Bulls might waive Nate Robinson to save money (and possibly for another reason, one for which I have no evidence)
December 19th, 2012
K.C. Johnson reports that the Bulls, despite being a number four seed without having their MVP on the court, are sorely tempted to waive Nate Robinson. In one of the most unheralded high quality moves of the summer – unheralded because the dominant Bullsean narrative of the summer was rightly one of cost-cutting and player-dumping – the Bulls were able to sign Robinson to not only a minimum salary contract, but a partially guaranteed one at that. Of the $1,146,337 Nate is owed – an amount which, if he’s kept for the full season, the Bulls will owe only $854,389 of – only $400,000 is guaranteed, becoming fully guaranteed if not waived on or before January 1st [not the 10th, as reported elsewhere]. In an industry where the permanent goal is to sign as good as quality of player as is possible for as cheap of a price as is possible, this is an incredibly good contract. The institutional maligning of Nate as a player that dates back years cannot (or should not) ignore the fact that he’s a hugely talented player who can single handedly turn the outcome of NBA games. And the Bulls should know this, because he’s done that more than once for them this season. The move would be, of course, patently ridiculous. Even if the season was a wash, you don’t waive a most vital contributor to save on what, by NBA standards, is a nominal fee, and by no standard is the season proving to be a wash in the first place. Nate is third on the Bulls in PER, the only man who can consistently create a shot off the dribble in Rose’s absence, arguably the team’s best ball handler, its only creative backcourt player, and one of its best shooters. He’s even […]
Nazr Mohammed and Trade Kickers
December 4th, 2012
Even though he signed a one year minimum salary contract using the Minimum Salary Exception, Nazr Mohammed has a 15% trade kicker in his current contract. Trade kickers in contracts are somewhat rare. They are particularly rare in small contracts, as becomes obvious upon a study of the current trade kickers in the league today: Ray Allen – 15% – $3,090,000 Andrea Bargnani – 5% – $10,000,000 Nic Batum – 15% – $10,825,000 Chris Bosh – 15% – $17,545,000 Jose Calderon – 10% – $10,561,982 Vince Carter – 10% – $3,090,000 Tyson Chandler – lesser of 8% or $500,000 – $13,604,188 Pau Gasol – 15% – $19,000,000 Manu Ginobili – 5% – $14,107,492 Eric Gordon – 15% – $13,668,750 Blake Griffin – 15% – trade kicker is in his extension, beginning next year Udonis Haslem – 15% – $4,060,000 Roy Hibbert – 15% – $13,668,750 LeBron James – 15% – $17,545,000 Amir Johnson – 5% – $6,000,000 DeAndre Jordan – 15% – $10,532,977 Brook Lopez – 15% – $13,668,750 Robin Lopez – 15% – $4,899,293 Shawn Marion – 15% – $8,646,364 O.J. Mayo – 15% – $4,020,000 Mike Miller – 15% – $5,800,000 Nazr Mohammed – 15% – $1,352,181 (cap number of $854,389) Steve Nash – 15% – $8,900,000 Derrick Rose – 15% – $16,402,500 Josh Smith – 15% – $13,200,000 Jason Terry – 7.5% – $5,000,000 Jason Thompson – 5% – $5,250,000 Anderson Varejao – 5% – $8,368,182 Dwyane Wade – 15% – $17,182,000 Deron Williams – 15% – $17,177,795 Metta World Peace – 15% – $7,258,960 Furthermore, many of those trade kickers are in contracts that are already paying the maximum salary to the relevant player. As kickers cannot be used to increase a salary to an amount greater than the max, those kickers are thus pretty much […]
