I think with the addition of Anderson and the glut we have at guard, Charlie and Moochie wil be cut. Neither has no future with us and should be let go, maybe some other team might be interested.
Don't forget the 2 for 1 deal that was hinted at in the past. We might still be able to free a roster spot for Baxter that way. And there's Dion Glover too. I think he deserves a look if we get rid of our dead weight. Baker, Norris, Ward and maybe even Wesley (remember, he is the only one who has value) could still be on the way out through a deal. I'm not in a rush to get rid of Wesley, but with the right deal, it's a no brainer. Suppose we trade Baker and Norris and cut Ward? That would free two roster spots, for Baxter and Glover. Our offseason might not be done yet!
Minimum salaries contracts count as 719,373 for Luxury Tax purposes in 2005/06. By my calculations we can only have 2,696,822 left under the Lux Tax to offer Deke. If we cut/buyout another player (Moochie, Baker or Ward) their salary still counts against the cap and against the Lux Tax. If we buyout a player we might get a slight discount 5%-10% off what the contract calls for. Since we will have no money left over after signing Deke the only way I see us adding players is by trade.
... in 97-98, he had 7.8 ppg on .455 shooting w/ 5.7 apg, 3.3 rpg, 1.76 spg in 28 mpg. That's not bad at all. I don't understand this desire to slam players on our team who are on the downside of their careers. Does it make people feel better about their own lives? That they will never be a professional athlete, or earning millions?
The reason people like to rag on Ward is because he is an old Knick player JVG brought here who nobody on this forum wanted. I questioned the move considering he just sat on the bench in San Antonio the year before and appeared to have nothing left. He likely would have been out of the league if we had not given him a 2 year guaranteed contract. On top of that, Ward gave us pretty much nothing last year and we got dramatically better soon after he was put on the injured list. He may be a nice guy and a good lockerroom fit, but very few of us care about that if there is little or no production on the court. It was a bad move by JVG pure and simple that he would not do over again. With all of that said, there are a few here who clearly love slamming NBA players every chance they get but they are in the minority here.
Mooch's contract will be a lot more useful for a S&T, if a player is waived/retired it will be Ward. It would be great if Deke signed for 2 mil a year so we could cut Ward and add Baxter. I don't think 100K-200K should be worrisome in lux tax land, I think they got rid of the cliff provision that made it so critical to just be under the figure. Even if we have to pay a little extra now for Baxter (modest lux tax), I have a feeling we could get ourselves a long term back-up for much cheaper than alternatives if we make the move now. Forget Glover. The DA signing took out all potential for him to make the team this year. Good luck to him though, maybe next year he could sign with us.
except that he showed something decent in his first 2 games prior to getting hurt. Maybe he was an injury risk, but I think he had enough in the tank to give us 20 mpg before the injury
I believe a team losses their cut of the escrow tax if they are $1 into Lux Tax. That is estimated at 3-4M. The Lux Tax is divided evenly among the 30 teams.
Opps its revered from what I said above - just found it from Dan Rosenbaum's blog http://danrosenbaum.blogspot.com/2005/08/update-how-will-new-nba-collective.html 2. "All teams (including those who pay tax) under the new deal will receive a full share of the escrow tax collections. The most likely distribution of the luxury tax appears to be a full share to teams below the luxury tax threshold with the remainder being split evenly among all teams. This is likely to result in teams losing about $3 million in distributions if they end up being taxpayers."
Thanks. If this is correct yes I don't think we will take 1$ over the lux tax. Going to be tight to get Baxter. I wonder if it would be worth it to trade the NY 2nd rounder (06) for an under the cap team (NO, Char, Atl) to take Ward or Mooch or Baker. I sure trade our 08 2nd rounder (06 and 07 went to Milw for James) to make this happen. I also suspect this is the hold up with Deke. Got to find the number that keeps us under the threshold. If it gives us any more flexibility (cut/retire Ward) to add Baxter, gravy.
yeah, Ward is dead weight. I don't care about his locker room presence...get him outta here. What baffles me about the Ward signing is this... The guy rode the pine for a year in SA, then had zero offers or interest from anyone in the league. Then CD decides to sign him to a 2 year deal with an option...for more than the minimun. Ward's career was obviously over after SA, and he would have signed a one year minimum deal happily... Now we are stuck with him. And Moochie (for the record, as most of you realize) is worthless. A point guard that cannot hit a three is useless...unless he is a great assist guy and a great defender
Can somebody just answer the question? If Ward voluntarily retires, does his salary count against our cap?
yes. that is why the Pacers waived Reggie Miller, who retired. So that they wouldn't have to pay double b/c they were over the cap (hence his salary this season, although he retired, counts against the cap)
Okay, I guess I'll accept that. But it does give rise to another question. Did the Pacers still have to count Reggie against their cap because of something in his contract that said if he retired, he would still collect the rest of what was in his contract? Or did they have to count him (until they waived him) because once he signed a guaranteed contract, then all the money is guaranteed, no matter what? There has to be something else here. Else, couldn't Shaq just retire right now and count $25 mill against Miami's cap for the next 4 years? Surely, there are some contract qualifiers to which contracts have to be paid out and which ones don't. Ray Allen just signed another huge deal. Could he just decide to tap out and retire next year and collect the rest of his $80 some odd million contract????
