Gilbert And The Paycut

[arenas809]

So Gilbert has offered to take a paycut...rather odd considering earlier this year he was talking about getting the max he could for his future.

"Just sign Antawn first and then I'll take the pay cut, to keep the team intact," Arenas said.

A source from the Wizards countered by saying it is up to them to take care of all of their players, but also added that they are authorized to go within $1 of the luxury tax.

A Wizards source, when told of Arenas' willingness to play in Washington for less money, said: "That's a nice gesture, but the onus is on us to take care of all of our players. We're going to do everything at our disposal to make sure we take care of our franchise players."

The source said the Wizards are authorized to go within $1 of the luxury tax threshold. This season the luxury tax level is $67,865,000. Any team going above it must pay a 100 percent tax for every dollar above that amount and also are ineligible to share in the luxury tax revenue that is shared with teams who remain below the threshold. Next season's luxury tax threshold is expected to be around $70 million.

For argument's sake, let's say next year's luxury tax is $70,000,000, which means they'd be authorized to spend $69,999,999.

Jamison is due a new contract, as is Roger Mason, and the Wizards will have a first round pick to pay, at this point, a starting salary of $1,392,240.

Using Storyteller's salaries, that would mean, the Wizards (with the draft pick), would have 11 players under contract for next season at a total of $43,307,357, which is $26,692,642 from the team's "set threshold".

Jamison is making $16,360,094 this season.

The first question is, how much of a paycut should Jamison be taking?

Jamison is having a 20-10 all-star season, and has helped keep the team not just competitive, but firmly in the playoff race while Caron and Gil have been out of the lineup.

My personal feeling is that since Jamison's game isn't based around athleticism, despite the fact he's getting older, he should still be able to be highly productive, he turns 32 this year, so I don't see him getting anymore than 3 years, maybe a declining or flat scale contract.

Rasheed Wallace is also going to be 32 this year, and he's making $13,930,000 next season.

Now Rasheed's stats are a lot more underwhelming than Jamison's, but the stats really don't tell Sheed's story he's a great player, still, is it really reasonable to expect Jamison to sign for $11-$12 million?

Let's say Jamison signs for a starting salary of $14 million, that would leave $12,692,642, which is slightly less than what Arenas is scheduled to make next season ($12,804,000).

They've been awfully high on Mason, and while I don't expect them to break the bank for him, he deserves more than minimum, so some small percentage of the remainder should be allocated for him.

It's obvious to me that Gil's original plan was to cash in big, but given the knee surgeries, and now the team not rushing/giving him a chance to get on the court to prove he's recovered, I think he's lost of a lot of leverage at the negotiating table.

Which leads to the next question, what do you pay this guy given the circumstances, and is it possible, that it is more important the Wizards re-sign Jamison than it is to re-sign Arenas?

How can you ask Jamison to take a larger paycut than the one you'd force on Arenas?

[bgwizarfan]

So Gilbert has offered to take a paycut...rather odd considering earlier this year he was talking about getting the max he could for his future.

"Just sign Antawn first and then I'll take the pay cut, to keep the team intact," Arenas said.

A source from the Wizards countered by saying it is up to them to take care of all of their players, but also added that they are authorized to go within $1 of the luxury tax.

A Wizards source, when told of Arenas' willingness to play in Washington for less money, said: "That's a nice gesture, but the onus is on us to take care of all of our players. We're going to do everything at our disposal to make sure we take care of our franchise players."

The source said the Wizards are authorized to go within $1 of the luxury tax threshold. This season the luxury tax level is $67,865,000. Any team going above it must pay a 100 percent tax for every dollar above that amount and also are ineligible to share in the luxury tax revenue that is shared with teams who remain below the threshold. Next season's luxury tax threshold is expected to be around $70 million.

For argument's sake, let's say next year's luxury tax is $70,000,000, which means they'd be authorized to spend $69,999,999.

Jamison is due a new contract, as is Roger Mason, and the Wizards will have a first round pick to pay, at this point, a starting salary of $1,392,240.

Using Storyteller's salaries, that would mean, the Wizards (with the draft pick), would have 11 players under contract for next season at a total of $43,307,357, which is $26,692,642 from the team's "set threshold".

Jamison is making $16,360,094 this season.

The first question is, how much of a paycut should Jamison be taking?

Jamison is having a 20-10 all-star season, and has helped keep the team not just competitive, but firmly in the playoff race while Caron and Gil have been out of the lineup.

My personal feeling is that since Jamison's game isn't based around athleticism, despite the fact he's getting older, he should still be able to be highly productive, he turns 32 this year, so I don't see him getting anymore than 3 years, maybe a declining or flat scale contract.

Rasheed Wallace is also going to be 32 this year, and he's making $13,930,000 next season.

Now Rasheed's stats are a lot more underwhelming than Jamison's, but the stats really don't tell Sheed's story he's a great player, still, is it really reasonable to expect Jamison to sign for $11-$12 million?

Let's say Jamison signs for a starting salary of $14 million, that would leave $12,692,642, which is slightly less than what Arenas is scheduled to make next season ($12,804,000).

They've been awfully high on Mason, and while I don't expect them to break the bank for him, he deserves more than minimum, so some small percentage of the remainder should be allocated for him.

It's obvious to me that Gil's original plan was to cash in big, but given the knee surgeries, and now the team not rushing/giving him a chance to get on the court to prove he's recovered, I think he's lost of a lot of leverage at the negotiating table.

Which leads to the next question, what do you pay this guy given the circumstances, and is it possible, that it is more important the Wizards re-sign Jamison than it is to re-sign Arenas?

How can you ask Jamison to take a larger paycut than the one you'd force on Arenas?

Here's the deal. I think Jamison will be willing to take a pay-cut. $14 million starting salary is too much for him. Also, as I'm going to go through and ask specifically about in a separate post tonight, Jamison will not receive longer than a 4 year contract because then he'd have an "Over 36" contract, and the cap hit for him will then be even larger than it is now.

I'd like to give Jamison a max of 3 year, $33 million with the potential of a 4th year with a player option. Along those lines, I'd like to give him a decreasing contract (i.e. $12 million, $11 million, $10 million), or at least a flat contract as you proposed. I've said all along I'd be up for giving Gil the maximumin the 1st year but without the raises afterwards (so a flat contract) or start him out lower and give him the greater raises.

As for Roger Mason, he'll be an Early Bird Free Agent, so I could see giving him an amount similar to the Bi-Annual Exception amount ($1.83 mil this year), but not much more -- I admit he's been great, but we'll have Arenas, Stevenson, Young, Daniels all locked up so it's tough to justify giving Mason a big contract. Perhaps a 3 year, $5 million or $6 million deal, cuz I agree Mason is the perfect 3rd string point guard for the Wiz (and once daniels is done, he moves to the back-up potentially). Ernie Grunfeld has done a great job of locking guys up, so I could see giving him a 4 or 5 year smaller scale deal as well (i.e. Blatche, Stevenson, Songalia, Butler's extension - I'm not saying to give him close to that amount, but saying how EG has locked those guys up for a few years at relatively favorable deals). Arenas and Jamison are the priorities, however.

[Dunkenstein]

In your calculations, don't forget the Wizards also have a second round draft pick.

I'd give Mason a 3 year/$5M flat contract.

However much money is left under the LT Threshold after paying Mason and the two draft picks, I'd split it between Arenas and Jamison in 08-09.

I'd give Arenas a four year contract with $1M raises in years 2-4.

I'd give Jamison a four year contract with $1M reductions in years 2-4.

[arenas809]

This guy hasn't been able to prove he's healthy in now over a year and a half, I'm not sure I spend any money until he can do that.

He WAS in a position to maximize his dollars, I don't believe he has that leverage anymore, and right now I think he's looking at taking a paycut for sure if he opts out.