Re: Incentives

[D Parker <danp@town.ipswich.ma.us>]

On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, Jeremy wrote:

> 	Since there seems to be so much hesitation about giving AW
> franchise money because of his immaturity and potential downside, why
> don't the Celtics give him a contract with tons of incentives?  I'm
> thinking about $10M per year guaranteed.  Then you add in incentives for
> team wins, playoff advancement, rebounds, assist to turnover ratio, and
> (perhaps most important) free throw percentage.  If he achieves the
> highest levels of the incentives he makes $25 million per year.  Of course
> that would mean 60 wins, a championship, 15 rebounds per game, 3 to 1
> assist to turnover ratio, and 85% on free throws.  
> 
> 	And of course there would be levels for each of the incentives:
> 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 wins; first round, second round, conference finals,
> finals, championship; 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 rebounds per game; 1:1, 3:2,
> 2:1, 5:2, 3:1 assist to turnovers; and 70%, 75%, 80%, 85% on free throws.
> 
> 	I think field goal percentage and points scored shouldn't be
> involved because they could lead to more bad habits.

I think the only stat I'd dare to use for an incentive clause would be
wins (well, and playoff advancement), as there's too much potential to
abuse anything else.  Even something like free throw percentage could be
detrimental.  If a player is above a percentage stated in a contract, he
may avoid contact to try to avoid having to shoot free throws and risk
losing his bonus.  Or if he's below, he may attack the basket like crazy
(ignoring wide open teammates) with the hopes of knocking down the free
throws and raising the percentage.  This would mainly be a factor late in
the season, when a team needs distractions the least.

It's even worse for the other numbers - assist to turnover ratio and 
rebounds could be badly abused.

Dan