Salary Cap questions

[otherdave]

These questions are probably for Saltlover, Ryan B and the like:

Keith Smith (on this site) has a great article breaking down options for the C's given the new $101 salary cap estimate for this summer.  But it generated a few follow up questions:

1.  He makes the case for creating additional cap room by releasing/waiving D Jackson (1.3 mil salary vs a 815 K replacement slot holder), but doesn't Jackson's guarantee of 650,000 count against the cap even if he is cut, so keeping him and his unguaranteed portion of 734,750 is actually a savings compared to the $815,615 slot hold amount, right?

2. He includes cap holds for the Nets first round pick this year and our last year's first round picks Ante and Gabu at the 2017-2018 rookie scale amounts under the new CBA at the slot that they were drafted at (he is assuming this year's pick will be the #1 pick).  He is using 120% of the slot amount, which of course is the $ amount that they will actually be signed at.  Here is my question:  for cap hold calculations do you use the 120% figure or the 100% amount.  Larry Coon's FAQ (although for the old CBA) is vague on this (or I am easily confused but Larry's great website - which I am). Which is the correct percent to use?

3. In Larry's site, question #25 he talks about a first round rookie exception:

"ROOKIE EXCEPTION -- Teams may sign their first round draft picks to rookie "scale" contracts even if they will be over the cap as a result (see question number 49)."

So if there is a "rookie exception" why do all the cap experts include a cap hold for 1st round picks in their cap calculation what if scenarios?  I am sure I am misinterpreting again, but help me out here.


Thanks in advance, TP's to follow...

[TheSundanceKid]

1. Yes you're correct. A few of us have mentioned it to him in a few articles now. He just changes his argument... Apparently now it's about opening up the extra roster spot.. basically he won't admit a mistake but it's cheaper to keep Jackson.

2. That loophole was shut in the new CBA. Teams now have to use the 120% figure. This was because almost all players were being signed to it anyway and teams were using the smaller 100% cap hold to create the extra space. Sometimes this disadvantages the rookie.

Not sure about 3 I'm afraid

[BitterJim]

Sundance is right about 1 and 2. Trading Jackson would save a bit of money, but cutting him makes no sense.

As for #3, it's just a bit of nit picking about what an exception is: the NBA has a salary cap, and you can only go over it using an exception. Some of these have associated cap holds (Bird/Early Bird Exceptions, Rookie Scale Exception, Minimum Contract Exception when you have less than 13 players on the roster), and some don't (Mid-Level Exception, Biannual Exception). So, you can go over the cap to sign rookies, but you can't use the space they will take up to sign someone else. It's really only an exception if you're over the cap before signing them (ie over the cap before the draft even starts or after exercising someone's Bird Rights), but the cap hold is there as soon as you use the pick (ie before free agency)

[otherdave]

Thanks guys   TP's for all.

Those answers were really helpful.  I go to Larry Coon's site frequently, but I do find it difficult to interpret.  BitterJim - that's what I needed to see in writing

 "Some of these have associated cap holds (Bird/Early Bird Exceptions, Rookie Scale Exception, Minimum Contract Exception when you have less than 13 players on the roster), and some don't (Mid-Level Exception, Biannual Exception)."

Hopefully, I've got it now, and if you think about it, it makes sense why some exceptions have associated cap holds and some don't.

I wonder when Larry will update his site to include the new CBA.

[saltlover]

Thanks guys   TP's for all.

Those answers were really helpful.  I go to Larry Coon's site frequently, but I do find it difficult to interpret.  BitterJim - that's what I needed to see in writing

 "Some of these have associated cap holds (Bird/Early Bird Exceptions, Rookie Scale Exception, Minimum Contract Exception when you have less than 13 players on the roster), and some don't (Mid-Level Exception, Biannual Exception)."

Hopefully, I've got it now, and if you think about it, it makes sense why some exceptions have associated cap holds and some don't.

I wonder when Larry will update his site to include the new CBA.

He has said it should be updated in May.  The CBA is about 600 pages long, and there have been a lot of changes this time.  It takes a lot of time to distill such a large document into about a 40 page web document.