How much would a modern salary cap have affected the Bull's dynasty?

[coolcono]

They would have been able to keep both Jordan and Pippen, but how much does losing other pieces affect those teams?

[AEnigma]

That mostly affects the comeback years, unless you mean modern salary cap = Pippen does not accept a long-term below market contract.

[One_and_Done]

With the current ownerships unwillingness to pay the tax? Crippling.

[Owly]

As has been noted it depends when we are talking about.

Jordan being paid more than double anyone else in '97, more than 3x 6th highest (Robinson) and then more than double all but one and more than triple the 9th highest salary in the league ... can't happen. Rodman's salary couldn't have ballooned in the way it did in '97. Does that stop him coming (no point "auditioning" if Chicago can't "make him whole")? Or if not playing as he did? Does he behave worse?

Max contract lengths probably helps Pippen, the suggestion has been (maybe more than once) he wanted security took long-term money and then didn't benefit from the rising average salary. Obviously helping Pippen isn't the same as helping the Bulls. Orlando can't blow Chicago out of the water in the same way for Horace with more structured maximums, I don't think, though Horace's relationship with Chicago was already getting strained.

Too many variables to say really - how does context affect actions, how do others act differently, chain reactions, how and when is the cap implemented, how are interpersonal dynamics changed etc. Do the Bulls continue to pay (and hold on to) MJ during his retirement in the new timeline when his max is perhaps relatively higher?

[RCM88x]

They definitely wouldn't have won 6 titles that's for sure.

[DQuinn1575]

91 team had 23rd highest payroll of 27 teams.
Payroll went up in 92/93 and maybe the lose a bench player, but keep Pippen & Grant so should still be good.
Grant does leave.

96 team is 15th highest payroll, so should be fine.
97/98
Kukoc would have been on a rookie scale and making less.
Rodman would have had a more favorable team contract to make it work within whatever constraints there were.
MJ wouldn't be making so much more than anyone else.
Harper would be the only "bad" contract, but Pippen would probably be most favorable in the league.
They might have dumped Harper, but still have a pretty good shot at 6.

[Warspite]

That mostly affects the comeback years, unless you mean modern salary cap = Pippen does not accept a long-term below market contract.

The 1st year of his contract he was the highest paid player in the NBA. He made more than MJ during the 1st 3peat. Pippen wanted money upfront and stability. He bet that he wouldn't be great and that the TV contracts would not increase.

[Colbinii]

The Current Salary Cap Rules [2024 CBA] makes in nearly impossible for a team to stay together for an extended period of time.

However, previous salary cap rules were fairly relaxed, but they were also "Modern".

[Owly]

97/98
Kukoc would have been on a rookie scale and making less.

I'm not an expert in the intricacies now or then, and as I said some of this can come down to interpretation but some of the relevant facts.

Kukoc was drafted in 1990
Kukoc was drafted in the 2nd round
Kukoc came over for the 1993/1994 season.

Me interpreting
I don't know where the rules are on how much the scale applies if you don't come over right away (3 year gap here).
1998 was his 5th season, so assuming 1st round rookie scale deal kicking in from his NBA arrival I think he'd already be one season beyond present rookie scale as I understand it.
2nd rounders are less locked in to a scale and a specific long-ish term deal.

As I understand it he was a pretty big star and I think well paid in Europe (i.e. there's something to risk in giving up his age 25-28 earning and to a lesser extent status).

[Owly]

That mostly affects the comeback years, unless you mean modern salary cap = Pippen does not accept a long-term below market contract.

The 1st year of his contract he was the highest paid player in the NBA. He made more than MJ during the 1st 3peat.

Do you have a source on this?

https://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries91.txt
https://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries92.txt
https://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries93.txt

.. would seem to disagree. It suggests Pippen received less than MJ in each individual year and thus clearly less cumulatively. It seems to suggests Pippen peaked at 16th in the league (during that contract) in 1992.

But happy to look into other sources.

[picko]

If we consider the second threepeat era I think it becomes obvious rather quickly that the team couldn't exist under the current cap.

Jordan and Pippen are both clearly max guys and would be earning $100m to $110m between them. Pippen's long-term contract just cannot happen in the modern NBA so he's going to get the max all the way through.

Rodman is complicated but if we use Dray as a guide, he is probably commanding ~$25m a year.

Kukoc is also complicated - as it is unclear when he'd sign an extension - but given he had a 10.0 WS and 4.3 BPM season in 1993-94 I'd wager that a team would offer him a near max deal. Perhaps in the order of $30m to $40m a year. Would the Bulls keep him?

Ron Harper came to the Bulls following a season where he scored 20 PPG. Harper was a bit of a good stats, bad team type of guy but the Clippers would have absolutely been paying him somewhere between $30m to $40m. He may still come to the Bulls but I cannot see him doing so for less than ~$20m to $25m a season.

Within the context of the 1990s NBA, Longley wouldn't have been cheap. He'd probably command the modern equivalent of $15m to $20m a year.

So roughly I'd put their top six guys at ~$195m. The second apron in 2024-25 will be $188.931m. So they are well above that with just six guys and they'd need to fill another nine roster spots. Over the second apron you are basically stuffed from a roster construction standpoint. Realistically it'd be difficult for them to sign guys like Rodman and Harper. They simply wouldn't have the salary cap flexibility necessary to make that happen. At least not without sign-and-trades.

The first threepeat era is probably more viable given that Jordan, Pippen and Grant (and even BJ) are all homegrown talent. So that core could exist and it's a strong enough core to deliver those championships. I think there are big questions around the second threepeat given the lack of quality defensive bigs and depth they would have under a modern salary cap structure.

[bkkrh]

It's hard to say since the salary cap was a total mess during the 90ies. You had players like Pippen on old contracts being underpaid, while Rookies signed ridiculous, decade long contracts. Until 95/96 there were no limitations on contract length and height for rookies and salaries exploded during that period in general.

This led to super weird situations. Like in 95/96 Jordan was only the 32nd best paid player and was earning 3.85 Million. Chris Dudley was 33rd with 3.8 Million. Patrick Ewing had just signed his new contract and was top earner with 18.7 Million, that was almost the double amount of Clyde Drexler in 2nd place with 9.8 Million. As one poster already mentioned, the following year MJ was top earner with 30 Million, while funny enough his old team mate Horace Grant was the 2nd best paid player with about 15 Million. You could literally have All NBA players that earned less than half then bench warmers. Tim Hardaway, Dan Majerle and Scottie Pippen were part of Dream 1 or 2 and weren't even in the Top 100 of earners in 96/97.

So from that perspective you could of course not have the same salary situation. In general they could have still kept the core of Jordan, Pippen and Grant/Rodman, Kukoc would have been a Rookie contract that could have been resigned. Other players might still be realistic through mid level, trades, or minimum salary contracts to win a title. Only thing that would have definitely not happened was the Bison Dele signing, but don't think that would have impacted the title.

[Warspite]

That mostly affects the comeback years, unless you mean modern salary cap = Pippen does not accept a long-term below market contract.

The 1st year of his contract he was the highest paid player in the NBA. He made more than MJ during the 1st 3peat.

Do you have a source on this?

https://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries91.txt
https://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries92.txt
https://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries93.txt

.. would seem to disagree. It suggests Pippen received less than MJ in each individual year and thus clearly less cumulatively. It seems to suggests Pippen peaked at 16th in the league (during that contract) in 1992.

But happy to look into other sources.

It looks like my memory is off a couple of years and about 1mil in salary. Please don't tell my wife that my memory was that accurate about a sports radio broadcast that i listened to +30 years ago.

Still Pippen is well paid, he is just upset with the rookies who are getting top dollar and the Cavs who are paying 2 backup PFs more than him. It seemed like every offseason some C/PF was getting a huge contract and Pippen was being pushed further and further down. Yeah, he is upset that BJ Armstrong is paid more but I have no sympathy since he signed the contract.

[MoreyWins]

I'm sorry. but why is Rodman a hot commodity in the mid-90s? He's far below Draymond in being malleable to other teams on and off the court.

[Owly]

I'm sorry. but why is Rodman a hot commodity in the mid-90s? He's far below Draymond in being malleable to other teams on and off the court.

In 1995?
He arguably isn't hence why Chicago could get him for what they did.

But per above ... the question then is: how motivated is Rodman if the Bulls can't balloon his pay. Part of what he did in San Antonio in '95 that was bad and presumably did cool his market was because he was of the belief that San Antonio reneged on a promise to pay him more.

And if they don't have Rodman (or only a version that doesn't care) ... and one can vary on how valuable that Bulls era of Rodman is ... there's some small ball lineups they can do (and do well with Kukoc and Pippen as forwards - but there's not a lot of extra minutes Kukoc can play) but Dickey Simpkins and Jason Caffey are ... not so good. PF becomes a gaping wound.