Darko, Was money on Nocioni well spent? Options

[eddog2]

Okay so Milicic reportedly signed with Memphis for 3 years $21 million. I pose the question of whether or not the Bulls paying Nocioni roughly the same (actually slightly more) for his $5 year $38 million. That averages to $7.6 million a season whereas Darko reportedly will be making $7. No to mention Nocioni isn't a starter and is a SF. The only positions in this league were a bench guy could demand starters money are PF/C and PG. Other than that SF's are a dime a dozen.

I don't agree with the practice but it is what it is.

I question whether or not we would have been better off making a strong push to Milicic instead of resigning Nocioni. It just would seem that for the same money I'd much rather have Darko at the 4/5 and play Tyrus at 3/4 than have Nocioni creating a log jam at 3/4 when we already have Deng & Tyrus. I think Darko could have solidified our low post needs for at least the next 3 years and possibly longer if he were willing to sign a 5 year deal.

It is pretty frustrating that instead, Memphis forced us to overpay for Nocioni while also getting the player that I really wanted in free agency.

Darko/Gasol
Gasol/Warrick/Swift
Gay/Miller
Miller/Kinsey
Conley/Stoudamire/Lowry

That is going to be a pretty good lineup. Good outside shooting with Gay/Miller. Good PG play. Good low post game with Darko/Gasol. Athleticism with Gay/Warrick/Swift. They are going to be very good in a couple of season if not pushing for the playoffs this year.

[Chisoxfn]

Okay so Milicic reportedly signed with Memphis for 3 years $21 million. I pose the question of whether or not the Bulls paying Nocioni roughly the same (actually slightly more) for his $5 year $38 million. That averages to $7.6 million a season whereas Darko reportedly will be making $7. No to mention Nocioni isn't a starter and is a SF. The only positions in this league were a bench guy could demand starters money are PF/C and PG. Other than that SF's are a dime a dozen.

I don't agree with the practice but it is what it is.

I question whether or not we would have been better off making a strong push to Milicic instead of resigning Nocioni. It just would seem that for the same money I'd much rather have Darko at the 4/5 and play Tyrus at 3/4 than have Nocioni creating a log jam at 3/4 when we already have Deng & Tyrus. I think Darko could have solidified our low post needs for at least the next 3 years and possibly longer if he were willing to sign a 5 year deal.

It is pretty frustrating that instead, Memphis forced us to overpay for Nocioni while also getting the player that I really wanted in free agency.

Darko/Gasol
Gasol/Warrick/Swift
Gay/Miller
Miller/Kinsey
Conley/Stoudamire/Lowry

That is going to be a pretty good lineup. Good outside shooting with Gay/Miller. Good PG play. Good low post game with Darko/Gasol. Athleticism with Gay/Warrick/Swift. They are going to be very good in a couple of season if not pushing for the playoffs this year.

I want to know how the Bulls were going to offer Darko 7 million. They couldn't. Even if Noc wasn't here they wouldn't have had the ability to do that. I would have loved to get Darko but the reality is he was gonna get more than the MLE and that meant the Bulls weren't gonna be able to land him.

[eddog2]

I want to know how the Bulls were going to offer Darko 7 million. They couldn't. Even if Noc wasn't here they wouldn't have had the ability to do that. I would have loved to get Darko but the reality is he was gonna get more than the MLE and that meant the Bulls weren't gonna be able to land him.

I want to know how the Bulls were going to offer Darko 7 million. They couldn't. Even if Noc wasn't here they wouldn't have had the ability to do that. I would have loved to get Darko but the reality is he was gonna get more than the MLE and that meant the Bulls weren't gonna be able to land him.

You wanted to know so I'll explain it to you. The Bulls salary was at $46.78 million before the Nocioni signing. That included Sweetney's qualifying offer of $3.654. Even though Nocioni was a free agent his salary still counted against the cap. I believe he made around $5 million last year although that number may be slightly off. So even though Nocioni was a free agent, that $5 million still counted against our cap. Also, if another team offered him a new contract, that number would count against our cap instead of the $5 million until we either re-signed Nocioni or until we renounced his qualifying offer.

So the Bulls could have released Sweetney (who they have no intention of playing put probably think his expiring contract will be valuable in trade talks next year), and they could have released Nocioni. That would have cleared up at least $8 million probably closer to $9.

$46.78 - $8 million = $39.78 + the rookie contracts which probably total $3.5 million and the Bulls would have a total salary of $43.28 which is $11.72 million under the cap. The Bulls could have pulled it off they just didn't want to.

But enough dwelling on the what if. I'm happy with the team going into next year.


Good website that talks about the cap.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#41

28. I just saw that a team signed a player for more money than it has under the cap. It was another team's free agent, so the Larry Bird exception wasn't used. What gives?

If one of the other exceptions wasn't used, it may just be the way the deal was reported. Only the first season's salary must fit under the cap, but signings are often reported using the total salary for the entire contract. For example, if a team is $10 million under the cap, they can sign a player to, say, a five-year contract for $10 million, $10.5 million, $11 million, $11.5 million and $12 million, respectively, for the five seasons. The deal then gets reported as five years for $55 million. But the first year salary is what counts, and it fits perfectly.

29. Can a team sign all the free agents it wants (up to the cap limit) and THEN re-sign its own free agents using the Bird exception?

Yes, but there's a restriction. A team's free agents continue to count as team salary (against the salary cap). This charge is called the "free agent amount." So there may not be enough money under the cap to sign another team's free agent, because the team's own free agents are taking up all their cap room.


A restricted free agent counts against his team's salary cap by the greatest of:

His free agent amount (as defined in the table above)

The amount of his qualifying offer (see question number 36)

The first year salary from any offer sheet the player signs with another team (see question number 36)


31. Why do free agents continue to count against a team's cap?

It closes another loophole. Teams otherwise would be able to sign other teams' free agents using their cap room, and then turn their attention to their own free agents using the Bird exceptions. This rule restricts their ability to do that. It doesn't close this loophole completely -- for example, in 2005 Michael Redd's free agent amount was $6 million, even though the Bucks intended to re-sign him for the maximum salary. By waiting to sign Redd last, the Bucks were able to take advantage of the difference by signing Bobby Simmons. Had they signed Redd first, they would have had no cap room to sign Simmons.

32. When do free agents stop counting against the team's cap?

When any one of the following three things happen:
The player signs a new contract with the same team. When this happens, the player's effect on his team's team salary is based on his new salary.

The player signs with a different team. As soon as this happens, the player becomes the new team's problem, and his salary no longer counts against his old team.

The team renounces the player. (See question number 33)