Marc Spears pretty much speaks the truth.
Also, regarding this matter, I figured this would be a nice little read for some of you...
Let's first look at how they might gain as much cap room as they possibly can. Suppose they renounce McGrady, Harrington, Mobley, Lee, Duhon, House, Giddens and Bender, and that they withdraw their qualifying offer to Rodriguez (prior to July 23). The cap holds for all of the aforementioned players will come off their books, reducing their cap amount by $81.40 million. At this point they will have only four roster spots spoken for, so they have to incur a roster charge for eight additional spots. A single roster charge is equal to the rookie minimum salary ($473,604 this summer), so the Knicks' cap is charged a total of $3.79 million. All told, their team salary is reduced to $32.65 million -- but since this total is below the $53 million cap, they lose their exceptions. Their Mid-Level, Bi-Annual and trade exceptions drop off the books, removing another $11.08 million. Their actual team salary is therefore $21.57 million if they renounce everyone they can renounce.
With a $53 million cap and a $21.57 million team salary, the Knicks will have about $31.43 million in cap room. If they sign a player like LeBron James for $16.57 million, they will then have just $15.33 million to fill out the rest of their roster – and they will have no exceptions and no Bird rights to any of their free agents. Fortunately there are alternative strategies.
One alternative might be to clear as much cap room as possible while hanging onto David Lee. If we go through the same process as before but leave Lee's $10.5 million cap hit on the books, the Knicks team salary would be $31.60 million, leaving them $21.40 million to spend on free agents (note that they would have seven roster charges with this scenario, not eight). After signing a maximum free agent for $16.57 million they would be left with just $4.83 million to fill out their roster, but they would still have David Lee's Bird rights. They could, for example, sign a free agent for $4.83 million, then sign Lee for any amount up to the maximum, and finally fill out the rest of their roster with minimum salary contracts.
A third strategy might be to take advantage of temporarily being over the cap, which gives them the use of their exceptions. If they first sign two players with their Mid-Level and Bi-Annual exceptions, and THEN renounce their free agents, they would have $25.59 million in committed salaries, and six roster charges totaling $2.84 million, giving them a total of $28.43 million, Their trade exceptions would drop off the books, and they would be left with $24.57 million in cap room. After signing a maximum free agent for $16.57 million they'd have $8.00 million left for the rest of their roster – but they'd have a free agent signed to a maximum contract, players signed with their Mid-Level and Bi-Annual exceptions, AND an additional $8 million in cap room to show for it.
A fourth option would be to use their Mid-Level exception, then renounce all of their free agents except Lee. This would leave them with $23.51 million in salaries, Lee's $10.5 million cap hold, and six roster charges totaling $2.84 million, for a total of $36.85 million. They would have $16.15 million in cap room – slightly less than they'd need for a maximum offer to LeBron James, but perhaps they could adjust for this by spending slightly less than the full $5.73 million to sign a mid-level player. Spending $5.31 million on a mid-level player would leave them with enough cap room to give the maximum to James. So all told, with this scenario they'd keep Lee, sign a maximum free agent such as James, sign one additional player for slightly less than the mid-level, and still have to fill out the rest of their roster with minimum salary players.
Note that while a team can never have cap room and exceptions at the same time, the Knicks are in position to be one of the few teams that has both in the same offseason.
Also note that there is no specific date by which free agents need to be renounced. They can put off renouncing their free agents until the last moment, which keeps their options open as long as possible. Renouncing is only necessary when they need to clear the cap room to sign a free agent. This means they can come to a verbal agreement with a player, then renounce their own free agents, and finally sign the player with their newfound cap room. If they strike out in the free agent market, they can still come to terms with their own players.
The only exception to this is their restricted free agent, Rodriguez. As long as their qualifying offer is outstanding, Rodriguez is free to accept it. If he does, the Knicks are locked into a one-year contract with him for the amount of his qualifying offer. If they feel Rodriguez is worth the risk, they can leave his qualifying offer on the table. If not, then they don't have to submit a qualifying offer at all (which would make him an unrestricted free agent rather than restricted). They can also walk the middle ground – submitting a qualifying offer, but withdrawing it if they need to reclaim the cap room. If they decide to withdraw it, they must do so by July 23 – after that date, the qualifying offer can't be withdrawn without Rodriguez' consent.
In summary, even a seemingly straightforward concept like cap room has nuances that can get very complicated. As outlined here, these nuances provide teams with options, and a crafty GM can navigate these options to make the best moves that will equip his team for the upcoming season and beyond.
http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/nba/Y_Sports_NBA_Coverage/18318201;_ylt=ArIs78SI4oL8tzCdzSjkwJ68vLYF#nba/Y_Sports_NBA_Coverage/18318201 <--Video
My Knicks do suck. Dammit.
To be fair, and I'm 99.9% sure Lebron will be a Cav for life, that salary cap is a low estimate at 53 million.
LeBron won't be a Cav for life, but he will be for at least the next 3 years