Philadelphia 76ers with BEST salary cap management in NBA

[Lakersfan23]

The Philadelphia 76ers have $34 million in salaries for next year. They are $23 million under the salary cap of $57 mil, which is expected to go up - so they have around $25 million+ to play with this summer.

Here is their roster signed for next year:

PG - Miller
SG - Carney
SF - Iguodala, Green
PF - T. Young, R. Evans
C - Dalmebert, Jason Smith

They will spend about $2-$3 million to resign Louis Williams at backup PG.

That leaves $22 million to spend however they want this offseason. What moves do you think they will make?

[Teen Girl Squad]

Open space this season /= good management. Webbers contract proves that. They just happen to have a good young team and ditched all their bad contracts (via trade and buyout).

[miller31time]

I don't believe the OP is correct here. nate33, a poster with a great grasp on the financial situations of each team, posted on the 76er's salary cap (and since the thread was about Philadelphia's ability to possibly sigh Gilbert Arenas, there is also mention of Agent Zero). Here it is...

Philadelphia has a committed payroll of $34.5M next year for 7 players. They must charge the rookie scale amount for their upcoming draft pick, that's $1.5M more. They must then add the cap holds of 3 minimum salary vets at $0.44M each.

So their lowest possible committed payroll is roughly $37.5M, giving them $21M in cap room. However, they are almost sure to retain Bird Rights for Iguodala and Williams. Williams' cap hold is cheap - about $1M (and they'd get to subtract one of the minimum salary vets from the calculation, making it just a $0.6M charge to their cap figure). Iguodala's cap hold is $8.4M. So after factoring their cap holds, the Sixers will have a payroll of $46.0M, leaving them roughly $12.5M in cap space.

They could have $13.5M if they trade their first round pick. But that's unlikely because they need to make that decision before the draft, and the draft takes place before free agency. I seriously doubt they'd give away their pick just to give them an extra $1M to use in a longshot gamble at signing Arenas.

So effectively, Philadelphia will have no more than $12.5M in cap space. They can offer a five year contract starting at $12.5M with 8% raises. That amounts to a 5-year deal worth $72.5M.

Ernie Grunfeld could simply offer Arenas an extension of his existing contract with 10.5% raises and crush that offer. A new contract starting at just $12.8M with 10.5% raises totals $77.4M over 5 years (or $97M over 6 years).

One other issue. Iggy's cap hold is only $8.4M prior to him signing a new contract. He's going to want more. If anybody else offers more, he'll sign that contract and force Philly to match. The moment Philly matches, Iggy's cap figure will be his new salary which will restrict Philly's cap space.

The same goes for Williams. There are sure to be several suitors for Williams who will quickly offer $4-5M a year for him. Once such an offer is on the table, Philly won't have long before they have to match, replacing Williams $1M cap hold with a new salary figure of $4-5M.

Time will not be on Arenas' side.

[magicfan4life05]

Hey miller, do you know the thread he had all the salary info for each team?

thanks

[miller31time]

Hey miller, do you know the thread he had all the salary info for each team?

thanks

I was actually looking for that thread first, but couldn't find it. So the above quote was the best I could dig up.

[7r5ur]

You're forgetting Iguodala. He's not going to play for the qualifying offer, and I'm not sure of the number, but there is a hold on the cap.

[10scott10]

You're forgetting Iguodala. He's not going to play for the qualifying offer, and I'm not sure of the number, but there is a hold on the cap.

3.8 million is the cap hold i think, but i am unsure

[Rooster]

How does Willie Green's contract play into this?

[Heat11114]

You're forgetting Iguodala. He's not going to play for the qualifying offer, and I'm not sure of the number, but there is a hold on the cap.

3.8 million is the cap hold i think, but i am unsure

He counts for 300% of his 2007-08 salary, which would be 8.4 million.

[GreenWithEnvy]

Point being 12.5 million dollars with max extensions is enough to lure guys like Brand and JSmoove away from their teams. Either that or take on a player already under contract with a team.

[FNQ]

So when teams wait out their massive expirings / bad deals, thats when they have the BEST salary cap management in the NBA?

I'll give this award to the team that wins the ring. The Celtics have some good salary cap management.

[Hawks]

I would say the Hawks have done one of the best jobs in the last several years of managing their cap space. Speedy is the only real bad contract.

[drew881]

Yeah, the title is misleading here. One could say the 76ers are in one of the best POSITIONS right now, but they didn't have the best management. Plus, those young guys are going to want money at some point, and they will have to overpay for some of them (Igoudala). It just looks like they are in good financial position right now because their old players expired, and the young players are still on their base contracts. If they sign a star in free agency, there goes 10-12 million at least, then Iggy's contract will go to 10 most likely. Now your cap management doesn't look nearly as good when you are closer to the limit and you see Dalembert is getting paid 10 a year.

[Jack wore plaid]

Portland has Roy, Aldridge, Oden and Fernandez and will have about 25 million under the cap next year if they stay the course.

That being said they don;t really care about the cap

[Optimus_Steel]

So when teams wait out their massive expirings / bad deals, thats when they have the BEST salary cap management in the NBA?

I'll give this award to the team that wins the ring. The Celtics have some good salary cap management.

Funny how that works. You let your terrible contracts expire (Webber, Glen Robinson?), trade away the bad deals you yourself gave (Kyle Korver, Kenny Thomas, im stil laughing about that one) and all the sudden people start thinking you are competent.

[Malinhion]

Open space this season /= good management. Webbers contract proves that. They just happen to have a good young team and ditched all their bad contracts (via trade and buyout).

Agreed. Having money is one thing. Having it at the right time is much more important.

Signing free agents is overrated anyhow, because they normally get overpaid and keep you from filling out the team with enough good roleplayers to be a playoff force. Contenders are built through trade.

[_BBIB_]

If the Sixers steal Josh Smith from the Hawks they will be team I hate most in the league.

And what a scary future they could have.

Louis Williams
Iggy
Thad Young
Josh Smith
Dalembert

[Sixersftw]

Our good position isn't the product of some cap genius. billy king kept screwing up contracts and finally Comcast put the cuffs on him and forced him to undue his mistakes/cut salary.

we're set up for a good future financially if ed Stefanski isn't an idiot. on the court is tbd by free agency/trades.

why the 6ers hate BIBB? not defensive, just curious.

[Chief]

If the Sixers steal Josh Smith from the Hawks they will be team I hate most in the league.

And what a scary future they could have.

Louis Williams
Iggy
Thad Young
Josh Smith
Dalembert

adding josh smith makes a team scary?

ooook

dont let the nba action countdown confuse you with actual winning ability.

[MartyConlonJr]

When Lebron is a FA in 2010 will the Knicks have the best cap management in the NBA, or would you call it a firesale?