There Is Only One NBA Team In Cap Hell. (Darn Amnesty Clause)

[JSD]

That is the Brooklyn Nets. Every other team is either under the cap this off-season or has could easily get under the cap through trades. It is maddening to me because I feel like the Amnesty Clause punished the Celtics for being fiscally responsible.

Teams that DID NOT exercise this option should have been rewarded in some way!

[Moranis]

Brooklyn
Orlando
Portland
Washington
Toronto

All teams already over the cap next year that aren't getting great value for their dollar.

Boston and the Lakers could certainly be in that position as well depending on how this off season shakes out.

Golden State and Denver are both already above 72 million for next year.  It would appear they will both be very good, but you just never know with their franchises.

[CFAN38]

That's a really good point that teams that didn't have to use amnesty clause should be rewarded or at least those who did use it should be punished. Nothing crazy but maybe to use the amnesty you have to give up your 2nd rd pick in the next draft. Or teams that don't use it gain a end of 2nd rd pick. Not huge value but at least a little something.

[JSD]

Brooklyn
Orlando
Portland
Washington
Toronto

Brooklyn - cap hell.

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

Washington - Yes, $5 million over the cap, even after using their Amnesty on Blatche. But they have $21 million in expiring contracts coming off the books after next season and Wall still on his rookie scale. Even Nene at $13 million x 3 seasons could easily be traded. Far from cap hell.

Toronto - $5 Million over the cap but not locked in to any long term contracts and all of their players are tradable if for nothing more than cap space. Far from cap hell.


If not for the Amnesty Clause, 3 of the 4 teams you just listed WOULD be in cap hell.

[JSD]

That's a really good point that teams that didn't have to use amnesty clause should be rewarded or at least those who did use it should be punished. Nothing crazy but maybe to use the amnesty you have to give up your 2nd rd pick in the next draft. Or teams that don't use it gain a end of 2nd rd pick. Not huge value but at least a little something.

I think there is way more value in getting a bad contract off the books than a 2nd round pick. 

[Cman]

That is the Brooklyn Nets. Every other team is either under the cap this off-season or has could easily get under the cap through trades. It is maddening to me because I feel like the Amnesty Clause punished the Celtics for being fiscally responsible.

Teams that DID NOT exercise this option should have been rewarded in some way!

I love this idea, but I think the time has passed, and we just lick our wounds and move forward.

[BballTim]

Brooklyn
Orlando
Portland
Washington
Toronto

All teams already over the cap next year that aren't getting great value for their dollar.

Boston and the Lakers could certainly be in that position as well depending on how this off season shakes out.

Golden State and Denver are both already above 72 million for next year.  It would appear they will both be very good, but you just never know with their franchises.

  You're talking cap or luxury tax?

[indeedproceed]

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Arenas expires after next season anyways. Regardless of their amnesty, they won't be in a position to sign a major FA until 2014.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

They amnesty'd Roy, but Roy retired. He would've come off the books regardless (and I think he also stopped himself from receiving any substantial payout officially from Portland this season by not playing enough games)..but i might've fever-dreamed that.

I guess I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The reward for not using the amnesty clause is that the owners aren't paying someone tens of millions of dollars not to show up, right?

[Evantime34]

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Arenas expires after next season anyways. Regardless of their amnesty, they won't be in a position to sign a major FA until 2014.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

They amnesty'd Roy, but Roy retired. He would've come off the books regardless (and I think he also stopped himself from receiving any substantial payout officially from Portland this season by not playing enough games)..but i might've fever-dreamed that.

I guess I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The reward for not using the amnesty clause is that the owners aren't paying someone tens of millions of dollars not to show up, right?

He's upset because in the old NBA Pierce's non guaranteed deal would have brought a lot more in return due to the cap space it would save. Now his contract (not the player but strictly his contract) loses value.

[JSD]

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Arenas expires after next season anyways. Regardless of their amnesty, they won't be in a position to sign a major FA until 2014.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

They amnesty'd Roy, but Roy retired. He would've come off the books regardless (and I think he also stopped himself from receiving any substantial payout officially from Portland this season by not playing enough games)..but i might've fever-dreamed that.

I guess I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The reward for not using the amnesty clause is that the owners aren't paying someone tens of millions of dollars not to show up, right?

If the Amnesty Clause had not existed teams would have been punished for their mistakes by having to give up assets to erase them or suffer from inactivity in the marketplace.

For example, in December of 2011, the Pacers got rid of a bad contract in James Posey and signed David West. If the Amnesty were not an option would they have outbid us for his services? It is a legitimate argument. And that's just one example.

[JSD]

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Arenas expires after next season anyways. Regardless of their amnesty, they won't be in a position to sign a major FA until 2014.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

They amnesty'd Roy, but Roy retired. He would've come off the books regardless (and I think he also stopped himself from receiving any substantial payout officially from Portland this season by not playing enough games)..but i might've fever-dreamed that.

I guess I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The reward for not using the amnesty clause is that the owners aren't paying someone tens of millions of dollars not to show up, right?

He's upset because in the old NBA Pierce's non guaranteed deal would have brought a lot more in return due to the cap space it would save. Now his contract (not the player but strictly his contract) loses value.

Yes, and this too, that's exactly right. Also, don't forget about KG and Allen's contracts expiring last season. Who knows what they could have been worth had the league not punished teams for sound judgement.

[Boris Badenov]

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Arenas expires after next season anyways. Regardless of their amnesty, they won't be in a position to sign a major FA until 2014.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

They amnesty'd Roy, but Roy retired. He would've come off the books regardless (and I think he also stopped himself from receiving any substantial payout officially from Portland this season by not playing enough games)..but i might've fever-dreamed that.

I guess I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The reward for not using the amnesty clause is that the owners aren't paying someone tens of millions of dollars not to show up, right?

He's upset because in the old NBA Pierce's non guaranteed deal would have brought a lot more in return due to the cap space it would save. Now his contract (not the player but strictly his contract) loses value.

IP is onto something, you probably cannot attribute much of the current economic situation to the amnesty clause. Many of those deals would have been off the books for various reasons anyway by now.

Here is the complete list of teams and contracts that will save money in 2013-14 due to the amnesty clause:

Outlaw BKN $4m
Haywood DAL $7m
Andersen DEN $4.5m
Scola HOU $6m
Arenas ORL $22m
Childress PHO $7m
Roy POR $18m
Blatche WAS $8m

If you allow for Roy's retiring, as far as I can tell the only teams who gain cap room due to amnesty are:

DAL
HOU
ORL
PHO(?)

Doesn't seem like a real game-changer to me.

http://www.nba.com/news/amnesty-tracker-2012/index.html

http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm

[nickagneta]

How are the Lakers, Clippers and Knicks not in luxury tax hell?

The Lakers are not amnestying Kobe. They start next year at $79 million without Howard signed. The Clips start at about $44 million with just 7 players on the payroll and Chris Paul unsigned. New York is at $77 million now with only the option to amnesty Amar'e.

And because all the teams paid massive luxury tax this year they get the small MLE and no signing and trading for a player.

[indeedproceed]

Orlando - $7 Million under the cap with Hedo's $12 Million expiring after next season. Used Amnesty Clause on Gilbert Arenas saving them $22 Million in cap space. Far from cap hell.

Arenas expires after next season anyways. Regardless of their amnesty, they won't be in a position to sign a major FA until 2014.

Portland - $17 Million under the cap with Aldridge, Batum and Matthews on good value contracts. Used Amnesty on Brandon Roy giving them their cap space. Far from cap hell.

They amnesty'd Roy, but Roy retired. He would've come off the books regardless (and I think he also stopped himself from receiving any substantial payout officially from Portland this season by not playing enough games)..but i might've fever-dreamed that.

I guess I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The reward for not using the amnesty clause is that the owners aren't paying someone tens of millions of dollars not to show up, right?

If the Amnesty Clause had not existed teams would have been punished for their mistakes by having to give up assets to erase them or suffer from inactivity in the marketplace.

For example, in December of 2011, the Pacers got rid of a bad contract in James Posey and signed David West. If the Amnesty were not an option would they have outbid us for his services? It is a legitimate argument. And that's just one example.

I guess I see what you're getting at, but like I said..not needing to use the amnesty provision isn't someone that requires additional reward. The reward is not having a contract so bad on your books that you're willing to pay them to stay home.

[European NBA fan]

How are the Lakers, Clippers and Knicks not in luxury tax hell?

The Lakers are not amnestying Kobe. They start next year at $79 million without Howard signed. The Clips start at about $44 million with just 7 players on the payroll and Chris Paul unsigned. New York is at $77 million now with only the option to amnesty Amar'e.

And because all the teams paid massive luxury tax this year they get the small MLE and no signing and trading for a player.

The Knicks used the amnesty on Billups, so they are definitely in hell already, since Amar'e is untradable.