Re: Question on Salary Cap

[lamphier@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Marc Lamphier)]

>Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 16:56:44 -0400
>From: "Timothy Jordan" <patsrule90@geocities.com>
>Subject: Re: Question on Salary Cap
>
>> I was just wondering, if the salary cap is $24 million or there abouts,
>how
>> can Jordan get $30 million for last year and a projected $35 million this
>> year?!
>> Just wondering
>> Ad
>
>Jordan got so much because a team can sign a player who played for any
>amount regardless of salary cap.  The thing I'm wondering about is: How
>could they sign Brian Williams or Robert Parrish.  MJ hogs up more than the
>salary cap so they can't acquire any players even if they played for the
>minimum.  The NBA salary cap is screwed.


I think the rule is that any team can sign their own free agent for any
amount regardless of the salary cap -- this is what is called the "Larry
Bird exception" ?

Obviously this amount couldn't count against the salary cap. However does
anyone know if *some* amount from this salary counts against the cap, e.g.
the athlete's former salary. Otherwise a team would actually clear cap
space when re-signing their own guy. 

The Larry Bird exception has the effect of putting the original club at a
strong advantage vis-a-vis other clubs when it comes to re-signing their
own players. For example, if New York tried to pay Jordan $25m a year they
would use up the entire cap on one player.

As I understand it the other two exceptions are: 1) a team over the cap can
sign one player for $1m, 2) a team over the cap can sign any number of
players at the minimum salary.  This explains Williams and Parish. 

Now, can anyone tell me if there is a limit to how many players on a team
can have use the Larry Bird exception at the same time? I think Chicago had
two players, Jordan and Rodman. Is there a limit? 

Along the same lines, could LA in theory sign Grant Hill, Tim Duncan and
Scottie Pippen at the league minimum for one year and then re-sign them the
next as free agents paying them $20m/year each? i.e., could a cash-rich
franchise simply buy a championship team by this method? In the NBA today
is this exception an incentive for some players to sign cheap short-term
contracts with clubs they think will re-sign them for big bucks? (Walt the
Wizard comes to mind)

The public wants to know.

- -Marc 

p.s. 2 people have told me my messages sometimes show up in Japanese (some
problem with encoding/decoding). If this happens to anyone would you let me
know......