RealGM

So, with all the salary cap math that's been being done this season(and will probably only get done more as FA draws ever closer), I thought this would be useful. As a Bulls fan and a CBA/salary cap geek, I thought it would be cool to have a calculator where you could easily add and remove salaries and see how our cap situation is affected - total salary, cap space, luxury tax space, luxury tax payment(always $0 if you're under it), and apron space. As a programmer, I liked the challenge of coding something that is relatively complex but that I am very interested in. I started working on it a while ago, and I thought I'd share it with you guys:

Chicago Bulls Salary Cap Calculator
(link is also in my sig)

A couple of notes about how it works and how to use it:

You can add a player one of two ways - the 'Add Player' button, which requires you to enter a name and then a salary, or the 'Use' button next to any of the exceptions, which requires only a name. Minimum roster holds are added and removed automatically such that if the total number of players in committed salary + mirotic's hold(if it's there) is less than 11, the difference in minimum roster holds will be there.

After any player addition or removal, the exceptions available to you are re-determined, since the exceptions available to you - among MLE/BAE/MMLE - can change depending on your salary situation. Our two TPEs are always available to you. The exceptions available to you are by default included in the total salary number until you click the 'Renounce' button next to each exception. This is because, according to cbafaq.com, this is the way it works in real life. You have to renounce your exceptions if you want cap space. The only exception to this is the RMLE. In order to make the RMLE appear, you must renounce both the MLE(or MMLE is that's what's available to you) and BAE.

This is not a trade checker. The way you execute a trade is simply by removing the outgoing players and adding the incoming players. To see if a trade is legal, you'd still need to use the trade checker of your choice(RealGM, ESPN Trade Machine, etc).

Mirotic's cap hold is included with a 'Not Coming' button next to it. Click this button if you're building a scenario in which he's, well, not coming(lol), but otherwise you can leave it alone, because if you add Mirotic via 'Add Player' or 'Use'(exception), the hold will be removed automatically. This is so no one adds Mirotic and forgets to remove the hold.

The 'Fill Out Roster With Vet Minimums' button may seem obvious, but it does two things. First, it removes any minimum roster holds displayed and replaces them with actual veteran minimum salaries, and then adds additional veteran minimum salaries until there are 13 players - i.e. a full roster - listed in committed salary. Second, it bumps the salaries for any draft picks in committed salaries from the 100% of the scale used before the rookie is signed to the 120% used after the rookie is signed. This is to make the actual in-season salary totals and luxury tax calculations(if there is any luxury tax) accurate. To ensure that this button works correctly with regards to the picks, if you at any time add picks using 'Add Player'(which you would if you are building a scenario in which you acquire a pick), the word 'Pick' or the '#' sign must be used in the name.

The 'Start Over' button simply resets everything.

Final note: This will work on mobile devices - tablets, phones - but it will work better on desktops/laptops.

That's about it. It's not perfect, but I think it does the job. I hope you guys like it, and if you find any bugs/flaws/things that can be improved, let me know.

This is really good stuff, OldSchool.

The effort put into is clearly noted, and if it wasn't visible to folks before, this sort of dedication and effort to the board and its users is what makes this entire such a better place for it, and it's why this board is the best one on the entire site.

Any time another user takes the time to upskill and teach the board more about the cap and CBA, or any topic for that matter, it's duly noted.

Great work, I will be using this going forward.

You win the internet and are the new Bulls forum hero. Sticky this bad boy! Thanks much for the effort, much appreciated.

Something's wrong with the And1 button, I can only And1 you once!

Great stuff man, having a play around now.

Awesome work...

You sir are a amazing!!

I wish their was a way this thread could "stick" to the top?

Old School, this looks great. Just an FYI you have the cap holds a lot higher than they should be. They are about 500k not 900k.

TheStig wrote:Old School, this looks great. Just an FYI you have the cap holds a lot higher than they should be. They are about 500k not 900k.

The cap holds are 500k. 900k are for actual vet min salaries, and they only appear when you click the 'Fill Out Roster With Vet Minimums' button.

OldSchoolNoBull wrote:

TheStig wrote:Old School, this looks great. Just an FYI you have the cap holds a lot higher than they should be. They are about 500k not 900k.

The cap holds are 500k. 900k are for actual vet min salaries, and they only appear when you click the 'Fill Out Roster With Vet Minimums' button.

Right but they aren't accounted for when trying to figure out the cap space to sign Melo.

TheStig wrote:

OldSchoolNoBull wrote:

TheStig wrote:Old School, this looks great. Just an FYI you have the cap holds a lot higher than they should be. They are about 500k not 900k.

The cap holds are 500k. 900k are for actual vet min salaries, and they only appear when you click the 'Fill Out Roster With Vet Minimums' button.

Right but they aren't accounted for when trying to figure out the cap space to sign Melo.

They are. When you get below 11 committed players, the min holds appear, and are added into the total salary. That's what counts when figuring cap space. The 900k vet min salaries are just for seeing if you're still under the luxury tax and/or apron after everyone is actually signed.

OldSchoolNoBull wrote:

TheStig wrote:

OldSchoolNoBull wrote:
The cap holds are 500k. 900k are for actual vet min salaries, and they only appear when you click the 'Fill Out Roster With Vet Minimums' button.

Right but they aren't accounted for when trying to figure out the cap space to sign Melo.

They are. When you get below 11 committed players, the min holds appear, and are added into the total salary. That's what counts when figuring cap space. The 900k vet min salaries are just for seeing if you're still under the luxury tax and/or apron after everyone is actually signed.

Oh I see now. Great Site. Thanks.

Bravo OldSchool, Bravo!

Couple things to ask/nitpick though:

1. Is Noah's salary now higher next year due to incentives?

2. I've always assumed, probably wrongly, that you only need 12 guys/holds for purposes of the FA period (11 for purposes of determining how much you can pay one guy) due to both the existence of the room MLE to sign your 13th man and due to the general rule of being able to have only 12 guys on the roster at a time for I believe up to two weeks. The effect of this question is of course 507k more or less of cap space.

Is anyone able to expand on these questions?

Again, amazing job on this oldschool. A few of us have our own private spreadsheets that we use but this is way better and available for all to use easily. Should definitely be stickied.

^ Looks like Noah's raise is already in there.

Bloody good effort. A note to say that exceptions do no count towards the cap and tax if unused, except in the calculation of cap room. I say this because you have unused exceptions counting towards the tax and apron proximities, which they do not. Additionally, Rip's cap hit does not count towards the 12 things needed on the cap to avoid having a cap hold charged, so if you have 8 players, 3 unsigned picks and Rip's cap hold, that only counts as 11 things so you need one roster charge. Right now, in that scenario, you have Rip counting and thus no cap charge. Otherwise, you nailed it.

Do this for every team and you'll make some money.

MarkDeeks wrote:Bloody good effort. A note to say that exceptions do no count towards the cap and tax if unused, except in the calculation of cap room. I say this because you have unused exceptions counting towards the tax and apron proximities, which they do not.

This is true. I just assumed that people would renounce their unused exceptions but, yeah, if they don't renounce them and don't use them, they'll count erroneously towards their salary total. I guess I could add to the 'Fill Out Roster With Veteran Minimums' button so that it removes all unused exceptions at the same time.

Additionally, Rip's cap hit does not count towards the 12 things needed on the cap to avoid having a cap hold charged, so if you have 8 players, 3 unsigned picks and Rip's cap hold, that only counts as 11 things so you need one roster charge. Right now, in that scenario, you have Rip counting and thus no cap charge. Otherwise, you nailed it.

Rip isn't counting as a roster spot, I just only have min cap holds up to 11, because the guy you're going to sign with your cap space is the 12th guy.

Roster charges go up to twelve. Let's say you have 11 players, 1 roster charge, and those 12 round up to a nice even $53.2 million to a cap of $63.2 million. This means you have $10 million in cap space for the new guy - it DOESN'T mean you have $10 million plus the amount of the cap charge. The charge is not removed until after the new contract is signed.

MarkDeeks wrote:Roster charges go up to twelve. Let's say you have 11 players, 1 roster charge, and those 12 round up to a nice even $53.2 million to a cap of $63.2 million. This means you have $10 million in cap space for the new guy - it DOESN'T mean you have $10 million plus the amount of the cap charge. The charge is not removed until after the new contract is signed.

That's a very dumb rule, but thank you for clarifying it. It may be the second time you're clarifying it for me and I forgot.

I say it's dumb because anyone could use the room MLE to sign a 13th guy and because I don't get why you can dip down to 12 during the regular season for stretches like the Bulls did this year but must have 13 during FA. I was hoping and thinking that we'd have 507k more cap space than many people were projecting due to this, with 11 players/roster holds leaving X amount for the 12th player and then the 13th being the room MLE, but alas I'm wrong.

The point of roster charges is to ensure a team can fill out a 13 man roster (the minimum) within the confines of the salary cap. Charging up to 12 accords with that. In practice, the cap is so soft this ideology doesn't really apply, especially with the advent of the room exception, but still.