Another Amnesty rule question.

[sickdsm]

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0729amnesty0729.html

When the new collective bargaining agreement is finished, each team will be allowed - this summer only - to waive one player and not have him count toward the luxury tax. The amnesty will not create cap space, nor free the teams from the obligation of paying the waived player.

I thought the rule was one time for each team over the length of the CBA. Is it truly this summer or never?

A collective bargaining agreement provision may limit double dipping by players waived under the amnesty clause.

For example, if Michael Finley were waived by Dallas and signed with Chicago for $3.1 million, he would actually only make an extra $2.1 million on top of the $15.9 million Dallas owes him for the coming season.

A minimum contract for Finley would be $1.1 million, based on last year's CBA. The extra $2 million over the minimum would be split. Half would be considered an offset of his Dallas salary. Half would come from Chicago.

So in other words, if you sign for the minimum, you are NOT making any extra money?

[Rick Von Braun]

I thought the rule was one time for each team over the length of the CBA. Is it truly this summer or never? Yes. It is now or never. The now is being discussed though, since some teams would like to extend it all the way to October or even December. I don't know if anyone has clarified this.


So in other words, if you sign for the minimum, you are NOT making any extra money? Read the article again. What the writer is saying (I don't know if this is true) is:

final salary = vet min salary + 0.5 (offered salary - vet min salary)

In the case of Finley:
2.1M = 1.1M + 0.5 (3.1M - 1.1M)

In other words, if a player gets the vet minimum, the second term goes to zero, but the player still receives the minimum.

The writer is saying that the provision reduces the double dipping of the player by 50% over the vet min contract.

[Kori Ellis]

The now is being discussed though, since some teams would like to extend it all the way to October or even December. I don't know if anyone has clarified this.

I think it's October 1, but I haven't seen the final word.

[picnroll]

Is there any incentive for an amnesty FA to sign more than a one year deal? Are there any restrictions on if and when a signed amnesty FA can be traded other than that they can't be traded to the team that utilized the amnesty release?

[picnroll]

link (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2120414)

Deadline moved up in concession to playersESPN.com

In a concession to the NBA Players' Association, the deadline for the "amnesty" clause, which will allow teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying further luxury tax on the player's contract, has been moved up to Aug. 15.

Teams such as the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks, who are expected to use the clause -- also known as the Allan Houston Rule -- to waive Michael Finley and Houston to avoid paying future luxury tax on their contracts, will have less than two weeks to make final decisions once the labor deal is implemented Tuesday.

The original deadline was Oct. 1. All 30 NBA teams will now have the right to make one amnesty waiver starting Tuesday at noon ET through Aug. 15. Teams are not required to use this clause and early estimates suggest that less than half of the league's clubs will exercise the option largely because the rule only provides luxury-tax relief, not salary-cap relief.

The Mavericks are trying to trade Finley to keep him out of the Western Conference and to avoid losing him without compensation. If they end up waiving him, a string of playoff contenders, including the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, are expected to pursue Finley.

The union argued that an Oct. 1 deadline gave the teams releasing players too much control over their players' futures. The Aug. 15 deadline is early enough to give Finley, Houston and anyone else released via the clause a chance to compete for free-agent dollars long before training camps open Oct. 3.

Other amnesty candidates include the Los Angeles Lakers' Brian Grant, the Portland Trail Blazers' Derek Anderson and the Indiana Pacers' Austin Croshere.

Because of the Knicks' interest, the amnesty clause has become known known as the Allan Houston Rule. It is expected to be a one-time option that teams will not be able to save if they don't use it this year.

Teams get luxury-cap relief, but not salary-cap relief for the released players, who must be on a team's 2005-06 roster but have been acquired before June 21.

Teams, such as the Toronto Raptors, who bought out Alonzo Mourning for $11 million, also can get relief for players no longer on the roster but whose salary remains on the payroll.

Players cannot be re-signed by the teams that released them for the length of the terminated contract. Teams remain responsible for paying the players, even if the players sign elsewhere.

[BigDiggyD]

link (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2120414)

Deadline moved up in concession to playersESPN.com

In a concession to the NBA Players' Association, the deadline for the "amnesty" clause, which will allow teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying further luxury tax on the player's contract, has been moved up to Aug. 15.

Teams such as the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks, who are expected to use the clause -- also known as the Allan Houston Rule -- to waive Michael Finley and Houston to avoid paying future luxury tax on their contracts, will have less than two weeks to make final decisions once the labor deal is implemented Tuesday.

The original deadline was Oct. 1. All 30 NBA teams will now have the right to make one amnesty waiver starting Tuesday at noon ET through Aug. 15. Teams are not required to use this clause and early estimates suggest that less than half of the league's clubs will exercise the option largely because the rule only provides luxury-tax relief, not salary-cap relief.

The Mavericks are trying to trade Finley to keep him out of the Western Conference and to avoid losing him without compensation. If they end up waiving him, a string of playoff contenders, including the Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, are expected to pursue Finley.

The union argued that an Oct. 1 deadline gave the teams releasing players too much control over their players' futures. The Aug. 15 deadline is early enough to give Finley, Houston and anyone else released via the clause a chance to compete for free-agent dollars long before training camps open Oct. 3.

Other amnesty candidates include the Los Angeles Lakers' Brian Grant, the Portland Trail Blazers' Derek Anderson and the Indiana Pacers' Austin Croshere.

Because of the Knicks' interest, the amnesty clause has become known known as the Allan Houston Rule. It is expected to be a one-time option that teams will not be able to save if they don't use it this year.

Teams get luxury-cap relief, but not salary-cap relief for the released players, who must be on a team's 2005-06 roster but have been acquired before June 21.

Teams, such as the Toronto Raptors, who bought out Alonzo Mourning for $11 million, also can get relief for players no longer on the roster but whose salary remains on the payroll.

Players cannot be re-signed by the teams that released them for the length of the terminated contract. Teams remain responsible for paying the players, even if the players sign elsewhere.
I was just about to post this... this is good news.. the October 1 deadline was going to make it hard to factor these type players into your offseason plans without making a trade for them. Now they hit the market no later than a few weeks.

[picnroll]

I can see the Spurs targeting Finey as Devin's replacement. Not signing Devin would be a positive for Finley in terms of minutes.

[Kori Ellis]

In a concession to the NBA Players' Association, the deadline for the "amnesty" clause, which will allow teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying further luxury tax on the player's contract, has been moved up to Aug. 15.

That's awesome. That makes things much easier.

[sickdsm]

I see. So actually guys like houston and finley will actually be given new contracts at a higher dollar figure than what you expect since the new team would not be paying for it. How would that work into the salary cap? Lets say that Atlanta signed finley for 5.1 mill/per. Technically they are only paying him 3.1 mill. What figure counts against there salary cap? I'm assuming the higher figure, to try and make it a little bit harder on the new team.