I know I'm jumping the gun a bit here, especially considering we're about to win the le, but I read the article about the collective bargaining agreement proposal that is almost done this morning and it got me thinking:
How is a raised cap going to effect the Spurs? Will all of the teams be under the cap now? Will Peter Holt stop being cheap now that the luxury tax threshhold will be much higher or will be still be a frugal bas ?
I don't know that it can do anything but help the Spurs. The Spurs have several long-term contracts that define most of the salary anyway. The additional cap space means they should have more to bring over players like Scola...have a better chance to hold on to Devin...decide if they want to give Big Dog a longer look...stuff like that.
I don't know the specifics of the new plan, but a raised cap could stand to help the Spurs, particularly if the tax benefits remain but the threshold is raised.
There's some chance, albeit a small one, that a raised cap could put the Spurs back under and give them some flexibility to make moves this off-season (particularly moves associated with locking up Nazr (if they choose to do that), re-signing Horry (if he opts-out), thinking about re-signing Robinson (though they'd still have limited funds to do so), and signing Scola).
It might also help the Spurs to deal an inflated contract to a team that suddenly has more flexibility.
The one issue that might come up is the option on Timmy's deal (which I think he can exercise in a year or two). If Tim opts-out (and I'd be shocked if he didn't), he'll be able to renegotiate. Assuming that max contracts are indexed to the overall cap, Tim's take home pay stands to go up if the cap increases. Right now, he's allowed something like 25-30% of the Spurs cap as his salary, plus 12.5% annual raises. The cap has been in the mid-40 million range. If the cap goes up to, say, 50-55 million and Tim can get 25-30% of it as a max contract, he'll make more and that means the Spurs will have to pay more.
It's a small thing, but it's out there.
do the spurs still get the MLE if they are under the new raised cap?
thanks.
The new rasied cap projections I read were at 47-50 Million. I don't think The Spurs would come under it at 47, but they would at 50 wouldn't they?
But I think the more imporant barrier is the luxury tax because we have the bird rights to anyone we want to keep on this roster at the moment with the exception of Glen Robinson.
Talking about raising the cap to $50mm don't know what luxury cap threshold is. Spurs roster looks like this:
in millions
Tim- 16
Manu-8
Tony-11
Bruce-3.1
Nazr-5
Rasho-6
Brent-4
Horry-1.3
Devin-.5
Beno-1.3
Tmass-1.3
Total= 57mm
Priorities- Resign Horry and Devin. Bring in Scola. Seems like the money is already spent. BTW, writing a 57mm check doesn't seem cheap to me.
It also depends on what they do with the "supertax"...The luxtax payments have been a big source of revenue for the Spurs...from a business standpoint they are going to want to not only avoid lux tax but keep their payroll low enough that they can still benefit from those other teams that exceed the luxtax limits...hopefully whatever this number ends up being the Spurs will be able to keep their core group together and resign/add the players they want...
Don't forget Scola and our other overseas prospects. While the Spurs may own their rights, they are not Early Bird protected...the Spurs would have to find a way to pay the ones they want to keep and do it under the cap.
Where are those numbers from?
The Supertax has been taken off the table from what I understand.
I don't think they are going to come in under that cap in any situation. Those overseas will have to be paid with the MLE. But, Holt won't exceed the cap torwards the point of the luxury tax. So the real barrier in examing who they plan on keeping is going to be that luxury tax barrier because of bird rights.
I wouldn't think so, unless they change the rules pertaining to cap exceptions at the same time.
Ant it looks like they could go under the cap if it increases substantially. The 04-05 cap was $43.87 million and the Spurs payroll was $47.149 million, so they were just barely over this year. The Spurs are currently obligated to a payroll of around $45.819 million for next season, according to hoopshype.com. If the amount of BRI dedicated to the cap goes up from 48.04% to the 51% or so that espn.com is reporting, then the cap could go up to around $47-50 million, which would put the Spurs under and deprive them of the MLE.
I thought this was about Guitar Capo's...
, thats what I was worried about. The new cap would actually hurt the Spurs and not help them if they come in under it.
The actual cap number will be irrelevant to the Spurs for years to come because we a sure to be over it. That cap number basically just affects the Spurs ability to offer free agents over the MLE to sign them. The new lux tax pay/receive numbers will be the critical numbers the Spurs will be working with. I don't think that management will let payroll exceed the point where they get a share of the tax money...
I disagree, at least in the coming off-season. I hadn't realized how close the Spurs were to the cap already, and with 7 expiring contracts (Brown, Horry, Johnson, Marks, Massenburg, Robinson, Wilks), there's a good chance, given the increased cap figure, that the Spurs will actually go under the cap again in Year 1. Even if you add in the salary of the #28 pick, if the cap goes up as much as has been reported, the Spurs will have plenty of breathing room and will likely be under for 2005-06. They'll certainly be below the threshold for a number of years to come, too, which I'm sure is music to Peter Holt's ears.
One thing to consider about being under the cap -- should that come to pass. The Spurs will have some flexibility in terms of making trades because they will be able to bring back more salary than they send out (to some extent). It might be only $2-4 million in year one, but if you could, say, deal a $6 million contract, you could, in theory at least, bring back a $10 million player. Just a thought.
Aren't "empty" slots counted at a multiplier of the league minimum for cap purposes until filled?
Memory. Duncan getting Max, Manu just resigned for 8 avg, tony just got 66 over 6 etc.
But here's what I got from USA today, notice Tony's salary will increase next year so my original numbers should be very close.
http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baske...s.aspx?team=25
Sure, but only to 12, I think. The Spurs have 8 players (Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, Mohammed, Rasho, Barry, Bowen, Udrih) under contract for next season, and will have to have a place holder for Horry, at least until he opts-out, so that's 9 spots. They'll also have a holder for the #28 pick, unless they deal it; that's 10 spots. So, they'll only have holds on 2 empty slots. The amount of those holds depends on the salary paid to the player in the previous year, with Bird FA's counting 200% and most other FA's counting 120-200% of previous salary.
The Spurs have no huge contracts to fill those slots, so even if every single last one of those guys counted at an average of around 150%, they'd still be pretty close to under the cap. Obviously, that will depend in part on what BRI ends up being for 04-05, too. If the cap gets set around $51 million, I'd be very surprised if the Spurs were under.
So it looks pretty sure that the Spurs will be out of an MLE this summer, correct? So, unless they are under enough to go after Scola, that hurts them, correct?
OK...thanks...
I guess that means that one of those empty slots would be 200% of Devin Brown's salary (Early Bird rights)...
If you're out a MLE if you're over the cap.
I think that's right, travis. Don't take me as gospel on this.
The more I think about the nuances of the cap structure, the more I'm convinced that the Spurs might just barely be over when the summer rolls around. That would probably be good news for those who've counted on the MLE as a means to sign Scola, while using Bird rights on guys like Devin.
Fromwaydowntown,
Why is it on hoopshype they don't include tony parkers salary as committed for next year?
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