Anderson's salary DOES count against C's cap.

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

Lots of people keep wondering on this list whether Anderson's salary will count 
against the Celtics' cap for the first 2 years, since Portland is paying it. 
This has been answered on this list several times in the last 2 days.  The 
answer is: 

     YES, his salary DOES COUNT against the Celtics' cap. 

The only cap relief the Celtics get is if they choose not to re-sign Tabak 
and Popeye Jones at the end of the season.  That's about an extra $2.25 mill
in cap flexibility for the Celtics. 

If Anderson had been RELEASED by Portland or Toronto, then had cleared the 
waiver period with no team picking him up, then the Celtics had picked him up 
after he cleared waivers, then the team that released him would pay his 
salary and have him against their cap, and the C's would only pay whatever 
additional amount Anderson's agent would negotiate with them. 

Since he was traded, he previous contract counts against the Celtics' cap, 
and Portland basically pays Boston an amount equal to Anderson's salary for 
the next 2 years. 

The reason the Celtics still pay some of Dino's salary is that he wasn't 
traded away to another NBA team, but I think the Celtics still got to reduce 
the amount he counts against the cap by special permission from the league, 
since he went to a European team.  Or perhaps the league just took pity on 
the Celtics since Radja basically screwed them in the trade with Philadelphia 
by refusing to report.  I'm not sure exactly what happened there. 

Jon