Clarification on Ricky Rubio's situation

[Rx]

Howdy Timberwolves fans,

Pistons fan here. Before I get started, I wanted to mention that other than my home board, I always manage to find time to check out what's going on over here. The board here is active, passionate, and just kind of has a good vibe to it, which I can't always say about other boards
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Anyways, while I was looking up information to better understand Wesley Matthews' front-loaded contract offer, I came across this tidbit of information from Larry Coon's Salary Cap FAQ:

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q65

In part, it reads:

"The following are also treated like signing bonuses for the purpose of determining a player's salary:
Payments in excess of $500,000 that are made to non-NBA teams or federations to release rights to a player. Note: It is a common misconception that teams cannot pay more than $500,000 to release a foreign player. They can, but any amount above $500,000 is applied to the team's cap."

Now I know a lot of the conversations about Rubio have been predicated on the premise that Minnesota (or a team who acquired him) could only offer $500,000. But with the information above, it seems like Minnesota (or another team under the cap who traded for him) could actually offer quite a bit more.

Putting aside for a moment whether or not Rubio's contributions (on the court or for marketing purposes) would financially warrant bringing him over a year sooner, how does this information change the overall outlook on how this situation has been handled?

I've read the various rumors from time to time involving Minnesota and New Jersey. New Jersey is so far under the cap that they actually have to add salary in order to reach the league-mandated minimum. I wonder if New Jersey's new owner - having missed out on Lebron and the bigger free agents - could be trying to acquire Rubio. After all, even if he paid the entire $8.3 million dollar buyout, it would only count against his cap in 2010-2011, and that's money that he had to spend anyways. And in doing so, he wouldn't be tying up his future cap with a long-term contract in the process.

Sorry for the long-winded speech and/or the possibility that this has all been discussed before. Good luck with your upcoming season!

Rx

[wildvikeswolves]

i can guarantee you that Rubio wont be traded unless its a big overpayment. He is who were building our team for and around

[shrink]

I misread this too. The very first line is:

"Teams are allowed to offer the players they sign a bonus worth as much as 20% of the total compensation "

Now if Ricky's rookie scale allowed him to be paid $50 mil, then his $10 mil signing bonus could have covered the buy-out. However, since he can only be paid in accordance with rookie scale, nowhere near that much money could have been used.

[Rx]

Thanks for the reply! I guess I'm getting confused by the concept that they are describing 2 circumstances that to me were essentially the same thing. If a player gets paid - and in turn uses the money towards his own buyout - obviously his salary would count towards the cap. If a team takes money they WOULD have given to the player - and instead uses it to pay off the player's buyout, the rule says that the money would count against the cap. The way Coon makes a point of saying that team money towards buyout counts toward the cap confuses me - why would it matter whether the player or team spent the same money towards a player's release?

Accordingly, I brain froze and ignored the 20% max and interpreted it to mean that the team could pay the buyout regardless of the player's salary, etc.

Thanks again,
Rx

[execoftheyear]

I remember on draft day there were rumors about Rubio wanting a certain team to trade up to draft him...can anyone tell me which team he was talking about, I've heard it was Toronto but can anyone confirm/clarify?

[Devilzsidewalk]

I remember Boston and Memphis had some talks, I can't remember the deal being rumored, but I remember tons of Rondo talks before the season

[revprodeji]

I remember on draft day there were rumors about Rubio wanting a certain team to trade up to draft him...can anyone tell me which team he was talking about, I've heard it was Toronto but can anyone confirm/clarify?

Never heard anything remotely like this.

[skorff26]

I misread this too. The very first line is:

"Teams are allowed to offer the players they sign a bonus worth as much as 20% of the total compensation "

Now if Ricky's rookie scale allowed him to be paid $50 mil, then his $10 mil signing bonus could have covered the buy-out. However, since he can only be paid in accordance with rookie scale, nowhere near that much money could have been used.

His 4 year rookie scale deal is about 15 million (to lazy to actually count it right now), 20% of 15 million is 3 million dollar signing bonus... so 3 million + our 500k = 3.5 million dollars that he has to work toward a buyout.

Maybe that's what DJ Mbenga was trying to point out on the trade board earlier today, but the 3.5 million is still less then Barca's 5 million that Joventut got to buy out Rubio.

[KG_Wolves]

I remember on draft day there were rumors about Rubio wanting a certain team to trade up to draft him...can anyone tell me which team he was talking about, I've heard it was Toronto but can anyone confirm/clarify?

No, Rubio was hoping he'd be drafted in the 2-3 area so he'd have enough to pay the buyout.

[Saltine]

I remember we did the math last year, essentially if he would have come over and covered the buyout with his cash, after taxes he would have ended up playing for free for a couple years. Rubio wasn't wealthy at all, I think he was only making around 100k, this was obviously impossible.

Basically if he was gonna make about 15 million, he would owe about 7 million in taxes, plus 3 million to the Spanish club, he is left with about 5 million for 4 years work... That would have been a fairly stupid decision.

[B-easy]

What if rubio doesn't turn out to be as good as expected?

[Saltine]

I will be very surprised. He is the starting point guard on the european champions.

[C.lupus]

What if rubio doesn't turn out to be as good as expected?

Basically, the same question you could ask about any high lottery pick. You try again. In this case, the Wolves have Flynn onboard already so that limits the impact. But I don't expect Rubio to bust - he's just too good as a playmaker and distributer. If he's surrounded by good shooters (Beasley, Johnson are good starts) he should be fine.

[Esohny]

I remember we did the math last year, essentially if he would have come over and covered the buyout with his cash, after taxes he would have ended up playing for free for a couple years. Rubio wasn't wealthy at all, I think he was only making around 100k, this was obviously impossible.

Basically if he was gonna make about 15 million, he would owe about 7 million in taxes, plus 3 million to the Spanish club, he is left with about 5 million for 4 years work... That would have been a fairly stupid decision.

Also remember that he wasn't guaranteed that entire rookie contract, only the first two years. So from his perspective, he couldn't take a risk that he was injured or something before his option years were exercised.

[Saltine]

Yep, I think he did the right thing. He'll be much more effective on our team next year, as a twenty year old, then last year as an eighteen year old. We only had two guys worth passing to last year, lol

[LascelleL]

Take Toronto's expirings and TPE for Rubio?

[Worm Guts]

Take Toronto's expirings and TPE for Rubio?

Rubio's not on the trading block.

[Krapinsky]

Those silly Raptor fans. You've got to give them credit, they're persistent.

[Klomp]

Those silly Raptor fans. You've got to give them credit, they're persistent.

Read the thread on the trade board.

[Krapinsky]

Those silly Raptor fans. You've got to give them credit, they're persistent.

Read the thread on the trade board.

The one where they get Chris Paul?