Sorry...double post..no idea how I did this. Left the computer on overnight and arrowed back. This posted again from the previous night(?). See other post for comment. [This message has been edited by GATER (edited July 10, 2001).]
Hold your horses on this one GATER. I've been looking the last week in the full text for this loophole, and the incentive compensation section seems pretty clear that it is always included in the 1st year of a contract..."Unlikely Bonus" or not. Not that incentive bonuses are not intended to be loop-holes to helping you with the cap. In fact, I do believe you cannot even offer an "unlikely" incentive bonus contract unless you are under the cap. (That part of the CBA kinda needs a lawyer to read, though.) So, your incentive bonus would not help our salary cap situation *this year*. Despite the simplicity and open-endedness of the CBA FAQ, Larry tries not to complicate it. I'll pull the text for you to read in an hour or so, for your interpretation of it. But let's not go crazy on this. I don't think it works for the first year.
crispee The exact FAQ wording is: Incentives count as team salary (against the cap) if they are "likely to be achieved." They do not count if they are not likely to be achieved. (Except in the first year of the contract, where the salary, likely bonuses and unlikely bonuses must all fit within the salary cap or exception.) The league office determines what is likely and what is not. Their general guideline is whether the criteria was achieved in the previous year. For example, if a player had seven assists per game the previous season, then an incentive based on seven assists per game would probably be classified as "likely to be achieved," but an incentive based on eight assists per game would probably be classified as "not likely to be achieved." If this refers to the first year of the current contract, then Coon's example is also incorrect as there can be no incentives in year 1, period. I take "the first year" to be a player first ever contract with that team. See what you can find. ------------------ Raef to Rocks in '01-'02! [This message has been edited by GATER (edited July 10, 2001).]
GATER, I can look up the FAQ. You don't have to quote it. I have the exact CBA text here. The FAQ is an Answer and Question text, which Larry has told me he keeps simple. Article VII, Section 4(d) is what concerns me. It looks like a Qualifying Veteran may have more leeway on Unlikely Bonus not counting in the first season. Thus if approved, your cap manuever would work, but probably not if we renounce him (thus becoming a Non-Qualifying Veteran) and signed Mo' first. These things are fancy, and I thought of the identical thing as you (the Rodman Incentive, I call it), but the timing of who signs first and if Dream gets renounce really complicated this outside of Larry Coon's willingness to answer it in a simple FAQtoid
crispee, Wasn't posting the FAQ text for you, but for anyone trying to follow along. I thought the Rockets were technically over the cap and Dreams' contract had to be handled first before other signings could take place? In other words, all of the Rockets' immediate business decisions predicate on whether Dream is renounced and then re-signed or just flat out signs another contract. I don't think it would be prudent to sign anyone until Dreams' exact cap hit is determined. ------------------ Raef to Rocks in '01-'02!
Unless he takes too long to sign, which seems pretty likely. He is not going to do us any favors. At some point, you may have to renounce him to lock up Mo', before Mo' starts shopping around. I would say that the likelihood of Dream delaying so long that we have to renounce him and sign Mo' first is enough of a possibility to really screw with our cap manuevers. If that happens, I'm pretty definite that a Non-Qualifying Free Agent (a renounced Hakeem) cannot have an Unlikely Bonus that would take us above our cap "Room" for the 1st yr of the contract. I think Dream knows that he has us by the balls, and the longer he waits the more we have to concede to him. That is why I think it is much more important for us to convince Mo' to sign for the Middle Class. Then, we are in the driver's seat in Dream negotiations, and the Rodman Incentive is not needed as a cap manuever, but rather just a true incentive for Dreamy to play ball and not get injured.
