Around the League
Salary-cap problems? While the general news from the NBA Board of Governors meeting late last week in New York was that no news is good news, NBA GMs did get quite a jolt when David Stern announced that the league is now forecasting that revenue will be down for this year. That's at odds with what teams had been hearing all season. Revenue is directly tied to the league's salary cap. Generally, GMs believed that the cap would rise from $43.8 million this year to around $45 million next season. A few prognosticators had it going as high as $47 million. Teams were generally optimistic about the status because the money from the new television deal was supposed to jump start the revenue this year.
Stern's announcement that the revenue from the league had actually gone down (despite attendance going up) had to be a real kick in the gut. While no one knows the exact figures or how much it will affect the final salary-cap tabulations . . . the news was depressing to just about everyone. If it invokes the luxury tax next season (teams have been told all year by the league that there likely won't be a luxury tax for the 2004-05 season) it could be a knock-out blow to several owners.
Celtics settle with Baker: The Celtics' decision to settle with Vin Baker may sound like good news on the surface, but it's likely to affect the Celtics and the league in a number of tough ways. If the Celtics settled with Baker for $16 million (out of the $30 million they still owed) him, the Celtics will have to spread out the terms of the buyout over the last two seasons that remained on Baker's deal. In other words, the Celtics take an eight million hit on their books the next two seasons. That puts the Celtics at a likely payroll of roughly $54 million next year, including cap holds for their three first-round picks. That number could jump as high as $59 million if the team figures out a way to lure back free-agent center Mark Blount. That's going to leave Danny Ainge with very little cap wiggle room this summer to make the big changes he's been promising.
The other bad news? Every GM in the league was crossing his fingers that the Celtics won their arbitration case with Baker. GMs wanted a precedent for using the "unfit to play" clause in a player's contract to void the deal. The NBA Players' Association, on the other hand, is breathing a big sigh of relief. The reason they fought the issue so hard was because they didn't want GMs to finally find a legit loophole in what is otherwise a pretty rock-solid guaranteed contract structure. Now that the two sides have settled (with the union's blessing), there still is no precedent for voiding a player's contract early.
More draft shake-ups: Over the weekend top high school prospect Marvin Williams announced that he would not declare for the NBA draft and would instead be enrolling at North Carolina for his freshman season. Williams was largely considered a borderline lottery pick by NBA scouts.
However, three other high school players continued to take steps toward entering the draft. Dorell Wright told reporters that he'll enter his name in the draft, but won't hire an agent to keep his college eligibility.
"I just want to see where I stand," Wright told the Washington Post. "If I'm a top-20 pick, that's good enough; I really don't think I'm ready [for the NBA]. But if you are guaranteed right now, you never know what's going to happen in a year or two or four years. You have to take [the opportunity] now."
Wright impressed scouts again with a 24-point and seven-rebound performance at the Jordan Capital Classic on Saturday. He lead all scorers. Don't expect him to play at the Chicago pre-draft camp, however. Wright will likely get his draft stock information directly from private workouts. Scouts believe that he has a chance to improve his stock into the top 20s with workouts. There are too many variables for a kid his age to risk a poor showing at the pre-draft camp.
Two other players, J.R. Smith and Al Jefferson, sounded much closer to making the decision to enter the draft. Smith (another North Carolina recruit) has been interviewing NBA agents and plans to announce his intentions at a press conference this week at his high school. Smith told reporters this weekend that if he's projected as a lottery pick he's "definitely" in the draft. Even if he slips below that, Smith claims he's probably in, saying that a top-20 pick is "good enough for me."
Jefferson, when asked by reporters about whether he'd play at Arkansas next season, laughed at the question. "They're like, 'Come one year and be a lottery pick next year,' and you can't get an education in one year." Jefferson has 17 points and 10 rebounds at the Capital Classic on Saturday.
Salary-cap problems? While the general news from the NBA Board of Governors meeting late last week in New York was that no news is good news, NBA GMs did get quite a jolt when David Stern announced that the league is now forecasting that revenue will be down for this year. That's at odds with what teams had been hearing all season. Revenue is directly tied to the league's salary cap. Generally, GMs believed that the cap would rise from $43.8 million this year to around $45 million next season. A few prognosticators had it going as high as $47 million. Teams were generally optimistic about the status because the money from the new television deal was supposed to jump start the revenue this year.
Stern's announcement that the revenue from the league had actually gone down (despite attendance going up) had to be a real kick in the gut. While no one knows the exact figures or how much it will affect the final salary-cap tabulations . . . the news was depressing to just about everyone. If it invokes the luxury tax next season (teams have been told all year by the league that there likely won't be a luxury tax for the 2004-05 season) it could be a knock-out blow to several owners.
Celtics settle with Baker: The Celtics' decision to settle with Vin Baker may sound like good news on the surface, but it's likely to affect the Celtics and the league in a number of tough ways. If the Celtics settled with Baker for $16 million (out of the $30 million they still owed) him, the Celtics will have to spread out the terms of the buyout over the last two seasons that remained on Baker's deal. In other words, the Celtics take an eight million hit on their books the next two seasons. That puts the Celtics at a likely payroll of roughly $54 million next year, including cap holds for their three first-round picks. That number could jump as high as $59 million if the team figures out a way to lure back free-agent center Mark Blount. That's going to leave Danny Ainge with very little cap wiggle room this summer to make the big changes he's been promising.
The other bad news? Every GM in the league was crossing his fingers that the Celtics won their arbitration case with Baker. GMs wanted a precedent for using the "unfit to play" clause in a player's contract to void the deal. The NBA Players' Association, on the other hand, is breathing a big sigh of relief. The reason they fought the issue so hard was because they didn't want GMs to finally find a legit loophole in what is otherwise a pretty rock-solid guaranteed contract structure. Now that the two sides have settled (with the union's blessing), there still is no precedent for voiding a player's contract early.
More draft shake-ups: Over the weekend top high school prospect Marvin Williams announced that he would not declare for the NBA draft and would instead be enrolling at North Carolina for his freshman season. Williams was largely considered a borderline lottery pick by NBA scouts.
However, three other high school players continued to take steps toward entering the draft. Dorell Wright told reporters that he'll enter his name in the draft, but won't hire an agent to keep his college eligibility.
"I just want to see where I stand," Wright told the Washington Post. "If I'm a top-20 pick, that's good enough; I really don't think I'm ready [for the NBA]. But if you are guaranteed right now, you never know what's going to happen in a year or two or four years. You have to take [the opportunity] now."
Wright impressed scouts again with a 24-point and seven-rebound performance at the Jordan Capital Classic on Saturday. He lead all scorers. Don't expect him to play at the Chicago pre-draft camp, however. Wright will likely get his draft stock information directly from private workouts. Scouts believe that he has a chance to improve his stock into the top 20s with workouts. There are too many variables for a kid his age to risk a poor showing at the pre-draft camp.
Two other players, J.R. Smith and Al Jefferson, sounded much closer to making the decision to enter the draft. Smith (another North Carolina recruit) has been interviewing NBA agents and plans to announce his intentions at a press conference this week at his high school. Smith told reporters this weekend that if he's projected as a lottery pick he's "definitely" in the draft. Even if he slips below that, Smith claims he's probably in, saying that a top-20 pick is "good enough for me."
Jefferson, when asked by reporters about whether he'd play at Arkansas next season, laughed at the question. "They're like, 'Come one year and be a lottery pick next year,' and you can't get an education in one year." Jefferson has 17 points and 10 rebounds at the Capital Classic on Saturday.
