DeJuan Blair signs three-year, $2.7 million contract

[koriwhat]

watching blair in g1 of the sl was enough to convince me.


http://tinyurl.com/slg1p1
http://tinyurl.com/slg1p2

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I keep hearing that the Spurs retained some of the MLE, but I don't see any evidence of it. One of the sites that is usually pretty good about listing transactions, and amounts shows McD's contract as being 3 years, and $18.9M. That would be the full MLE this year, with 8% raises each of the two following years. The third year may be only partially guaranteed, which would make it somewhat less than that, if he only plays the two years. But nothing I have seen indicates he is getting less than the full MLE this season.

I haven't seen any concrete info on the matter as well, but the only way we could offer Blair a 3yr/$2.7mil contract would be using money from the MLE, we can't offer more than 2 years if we're using money from LLE and his deal is clearly more than the min contract ( which can also be 2 years max ).

I can see the scenario going like this. Prior to the draft the Spurs are prepared to hit the free agency hard going after someone, presumably Sheed, with their full MLE. Sheed's agent, of course, is interested but nothing official can be said or done until July 1st. On draft night Blair falls to the Spurs, they quickly realize he's a steal and would be worth/would demand more than the min, so they decide the best way to keep him would be by locking him on a 3yr deal, using MLE money, instead of 2 yrs using LLE. Contract offer to Sheed is not for the full MLE, unlike offers from other teams, thus Sheed's agent comes up with his infamous quote that the Spurs have to do 'something'. We wonder what that something could be and assume it's the 3rd year, because we think we're offering the whole MLE,like everyone else, while in fact we're not. Then the Spurs decide to go after Dice and keep both Dice and Blair and Sheed comes up with a stupid quote from his press conf. about the Spurs offer.

[GSH]

Blair getting 3 years at more than league minimum is proof positive that the Spurs had some MLE left over. There's only 4 ways you can add 2nd round draft picks to your team.

1. Cap room, which we know the Spurs did not have.
2. Minimum salary exception, which we know the Spurs did not use because Blair got more than the minimum.
3. The LLE, which can only be 2 years in length.
4. The MLE.

I didn't say I understand what they've done, just that there is nothing to indicate that McDyess got less than the full MLE for this season.

We have seemingly conflicting reports. One shows McDyess with the full MLE for 3 years, and another shows Blair with a 3-year deal. I can't see any way that both of those can be true.

[SpursFan8179]

So when does his Jersey come out then?

[koriwhat]

man yall missed out on his debut if you didn't catch it.

[BOHOLANO#21]

There is no scale for 2nd round picks.

yup.

[BOHOLANO#21]

So when does his Jersey come out then?

pretty soon. i already got my #24 jefferson yesterday from FEDEX. blair next

[completely deck]

So when does his Jersey come out then?

At the presser, whenever that is

[jb4g]

Great to hear. Now Blair can get back to work in cleaning that glass and making all the teams that passed on him to cringe. I can imagine the conversations of the other GMs, "Of all the teams he had to fall to, not the damn Spurs!"
Lets hope he has a good healthy 3 years of domination.
If this is what was required to sign him and Dice, then I am glad we did not get Sheed.

lol, im sure more than a few teams have had that thought since the draft. I recall how fast the Spurs got the pick in on draft night, the nba guy had barely finished calling out the previous pick's name, let alone walk off the stage and the Spurs had already phoned it in. That had to have gotten the attention of some other teams, you could tell the Spurs were elated to get him.

Grizzly Blair FTW!

[coyotes_geek]

I didn't say I understand what they've done, just that there is nothing to indicate that McDyess got less than the full MLE for this season.

We have seemingly conflicting reports. One shows McDyess with the full MLE for 3 years, and another shows Blair with a 3-year deal. I can't see any way that both of those can be true.

Here's what I think the Spurs did. A 3 year deal starting at full MLE, totalling $15 mil with a partial guaranteed 3yrd year would look like this.:

Yr 1 - $5.854
Yr 2 - $6.322
Yr 3 - $2.824 (the guaranteed portion only)
Total - $15.000

But the Spurs could have told Dyess they needed to save some of that MLE for Blair and then offered him a 3 year deal starting at something less than the MLE that would still net him the $15 mil over the 3 years. That would look like this:

Yr 1 - $4.630
Yr 2 - $5.000
Yr 3 - $5.370
Total - $15.000

This would save the Spurs around $1.2 mil of their MLE and guarantee Dyess his $15 mil, but Dyess would be taking a hit in years 1 and 2. However the CBA allows teams to take 20% of the contract value and pay that in the first year as a signing bonus. I won't get into all the mumbo jumbo on how all that works but you can read about it here. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q62

What it ends up working out to is that Dyess would actually be cashing checks as follows.:

Yr 1 - $6.630
Yr 2 - $4.000
Yr 3 - $4.370
Total - $15.000

Even though Dyess would end up recieving more money in the 1st year than the actual MLE, it works because the CBA states that a player's cap figure is equal to the amount he earns, not the amount he gets paid. There's a distinction here because Dyess is in essence getting paid money in the 1st year that he hasn't actually earned yet. But he doesn't care and the Spurs are okay with it because it allows them to save some of their MLE. It's win-win. This couldn't have happened without Dyess agreeing to it so we owe him our thanks.

[Marcus Bryant]

s yeah. Blair will be paid well in 2012 as $30 million comes off the cap.

Of course, $22 mil of that will be TD.

[vander]

Thank you. He is really worth far more than the money given.

this

[MB20]

Here's what I think the Spurs did. A 3 year deal starting at full MLE, totalling $15 mil with a partial guaranteed 3yrd year would look like this.:

Yr 1 - $5.854
Yr 2 - $6.322
Yr 3 - $2.824 (the guaranteed portion only)
Total - $15.000

But the Spurs could have told Dyess they needed to save some of that MLE for Blair and then offered him a 3 year deal starting at something less than the MLE that would still net him the $15 mil over the 3 years. That would look like this:

Yr 1 - $4.630
Yr 2 - $5.000
Yr 3 - $5.370
Total - $15.000

This would save the Spurs around $1.2 mil of their MLE and guarantee Dyess his $15 mil, but Dyess would be taking a hit in years 1 and 2. However the CBA allows teams to take 20% of the contract value and pay that in the first year as a signing bonus. I won't get into all the mumbo jumbo on how all that works but you can read about it here. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q62

What it ends up working out to is that Dyess would actually be cashing checks as follows.:

Yr 1 - $6.630
Yr 2 - $4.000
Yr 3 - $4.370
Total - $15.000

Even though Dyess would end up recieving more money in the 1st year than the actual MLE, it works because the CBA states that a player's cap figure is equal to the amount he earns, not the amount he gets paid. There's a distinction here because Dyess is in essence getting paid money in the 1st year that he hasn't actually earned yet. But he doesn't care and the Spurs are okay with it because it allows them to save some of their MLE. It's win-win. This couldn't have happened without Dyess agreeing to it so we owe him our thanks.

I don´t even want to ask how much time you have spent reading the NBA rules / CAP / CBA...

[coyotes_geek]

I don´t even want to ask how much time you have spent reading the NBA rules / CAP / CBA...

More than most, less than some.

[Bruno]

Minimum salary exception, which we know the Spurs did not use because Blair got more than the minimum.

And you are only limited to 2 years with the minimum salary exception.

[urunobili]

He deserved more money than Bonner though

[Bruno]

$2.7M/3 years is a damn great deal for Spurs. The key with Blair was to lock him under a cheap contract for the longest time possible. 3 years is the perfect length for Spurs.

[Ginnoobbllee]

Brilliant deductive work.

C.S.I coyotes_geek (cool salary-cap info)

And why wouldn't Dice agree to that deal? He gets more money up front. He should actually thank Blair. The need to do Blair's contract forced the Spurs to pay Dice more up front money!

One forward thinking front office. Holt brought out the checkbook this year.

[peacemaker885]

s yeah. Blair will be paid well in 2012 as $30 million comes off the cap.

Of course, $22 mil of that will be TD.

Timmy being the great leader that he is, will choose sign for a minimum contract.....I hope..

[vander]

More than most, less than some.

so a team's cap number isn't what gets reported on Hoopshype or the like right? I thought I read that the cap hit is the average salary/year over the life of the contract and not the increasing figure.

so you wouldn't happen to know what the Spurs' actual cap # is would you?

[mountainballer]

Here's what I think the Spurs did. A 3 year deal starting at full MLE, totalling $15 mil with a partial guaranteed 3yrd year would look like this.:

Yr 1 - $5.854
Yr 2 - $6.322
Yr 3 - $2.824 (the guaranteed portion only)
Total - $15.000

But the Spurs could have told Dyess they needed to save some of that MLE for Blair and then offered him a 3 year deal starting at something less than the MLE that would still net him the $15 mil over the 3 years. That would look like this:

Yr 1 - $4.630
Yr 2 - $5.000
Yr 3 - $5.370
Total - $15.000

This would save the Spurs around $1.2 mil of their MLE and guarantee Dyess his $15 mil, but Dyess would be taking a hit in years 1 and 2. However the CBA allows teams to take 20% of the contract value and pay that in the first year as a signing bonus. I won't get into all the mumbo jumbo on how all that works but you can read about it here. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q62

What it ends up working out to is that Dyess would actually be cashing checks as follows.:

Yr 1 - $6.630
Yr 2 - $4.000
Yr 3 - $4.370
Total - $15.000

Even though Dyess would end up recieving more money in the 1st year than the actual MLE, it works because the CBA states that a player's cap figure is equal to the amount he earns, not the amount he gets paid. There's a distinction here because Dyess is in essence getting paid money in the 1st year that he hasn't actually earned yet. But he doesn't care and the Spurs are okay with it because it allows them to save some of their MLE. It's win-win. This couldn't have happened without Dyess agreeing to it so we owe him our thanks.

jesus, CG, most people can't even differentiate between cap and lux tax threshold. I fear you just blew some peoples cerebellar.

btw. what about this:
Dice got 5 million straight, which would leave 850K of the MLE.
considering the allowed pay rise Blair could get 850 + 920 + 990, this sums up to slightly above the reported 2.7M.
(Dice could get 5.0+5.4+5.8 = 16.2 million)

[ElNono]

Happy should be extremely Happy with that deal.

[bigdog]

Good deal for both sides. Pretty obvious that if the details of the contract are accurate, that the Spurs had some MLE money leftover.

[GSH]

What it ends up working out to is that Dyess would actually be cashing checks as follows.:

Yr 1 - $6.630
Yr 2 - $4.000
Yr 3 - $4.370
Total - $15.000

Even though Dyess would end up recieving more money in the 1st year than the actual MLE, it works because the CBA states that a player's cap figure is equal to the amount he earns, not the amount he gets paid. There's a distinction here because Dyess is in essence getting paid money in the 1st year that he hasn't actually earned yet. But he doesn't care and the Spurs are okay with it because it allows them to save some of their MLE. It's win-win. This couldn't have happened without Dyess agreeing to it so we owe him our thanks.

That only works if the third year is fully guaranteed, but it's the only scenario that makes sense. Which means the report on prosportstransactions is just wrong. It happens, I guess.

There's no reason McDyess wouldn't have agreed to getting a bigger chunk of the money up front. It's worth more to him, just on the time value of the money. It's probably better to say that he owes Blair his thanks.

If that's all correct, a fully guaranteed third year is going to cost the team down the road, though. Assuming he really only intends to play 2 more seasons, as has been reported, that partially guaranteed third would have made him more of a trade asset. Fully guaranteed, no team can trade for him and then cut him to clear half the salary. And he won't be taking a buyout, because he won't be able to make up the money by playing somewhere else. This is turning out to be one of an expensive season.

I hope Blair appreciates getting a championship ring in his rookie season.

[coyotes_geek]

so a team's cap number isn't what gets reported on Hoopshype or the like right? I thought I read that the cap hit is the average salary/year over the life of the contract and not the increasing figure.

so you wouldn't happen to know what the Spurs' actual cap # is would you?

The salaries that show up on the websites are the cap numbers and the cap hit is not just an average.

Not sure what the Spurs actual cap number is yet.