Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Late Night Cap Math**

Salary Cap figures announced: $55.6 mil for the cap, $5.4 for the MLE and $67.9 mil for the luxury tax. Assuming around $10 mil this year for Noce's front-loaded deal, the Bulls stand now at around $56 million, but that's only for 10 players, and it doesn't include Noah's deal (which, I'm guessing will be around $2.2 million) or any of the 2nd rounders, who I think, combined, will take up another $1.5 mil. So with those 13 players, they're about $4 mil over the cap, leaving somewhere around $7-8 mil. to play with (along with the MLE) before we get into luxury tax territory.

Here's a question: What do y'all think about pursuing Darko with that $7-8 mil? I can't imagine he'll be offered much more than that from anyone else. Is he worth it? I have my doubts, but I'm also kinda intrigued by him too. I guess the main obstacle would be length of contract: I wouldn't want to sign him for more than a 2-year deal, and I imagine some dumbass GM will probably offer him 4-5 years.

(**meaning, take these calculations with a pretty amply-sized granule of salt. Keep in mind, I'm the math genius who thought 32 + 16 equalled 50.)

UPDATE: In the Comments, Matt (more a Capologist than I) explains why signing Darko (or anyone else) outside of the MLE is a no go.

8 Comments:

Blogger Eddie Basden said...

The pro of signing Darko is some sweet cross-blogging with Free Darko. I haven't seen much of the 2003 #2 pick since his move to Orlando (so I'm no authority on the matter) but I was always unimpressed with his skill set in Detroit. He also plays with a passivity that doesn't seem to mesh with with a Skiles-run squad. Who knows, though.

8:15 AM  
Blogger Big Sweet said...

I could handle Wallace, but a Wallace/Darko front court (both of whom I consistently and relentlessly bashed as Pistons) might be too much.

That being said, I'm not exactly thrilled with any of the MLE guys Pax seems to be eyeing, so more options are always welcome.

9:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

11:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

regardless of being under the tax threshold, the Bulls are still over the cap, so all they can offer Darko (or anyone) is their exception(s).

11:22 AM  
Blogger BenGo07 said...

Ah. You're more of the Capologist than I. Thanks, Matt.

11:46 AM  
Blogger BenGo07 said...

Matt, does that go for the rookies too? Cause it seems for me that if Noce signs before Noah, then Noah's salary will have to come from the MLE. Or are draft picks considered separately?

11:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Bulls can sign Deng and Gordon to huge contracts even though they will be over the cap beacuse of they have their Bird Rights (see below). It just becomes a luxury tax question.

They also had Bird Rights with Noce, if the Bulls were sneaky they could have
signed Darko with money up to the cap level, then signed Noce, and still had their mid-level exception.

I think.



The following is taken from -

www.members.cox.net/lmcoon/
salarycap.htm#28


Are there exceptions to the salary cap?

Yes. Teams are not allowed to be over the salary cap, unless they are using one of these exceptions:

LARRY BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is the best known one. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA, and this exception is a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. This exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, up to the player's maximum salary. The player must have played for three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. This means a player can obtain "Bird rights" by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination. It also means that when a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team can use the Bird exception to re-sign him. These contracts can be up to six years in length. A player can receive raises up to 10.5% of the salary in the first season of the contract. This exception is known as the Larry Bird exception because the Celtics were the first team allowed to exceed the cap to keep their own free agent, and the player happened to be Bird.

There is one more limit to the maximum salary that can be given using the Larry Bird exception. If the player was a first round draft pick and just completed the third year of his rookie scale contract, but his team did not exercise their option to extend the contract for the fourth season (see question number 41), then this exception cannot be used to give him a salary greater than he would have received had the team exercised their fourth year option. In other words, teams can't decline the option in order to get around the salary scale and give the player more money.


EARLY BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is a weaker form of the Larry Bird exception, and is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA. A player qualifies for this exception after playing two seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. Using this exception, a team may re-sign its own free agent for 175% of his salary the previous season or the average player salary, whichever is greater (see question number 24 for the definition of "average salary." Also note that for 2005-06 they used a defined figure of $5 million). Early Bird contracts must be for at least two seasons (which limits this exception's usefulness -- it's often better to take a lower salary for one more season and then have the full Bird exception available the next season) and no longer than five seasons. A player can receive raises up to 10.5% of the salary in the first season of the contract using this exception.

If the player was a first round draft pick and just completed the second year of his rookie scale contract, but his team did not exercise their option to extend the contract for the third season (see question number 38), then this exception cannot be used to give him a salary greater than he would have received had the team exercised their third year option. In other words, teams can't decline the option in order to get around the salary scale and give the player more money.

If the player is a restricted free agent with two years of service and receives an offer sheet from a new team, the player's prior team may use the Early Bird exception to match the offer sheet (see question number 36 for restricted free agency).

Starting January 10 of each season, this exception begins to reduce in value. See question number 20 for details.

NON-BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Non-Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA. They are veteran free agents who are neither Qualifying Veteran Free Agents nor Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents, either because they haven't met the criteria, or because they are Early Bird free agents following the second season of their rookie scale contract and whose team renounced the Early-Bird exception. This exception allows a team to re-sign its own free agent to a salary starting at 120% of the player's salary in the previous season, 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount needed to tender a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent -- see question number 36), whichever is greater. Raises are limited to 8% of the salary in the first year of the contract, and contracts are limited to five seasons when this exception is used.

Starting January 10 of each season, this exception begins to reduce in value. See question number 20 for details.

MID-LEVEL SALARY EXCEPTION -- This exception allows a team to sign any free agent to a contract equal to the average salary, even if they are over the cap (see question number 24 for the definition of "average salary." Also note that for 2005-06 they used a defined figure of $5 million). This exception may be split and given to multiple players. It may be used for contracts of up to five years in length, and raises are limited to 8% of the salary in the first year of the contract. Signing a player to a multi-year contract does not affect a team's ability to use this exception every year. For example, a team can sign a player to a five-year contract using this exception and still use the exception the following year to sign another player. Also see question number 20 for more information on the availability and use of this exception.

If the player is a restricted free agent with one or two years of service and receives an offer sheet from a new team, the player's prior team may use the Mid-Level exception to match the offer sheet (see question number 36 for restricted free agency).

Here are the actual values of this exception for each season. Note that since this exception is based on the average player salary, the actual value of this exception is not determined until the start of the free agent signing period.

2005-06
$5 million
2006-07
$5.215 million
2007-08
$5.356 million

BI-ANNUAL EXCEPTION -- This exception was previously named the "$1 Million exception" (perhaps "misnamed" is more appropriate, since it was only valued at $1 million in 1998-99). It may be used to sign any free agent to a contract starting at the following amounts:

2005-06
$1.67 million
2006-07
$1.75 million
2007-08 $1.83 million
2008-09 $1.91 million
2009-10 $1.99 million
2010-11
$2.08 million
2011-12
$2.18 million

This exception may not be used two years in a row (and if the $1 Million exception was used in 2004-05, the Bi-Annual exception may not be used in 2005-06). It may be split and given to more than one player, and can be used to sign players for up to two years, with raises limited to 8%. Also see question number 20 for more information on the availability and use of this exception.

ROOKIE EXCEPTION -- Teams may sign their first round draft picks to rookie "scale" contracts even if they will be over the cap as a result (see question number 41).

MINIMUM PLAYER SALARY EXCEPTION -- Teams can offer players minimum salary contracts even if they are over the cap. Contracts can be up to two years in length. For two year contracts, the second season salary is the minimum salary for that season. The contract may not contain a signing bonus. This exception also allows minimum salary players to be acquired via trade. There is no limit to the number of players that can be signed or acquired using this exception.

This exception begins to reduce in value after the first day of the season. For example, if there are 180 days in the season, then this exception reduces in value by 1/180 of its initial value each day. If a team signs a minimum salary player 90 days into the season, it can pay the player only half the minimum salary.

See question number 70 for more information on how minimum salary players are handled in trade.

TRADED PLAYER EXCEPTION -- This exception is used for trades, and cannot be used to sign free agents. It allows teams to acquire more salary in a trade than they send away. It also allows teams to take up to a year to complete some trades, banking a credit in the interim. This exception is discussed in detail in question numbers 68 and 69. Also see question number 20 for more information on the availability and use of this exception.

5:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Should there be a Salary Cap in Football?
Personally I think there should be! It’s just getting to be stupid money in football at the top of the premiership!
It’s always the same teams at the top proving that football success is based purely on money which ruins the idea of it being a sport! They’ve done it in rugby, basketball, hockey and American football and it makes the sports more competitive and better to watch!
I do a little Spread Betting from time to time and most matches don’t hold much surprise who is going to win, its boring! I want to see a team at the bottom pulling off an amazing season beating last seasons winners in a close fought battle!
Make things fair! It shouldn’t be about money!
Plus!
All there is all that money in the premiership and barely any of it stays in the UK so it’s not even helping the economy!
From my Spread Betting, if I ever win big (which is never, I’m unlucky) it’s still nothing compared to the average premiership players weekly wage!
This Rant was brought to you by Spread Betting Spike. 

9:12 AM  

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