2010 NBA Cap Breakdown

LJ4ptplay

Starter
Decent article about cap space and a breakdown of each team's space coming this summer.

Some interesting points made. New Jersey with over $30 mil in cap space, potential all-star starting PG and C, plus possibly the 1st overall pick in the draft make them serious competition for 2010 free agents. They are in much better shape than the Knicks.

Also Miami, with $21.8 mil in cap space, DWade and South Beach make the Heat a very desirable location for 2010 free agents.

Chicago, with $21.1 mil in cap space and a good young core make them a desirable location as well.

http://www.realgm.com/src_feature_pieces/855/20100111/2010_offseason_primer/


2010 Offseason Primer
By: Daniel Leroux
RealGM.com Writer

January 11, 2010 4:14 PM

1. Cap holds matter. Dwyane Wade opting out of his contract does not mean Miami can just spend up to the cap amount (whatever it ends up at) and then re-sign him to put the team over the limit. As he is on a max contract now, his cap hold will have a substantial effect on the money Miami can offer within the confines of the cap. Of course, should a big ticket free agent leave or sign for less money, this hold would be eliminated from his original team's books accordingly, but that’s unlikely for the max-level players in the short run.

2. The Mid-Level Exception and other cap holds do not go on top of cap space- they take it away. One of my biggest criticisms of the 2K basketball series (excellent as it is) is that they have never gotten the free agency rules correct. The MLE is just that- an exception. That means it allows teams over the cap to still spend that money, but teams under the cap have to renounce it should they want to use that cap space on free agents. One particularly notable example of this was Rashard Lewis, where Orlando had to renounce their exceptions to fit his sizable salary on their ledgers, though that was complicated a little further by it being a trade. As such, any team that maxes out their cap space cannot just toss on a Mid-Level exception on top. They can absolutely add minimum salary guys and give bigger contracts to players they have Bird Rights on, but they do not have the MLE to work with on top of the cap.

3. Bird Rights teams and non-Bird Rights teams can offer the same maximum possible contract for the first season of the deal. The difference between Bird squads and teams trying to sign their free agents is that the Bird team can offer higher raises (10.5% vs. 8%) and add the sixth contract year, not the base salary of the first season. As such, the relevant cap number for squads looking to pick up guys like King James and D-Wade is identical regardless of where the FA played the season before.

4. 1st Round draft picks count against the cap…but not entirely. Once drafted (and before signing with an overseas team- if they do that, they’re off the books for that season), first rounders count at their scale amount. However, players can sign for between 80% and 120% of scale, though a vast majority sign for 120% of scale. As such, a pick and a team waiting to sign that rookie deal can save the team 1/5 of the scale value for the first season during that period, a value that only holds any real significance for top-5 picks and teams really on the cap.

5. I am using a $52.5 million dollar salary cap. No one knows yet where the cap will be next off-season, but the number I am using is $52.5 million, which seems like a reasonable low-end (but not doomsday) estimate.

............(see link for othe teams).................

http://www.realgm.com/src_feature_pieces/855/20100111/2010_offseason_primer/


New York: Let’s get this out of the way first- moving the guys they moved to have some space for 2010 was absolutely the right decision by Donnie Walsh. The Knicks team he inherited was going nowhere and creating a situation where the highest profile team on the East Coast can sign big name free agents helps keep them on the radar even when they’ll probably be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs. While the Knicks do not have the space of a few other squads thanks to Eddy Curry and Jared Jeffries’ contracts, they have more than enough to make a major impact. One major problem for New York is the lack of assets that could be used to dump their 2010 albatrosses, particularly a draft pick. We may see the Knicks as a larger figure in 2011 thanks to additional cap space and momentum in Coach D’Antoni’s system.

• Projected 2010 Salary [Eddy Curry, Jared Jeffries, Danilo Gallinari, Jordan Hill, Wilson Chandler, and Toney Douglas]:
• Projected cap room: $25.2M




Bottome line...we need to either trade Jeffries and/or Curry for expiring contracts or start collecting talent. $25 mil in cap space and Jeffries, Curry, Douglas, Hill, Chandler and Gallo are not enough. Something needs to be done.
 

KBlack25

Starter
Another great post/find by you LJ, really enjoying the stuff you put out here.

An interesting read for sure, but one thing that makes me happy is that someone else from the outside media sees what some of us on this board have been trying to tell the D'Antoni/Walsh haters for the last year:

Let’s get this out of the way first- moving the guys they moved to have some space for 2010 was absolutely the right decision by Donnie Walsh. The Knicks team he inherited was going nowhere and creating a situation where the highest profile team on the East Coast can sign big name free agents helps keep them on the radar even when they’ll probably be on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs.
The issue to me has never been whether we'd get a LeBron or a Wade...the fact that we have the ability to even have a CHANCE to get them is the point. We were in salary cap hell thanks to the boneheaded Isiah Thomas. At the very least, we are in a position to make a move at some point in the near future (this year or next), whereas with Isiah we would not be able to make any move for 3, 4, 5 years (and probably more if we kept Isiah around, we'd have more awful contracts).

I agree, obviously, that Jefferies and Curry (or even just one) has to be on the move to make an immediate splash (unless we can get Curry to opt out, which we have about a 1:1 trillion chance of doing). That's going to require, in my eyes, either moving Nate or Lee or Chandler or 2 of the 3 or even all 3. I'm sure Walsh is trying, but fact is nobody is biting. I don't think Nate has much, if any, league-wide interest, and I don't think Walsh wants pennies on the dollar for Lee, especially if we can't sign a big free agent in 2010...Walsh probably wants him around beyond 2010. Should be interesting though come the trade deadline if one of the contenders or potential contenders thinks they could use Nate or one of our other guys.
 

smokes

Huge Member
Good post, do you know what the max contract would be based on a 52.5 million cap? Max contracts are a % of the current salary cap if I remember correctly so how much would we have left over if we didn't shed JJ or Curry?
 

Crazy⑧s

Evacuee
I just made a post re the cap hold. Weirdness.

I agree and have said in the past that something must be done if we can't get JJ and Fats out of here by Feb.

With 3 teams ahead of us in the selling stakes, I just can't see us getting Lebron James. Seriously, when you hear 2010 do you honestly think of anyone's name before his? Does Mr Walsh? Does anybody?

This is the Lebron race. NY are coming in 4th place in a winner takes all event.

AND

He's playing at home, the Cavs can still offer major cash, our upcoming 2010 roster has 6 players (2 rooks, Curry & JJ incl), The Cavs are a very good team..... If it aint broke!!!

Get the ball rolling on the best plan B you've got Donnie. LBJ is not coming to NYC.
 

KBlack25

Starter
Good post, do you know what the max contract would be based on a 52.5 million cap? Max contracts are a % of the current salary cap if I remember correctly so how much would we have left over if we didn't shed JJ or Curry?

From what I understand, the cap is a number based off of net revenue for the league...estimations have it between 50 mil and 54 mil.
 
great thread lj.

i think that lebron james should be our only target, and we'll have enough for him.considering where this franchise has been in the past decade with paying allan houston that 100 mill contract, and him getting hurt; then putting all our eggs in the mcdyess basket, him getting hurt; then the eddy curry abomination, even with the heart issue, and him getting hurt; so as far as I'm concerned wade is out of the running because of his history of injuries.



we don't have a pick, and that sucks, but there is nothing we can do about that.the young guys have to play.that is the only way they'll get better.we this team has an obligation to gallo, hill, chandler and douglas, because they're the only ones who most liekly will be here next year.this lee situation has blinded so many fans.we are not a playoff team and david lee will barely be an all star.lee's value to us right now, is the same value that odom had for the lakers.our problem is we have no kobe, and no gasol.so, he has to get traded because the team needs to worry about its long term future.
 

LJ4ptplay

Starter
Good post, do you know what the max contract would be based on a 52.5 million cap? Max contracts are a % of the current salary cap if I remember correctly so how much would we have left over if we didn't shed JJ or Curry?

A max contract is 30% of the cap. So if the cap is at $52.5 mil then a max contract would be $15.75 mil.

So, with $25.2 in cap space - $15.75 = $9.45 mil left over after a max.

Remember though, we need to have a minimum 13 player roster. After a max is signed we will only have 7 players on the roster and only $9.45 mil to fill the remaining 6 roster spots. We do not have the MLE or Bi-annual available to us.
 

dave2138

Rotation player
A max contract is 30% of the cap. So if the cap is at $52.5 mil then a max contract would be $15.75 mil.

So, with $25.2 in cap space - $15.75 = $9.45 mil left over after a max.

Remember though, we need to have a minimum 13 player roster. After a max is signed we will only have 7 players on the roster and only $9.45 mil to fill the remaining 6 roster spots. We do not have the MLE or Bi-annual available to us.

Damn is that true? Why is that? I thought the rule was you couldn't use the MLE 2 years in a row. They didn't use it last year so they would be able to do so this off season.
 

LJ4ptplay

Starter
Damn is that true? Why is that? I thought the rule was you couldn't use the MLE 2 years in a row. They didn't use it last year so they would be able to do so this off season.

See opening post in thread:

2. The Mid-Level Exception and other cap holds do not go on top of cap space- they take it away. One of my biggest criticisms of the 2K basketball series (excellent as it is) is that they have never gotten the free agency rules correct. The MLE is just that- an exception. That means it allows teams over the cap to still spend that money, but teams under the cap have to renounce it should they want to use that cap space on free agents. One particularly notable example of this was Rashard Lewis, where Orlando had to renounce their exceptions to fit his sizable salary on their ledgers, though that was complicated a little further by it being a trade. As such, any team that maxes out their cap space cannot just toss on a Mid-Level exception on top. They can absolutely add minimum salary guys and give bigger contracts to players they have Bird Rights on, but they do not have the MLE to work with on top of the cap.


We have to renounce our exceptions. All we have available to us is our cap space to build the whole team. That's it.
 

dave2138

Rotation player
Ohh, I always understood it that they could spend 25 mil in FA and once they are at the cap they could sign someone to the MLE because it won't affect the cap.

I didn't know that in order to sign FA while being under the cap that they have to renounce the mle exception in order to sign the FA...thanks for clearing that up.

I still feel like you could move Curry if you brought back an equally useless player except signed for more years at a lower annual amount. Diop from Charlotte, Matt Carroll from Dallas, Luke Walton from lakers as examples. They would have to throw in expiring contracts to make it work, but better than nothing.

Doing that frees up a few mil..Just need to find 1 team that would trade us an expiring contract for Jefferies which I think will happen. So I don't think its fair to set in stone 25 mil to spend on FA when its still a chance with some moves they could have 30-40 mil in cap space at the end of this year.
 

Oldtimer

Rotation player
Cap Space

The author of the cap space article , I believe, has overstated our cap space -- on a cap of $52.5M -- by about $2.8M.

The CBA includes in Team Salary a number for "incomplete rosters." A complete roster for cap purposes requires 12 players. We will have only 6 under contract. Our team salary will, therefore, include 6 times "the Minimum Salary applicable to players with zero (0) years of Service for that Salary Cap Year." That number is about $476,000 which multiplied by six is over $2.8M.

Instead of $25.2M we will have about $22.4M.
 

richtree

Rotation player
Wait until the Nets try to move Devin Harris because with the #1 pick in this year's draft it creates a problem for a team that wants John Wall.

Obvouisly the lottery can screw u , but if it happens the Nets have 3 options.


1 draft Wall and keep Harris

2.trade the pick

3. trade Harris....


hm....
 

LJ4ptplay

Starter
The author of the cap space article , I believe, has overstated our cap space -- on a cap of $52.5M -- by about $2.8M.

The CBA includes in Team Salary a number for "incomplete rosters." A complete roster for cap purposes requires 12 players. We will have only 6 under contract. Our team salary will, therefore, include 6 times "the Minimum Salary applicable to players with zero (0) years of Service for that Salary Cap Year." That number is about $476,000 which multiplied by six is over $2.8M.

Instead of $25.2M we will have about $22.4M.

Oldtimer, can you provide a link to that info. I can't find it.

It doesn't make any sense unless that artificial salary is reduced each time a player is signed. And when the 13 player roster is met, this artificial increase in the team salary is removed.

For example, if we sign two players at the begining of free agency, we would only need to fill 4 more spots. 4 * $476,000 = $1.9 mil. Therefore, in signing two free agents we would only need to leave $1.9 mil available in order to fill out the minimum 12 player roster at the league minimum. And so on and so forth until the minimum is met.

So, essentially we still would have $25.2 mil in cap space. It's just that the minimum roster must be accounted for. We have to fill our roster with the salary cap available. Nothing else.
 

Oldtimer

Rotation player
Cba

Oldtimer, can you provide a link to that info. I can't find it.

It doesn't make any sense unless that artificial salary is reduced each time a player is signed. And when the 13 player roster is met, this artificial increase in the team salary is removed.

For example, if we sign two players at the begining of free agency, we would only need to fill 4 more spots. 4 * $476,000 = $1.9 mil. Therefore, in signing two free agents we would only need to leave $1.9 mil available in order to fill out the minimum 12 player roster at the league minimum. And so on and so forth until the minimum is met.

So, essentially we still would have $25.2 mil in cap space. It's just that the minimum roster must be accounted for. We have to fill our roster with the salary cap available. Nothing else.

I went directy to a pdf copy of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It is lengthy, almost 500 pages. But there is a section on "Team Salary." The relevant pages start at 140.

You are correct though that once we add a player, the number of minimum contracts would reduce by one. So if we sign a seventh player to the roster at, for example, $2.476M our Team Salary would be increased by only $2M because, though we add the contract, we remove one $476K minimum amount.

But we will probably use all our cap space to sign two players. If we do, their contracts can include the $476K for each of the imaginary players replaced. So our cap space is a bit of a moving target, but the requirement of a 12 person "Team Salary" number negatively affects our cap space.
 

celticpride

Rookie
It would be nice to watch a Boston/NY rivalry between the Celtics and Knicks.I wouldn't mind watching the Knicks sign Lebron James or another free agent and meet up with the Celtics in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.Even though the Knicks are pretty much irrelevant to the rest of the country right now they are in a good position to be important players this summer.
 
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It would be nice to watch a Boston/NY rivalry between the Celtics and Knicks.I wouldn't mind watching the Knicks sign Lebron James or another free agent and meet up with the Celtics in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals.Even though the Knicks are pretty much irrelevant to the rest of the country right now they are in a good position to be important players this summer.

the knicks are to the celtics what the red sox are to the yanks(that had to had stung a bit, right? :D)
 

New New York

Quiet Storm
Decent article about cap space and a breakdown of each team's space coming this summer.

Some interesting points made. New Jersey with over $30 mil in cap space, potential all-star starting PG and C, plus possibly the 1st overall pick in the draft make them serious competition for 2010 free agents. They are in much better shape than the Knicks.

Also Miami, with $21.8 mil in cap space, DWade and South Beach make the Heat a very desirable location for 2010 free agents.

Chicago, with $21.1 mil in cap space and a good young core make them a desirable location as well.

http://www.realgm.com/src_feature_pieces/855/20100111/2010_offseason_primer/


2010 Offseason Primer
By: Daniel Leroux
RealGM.com Writer

January 11, 2010 4:14 PM

1. Cap holds matter. Dwyane Wade opting out of his contract does not mean Miami can just spend up to the cap amount (whatever it ends up at) and then re-sign him to put the team over the limit. As he is on a max contract now, his cap hold will have a substantial effect on the money Miami can offer within the confines of the cap. Of course, should a big ticket free agent leave or sign for less money, this hold would be eliminated from his original team's books accordingly, but that?s unlikely for the max-level players in the short run.

2. The Mid-Level Exception and other cap holds do not go on top of cap space- they take it away. One of my biggest criticisms of the 2K basketball series (excellent as it is) is that they have never gotten the free agency rules correct. The MLE is just that- an exception. That means it allows teams over the cap to still spend that money, but teams under the cap have to renounce it should they want to use that cap space on free agents. One particularly notable example of this was Rashard Lewis, where Orlando had to renounce their exceptions to fit his sizable salary on their ledgers, though that was complicated a little further by it being a trade. As such, any team that maxes out their cap space cannot just toss on a Mid-Level exception on top. They can absolutely add minimum salary guys and give bigger contracts to players they have Bird Rights on, but they do not have the MLE to work with on top of the cap.








Bottome line...we need to either trade Jeffries and/or Curry for expiring contracts or start collecting talent. $25 mil in cap space and Jeffries, Curry, Douglas, Hill, Chandler and Gallo are not enough. Something needs to be done.


OK, you just hit me over the head with that one! I really thought that we had the MLE and the cap room next summer, no way this plan is going to work. Look at best all we have is 27 million to plug up our holes at the Center position and PG -you could also say SG, but Wilson is playing good enough to supress that need for now-, not to mention we need to re-sign David Lee!

Two Words.....NO WAY!!!!!!!!!

Time for plan B, give Lee a long term deal, sign a cheap but servicable PG for a two year deal, give Al a one year 5 million dollar,give Nate one year 4 million -I doubt he gets a better offer- and basically have the same results we end up with this season but with a Draft Pick and potentially more cap -NEW CBA- next off season.

Next season's lineup

Arroyo
Wilson
Gallo
Jefferies
Lee

38 wins, late lottery pick and possibly more money to spend in 2011 -I imagine the new CBA will give teams more money to offer players-....yes I realize Lebron,D Wade and co. will be gone in 2011, but signing one of them this off seaon will not give us enough money to put together a good team.

2011 FA's include

Pau Gasol
Al Horford
Leandro Barbosa
Greg Oden
Rodney Stuckey
Tashuan Prince
Jason Richardson
Samuel Dalembert
Zach Randolph

We could use each and every player on this list and the only one who would demand Max Money would be P.Gasol. We could land two of these players plus already having Lee and now we are talking about a good team!

Patience is the name of the game fellas! I know I will get ridiculed by those stuck in that pipe dream that Lebron or D Wade will ever be a Knick!
 

Osiris80

Benchwarmer
A max contract is 30% of the cap. So if the cap is at $52.5 mil then a max contract would be $15.75 mil.

So, with $25.2 in cap space - $15.75 = $9.45 mil left over after a max.

Remember though, we need to have a minimum 13 player roster. After a max is signed we will only have 7 players on the roster and only $9.45 mil to fill the remaining 6 roster spots. We do not have the MLE or Bi-annual available to us.

So, can a team pay a max contract player in increments as they like over consecutive seasons? Say $15.75m in 2010-11 and then in 2011-12 jump up to $10m more for the sake of saving some cash.

In NY's case leaving some salary space for the sake of filling a stunted roster..

I doubt they can, but it seems like a quick fix with Curry and Jefferies hanus contracts looking less likely to be shipped out.

This is a good thread by the way. Great start for me here.

Thanks.
 
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