NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 11/9/12

Larry Coon the noted author of the CBAFAQ, will answer your Salary Cap and Collective Bargaining Agreement questions. Larry will answers your questions about the Salary Cap, NBA trades and the new CBA at 3:00pm

  1. Jim in Cyber Space

    I know it’s early..But K-Mart, (expiring contract} looks like a nice replacement for Harden. Multiple draft choices, salary cap flexibility again.

    That’s why I think Presti is a Genius. It’s easier/cost effective to replace Harden than it is Ibaka.

  2. Greg

    You say the Lakers have not hired you. Why?

    • Larry Coon

      I’m too expensive.

      But on the flip side, I could share Kobe’s helicopter from OC for the commute.

  3. Nate NotMcMillan

    Is there anything CBA related with coaching searches within staffs at other teams?

    If not, what are the restrictions with hiring a coach from another team’s coaching staff?

    • Larry Coon

      They would need to get permission to talk to anyone under contract with another team, and if they want to hire the person, the other team would need to let that person out of his contract.

  4. Wendy

    so… Nate McMillan? SVG? JVG? Jerry Sloan? Third-coming of Phil? Player-Coach Kobe?!?

    • Larry Coon

      I’d say Phil would be the logical first choice even though I have reservations about him coming in mid-season.

      Jerry Sloan would be the best fit. D’Antoni would be a worse fit, but is big-name enough that he’d have to be considered. McMillan would be next (I actually think he’d be an outstanding choice for the Clippers, but the team is too cheap to pay his rate). I don’t think either VG is under real consideration.

  5. Chris

    Now that Mike Brown is out as head coach after the 1-4 start, is crapping the Princeton next on the agenda? Separately, Gasol seems a step even slower this year, would moving him to a team where he could play center full time in exchange for a more defensive oriented PF like Varejao work?

    • Larry Coon

      I think those are two good points.

      The whole point of the Princeton is that it was designed to help teams compensate for a lack of talent. On the other hand, the triangle is a derivative of the Princeton, and it’s certainly had success in the NBA… Bottom line is that they need an offense that’s going to be a good fit for the players on the floor, and one that takes the ball out of Steve Nash’s hands so much might be the epitome of a bad fit.

      As for Pau, I also think he’s probably better off now as a center than a power forward. But at this point I’d say to wait and see who the next coach is, and see what he can get out of Gasol.

  6. Carey Adams

    Will the Lakers seriously consider D’Antoni even though he can’t coach until mid-December due to recent knee surgery?

    • Larry Coon

      One could also note that Nash probably can’t play until mid-December either. :-)

      That said, is a D’Antoni system the best fit for the Lakers current roster, given their age?

  7. Nathaniel

    Minimum team salary next year is 90% of cap, yes? If so, the Cavs are quite far from that number so it would seem they have to make a move to take on salary this year since it is always hard to get FA’s to Cleveland. Are there other teams in this situation and if so will there be intense competition to take on bad contracts?

    • Larry Coon

      Next year? Yes. It’s 85% this year, or $49.337 million. The Cavs are currently committed to about $47.67 million, so they are a little below this year’s limit too. Next year, assuming the cap is $60 million, the minimum salary will be about $54 million. There are a lot of teams with lower payrolls, but teams for the most part don’t have any trouble getting above the minimum when they have to. This includes Sacramento, who made a panic trade to take on additional salary a couple years ago when they technically didn’t need to.

      By the way, if a team DOES finish below the minimum payroll at the end of the season, it’s not really a big deal. They’re just surcharged for the difference, and that money is given to the team’s current players.

  8. bob

    So will Jerry Sloan earn a ring this year?

    • Larry Coon

      I think he’d be my first choice to replace Mike Brown. He’d probably be the best fit for the current roster, and would get the most out of Nash & Howard.

      D’Antoni & Phil Jackson have to be considered candidates. Brian Shaw has to be considered a dark horse as well, although I don’t know if the team has requested permission from Indiana to talk to him, and I don’t know if he’s a big enough name right now. A lot of this has to do with placating the angry mob in Los Angeles.

  9. Park Barkley

    Do you think it takes a different skill set to get the most out of good players vs. getting the most out of marginal players? Who do you think is the best Phil Jackson type of coach available? Who would you want between Jerry Sloan and Mike D’Antoni?

    • Larry Coon

      Absolutely. Case in point: Phil Jackson took over for both Del Harris and Doug Collins, and won with teams the others couldn’t win with. I think the best Phil Jackson type of coach available is Phil Jackson. Phil would also have the advantage of having Kobe Bryant’s respect, and a good relationship with him.

      Between Sloan and D’Antoni, I’d want Sloan. Easy choice.

  10. SatBchMagicer

    Hi Larry, Hypothetical: Quentin Richardson was cut by ORL late Oct. 2012, he has(all $ figures rounded to nearest thousand) $2,627K salary guaranteed for 12/13, if some team were to sign him to a ‘rest of season’ contract for a ’10+ year vet minimum’ rate(=$1,352K)(NBA league portion=$498K?) how and who would be paying him his salary? Let’s just say this happened ‘at beginning of 12/13 season(to ignore ‘fractions’).

    • Larry Coon

      It depends on whether the Magic waived their right of set-off. Let’s assume they haven’t, and that, as you say, another team signs him for one year at the minimum. The new team pays him the two-year vet minimum, the league pays the difference between the 10-year vet minimum and the two-year vet minimum, and the Magic pays him $2.627 million, minus half the difference between $2.627 million and the one-year vet minimum. Simple, huh?

  11. Chris

    Question Again.

    How can the heat get either Milsap and or Al? Is that possible.

    7 game series?
    Heat vs Lakers?
    Thunder vs Lakers?

    Thank you so much!

    • Larry Coon

      I expect Millsap to stay where he is. As for AI, which one are you talking about?

      I think the Thunder match up better against the Lakers than the Heat do. If you look at the predictions on ESPN.com, I’m on record picking the Lakers to win it all.

  12. ali

    Could the Lakers get permission to talk to Rick Adelman?

  13. Tim

    How long do you think it will take the Lakers to name a new head coach?

    • Larry Coon

      I saw on Twitter (sorry, I don’t remember who it was from, so I can’t properly attribute, except for this general nod to whomever it was from) that the Lakers dumped Brown before putting together their short list. And from Dave McMenamin just now, the Lakers plan to interview four or five coaches and are saying it will be a quick process. I assume someone will be in place by early next week.

  14. Carey Adams

    Could Sloan withstand the relentless L.A. media though? He had it pretty quiet in Salt Lake for years. I’m not sure this is his cup of tea.

    • Larry Coon

      But he could drive his tractor to the Lakers’ practice facility. Would be much more interesting than Brown’s Audi.

  15. Alex

    Is a Sloan flex system the best fit for the Lakers current roster, given their age and brittleness? Could Nash handle setting the screens? Can Kobe keep up the constant movement to roll off the screens? Also, I don’t see Sloan and the former Artest doing well together.

    • Larry Coon

      I think Sloan would be perfectly capable of adapting to the strengths of his personnel…while at the same time instilling some of the tenacity that he showed as a player and which his teams showed when he was a coach.

      As for his personality…if there is anything keeping him from taking the job, it’d be all the, um, ancillary issues that come with the job. But I don’t think he & Metta would be a problem, actually. Andrew Bynum, if he was still here, would be more of a problem. Of the current guys on the team, I’d say that Devin Ebanks would have the most difficult time with him.

  16. SatBchMagicer

    Larry, Your opinion: Should the Lakers have fired Brown this early in 12/13 season? Also, as long time LAL follower should he have been hired last May?

    • Larry Coon

      I thought he wasn’t the right choice in the first place. And interestingly — if you read Jim Buss’ interview from a couple days ago, he says he pushed harder than anyone for Brown’s hiring — and in the same interview made the point that he knows less about basketball than the decision makers. If you’re not as qualified to make the choice, then why are you weighing in so strongly? I thought Brian Shaw would be a better choice, but at the time the Lakers were trying to move away from any connection to Phil Jackson.

      As for the timing of the firing, because of the lockout last year there wasn’t a normal training camp or preseason. They owed Brown a “normal” camp and preseason to put in his system. But the system he put in was a desultory mess, and that goes beyond the effects of Howard’s, Nash’s and Kobe’s injuries.

  17. Shahin Ourian

    Is this a smoking gun??? That Phil’s cancelling a speaking event in Chicago, and staying here in L.A. for a bit longer???

    http://www.lakersnation.com/phil-jackson-cancels-chicago-conference-day-before-brown-firing/2012/11/09/

    • Larry Coon

      No — that’s not evidence FOR anything. It’s simply an event that you could choose to retro-fit into your pre-selected conclusion. Good evidence directly leads you TO a specific conclusion. This…could mean Phil is talking to the Lakers. Or that he has a schedule conflict. Or that he’s tired and needs some rest. Or any of a thousand other possible interpretations, each no more likely than your preferred interpretation.

  18. Shahin Ourian

    If, and I mean IF, Phil Jackson came back what kind of salary do you think he would/could command? The Lakers are in payroll hell, and he even took a paycut for that last year. What about Jerry Sloan, or Brian Shaw?

    • Larry Coon

      If the Lakers asked Phil to come back, he’d definitely want a salary commensurate with a coach of his stature and track record, and would be in a position to get it. $10 million would be a guess, but he could certainly ask for more.

      If they balk at the price, his simple response is, “look at the coach you just fired. You want someone for a discount price? That’s what you get.” Then he shows them his rings, in case they need a reminder.

  19. Alex in Burbank

    How about Larry Brown as a possible Lakers coach?

    • Larry Coon

      I don’t think he’d be the right choice.

  20. Eric

    Is the pick the Lakers-Heat swap that was conveyed to the Cavs in the Sessions deal lottery protected?

    • Larry Coon

      Here’s what the trade language says: “Cleveland has the right to swap the least favorable of their own 2013 1st round pick, Miami’s own 2013 1st round pick (top-10 protected) and Sacramento’s own 2013 1st round pick (top-13 protected) with the L.A. Lakers own 2013 first round pick (top-14 protected). If the L.A. Lakers own 2013 first round pick is #1-#14, then the L.A. Lakers’ obligation to Cleveland shall be extinguished.”