Kori Ellis
07-31-2005, 01:06 AM
Mike Monroe: Labor agreement has tax issues
Web Posted: 07/31/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA073105.5C.COL.BKNmonroe.2d104d2.html
San Antonio Express-News
Heavy lifting.
The NBA finally got copies of the new collective bargaining agreement to its teams early Saturday morning. It is a document with more than 600 pages.
In 72 hours, team executives have to absorb the essential differences from the old agreement as they relate to player contracts moving forward. Specifically, they have to understand the nuances of the new deal as they relate to free agents before the new signing period begins at roughly noon on Tuesday.
All you really need to know is this: The new salary cap is $49.5million, which the Spurs will exceed; and the new luxury tax threshold is $61.7million, which the Spurs won't reach. That means they can continue to get paid for the fiscal irresponsibility of other teams, such as the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks, who have tried to overpay their way to on-court success. Those teams have to pay, dollar for dollar, for their player payrolls above $61.7million, and the monies collected are redistributed to those teams below the threshold.
But those redistributions won't be as hefty in the future, owing to the so-called amnesty clause in the new agreement that allows teams a one-time-only opportunity to waive a player contract and be relieved of luxury-tax liability. The Mavericks, for example, presumably will waive Michael Finley and be relieved of at least $51million in luxury-tax payments over three seasons, though they will still have to pay Finley the $51million that remains on his deal, and they won't be allowed to re-sign him until his current contract expires.
There are teams that have held the line on player payments that are more than a little upset about the amnesty clause — and for good reason. It makes sense only for those teams above the luxury-tax threshold, which means it rewards only those teams that violated the spirit of the old agreement by relieving them of financial burden they knew they were taking on when they signed players that would push them above the threshold.
Plus, in a real way, it punishes those teams that remained below the threshold by reducing future shares of the luxury-tax redistribution.
The Mavs reportedly are trying to trade Finley to an Eastern Conference team — they prefer that he not go to one of their Western rivals, especially the Phoenix Suns — before they have to impose the amnesty clause in the new agreement, but the principle of the amnesty clause remains.
And if Finley is waived, does he end up in Phoenix, which may be on the verge of losing Joe Johnson? And if he does, is that fair to a team like the Spurs, the Suns' No. 1 rival in the West?
It is beginning to look like a Johnson sign-and-trade deal is more likely than the scenario in which the Suns match whatever offer Johnson receives from the Atlanta Hawks, especially after Johnson on Friday told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that he prefers to "move on" to another team and that the Suns not match the Atlanta deal. The Suns, of course, continue to insist they will match any deal Johnson is offered, even a "front-loaded" offer from the Hawks.
There is as much bluffing going on around Johnson as there was during the 2005 World Series of Poker a couple of weeks back. But if Johnson doesn't sign an offer sheet from the Hawks in the next couple of days, go "all in" on the proposition that the Suns will negotiate a sign-and-trade with Atlanta.
Meanwhile, expect the Spurs to announce the re-signing of power forward Robert Horry and the signing of Argentine center-power forward Fabricio Oberto on Tuesday. We have known for a while that those players agreed to terms with the reigning champs.
What we don't know is whether another team is going to make a substantial offer for restricted free agent Devin Brown or if the Spurs will sign Sacramento Kings restricted free agent Maurice Evans to an offer sheet the Kings would have seven days to match.
Get well soon: Best wishes for a complete recovery to Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, who underwent a five-hour operation Thursday to remove a cancerous prostate.
Karl angered Spurs fans during the first round of the playoffs when he criticized Manu Ginobili's style of play, so perhaps he had that in mind when he went out of his way to set the record straight last time I saw him, at the Las Vegas summer league a few weeks ago.
At that time, I had no idea about Karl's cancer.
"I was just trying to get in (Ginobili's) head a little," Karl said then. "I love the way that guy plays. I wish everybody in the league played as hard as he does."
Web Posted: 07/31/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA073105.5C.COL.BKNmonroe.2d104d2.html
San Antonio Express-News
Heavy lifting.
The NBA finally got copies of the new collective bargaining agreement to its teams early Saturday morning. It is a document with more than 600 pages.
In 72 hours, team executives have to absorb the essential differences from the old agreement as they relate to player contracts moving forward. Specifically, they have to understand the nuances of the new deal as they relate to free agents before the new signing period begins at roughly noon on Tuesday.
All you really need to know is this: The new salary cap is $49.5million, which the Spurs will exceed; and the new luxury tax threshold is $61.7million, which the Spurs won't reach. That means they can continue to get paid for the fiscal irresponsibility of other teams, such as the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks, who have tried to overpay their way to on-court success. Those teams have to pay, dollar for dollar, for their player payrolls above $61.7million, and the monies collected are redistributed to those teams below the threshold.
But those redistributions won't be as hefty in the future, owing to the so-called amnesty clause in the new agreement that allows teams a one-time-only opportunity to waive a player contract and be relieved of luxury-tax liability. The Mavericks, for example, presumably will waive Michael Finley and be relieved of at least $51million in luxury-tax payments over three seasons, though they will still have to pay Finley the $51million that remains on his deal, and they won't be allowed to re-sign him until his current contract expires.
There are teams that have held the line on player payments that are more than a little upset about the amnesty clause — and for good reason. It makes sense only for those teams above the luxury-tax threshold, which means it rewards only those teams that violated the spirit of the old agreement by relieving them of financial burden they knew they were taking on when they signed players that would push them above the threshold.
Plus, in a real way, it punishes those teams that remained below the threshold by reducing future shares of the luxury-tax redistribution.
The Mavs reportedly are trying to trade Finley to an Eastern Conference team — they prefer that he not go to one of their Western rivals, especially the Phoenix Suns — before they have to impose the amnesty clause in the new agreement, but the principle of the amnesty clause remains.
And if Finley is waived, does he end up in Phoenix, which may be on the verge of losing Joe Johnson? And if he does, is that fair to a team like the Spurs, the Suns' No. 1 rival in the West?
It is beginning to look like a Johnson sign-and-trade deal is more likely than the scenario in which the Suns match whatever offer Johnson receives from the Atlanta Hawks, especially after Johnson on Friday told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that he prefers to "move on" to another team and that the Suns not match the Atlanta deal. The Suns, of course, continue to insist they will match any deal Johnson is offered, even a "front-loaded" offer from the Hawks.
There is as much bluffing going on around Johnson as there was during the 2005 World Series of Poker a couple of weeks back. But if Johnson doesn't sign an offer sheet from the Hawks in the next couple of days, go "all in" on the proposition that the Suns will negotiate a sign-and-trade with Atlanta.
Meanwhile, expect the Spurs to announce the re-signing of power forward Robert Horry and the signing of Argentine center-power forward Fabricio Oberto on Tuesday. We have known for a while that those players agreed to terms with the reigning champs.
What we don't know is whether another team is going to make a substantial offer for restricted free agent Devin Brown or if the Spurs will sign Sacramento Kings restricted free agent Maurice Evans to an offer sheet the Kings would have seven days to match.
Get well soon: Best wishes for a complete recovery to Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, who underwent a five-hour operation Thursday to remove a cancerous prostate.
Karl angered Spurs fans during the first round of the playoffs when he criticized Manu Ginobili's style of play, so perhaps he had that in mind when he went out of his way to set the record straight last time I saw him, at the Las Vegas summer league a few weeks ago.
At that time, I had no idea about Karl's cancer.
"I was just trying to get in (Ginobili's) head a little," Karl said then. "I love the way that guy plays. I wish everybody in the league played as hard as he does."