It clears Stone's prorated salary, allowing them to bring in new players with commensurate prorated salaries. The math is the same no matter how it's phrased. It's easier to just say "over 9M in cap" because then we can look at who they're bringing in, with, e.g., $3.6M and $5M cap hits, and see that it works.
Cute.
What about Trotz? Or Cooper? Or any other coach who doesn't have to be obnoxious to succeed?