NBA Salary Cap Chat With Larry Coon 9/14/12

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. Eric123

    I’ve read that the Spurs have acknowledge there not as good defensively as they were in the past (when they were winning championships). In addition to trading for Leonard, do you think that in the near future the org. would look to add more defensive minded youth? Thanks for your time!

    • Larry Coon

      Yeah, the reset will be coming in San Antonio, since Duncan is 36 and not nearly the player he was, Ginobili is 35, and even Tony Parker is 30. Pop has a system that has served them well for many years, and I’m sure he’ll continue to load up on young guys who are capable of playing specific roles and understand those roles very well.

  2. Jay

    If Chicago cut ties with Boozer after this season (which I don’t expect them to) how much cap space will they have and can they make a run at Harden

    • Larry Coon

      As of right now, Chicago is $11.5 million over the cap for 2013-14 with eight players signed. (It’s potentially less because of Rip Hamilton’s guarantee.)

      Just for the sake of argument, if the Bulls didn’t sign anyone else past this season (a pretty safe bet, since they’re so close to their hard cap), and amnesty Boozer next summer, they’d shed $15.3 million from their team salary, they’d be about $5.8 million under a projected $60 million cap. Not enough for a premier free agent.

  3. john

    if lebron and wade is 1a and 1b shouldnt jordan and pippen be 1a and 1b?? pippen is at least as good as wade.

    • Larry Coon

      I think shoehorning players into some contrived classification hurts your ability to look at them objectively, and causes you to miss nuance.

  4. Colin Miller

    If the Pacers round out their roster with Sam Young and Sundiata Gaines, while cutting Blake Ahearn, will they be under the cap.

    • Larry Coon

      The Pacers are $9.87 million over the cap right now, and Ahern’s on the books for $854 thousand — so no.

  5. Claudio Rueda

    If Lakers keeps his core and had a payroll of 105-110 M in 13/14 season how much they´ll pay in taxes? I´m fine with an aproximation. Thanks Mr. Coon

    • Larry Coon

      If the tax threshold is $73 million in 2013-14 (which is what the league is projecting), a $105 million payroll would mean $94.5 million in tax. A $110 million payroll would mean $119.25 million in tax.

  6. Oran

    What are the chances Lakers pick up Barbosa? Anyone else on thier radar for the upcoming season that you think would help?

    • Larry Coon

      I think the Lakers are pretty much done, except for camp invites.

  7. Chris Lucas (Wash DC)

    In the midst of the cold war Big Three Model – Do you see any medium or small market team that has the draft picks, player potential, and cap room to sneak up as the next OKC Thunder?

    • Larry Coon

      Doing what OKC did requires having good draft picks as raw materials, drafting extremely well over several years, and enjoying the fruits of your labor as these players mature at the same time. It also depends to some extent on luck — having a franchise-level player available for you to draft (there are plenty of drafts that lacked that kind of talent). Therefore it’s hard to predict which team will be able to follow in Sam Presti’s footsteps.

  8. Kevin Gotim

    If Biedrins agreed to his, could Golden State buyout Biedrins remaining $18M by paying him $9M, if he agreed to waive his player option of $9M for next year? Would the $9M buyout be spread over 2 years or would it all hit this year’s cap? Biedrins would then sign for 2 years, $4.5M a year, with another team.

    • Larry Coon

      Assuming Biedrins plans to sign somewhere for the 2014-15 season, he’d be giving up money in the long run. Why does he agree to do that?

      But to answer your question, since Biedrins has an ETO for 2013-14 and not a player option, if he’s waived (for example, in a buyout), then his protected salary will be split across two years.

  9. Diehardceltic

    Why aren’t the celtics considered a big threat to the nba title. There the only team that has proven they can beat Miami. Teams like lakers and thunder especially lakers haven’t yet their considered such big threats to Miami.

    • Larry Coon

      Their current configuration — sans Ray Allen — hasn’t proven anything either. Rather than relying on past results which may not be analogous to the current situation, it’s better to look at the teams as currently constructed to determine who’s a threat to beat whom — and I think the Lakers, as currently constructed, match up against the Heat very well.

  10. Ned Riddles

    What is the $ figure that James Harden will get on extension with OKC? How much tax will they be paying?

    • Larry Coon

      Hard to say what he’ll get, but reports are out there that he’s looking for the max.

  11. Chris Lucas (Wash DC)

    Thank god we got rid of Andray Blatche. September 12 should be a government holiday in DC from now on.

    • Larry Coon

      Didn’t work out in DC, but he’s still got potential and may mature & develop into a good player still. Hopefully he gets that chance in Brooklyn.

  12. Charlie

    The teams I currently have missing the playoffs in the East are: 9) Milwaukee 10) Toronto 11) Washington 12) Cleveland 13) Detroit 14) Orlando 15) Charlotte. Of the teams listed, if you could choose 1 team to move up in the standings and 1 team to move down in my standings, who would they be and why?

    • Larry Coon

      I have the same seven teams missing the playoffs in the East. I’ll be interested to see what happens in Washington — the combination of Wall, Nene, Okafor, Beal, Ariza, along with Booker, Singleton & Seraphin, could move up if things fall together the right way.

      Who can move down? Chicago has a lot of question marks right now, although I don’t know if they miss the playoffs even if Rose comes back gimpy.

  13. David

    Can I get a link to download your CBA FAQ?

  14. Warriors Fan

    Can you please answer this question. How can warriors get rid of Andris Biedrins and gaining financially and cap flexibility to perhaps sign another backup C.

    • Larry Coon

      That’s the thing with signing big, long-term deals. If the player doesn’t hold his value, you’re stuck with his contract.

  15. Pablo

    Yesterday, Broussard reported that Harden could be offered a backloaded contract by some other team in case he hits restricted free agency in November. This is incorrect, isn’t it? Also, why would OKC pay max to Harden now and not wait until next summer?

    • Larry Coon

      If you mean “backloaded” as in the kind of offers Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik and Landry Fields got, the answer is no. Those players were signed per the “Gilbert Arenas” provision, which restricts the salary in the first two years of an offer sheet, but allows a substantial increase starting in the third season. But the Arenas provision only applies to players with one or two years’ experience — Harden will have four. As a free agent he could only get a standard offer sheet from other teams — max salary (for a 0-6 year player) with 4.5 percent raises, for four years.

  16. Mohamed

    I know the following isn’t a salary cap question but why do people think that the spurs have been in some sorts relegated into the tier 2 teams of the Clippers,Grizzles and nuggets. I mean if either Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka don’t go 18/20 in game 4 or Durant going for 18 in the fourth quarter, the spurs win that game and take a 3-1 lead and probably win that series. Plus the improvement of Leonard who grew substantially last season and having a normal season in which you basically don’t play 6 games in 10 days plus you’ll have Stephen Jackson for a full year can all add up to one last run. Can’t it?

    • Larry Coon

      A lot of “ifs” lead to your conclusion. I wasn’t expecting the win streak they had last year, but I WAS expecting them to have a very good season and go deep in the playoffs. But they’re an older team, and the more time passes, the less likely they will be to repeat that feat.

      I think they’ll have a good season this season — I think their ceiling is around 58 wins in the regular season. But LA and OKC are both improved — LA with personnel and OKC with added experience & maturity — and I don’t see the Spurs getting past either one in the playoffs this year.

  17. Leo

    Can the Lakers buy out Duhon? Or trade him after Oct 10th along w Goudelock somewhere? Barbosa is much better than Blake or Duhon

    Thank you!

    • Larry Coon

      I like the idea of Bargosa coming off the bench as a change-of-pace guard for the Lakers. That said, I think it’s much more likely that they take a look at what they have with Blake & Duhon in the Princeton offense, and decide from there.

  18. Paul Newton

    What are the Rockets plans for filling up their remaining cap space

    • Larry Coon

      They’re only $2 million under the cap right now, and they have 19 players on the roster. I think they’ll see what they have in training camp, and once the roster sorts itself out they’ll be in a good position to bring in some talent that other teams want to move. No sense giving up their cap flexibility right now, since they’re building up around youth right now.

  19. Kipmoney

    With the new CBA rules it seems as though resticted free agents have become more attainable than unrestricted ones in free agency…what max player is turning down the extra year and money? You aggree?

    • Larry Coon

      Your question was a little self-contradictory — you say RFAs are more attainable, but the player only gets the extra year and money by staying with his original team.

      That said, they did give teams a little more of a home field advantage with their restricted free agents (in the form of reductions to signing bonuses and advance salary), but teams can still do a lot to make it uncomfortable for other teams. One of the big things is the progressive tax — in general, if a team has a low enough team salary that they can make a max offer to a free agent, then they’re probably not in any danger of paying tax — or at least, not very much. For the team determining whether or not to match an offer, their payroll can potentially already be much higher, and a daunting tax could be a real consideration. This is probably the biggest factor in making RFAs more obtainable than they were under the last CBA.

  20. Larry Coon

    I haven’t heard anything about the Knicks & Martin, but I don’t keep my ear to the ground on rumors as much as others do — Steve Kyler or Eric Pincus would be better guys to ask that question.

    I have the two teams fairly close — the Nets at 55 games and the Knicks at 51, but that’s mainly due to factoring in the uncertainty with guys like Stoudemire and Kidd. I think the Nets have a greater likelihood of staying healthy and productive.