Here's my take. Just because a salary decreases over the life of a contract, I don't consider it a front loaded contract. Simarly, just because most NBA contracts increase each season, I don't consider those to be back loaded. That's because the deals increase/decrease at a constant rate. There's nothing special about them. Back in the old days (2 CBAs ago), teams usually gave large balloon payments on the final year of big contracts. For example the final 4 years ('91-'95) of Patrick Ewings contract were as follows: '91-'92 - $3.3M '92-'93 - $3.8M '93-'94 - $4.48M '94-'95 - $18.72M Now that's a back loaded contract. Notice the gigantic increase between the last two years of the deal. The NBA outlawed these in the previous CBA because teams were using these type of deals to circumvent the cap. Since the previous CBA, there are no more front loaded or back loaded contracts in the NBA. Think about the ramifications that it would have if the NBA still allowed such deals and didn't have a luxury tax. You could simply back load several large contracts so that you were under the cap for the first few years. That would allow you to sign extra players as FAs and then in the final year, you'd be hugely over the cap. Without a Luxury tax, that would be a very smart move, but it is a circumvention of the cap, so you can no longer do it.
If anyone is interested I got the cap figure from Morey. There have been a lot of conflicting reports on the contracts and figures from various sources and arguments here about it. So I contacted Morey and asked for a press release. They do not release the figures initially due to team policy, but after awhile they do. So here it is. Houston Rockets Salary Cap Info 1. Tracy McGrady $19,014,187 2007/08 $21,126,874 2008/09 $23,239,561 2009/10 2. Yao Ming $13,762,775 2007/08 $15,070,550 2008/09 $16,378,325 2009/10 $17,686,100 20010/11 3. Shane Battier $5,883,600 2007/08 $6,373,900 2008/09 $6,864,200 2009/10 $7,354,500 20010/11 4. Mike James (after the trade kicker) $5,826,893 2007/08 $6,258,515 2008/09 $6,689,516 (player option) 2009/10 5. Rafer Alston $4,550,000 2007/08 $4,900,000 2008/09 $5,250,000 2009/10 6. Bob Sura $3,840,000 2007-2008 ($1,000,000 guaranteed) 7. Luis Scola $2,916,667 2007-2008 $3,150,000 2008-2009 $3,383,333 2009-2010 8. Steve Francis $2,439,333 2007-2008 $2,634,480 (player option) 2008-2009 9. Chuck Hayes $1,700,000 2007-2008 $1,878,500 2008-2009 $2,057,000 2009-2010 $2,235,500 (team option) 2010-2011 10. Jackie Butler $2,376,000 2007-2008 $2,552,000 2008-2009 11. Kirk Snyder $2,358,432 2007-2008 $3,313,598 (qualifying offer) 2008-2009 12. Bonzi Wells $2,284,200 2007-2008 13. Justin Reed $1,436,500 2007-2008 $1,573,000 2008-2009 14. Luther Head $1,122,000 2007-2008 $1,962,378 (team option) 2008-2009 $2,868,996 (qualifying offer) 2009-2010 15. Aaron Brooks $972,720 2007-2008 $1,045,560 2008-2009 $1,118,520 (team option) 2009-2010 $2,016,691 (team option) 2010-2011 $2,976,637 (qualifying offer) 2011-2012 16. John Lucas $770,610 2007-2008 $826,269 (team option) 2008-2009 17. Steve Novak $687,456 2007-2008 $797,581 (team option) 2008-2009 18. Mike Harris (non-guaranteed training camp contract) $427,163 2007-2008 $711,517 (team option) 2008-2009 ($50,000 guaranteed) Houston Rockets Total Salary Cap Figure 2007-2008: $69,151,373 2007-2008 NBA Salary Tax: $67,865,000
Press request. But he asked that I did not post the letter release because he had his letter head on it.
Wow, Morey's got his figures completely wrong, he's using the same figures as Feigen. You should do him a favor and send him the correct salary numbers from your trusted source on the RealGM board.
That's brilliant! Thanks for getting these numbers. The more I hear about Morey, the more I think he sounds like a good guy.
So if we waive Sura, saving $2.84 million, then we have approximately $1.5 to spend on Deke and Butler without going over the tax threshold? This might explain the lowball offer to Deke and why Butler has not been signed.
I don't know if that's the full salary amount or just the guaranteed money on the cap, someone needs to add it up I guess.
Don't we have many capologists on this board? Any of you can verify BBall Scientist's numbers? Hey, witch hunters are also welcome.
http://hoopshype.com/salaries/houston.htm layer 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 Tracy McGrady $19,014,187 $21,126,874 $23,239,561 $0 $0 Yao Ming $13,762,775 $15,070,550 $16,378,325 $17,686,100 $0 Shane Battier $5,883,600 $6,373,900 $6,864,200 $7,354,500 $0 Mike James $5,632,200 $6,049,400 $6,466,600 $0 $0 Rafer Alston $4,550,000 $4,900,000 $5,250,000 $0 $0 Bob Sura $3,840,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 Luis Scola $0 $0 Steve Francis $0 $0 $0 Chuck Hayes $0 $0 $0 $0 Jackie Butler $2,376,000 $2,552,000 $0 $0 $0 Kirk Snyder $2,358,432 $3,313,598 $0 $0 $0 Bonzi Wells $2,284,200 $0 $0 $0 $0 Justin Reed $1,436,500 $1,573,000 $0 $0 $0 Luther Head $1,122,000 $1,962,378 $2,868,996 $0 $0 Aaron Brooks $972,720 $1,045,560 $1,118,520 $2,016,691 $2,976,637 John Lucas $770,610 $826,269 $0 $0 $0 Steve Novak $687,456 $797,581 $0 $0 $0 Mike Harris $0 $0 $0 TOTALS: $64,690,680 $58,691,284 $58,198,686 $25,040,600 $0 Pretty much the same as there except the James TK and the Hayes/Scola/Francis/Harris salaries.
BBall already took the $2.84 mil out to get to that $69 mil figure. So I don't see the luxury tax as a big stumbling block for Les this year. If I understand it correctly he has to get under the cap at some point this season, the sooner the better. The sooner he can get a deal for JL3, Novak or Reed the better off they will be.
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=3066643&postcount=51 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=3092319&postcount=82 Interesting that the Rockets PR department has completely different numbers than Morey. If the PR departement and the GM are going to give out salary info this freely, then they really should get their stories straight. I have to admit that if I'd received salary info directly from the Rockets, I would have assumed that the numbers were correct and I never would have bothered to ask the GM for the same numbers. Good thing that you did though, since the two sets of numbers don't agree.
You know it's incredibly sad that someone could go through all the trouble of getting the info from the PR (which was wrong) then because although it was the same as some journalists had (Boston Globe) it didn't match what some others had (Feigen and his figures do NOT match what Morey sent me either BTW)....... so I go to the hassle of getting this from Morey so that we have the ACTUAL salaries and although most posters are normal and give thanks for the trouble, time and effort spent, instead of a thank you from someone like you I get CRAP like that post . Yeah that's just so sweet of you. And it didn't even occur to you as you posted that, that gee I wouldn't know I had posted that before? Did you even read this last post here? I contacted Morey because of all the conflicting reports on the salaries. You have a problem with it don't call me out on it. Call up the PR of the Rockets and tell them off about. Feel free to give them or Morey my name and copy of this thread. I can't believe after all the time it took me to get this you come up with a post like that. That's the sort of thing that makes you want to stop even being associated with "Rockets fans."
Do you realize that the NBA CBA doesn't allow teams to disclose players salaries? If they did every basketball site on the net would have the exact same (accurate) numbers. Here's Article XIII, Section 4 of the CBA: the System Arbitrator shall have the authority, upon good cause shown, to direct any Team, Team Affiliate, or player to produce any tax returns or other relevant tax materials disclosing income figures for the player (non-income figures may be redacted), or disclosing expense figures by the Team or Team Affiliate (non-expense figures may be redacted), which materials shall not be released to the general public or the media and shall be treated as strictly confidential by all parties. If the Rockets PR or Morey gave you salary info, then they each violated the NBA CBA. I've got a simple solution though. Ever since Clutch interviewed Morey, he's been trading emails with him. Let's have Clutch email Morey and ask him if he'll give out Scola's actual salary. My guess is that Morey will say that he's not allowed to give out those numbers. What do you say? Does that sound fair?
WRONG what I was sent stated, "The exact terms of the contracts will not be released per NBA league policy."
anybody with half a brain knows that scola's salary is top heavy just to offset his 2.5 million buyout. no way would scola play for $688,000 or $916,667 (after the Rockets paid $500,000 into the buyout) like some are suggesting with the wrong salary figures that they pretend that morey provided.
We're not talking about the terms of the contract. It is against the NBA Collective bargaining agreement for a team to make a players salary public. You quoted salary info. If anyone from the Rockets gave out Scolas salary to any person outside the NBA (which you say that they did...twice), then that violates the NBA Collective Bargaining agreement. That's pretty simple and pretty straight forward. They are not allowed to disclose his salary and you claim that they gave it to you. You never answered my question. Should be have Clutch ask Morey for Scola's salary?
Tell you what genius you and the person who just claimed I made this up. Who will email this to Stern? You or Me? If what you say is true, you just got Morey fired and may have just ruined the Rockets for years to come. This will get you into the first ballot Hall of Fame here for sure. So, take your choice, you send this to the league office or me?
I called David Stern, and he told me the NBA CBA posted online is wrong. The real one said something about only disclosing to scientists, but the recording then self destructed and I don't have the rest of it.
