Warriors' cap situation less than ideal

There are still details to emerge from the NBAs newcollective bargaining agreement, but the framework of the deal is coming intofocus.And what Warriors fans will see when its all said and doneis something that doesnt look a whole lot different from the old system.With free agency a little more than a week away, it seemsapparent the Warriors wont be big players in the market, unless, that is,owner Joe Lacob and his front office team are prepared to make a bold, riskymove.The bottom line is the Warriors appear to be in aless-than-optimal positionnot far enough under the salary cap to do majordamage and not over either, preventing them from using the mid-levelexception.The Warriors have committed more than 31 million to DavidLee, Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins for the upcoming season. Theyve gotanother 12.5 million committed to Dorell Wright, Stephen Curry, Lou Amundsonand Ekpe Udoh.Thats approximately 43.5 million with the salary cap being58 million.Theyve also got Charlie Bell on the books for 4.1 million,and throw another 4 million in there for Klay Thompson, Jeremy Tyler, CharlesJenkins and Jeremy Lin.That puts the Warriors at about 51-plus millionor about6-plus million under the cap. If the Warriors use their amnesty clause onBell, they could conceivably get 10 or 11 million under.While that sounds like a nice chunk of change, its stillprobably not enough to get a player such as Nene, considered perhaps the bestfree agent big man available. It is probably enough to get you Clippers centerDeAndre Jordan, but the Warriors would need to think long and hard aboutoffering him a contract in the 7- to 9 million rangeparticularly withBiedrins still earning 9 million per.Even if the Warriors get to 11 million under, best casewould likely be acquiring two role players. Keep in mind, even teams above thecap will have the mid-level exception, worth 5 million in Year 1.Now, the Warriors could become a big player in the free agentmarket with one big-time moveusing the amnesty clause on David Lee or AndrisBiedrins. Making a move like that would give the Warriors big-time cap roomthis offseason, but would also leave them extremely short-handed in thefrontcourtand they were shorthanded when they were at full strength lastseason.In other words, if you amnesty Lee or Biedrins, you betterbe able to sign a frontcourt player better than the one you get rid of andthere are no assurances of that.It might behoove the Warriors to not use the amnestyprovision this yeartherefore remaining about 7 million under the cap. Thatwould give them more financial clout than teams with simply the mid-levelexception and they could still be bold next season or the year after andamnesty Lee or Biedrins.The Warriors are by no means in a dire situation when itcomes to the salary cap, their payroll and financial flexibility. But theyrefar from sitting pretty, either.