I'm actually not against owners trying to make/save money. I'm also not against the idea of largely running it back with last year's group. Continuity is important and helpful, and in trying to short circuit the development process, we might disturb the team chemistry. A large bad contract can also set the team back. So, I don't have many problems with the moves themselves.
I do believe though, that "selling" Holmes' contract by bribing the Mavs with our FRP was a cheap move. Yes he didn't have much value (or perhaps -ve value, which is why we had to pay Mavs). I believe that that would have changed next year (or even at the deadline this year, if he got a chance to play). We didn't gain anything other than space, which we still have to use. Bringing back Barnes and Lyles could have been done without trading away Holmes. So, the only gain is Vivek's.
Perhaps Monte can still use it to orchestrate something, or use the TPE during the season as some folks have suggested. Perhaps he extends Domas. Don't understand CBA enough, but from some accounts, cap space was a requirement to do so. Maybe these end up being better value than FRP, or whatever Holmes could have netted next year. Where we are right now, it seems like a cheap move.
As to the highlighted part of your post above, I'm not saying we should hand out bloated contracts. All I'm saying is that the moves we made, we could have made without trading Holmes. We would have still remained below the LT. So Vivek is the only beneficiary from that move. That's pretty much the only point I'm making. Viewed from that reference, it is exactly like selling our FRP for cash.