Details of new CBA

[handiman]

a one-time only amnesty per team for the duration of this new CBA, player must have already been signed to a contract

Ok, that makes more sense. Poorly worded passage, then.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I remember last time there was an amnesty rule, and far fewer people than expected were amnestied. In fact, the person the rule was named after (Allan Houston) wasn't. I expect that to be true this time, with the Brandon Roy rule. It's just like 9 out of 10 trade deadlines - GMs are too afraid of it backfiring and back out at the last minute.

 

[RR7]

For new contracts, salary of waived players to be “stretched” for cash
purposes such that the player’s remaining protected compensation would be
paid over twice the number of remaining contract years plus 1 year.

In lieu of the usual Cap treatment, the waiving team may elect to have the
waived player’s salary follow the stretched cash allocation, except that
stretching a waived player’s salary for Cap purposes is not permitted where
the portion of total team salary attributable to all waived players in any future
season would exceed an agreed-upon percentage of the Salary Cap in effect
during the season in which the player is waived.

So am curious with this provision. If we sign Oden for, say, 40 million for 5 years. If he had injury issues and we needed to waive him, instead of getting that 8 million dollar hit, say we waived him year 1, we would pay out 40 million over 11 years instead of 5. Much less of a cap hit on it, and might make it more reasonable to take a larger risk on him long term?

 

[e_blazer]

I remember last time there was an amnesty rule, and far fewer people than expected were amnestied. In fact, the person the rule was named after (Allan Houston) wasn't. I expect that to be true this time, with the Brandon Roy rule. It's just like 9 out of 10 trade deadlines - GMs are too afraid of it backfiring and back out at the last minute.

There's a significant difference this time in that the waived player's salary comes off of both the team's luxury tax threshold calculation and the calculation of team salary for cap purposes. Last time it was just luxury tax that was saved. Also, when you factor in the increased luxury tax rate and the loss of the ability to use the full MLE if a team is more than $4 million over the luxury tax threshold, there's just a lot more incentive for a team to dump a big contract if the player can't contribute. Still, in Roy's case, I'm not sure the decision is in as to how much he'll be able to contribute. Despite what many around here are saying, I don't think it's a clear cut decision for the Blazers to dump Brandon before seeing how much he has left in him this season.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

So am curious with this provision. If we sign Oden for, say, 40 million for 5 years. If he had injury issues and we needed to waive him, instead of getting that 8 million dollar hit, say we waived him year 1, we would pay out 40 million over 11 years instead of 5. Much less of a cap hit on it, and might make it more reasonable to take a larger risk on him long term?

That would also mean that it would be much more reasonable for another team to take a larger risk on him long term. With him being an RFA right now, this could mean a much larger chance that some team forces us to consider matching a big offer.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

I think teams that amnesty players should still be given a chance to bid on that player. If no other team is willing to pay B Roy say 5M a year and we would be willing to have 7M of his salary accountable for luxury tax purposes, we should be able to keep him.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

Would also be curious as to what happens to injured players. Having Miles go back on our books was BS and either should have been denied to begin with or not taken away.

 

[Draco]

A modified waiver process will be utilized for players waived pursuant to
the Amnesty rule, under which teams with Room under the Cap can
submit competing offers to assume some but not all of the player’s
remaining contract. If a player’s contract is claimed in this manner, the
remaining portion of the player’s salary will continue to be paid by the
team that waived him.

I'm extremely curious to see exactly how these waivers work. How much does the waiver bid have to be? Does it have to be a percentage of the original contract, like 20% minimum? Or a minimum dollar amount, like $2 million a year? Or is there no minimum?

If there is no minimum all of the amnesty players that are worth more than an NBA minimum contract will likely be claimed off waivers by teams with cap room. Even though the Blazers are in no position to have cap room this year, I'm glad that this provision can prevent guys like Roy or Rashard Lewis from latching on with a contender such as the Lakers or Mavs.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I'm extremely curious to see exactly how these waivers work. How much does the waiver bid have to be? Does it have to be a percentage of the original contract, like 20% minimum? Or a minimum dollar amount, like $2 million a year? Or is there no minimum?

If there is no minimum all of the amnesty players that are worth more than an NBA minimum contract will likely be claimed off waivers by teams with cap room. Even though the Blazers are in no position to have cap room this year, I'm glad that this provision can prevent guys like Roy or Rashard Lewis from latching on with a contender such as the Lakers or Mavs.

I don't see any way a waiver contract could be less than a minimum contract, ultimately a claimed player will be under contract with his new team. The only side effect is that whatever they are paid, will get deducted from their former team's financial obligation.

 

[Draco]

I remember last time there was an amnesty rule, and far fewer people than expected were amnestied. In fact, the person the rule was named after (Allan Houston) wasn't. I expect that to be true this time, with the Brandon Roy rule. It's just like 9 out of 10 trade deadlines - GMs are too afraid of it backfiring and back out at the last minute.

Allan Houston medically retired so the Knicks were able to get out of his contract and also use the amnesty on another player.

As other posters pointed out this clause is much more beneficial since it provides cap relief and there are more luxury tax penalties.

The clause is also more flexible since teams can wait until future offseasons to waive a player. I expect nearly every team to use the clause eventually, although there may be a number of insignificant players waived. Yes there will be some big names like Roy, Arenas, Lewis, then a bunch of mid tier names such as Outlaw, Walton, Childress.

 

[Draco]

I don't see any way a waiver contract could be less than a minimum contract, ultimately a claimed player will be under contract with his new team. The only side effect is that whatever they are paid, will get deducted from their former team's financial obligation.

Well yes I'm sure the waiver contract would have to at least be the minimum veteran contract amount. When I said "no minimum" I was curious what the base minimum bid price will be.

For example will the starting bid to claim Gilbert Arenas be some percentage, such as 20%, of his previous contract? Or will it only be the veteran minimum?

 

[jlprk]

Bidding on amnestied vets sounds like something from the Vietnam War. If the GMs met in a convention hall for this bidding process, TNT could televise it like the annual draft and have a ratings bonanza.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Well yes I'm sure the waiver contract would have to at least be the minimum veteran contract amount. When I said "no minimum" I was curious what the base minimum bid price will be.

For example will the starting bid to claim Gilbert Arenas be some percentage, such as 20%, of his previous contract? Or will it only be the veteran minimum?

I'm guessing that the bidding starts at the minimum. In a blind bidding process teams will have to carefully weigh what they think the player is worth to them and what other teams are likely to pay for him -- in short the only guys we'll see with a bare-minimum contract are the ones that only one team thinks is worth that minimum. There's a lot of game theory involved in this waiver process, which I think is really fascinating.