salaries of the 97-98 Chicago Bulls -MERGED

[Jo Jo English]

Scottie accepted the contract he was offered, even in the face of ownership advising him that he may end up regretting doing so. Hard to blame ownership for that one.

After his playing days with the Bulls were clearly over, the Bulls agreed to sign and trade him, giving him a contract larger than he could have gotten otherwise.

(Haven't checked these facts in years, so if I got some of them wrong I do apologize, but they seemed to be true the first time I had this argument fifteen years ago.)

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Poor Scottie. No wonder he is only able to afford court side seats for him and his wife to every Bulls game.

FWIW - Those aren't Scottie's seats. One of the great benefits to being rich & famous is that people want to give you things.

[Ax2SG]

And Brandon Jennings dares to cry out loud for a max contract, wow.

[TheStig]

Pip begged for that deal which was more than fair at the time. He wanted long term security with his back issues. He got it and cried. I wonder what would have become of Pip if he never played with MJ?

[Spimothy Leary]

the 97-98 salary is taken a bit out of context..
here's jordan's salary, in the years previous to that...
he DESERVED that 33m paycheck...and in my recollection, not once do I remember Jordan saying that he needed to revisit his contract prior to the big payday.

1984-85 - $550,000
1985-86 - $630,000
1986-87 - $737,500
1987-88 - $845,000
1988-89 - $2,000,000
1989-90 - $2,250,000
1990-91 - $2,500,000
1991-92 - $3,250,000
1992-93 - $4,000,000
1993-94 - $4,000,000
1994-95 - $3,850,000
1995-96 - $3,850,000

[cars4978]

Only they couldn't renegotiate his deal under the CBA. So not sure what Scottie wanted them to do.

Can existing contracts be renegotiated?

Again, a team over the salary cap cannot renegotiate a contract. An interesting case of this was Shawn Kemp with the Sonics. Kemp, who was unhappy with his contract and wanted to renegotiate, could not get a larger contract from the Sonics because they were over the cap. Kemp forced a trade to Cleveland, who was far enough under the cap at the time to give him the large contract he wanted. Kemp's contract was renegotiated soon after the trade.

And that's the point. In 1997-1998 the Bulls were double the cap, which according to Wikipedia was $27 million for the year. So yes, the point still sticks that they could not renegotiate.

[BR0D1E86]

He did complain. Not to the media, IIRC, but it was generally understood that Pippen felt disrespected by his contract (and rightly so). Jalen Rose now claims this is why Pippen undermines Jordan's legacy at every turn: he (Pip) believes MJ should have lobbied harder to get him a good deal.

I don't know how righteous he was. As I recall the Bulls' front office advised Pippen that he would be underpaid over the life of the contract but Pip wanted the security. Once it was signed though the FO had no interest in renegotiating.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

He did complain. Not to the media, IIRC, but it was generally understood that Pippen felt disrespected by his contract (and rightly so). Jalen Rose now claims this is why Pippen undermines Jordan's legacy at every turn: he (Pip) believes MJ should have lobbied harder to get him a good deal.

I don't know how righteous he was. As I recall the Bulls' front office advised Pippen that he would be underpaid over the life of the contract but Pip wanted the security. Once it was signed though the FO had no interest in renegotiating.

I distinctly remember rumblings during the second three-peat, ie. once Kukoc was brought over and was making more money.

EDIT: Unless by 'righteous' you meant justified? I may have misinterpreted your post.

[mj234eva]

Only they couldn't renegotiate his deal under the CBA. So not sure what Scottie wanted them to do.

Can existing contracts be renegotiated?

Again, a team over the salary cap cannot renegotiate a contract. An interesting case of this was Shawn Kemp with the Sonics. Kemp, who was unhappy with his contract and wanted to renegotiate, could not get a larger contract from the Sonics because they were over the cap. Kemp forced a trade to Cleveland, who was far enough under the cap at the time to give him the large contract he wanted. Kemp's contract was renegotiated soon after the trade.

And that's the point. In 1997-1998 the Bulls were double the cap, which according to Wikipedia was $27 million for the year. So yes, the point still sticks that they could not renegotiate.

Scottie was complaining before 98. By 93-94 (the year w/o Jordan), he was already displeased.

[BR0D1E86]

He did complain. Not to the media, IIRC, but it was generally understood that Pippen felt disrespected by his contract (and rightly so). Jalen Rose now claims this is why Pippen undermines Jordan's legacy at every turn: he (Pip) believes MJ should have lobbied harder to get him a good deal.

I don't know how righteous he was. As I recall the Bulls' front office advised Pippen that he would be underpaid over the life of the contract but Pip wanted the security. Once it was signed though the FO had no interest in renegotiating.

I distinctly remember rumblings during the second three-peat, ie. once Kukoc was brought over and was making more money.

EDIT: Unless by 'righteous' you meant justified? I may have misinterpreted your post.

Yes, justified. He signed the contract, he had every right be be unhappy with it later but he should have been unhappy with his agent, not the front office.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

Yes, justified. He signed the contract, he had every right be be unhappy with it later but he should have been unhappy with his agent, not the front office.

That's fair.

[SpinninHouse]

Hi guys, was looking at the payroll, wow
MJ asked for 36$M, GM wanted to offer 33$M, they met at 33$M

1 Michael Jordan $33,140,000
2 Toni Kukoc $4,560,000
3 Ron Harper $4,560,000
4 Dennis Rodman $4,500,000
5 Luc Longley $3,184,900
6 Scottie Pippen $2,775,000
7 Bill Wennington $1,800,000
8 Scott Burrell $1,430,000
9 Randy Brown $1,260,000
10 Dickey Simpkins $1,235,000
11 Robert Parish $1,150,000
12 Jason Caffey $850,920
13 Steve Kerr $750,000
14 David Vaughn $693,840
15 Keith Booth $597,600
16 Jud Buechler $500,000
17 Joe Kleine $272,250
18 Rusty LaRue *$242,000

MJ's Salary = 33 Mill
The rest of the team's combined salary = 30.36 Mill

Know Pip complained about his laughable salary, do you guys remember anything relevant about this issue?
in todays nba this would never happen
peace

I thought Rusty LaRue was maxed out?

[donaldtrump_00]

i never asked or paid attention to salaries much that year and now it all makes sense but i still don't know for sure but did pippen leaving chi after the last championship have to do with money? cause someone was talking to me about it today and said pippen made less then kukoc that summer. which lead to tony playing with the bulls and pippen leaving for Houston. did chi really low ball pippen like that? did they offer kukoc the better contract. what happened that offseason besides the obvious that mj and phil, and rodman all left. pippen should've stayed. what the real reason

[HomoSapien]

Pippen and the Bulls mutually parted ways because Jordan retired and they were rebuilding. The Bulls, in their mind at least, did him a favor by giving him a sign and trade to the team of his choice. In return we got Roy Rogers and a 2nd round pick.

Kukoc was on the Bulls because he was already under contract. It wasn't really an either/or thing. Kukoc did get paid more than Pippen and that was a source of conflict. Early in his career Pippen signed a long extension. He did this because he wanted the security as he was having back issues. Krause reportedly advised him not to sign the extension then as he would become quickly underpaid. Later in his career, Pippen asked for the Bulls to renegotiate his contract. The Bulls refused, because they weren't obligated to do that, and this strained the two sides' relationship.

[BR0D1E86]

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1254135

Just recently discussed. Yes, Toni made more but it wasn't due to the front office screwing Pippen over. They then did him a favor in giving him a sign and trade to the Rockets after the season.

[donaldtrump_00]

now i see why pippen was so mad toward kukoc. its was money all along. that doesn't even make sense why pippen wouldn't be making loul deng type of money or more. i never knew what he made but thought it would be at least more then kukoc

[BR0D1E86]

now i see why pippen was so mad toward kukoc. its was money all along. that doesn't even make sense why pippen wouldn't be making loul deng type of money or more. i never knew what he made but thought it would be at least more then kukoc

Read the other thread. Pippen signed the contract against the advice of the team. It also helps to put it into the context of what other stars in te league were making at that time. Nobody was making "Deng money" back then. Salaries really exploded after the lockout after the 98 season.

[tre11408]

I now see why the Bulls' front office is so hated by so many Bulls fans... they just WANT to hate the front office.

I've seen a few posts in this thread ripping the front office for not renegotiating Pippen's contract, even after someone posted the section of the CBA that forbade the Bulls from renegotiating his contract because they were over the salary cap.

They didn't refuse to renegotiate, they weren't allowed to renegotiate. But Pippen was justified to be pissed off at Krause??

From what I remember, the whole Pippen contract thing was the beginning of the "Reinsdorf is cheap" mantra among so many Bulls fans.

[tre11408]

Pippen and the Bulls mutually parted ways because Jordan retired and they were rebuilding. The Bulls, in their mind at least, did him a favor by giving him a sign and trade to the team of his choice. In return we got Roy Rogers and a 2nd round pick.

Kukoc was on the Bulls because he was already under contract. It wasn't really an either/or thing. Kukoc did get paid more than Pippen and that was a source of conflict. Early in his career Pippen signed a long extension. He did this because he wanted the security as he was having back issues. Krause reportedly advised him not to sign the extension then as he would become quickly underpaid. Later in his career, Pippen asked for the Bulls to renegotiate his contract. The Bulls refused, because they weren't obligated to do that, and this strained the two sides' relationship.

It's not that they refused, they were forbidden, because they were over the salary cap. There was no way they could renegotiate.

They did give him a max contract in a sign and trade when he left, just to be nice. They got a 2nd round pick and (I think) Rodney Rogers in return, and I'm pretty sure Rogers never played a game for the Bulls.

[HomoSapien]

It was actually Roy Rogers. I was always under the impression that they could renegotiate his salary, but decided not to.