Typical league office/player's union salary crap issues. I don't know which side will blink but we know the league office obviously wants to sit on salaries. Do they have a leg to stand on? Is this legal? I thought the salary cap could not be set so arbitrarily. Most important, if the league stands firm, what do we do? Six million is a lot of change. Seattle won't get Marc Jackson in that case; do we sign Jax and say good-bye, Hakeem, good-bye Mo, and platoon EG and KT at the 4, Jax and Cato at the 5? I know I'm jumping the gun but I was wondering about options in case this comes out poorly for the teams (i.e., low salary cap). ------------------
The salary cap will not be lower than 42.5 million, which is perfectly fine for us. The owners presentation was with a 42.5 million dollar cap. The players think they did their math wrong, and that it should be closer to 44 or 45 million. There is where the dispute lies. The worst the salary cap will be is 42.5 million. ------------------ Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! The Mo Taylor Fan Site
Where do you get your numbers from, el Gato? Apparently, under the express terms of the CBA, the cap's going to be less than 36 mil. Why would the owners and the league go along with a number much higher than that? ------------------ I'm so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I am so hip that I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis.
You sound awfuly sure of yourself when the AP report clearly states the impasse is because the league believes the salary cap is to be just under $36 million. Under the terms of a formula contained in the league's collective bargaining agreement, the salary cap will increase on an interim basis from $35.5 million to $35.956 million. Teams were expecting the new cap number to be about $42.5 million. ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
The Salary Cap is set by strict guideless once the Audit Report is done. Salary Cap is based on 48% of league revenue (BRI) less Player Benefits divided by the number of teams in the league. It is cut and dry once the audit specifies the BRI and benefits, and the audit is conducted by an independent auditor. Basically, the cap only grows with league revenues. It can actually go down. If the audit report is not done, they still go by strictly defined calculations. It is odd that they would have anything to argue about. However, the Player's Association is allowed to file a Section 11 rights to audit 5 teams to determine the correctness of the Audit Report. They could have initiated this, and are arguing over lodging a formal Dispute to the system arbitrator. That has not been initiated, yet. I have been in touch with Larry Coon on this one, and he is miffed how they could argue; although, he didn't know about the Section 11 rights. He's trying to call the league office. We might know shortly.
The Cat, currently there is no information to indicate that $35.9m isn't actually going to be the final number.
Clutch, That is the formula. However, the only reason that went into place is because the players and owners could not come to an agreement. The report from ESPN Insider: AFTERNOON UPDATE: Finally some justice. After delaying almost every NBA free agent's plans while he decided what team he would grace next year, free-agent Chris Webber must now play the waiting game himself. C-Webb adviser Fallasha Erwin said today that the salary cap problem between the league and the NBA Players Association is making it more difficult to determine where his client will play. Still, Erwin thinks Webber will at least decide today where he wants to play. "We're looking at a maximum salary contract wherever he goes," Erwin told Bloomberg this morning. The hold-up is caused by a blood feud between the players' union and the league. Union spokesman Dan Wasserman refused to comment on the specifics of the players' objections to the league's proposed $42.5 million salary cap this year. League sources told ESPN Insider that the union's objection is related to how the league calculates its basketball related income (BRI). The collective bargaining agreement gives a hard, well-defined formula, on how to determine the salary cap. The formula says, ". . .The salary cap [. . .] will equal 48.04% of projected BRI for such salary cap year, less projected benefits [. . .] for such salary cap year, divided by the number of teams scheduled to play in the NBA during such salary cap year, other than expansion teams during their first two seasons in the NBA." However, the union for some time has disputed the NBA's calculations. The union feels the league underreports basketball related income and thus figures the salary cap to be smaller than it should be. Union officials feel, according to their calculations, that the cap should be closer to $44 million. As defined by the collective bargaining agreement, basketball related incomes includes, in part, regular season and playoff gate receipts, broadcast rights, and 40 percent of proceeds from arena signage and luxury suites. The NBA and the union have been working to replace BRI with a new definition of revenues, called "core basketball revenues" (CBR). It's unclear how long the standoff will last. Joel Litvin, the NBA's executive vice president of legal and business affairs, said. "Although we worked late through the night to reach an agreement, the players' association made an 11th-hour demand we cannot accept." The league did not disclose the details of the "11th-hour demand." In the interm, the salary cap has been set at $36 million, seriously disrupting teams' ability to sign players until the situation is resolved. ------------------ Draftsource.net-- the premier source for draft info. Profiles, rankings, mock drafts, and more! The Mo Taylor Fan Site
CBS Sportsline has an interesting article on the impasse that glances at formula the league uses to determine the cap. http://www.sportsline.com/b/page/pressbox/0,1328,4106249,00.html ------------------
The Cat Looks like the ESPN Insider got that BRI calculation text from Larry Coon, today. That is verbatim what he sent me when we were discussing this. He even said that he had just sent this to someone, earlier. He didn't mention anything to indicate a dispute consistent with the report. It is not correct to say that the players and owners cannot "agree" or "disputing" the numbers. There is a formal arbitration system for such things. I find it odd that ESPN claims there is a rejection of a "proposal", when you don't even "propose" a cap; you calculate it. And dispute it formally via a Section 11 Players Rights to Audit Teams. I don't get it. I hope it is $42.5, but that article has strange inconsistencies in it.
We can all be thankful, should the cap get lowered, that the Rockets didn't end up in a Public Relations nightmare. Perhaps Hakeem was our angel..... ------------------ humble, but hungry.
cripsee, they're not debating about the formula, they're debating about x. Basketball Related Income. If you're selling 5.00 cheese pizzas outside, as an agent of course I'm going to try to calculate that as your profit. As an owner, of course I'm going to try to shield my periphery businesses, which IMO(if I'm an owner), aren't in the equation. That's probably why they're trying to redefine the standard(CBR). BRI right now, is arguable and therefore it is hokey to try to have two diametrically opposed groups try to agree on anything concerning that number. Two groups, two opposing views... and a shadey area. Not a very good launching point. ------------------ Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen... [This message has been edited by Achebe (edited July 18, 2001).]
Achebe, The point I am making that Coon is to, is that there is nothing to argue about. They argued a whole 1/2 season away making sure they could calculate this damn thing fairly. There is no "proposal" or "arguing." There is only "audit," "calculation," and formal "system arbitration." Plus, the mere fact they reported a figure means that is final for a year, according to Coon's interpretation of the CBA. If the audit is not completed on time, they do a "Projected BRI" and "Projected Player Benefits", and reconcile differences in the "Subsequent Salary Cap Season." And note, I am capitalizing things that are legally defined in the CBA and capitalized in it. There is *nothing* in the CBA about "Salary Cap proposals." N.O.T.H.I.N.G. I hope I'm not sounding argumentative here. I am just thoroughly confused and trying to make sense of this myself. What I have written is the best of my findings, with Coon backing that he is thoroughly confused, too. I'll send more later. He said that he'd probably know more about this craziness soon. [This message has been edited by crispee (edited July 18, 2001).]
So, are officals really trying to increase the cap instead of lowering? Due to unaudited earnings. ------------------ "Instinctly u recognize things,now take advantage of what u just recognized!".. Hakeem..
carlit0 BRI is independently audited. Together with that, they do Projections like any other industry. If the audits are not completed on time, they go with the projections. If BRI subsequently falls short or goes over the Projections, they reconcile the under/overages the NEXT YEAR, by adjusting next year's cap to make up the difference. The idea is to march forward. By the $35.9m AP wire number, that must be a real calcuation...audit or projection...thus LOCKED IN for a year barring a formal arbitrations. We will find out. Everyone's as confused as you. [This message has been edited by crispee (edited July 18, 2001).]
Back to the original question: According to Realgm, we would have roughly 10 million dollars to spend (based on 35.9 million cap). We hold Bird rights on Bullard, and early Bird on Norris and Shandon, so we can resign them after we go over the cap ( if Shandon will accept an offer in this range ), if I understand correctly. So 10 million has to get us Dream, Taylor, Morris and Langhi. Who would you rather have, Dream or Taylor? I don't think we'll get them both for 10 million. j ------------------ Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!
Thanks, Crispee ------------------ "Instinctly u recognize things,now take advantage of what u just recognized!".. Hakeem..
Taylor. ------------------ "Instinctly u recognize things,now take advantage of what u just recognized!".. Hakeem..
crispee, you didn't sound argumentative (*******........ j/k). It just seems as if everything that I've read has termed this slight increase as an 'interim #'. How did they get that #? I don't know. Maybe they just took last year's raise and tacked it onto this one b/c they were unable to sign off on the numbers. I do think there's some point of contention... I'm not sure what exactly lawyers for the Union and lawyers for the league would have to discuss otherwise. If they do stick with this number, sheez... in a word ****. Remember last year? They did the same thing, and promised the windfall for the following year. That would seriously suck... the Rockets would be screwed unless they pretty much stayed over the cap (as you mentioned previously) but instead used the MCE on Mo. ------------------ Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen... [This message has been edited by Achebe (edited July 18, 2001).]
