks in the 2016 NBA Draft, first round pick Caris LeVert and second round pick Isaiah Whitehead, the Nets have 10 new players on the roster heading into the dog days of summer.
Even with all of the signings, the Nets are still swimming in money, as they have over $20 million still available in cap space. They still need to hit the salary floor as well, but it is not something that Marks is currently concerned with. According to Andy Vasquez of The Record (New Jersey), Marks is not concerned about hitting the floor as he likes the cap flexibility the team has.
GM Sean Marks said hitting the spending floor is "the least of my concerns." He's happy with cap flexibility Nets have going forward.
— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) July 20, 2016
While the cap floor is something that would make some general managers nervous, causing overzealous spending, Marks has it right with his approach. You can always add money to your salary cap, but removing it is much more difficult.
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With that in mind, it makes sense for Marks to keep his options open. The Nets are already at the maximum 15 players on their roster, but that does not mean they are done making moves.
With that amount of cap space, the Nets could be a team to help facilitate trades during the regular season, as they can absorb bigger contracts that teams may be looking to unload. While adding dead weight in money isn’t always a good move, for the Nets it could be as that team is usually compensated in the way of draft picks.
With their picks being owed to the Boston Celtics in some capacity until 2020, it would make sense for the Nets to stockpile assets such as draft picks in any way possible. If it means taking on a bad contract into their cap space, so be it.
The Nets will not be contending for a championship this season, let alone a playoff spot, but they can start laying the foundation now. The best way to lay the foundation is having flexibility in your salary and assets. The Nets have half of that down, and will be looking to add the assets part in the coming seasons.