Okay, I'm REALLY confused now about big Z's salary situation

[sturt]

To become a free agent and join a contender, Ilgauskas gave back $1.5 million of the prorated portion of his $11.5 million salary due, according to the Washington Post.

The Hawks have both their mid-level and bi-annual salary-cap exceptions available but they aren’t relevant in this case since Ilgauskas’ prorated salary would not be large enough to need them. That puts the Hawks and the other suitors on the same level as far as the salary they can offer.

Huh?

Help me out.

[niremetal]

Huh?

Help me out.

Where's that from? As far as I know, teams can offer Z only a prorated portion of whatever salary cap exceptions are available to them. For the Cavs and Mavs, that would mean the minimum salary exception. For the Hawks, it could mean the mid-level, bi-annual, or minimum. I think whoever said that is confused, and thinks that teams can offer either the full minimum salary or a prorated portion of the mid-level. Unless I'm mistaken, everything is prorated at this stage in the season, so the Hawks can offer more - it just probably won't make much of a difference at this point because the total dollar amount of the difference would be just a fraction of what it would have been over the summer. And something tells me Z isn't going to sign because the Hawks can offer him, a guy whose already made $120M in salary during his career, an extra $1.5M.

Edited February 25, 2010 by niremetal

[mrhonline]

Cleveland still has their BAE, which is prorated to around, oh, $1.5M.

You'll notice that is the amount that Ilgauskas was willing to give back to the Wizards, presumably because his agent knows he'll recoup that at a minimum.

[sturt]

Cunningham (AJC) Blog:

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2010/02/25/ilgauskas-gets-release-from-wizards-atlanta-hawks-line-up-to-make-pitch/?cxntfid=blogs_hawks

[exodus]

I don't get it. If he was bought out of his contract and is free to go wherever he wants then doesn't that mean he is a free agent? Why would his previous salary be relevant?

I can only assume this has something to do with the fact that there are only 26 games left in the season. The MLE (lets assume it is $6 million i don't remember) prorated over 26 games would be $1.8 million so maybe that is what they are talking about.

[spotatl]

The writer just doesn't know what he is talking about. Seriously- don't read anything he says about CBA type stuff. The Hawks can still offer Z 4.4 million or so for the rest of the season if they wanted to.

Edited February 25, 2010 by spotatl

[Sothron]

There's no way he's going to sign here unless the NBA forbids him to go back to Cleveland which is not going to happen.

[exodus]

There's no way he's going to sign here unless the NBA forbids him to go back to Cleveland which is not going to happen.

You are almost certainly right but still I am curious because I haven't heard anything in the past about this. The Hawks do have much more space available than the Cavs since they didn't use their MLE so i don't see why they couldn't sign him for lets say $3 million. I am not buying what this guy says until i see a Coon link.

Edited February 25, 2010 by exodus

[coachx]

There's no way he's going to sign here unless the NBA forbids him to go back to Cleveland which is not going to happen.

You also said the ASG would never even ATTEMPT to give him a sales pitch b/c they are too cheap (in your opinion).

Moral of the story.............never say never............though the chances are not in our favor there is still a chance and until the door is shut we have to do our due diligence and try.

[Guest]

Seems fairly clear to me that the guy from the Washington Post doesn't know a thing about the CBA. Probably heard the context and then extrapolated what he thought.

[Sothron]

You also said the ASG would never even ATTEMPT to give him a sales pitch b/c they are too cheap (in your opinion).

Moral of the story.............never say never............though the chances are not in our favor there is still a chance and until the door is shut we have to do our due diligence and try.

The cynic in me would point out that making a "pitch" to a guy you know isn't going to sign with you anyway is a perfect example of "illusion of competition".

[mrhonline]

^^^At least ensures that the Cavs will use their BAE, meaning they wouldn't have it available next year.

[lifelong]

If I'm the Wizards I'm not sure why I pay the guy anything for his buyout. He clearly was going to want out VERY badly, so I would have played hardball.

[Johnnybravo4]

Why couldn't our sales pitch be that we promise to resign him for a 2-3 year contract next season. With the money that the Cavs will blow paying Lebron, Z will be on the street anyway. If I was Z, I wouldn't want to be "used" like this.

[spotatl]

Johnny- the Hawks could sign him to a 3 year contract right now for the full MLE if they wanted to.

[niremetal]

Johnny- the Hawks could sign him to a 3 year contract right now for the full MLE if they wanted to.

Yeah. Also, having a player sign a contract now with an additional promise of signing a future contract would violate the CBA pretty severely. That's what got the Wolves in trouble in the Joe Smith fiasco 10 years ago.

[Johnnybravo4]

Johnny- the Hawks could sign him to a 3 year contract right now for the full MLE if they wanted to.

Hell we should do that. Its not like there will be any free agent bigs on the horizon anytime soon.

[mrhonline]

Yeah. Also, having a player sign a contract now with an additional promise of signing a future contract would violate the CBA pretty severely. That's what got the Wolves in trouble in the Joe Smith fiasco 10 years ago.

I'm wondering whether Cleveland will have the cojones to offer a one-year deal with a PO for the second year. That would be a flashing neon sign to the league, IMO.

[mrhonline]

I know Z is returning to Cleveland, but I desperately want the Hawks to leverage their MLE to force the league to end this loophole once and for all.

[Johnnybravo4]

Yeah there is something wrong with the entire setup. It is collusion of the worst kind.