Knicks Salary Cap Thread and FAQs: 2010-Still a Fan: 2011 page 12- Ari

[still a fan]

Knicks Salary Cap Situation and FAQs: 2010
by Still a Fan: April 17, 2010

Back by popular demand 2nd Annual Salary Cap Thread and FAQs. We will look at the state of the Knick’s cap and try to answer everything you ever wanted to know about the collective bargaining agreement. Pertaining to the Knicks of course.

New York Knicks Salaries


Player--------------2009/10-------- 2010/11
Tracy McGrady--- $23,239,561----- $0
Eddy Curry------- $10,500,423----- $11,276,863
Al Harrington------ $10,026,875----- $0
Cuttino Mobley---- $9,500,000------ $0
David Lee-------- $7,000,000------ $0
Brian Cardinal----- $6,750,000------ $0
Chris Duhon------ $6,031,800------ $0
Danilo Gallinari---- $3,089,040------ $3,304,560
Eddie House------ $2,862,000------ $0
Sergio Rodriguez-- $1,892,035------ $2,805,888
Wilson Chandler--- $1,255,440------ $2,130,481
JR Giddens------- $1,028,880------ $1,100,640
Toney Douglas--- $996,240-------- $1,071,000
Bill Walker------- $736,420 ------- $854,389
Jonathan Bender.------------------------------
Earl Barron------- $152,033-------------------
TOTALS: .........$85,060,747-------- $17,782,904

To see full chart and the players/teams options as well as Qualifying offerers use the link below.
All salaries are from HoopsHype Link


Some Facts:
-The Knicks are under the cap this year and will not be luxury tax payers, which significantly increases their ability to sign free agents;
-The team will have a maximum of $35,475,472 (deducting 6 roster spot fees) to spend on free agents, should they choose to do so. They also can sign as many players to minimum contracts as they want;
-The team may have as many as Eight free agents departing this off-season.
-We will have the right to match the contracts offered to one of these free agents -- Sergio Rodriguez-- if we extend them qualifying offers by June 30;
-In order to complete a trade, salaries do not have to "match" Knick’s are under the cap.
-David Lee can be used in a S&T as well as the other FA’s, till they are renounced.
-We have the right to pick up both Walker and Giddens contract this off-season;
-Picking up Walkers contract would only add $380,785 because you can then subtract the roster spot fee. So this is very likely to occur.
-We have $11,276,873 in expiring contracts(Eddy Curry). This may be valuable in trades.
-If there is no interest in Giddens, Bender, Barron, Duhon, and T-Mac we can then extend the vet min once we complete our roster, because then vet min’s don’t count against the cap.
-If we are still under the cap, and sign vet min contracts the most they will count is min salary of $854,389 which equates to the salary of a 2nd yr player.

Frequently asked questions:

1) How much is the salary cap for the 2010-11 season?
In April, the NBA projected the salary cap for the coming season to be approximately $56.1 million. Till the real number comes out in July, this would reflect a decrease of $1.2 million in the salary cap as compared to last year. These amounts will be finalized no later than July 8, 2010.


Essentially, the salary cap is a "soft" number which serves the purposes of limiting a team's ability to offer free agents from other teams contracts. A team can offer a free agent a starting salary below or equivalent to its amount of remaining cap room. For instance, if a team is $7 million below the salary cap, it can offer a free agent from another team a deal starting at $7 million per season. If a team is over the cap, the most it can offer is the mid-level exception (the "MLE"), explained in greater detail below. Obviously, we are far below the salary cap, and as such, we have many different options that can be explored.


2) What is an "exception"?

An exception is just that: an "exception" to the salary cap that allows a team to go over the salary cap to sign, or in some cases trade for, a free agent. For the Knick‘s, there are no relevant exceptions: the mid-level exception ("MLE"), the Bi-annual exception (also called the "LLE" or the "million dollar exception"), the minimum salary exception (also sometimes called the "veteran's minimum"), and the traded player exception. The reason the Knicks will not use these is because we are under the cap and will renounce them or they get added to our cap total.

The MLE: The MLE can be used to sign players to contracts for a maximum of five years, with annual raises equivalent to 8% of the contracts first year value each year. This exception is available to teams above the salary cap (or to teams only slightly below the cap), and can be used annually. For the 2009-10 season, the MLE can be used to give free agents contracts starting around $5.5 million (with the actual number to be determined no later than July 8 ). The MLE can be used in its entirety on one player, or can be split amongst several players.

The LLE: The LLE can be used to sign players to contracts for a maximum of two year, with up to an 8% annual raise in the second year. This exception is available to teams above the salary cap, but can only be used every other year. The LLE for this season is $1.99 million. The LLE can be used in its entirety on one player, or can be split amongst multiple players.

Bird Rights: For any of our own free agents who have played for three years without changing teams via free agency, we have what are known as "Bird rights". This allows the team to sign the player for any amount up to a max contract. David Lee is the only one of our free agents with relevance that we have Bird rights with. (The exception is named after Larry Bird, who was the first player to be signed with the exception, in 1984-85.) David can get up to a max deal at 25% of the cap or 14.02 mil..

The Minimum Salary Exception: This is an important one for the Knicks, for reasons that will be explained in greater detail below. This exception allows a team to sign a player to the allocated minimum salary, which varies subject to the signing player's service time. Contracts signed with the minimum can be up to two years in length.

3) How many players do we have under contract? What is the maximum number of players we can have on our roster? Is there a minimum to the players we can have under contract?

Currently, we have Six players that have guaranteed contracts for next season, Giddens and Walker are team options which gives the Knicks full control in having them or not on the roster next year.
During the off-season, a team can carry as many players on its roster as it wants to. Once the season starts, a team can have a maximum of 15 players under contract, and a minimum of 12 players. Rosters must be finalized on or before October 31, 2010.

4) What free agents do the Knicks have?

The Knicks have the following free agents, as follows:

Sergio Rodriguez: Sergio will be a restricted free agent, assuming( and a big IF) the team extends him a qualifying offer for $2,805,888 by June 30. We can match any offer he is given by other teams. We have his "early Bird" rights, as described above.

Al Harrington, Chris Duhon, Earl Barron, Jonathan Bender, Eddie House, T-Mac, are all unrestricted FA’s. They will have to agree to min contracts to have a chance of return.

David Lee: also unrestricted FA but could either be resigned as discussed or S&T which will allow the team value back and David the ability to retain his Bird rights and benefits that go with it like a 6 yr deal, and 10.5% raises instead of 5 yr’s and 8% raises.

Eddie Curry: Eddie has a player option for 11.27mil. If he declines, he is an unrestricted free agent. This as we all know and he has said will not happen. So for all arguments sake, Eddy is under contract for next year.

Bill Walker & JR Giddens: The team holds an option on both for $854,389 and $1,145,640 next season. If we decline the option, they become unrestricted free agent. If the team declines his option, they still would retain his Early Bird rights.

5) What is a "restricted" free agent? How does that differ from an unrestricted free agent?

Restricted free agency applies to first round picks following the fourth year of their rookie scale contracts, or for all other veteran players who have been in the league three years or fewer.

To make a player "restricted", a team must extend that player a qualifying offer. In the case of non-first rounder’s, the qualifying offer must be 125% of the player's previous salary, or the minimum salary for a player of that experience level plus $175,000, whichever is greater.

Once a free agent is restricted, the player's original team retains the right to match any offer sheet the player is signed to. This is different from the case of unrestricted free agents, where the original team has no right to match an offer sheet from another team.

6) Are there any limits on our ability to match contracts given to our restricted free agent? Would we have to use the MLE to sign them? What types of contracts can other teams offer ?

No, there are no restrictions on our ability to match an offer sheet. For Sergio we can match any contract given to him without having to use part of the MLE. If he signs an offer sheet with another team, we would have seven days to match.
Other teams must offer a restricted free agent a contract of two or more years.

One interesting thing about matching an offer sheet: if the Knicks match an offer sheet for a player, they're not allowed to trade that player for a period of one year without the player's consent. Under no circumstances can they trade that player to the team that tried to sign him for a one year period.

7) What is the deadline for Eddie Curry to decide on his player option? When must the Knicks decide on Walker and Giddens team option?

Curry must decide no later than June 30, 2010 whether he will pick up his option or not; it is expected that he will.

With Walker and Giddens the Knicks deal the deadline for invoking it is also June 30, 2010.

8 ) What are the benefits to signing a player to a minimum deal?

There are several advantages to signing a player to a minimum deal. First, there is no limit to the number of players a team can sign to the minimum. Second, the NBA actually subsidizes teams that sign players to the minimum. The team is only responsible for the first $854,389 of player salary; the league pays any amount over this threshold. Additionally, only $854,389 counts towards the luxury tax.

9) Where can I find a list of this year's free agents? What about free agents in future years?

This year's and next year's free agents are listed here.

10) What's the max contract we could give to another team's free agent?

Being under the cap the Knicks really have no threshold except the max deal, which is 25% for players under 6 yrs, 30% for 6-10 yrs, and 35% for players over 10 years in the league.

11) Which teams are under the salary cap?

The new projected cap would mean nine teams have at least $14 million to spend this summer, when the deepest class of free agents ever could become available.

Bulls=22MIL; Clips=20MIL; Heat=28mil(includes Wade); Minny= 20MIL; Oklahoma=15.85mil( can easily trade a player for the 1 mil needed for max); Portland= 13mil( roughly Lee money?); Sac=22MIL; Nets =19MIL; and I guess we can include Wash=23MIL but doesn't count Foye or Howard for over 17MIL.

As requested by Rymeratic!


12) What does it mean when people say salaries need to "match" in a trade?

Assuming both teams are over the salary cap, incoming and outgoing salaries must be within 125% + $100,000 of each other for the trade to go through.


14) If it looks like we're going to lose Lee as a free agent, could we sign and trade him to another team?
Nothing prevents us from signing and trading David , it would again benefit the player and the team if he does leave.

15) How many expiring contracts do we have? How could these be utilized in a trade?

Only Eddy has an expiring contract left on the roster, Donnie Walsh traded Zach, Crawford, Jeffries for cap space.
Expiring contracts are valuable because they allow a team to immediately clear salary space after this season. The theory is that a team will be willing to trade a better player with a long term contract for a lesser player with an expiring contract. This could prove to be particularly true with teams desperate to shed salary do to the current state of the economy, along with other teams in a rush to clear cap space before the "Summer of 2010", when players like Lebron, D. Wade, Bosh, Amare, Johnson and others can become free agents.

21) Can we sign 2 max free agents then sign Lee with his Bird rights?

No, David will count with his cap hold 10.5 mil against the cap till he is either resigned, traded or leaves. Once the Knicks sign their FA’s meaning David was renounced, he is then treated like any other FA, and the Knicks must follow the cap rules and can’t go over it to sign him or any other FA.


22) Do we have any chance of signing Lebron or any other big free agents from the Class of 2010?

With the ability to sign two max players the chances did go up, but it still as always depends on each player.

23) What's the deal with buyouts? Is there a limit to how much of a player's contract he can agree to buy out? What is the last date on which a player can be bought out and still be eligible for a team's playoff roster?

At any time, a team and a player can agree to a buyout of that team's remaining salary obligation to that player. The Knicks did this with Steph Marbury recently , In a buyout situation, the team pays a player a reduced amount, and allows that player to become an unrestricted free agent (after they clear waivers). The team executing the buyout is responsible for the agreed upon sum, with the cap hit being divided out equally among the remaining years of the contract. In the Knicks and Eddy’s case his contract has only one yr left so the buyout is for the total for that year. There is no limit to the amount of salary that can be bought out.

24) At the trading deadline, we traded Darko Millicic for basically nothing. Why didn't we just cut him instead of the elaborate trades?

Basically, this was done to save money under the luxury tax. Under luxury tax rules, you only pay tax on players who are still on your books at the end of the season. If we'd cut Darko, we would have had to pay luxury tax for the amount of his contract.

25)How is the salary cap set each year?

Each July the league projects Basketball Related Income (BRI) and benefits for the upcoming season. They take a defined percentage of projected BRI , subtract projected benefits ,and make adjustments if the previous season's BRI was below projections. They then divide by the number of NBA teams (excluding expansion teams in their first two seasons) to arrive at the cap.

26) Can we save cap space and give players incentives in their contracts? If the incentive is classified as unlikely does that mean it won’t count towards the cap?

The answer is no to both: first thing is you can’t give incentives to players like Lee who only signed a one year deal, and the CBA does count the incentives even unlikely since all teams would put incentives in each contract to help with the cap.

27) What about buying a 1st round pick, since the Knicks do not have one? How does that affect the cap?

All first round picks count against the cap depending on where the pick is. For exact amounts of all the 1st round picks cap values go here.

28)What roster size limits exist? What is the Inactive List? What is Injured Reserve?

A team must have 12 players on its active roster, although they can drop to 11 for up to two weeks at a time. They must suit up at least eight players for every game. Any remaining players must be on its Inactive List, and are ineligible to play in games. A team must have a minimum of one and a maximum of three players on its Inactive List, although they can drop to zero for up to two weeks at a time, and can temporarily have four with league approval in the event of a hardship. The composition of the Inactive List can change on a game-by-game basis -- no less than 60 minutes prior to tipoff, the team must present to the official scorer a list of the players who will be active for that game. A player can be inactive for as little as one game. While individual teams are only required to carry 13 players (12 active and one inactive), the NBA also guarantees a league-wide average of at least 14 players per team. The league is surcharged if they do not meet this obligation.

29)Can cash be included as part of a trade package?

Players can be traded for cash, and cash can be included in trade packages. The amount of cash is limited to $3 million. The cash is NOT considered when matching salaries under the Traded Player exception.



I hope this helps, enjoy and best of luck to our NY Knicks!!!!!!!!

[29$JerZ]

Still.........too much time....but you outdid yourself

[PC]

Great thread still, must have taken a lot of time

It's nice to have a cap guru

[29$JerZ]

Also you should make this a sticky thread.
So people see it on top of the forum and not think its just another single thread.

[NYK_kidd77]

Great thread still.

[rhymeratic]

The only thing missing from this thread is the potential $$$ amounts those 9 other teams have available to them for free agency. Kinda would be nice to know so we know exactly what our competition is working with and get a feel for who may sign who etc... Might be asking a lot I know...

[still a fan]

The only thing missing from this thread is the potential $$$ amounts those 9 other teams have available to them for free agency. Kinda would be nice to know so we know exactly what our competition is working with and get a feel for who may sign who etc... Might be asking a lot I know...

LOL, tell you what I'll try and get to it, but for now at the beginning I included a link to Hoophype....you can click on each team, its a great reference point for what the teams have on the roster today and up to 2015

I guess you never wanted me to sleep last night

[still a fan]

The only thing missing from this thread is the potential $$$ amounts those 9 other teams have available to them for free agency. Kinda would be nice to know so we know exactly what our competition is working with and get a feel for who may sign who etc... Might be asking a lot I know...

Your wish is my command LOL.....the thread was edited in #11

[6deep]

21) Can we sign 2 max free agents then sign Lee with his Bird rights?

No, David will count with his cap hold 10.5 mil against the cap till he is either resigned, traded or leaves. Once the Knicks sign their FA’s meaning David was renounced, he is then treated like any other FA, and the Knicks must follow the cap rules and can’t go over it to sign him or any other FA.

That's the part I think sucks.

I would have liked to sign Free Agents, then go over the cap to re-sign Lee. According to this, that's impossible, right?

[still a fan]

That's the part I think sucks.

I would have liked to sign Free Agents, then go over the cap to re-sign Lee. According to this, that's impossible, right?

no can do his cap hold of 10.5 mil stops that from happening...we can't get two max's till he is renounced..


What I left out that your question reminded me though is with Lee's cap hold the question becomes what is more valuable?

Lee + and 8Mil FA (camby)

or and amare or Bosh alone???

Say its Joe Johnson...

JJ+Lee+Camby

or

JJ + Amare

Thats a tough call now

[KnicksFan4Years]

no can do his cap hold of 10.5 mil stops that from happening...we can't get two max's till he is renounced..


What I left out that your question reminded me though is with Lee's cap hold the question becomes what is more valuable?

Lee + and 8Mil FA (camby)

or and amare or Bosh alone???

Say its Joe Johnson...

JJ+Lee+Camby

or

JJ + Amare

Thats a tough call now

If we want more cap space, it can probably get done.

Curry + Chandler = 13.2 million

Sessions = 4million
#25 = 1.2million

we save an additional 8 million in cap space.

43million - 10.5 = 32.5 which would leave us just barely enough to sign two max guys.


Boy isn't it great to have flexibility.

[aNYer]

Portland won't have Lee money, Roy will be extended at near max money.

I think I knew or asked this before but I just don't remember the answer. I am 98% sure they thought of this cause they like to Contract block every creative option we have.
If a player is a restricted FA, why can't we sign him to a 10 day contract, that way if his team matches he will become unrestricted soon after. I am sure if there is not already a rule against it their would be after but is there anything already in place to stop us.

[KnicksFan4Years]

Portland won't have Lee money, Roy will be extended at near max money.

I think I knew or asked this before but I just don't remember the answer. I am 98% sure they thought of this cause they like to Contract block every creative option we have.
If a player is a restricted FA, why can't we sign him to a 10 day contract, that way if his team matches he will become unrestricted soon after. I am sure if there is not already a rule against it their would be after but is there anything already in place to stop us.

This is possible but it isn't in the FA's best interest. They lose their bird rights.

[still a fan]

Portland won't have Lee money, Roy will be extended at near max money.
I think I knew or asked this before but I just don't remember the answer. I am 98% sure they thought of this cause they like to Contract block every creative option we have.
If a player is a restricted FA, why can't we sign him to a 10 day contract, that way if his team matches he will become unrestricted soon after. I am sure if there is not already a rule against it their would be after but is there anything already in place to stop us.

Way ahead of you If thats the case we have to say that about other's Like Lee but right now they have 13MIL...

but lets add Roy's cap hold is only 6mil and if they get Lee they won't need Joel as just a 7.4 mil backup so they actually gain another mil

the answer is a restricted Fa must be signed by another team to a min of 2yr deal....

I think thats even in my thread

[aNYer]

Oh, after a few I started jumping around, sorry I missed it.