Denver
Al Harrington (4 years, $28m, 31 years old) is the only candidate. He had a below average PER and Win Shares this year. Denver has a lot of cap after next season. Unless Denver believes Harrington can be traded or Denver is striving for a couple years of mediocrity, it probably makes sense to eliminate his contract. There is some value in being a mediocre team making the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed, but not enough in my opinion to forgo the chance to clear some major cap space.
Contract to Eliminate: Al Harrington
Minnesota
The honor goes to Darko Milicic, the perennial awful player. His contract is 3 years and $16m. Nikola Pekovic (2 years, $9m) and Martell Webster (2 years, $11m) also provided below average production in the 2010-2011 season.
Contract to Eliminate: Darko Milicic
Portland Trailblazers
Brandon Roy (3 years, $49m) is coming off a terrible year and consecutive seasons of major knee injuries. Reports are his knee condition is non-corrective. Ideally for the Trailblazers, he would volunteer to retire and see a doctor in order for the team to gain a medical exemption. That would clear the Blazers' cap space and allow them to use the Amnesty Clause elsewhere. However the key word there is volunteer. I see no reason for Roy to volunteer to end his career. He scored 18 points in a playoff game last month so he is not completely done. He may be able to salvage his career and become a decent role player. That would be great for him but still leave the Blazers in a tough position.
Contract to Eliminate: Brandon Roy
Oklahoma City
Kendrick Perkins was recently signed to a large contract and delivered poor results. The Kendrick Perkins deal may turn out to be a bad contract but there is reason to hope that he can recover from his knee injury and return to being a productive player. Thabo Sefolosha (3 years, $11m) has an awful PER the past two years but his Win Shares have him as a solid 4 per year. He started for the Thunder as they went to the Western Conference Finals so he is not a stiff. The best course is to not eliminate any contract.
Contract to Eliminate: None
Utah Jazz
Raja Bell (2 years, $7m, age 34) is the worst contract on the team. Devin Harris and Al Jefferson both have larger two year contracts but had good PER the past two seasons. The only reason to eliminate either of those two players is if the Jazz think they can make a run at a major free agent this off-season.
Contract to Eliminate: Raja Bell
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