The profits are from Forbes.com and their annual valuation of NBA franchises. I'm not sure how many years are actually archived on the site. I have the numbers (having collected them over the years) on a spreadsheet at home. And my assumption is that Odom and Ariza will make a combined $16 million in 2009-10 if they are both re-signed..
^that is exactly what is said That hardly is implying that Jerry Buss has that 20mill mark in his head. In fact it sorta implies the opposite of that. Money is nice and all but at this point IMO Dr. Buss just wants to make this the most prolific team he can make it. His family is set for life regardless if they sign both or dont. I was watching a interview with Dr. Buss a few months ago. He told the story of him getting very overpriced offers for the Lakers. He said he thought about it and asked himself what he would do with so much money...his answer to himself..."Buy the Lakers".
The $20 million figure doesn't come from that quote - your posting it is the first I've seen of that quote. The $20 million figure comes from my looking at how much profit the Lakers have actually made over the last decade, and seeing that the lowest figure was $23 million. I gave Dr. Buss the benefit of the doubt and said he'd go as low as $20 million. I lived in Southern California for 17 years. I've seen the interviews with Dr. Buss. I've read the columns in the LA Times, the OC Register, the Daily News and even the Herald-Examiner. I've yet to read one that didn't say that Dr. Buss relies on the yearly income he receives from the Lakers to fund his lifestyle. If things have changed in the past 4 years (since I moved out of California), then I'm mistaken. This wouldn't be the first time that he's let players leave for financial reasons (Fisher, Turiaf, etc.)
He also overruled Jerry West's plan (a plan also endorsed by Phil Jackson) to trade for Scottie Pippen from Houston due to the amount of money Pippen was owed.
Well who is right? You or Forbes magazine? Forbes says up to you say at least...So I welcome you showing me how you are right and got your numbers but I gotta go with Forbes for now... Im gonna go out on a limb and say the Buss family is more than secure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Buss Doesnt sound like somebody worrying about money.... You dont really believe those two are in close to the same situation as Odom and Ariza do you?!? Fisher was overpaid by GS (good for him) and there was no realistic chance of 'ships in the next few years with or without him. Turiaf was vastly overpaid(good for him) by GS and the Lakers didnt resign him cause they had more important people to give money to. If Ronny was a huge factor of the Lakers getting to the finals then the Lakers would have kept him. Here we are talking about an already proven championship team with Ariza and Odom being very big factors.
In no universe will payroll need to be $117M for Buss to resign both Ariza and Odom. If the luxury tax is at $71M, the math is the following: Kobe: 23.0M Gasol: 16.5M Bynum: 12.5M Ammo: $5.3M Fish: 5.0M Sasha: 5.0M Luke: 4.8M Farmar: $2M Brown: 0.85M Mbenga: 0.85M Powell: 0.85M Yue: 0.75M This assumes Brown is resigned to a minimum deal (very likely), and add in another $1M for a 1st rounder and that's $78.4M total before luxury taxes. Then, if you resign Odom and Ariza to $8M/yr and $5M/yr deals respectively, that's $91.4M before luxury taxes. After luxury taxes, that's ~ $112M. And this assumes the Lakers don't dump a contract in trade, like Vujacic or Morrison, which could quite easily happen like they did with Radmanovic earlier in the year, bringing down total salary well below $110M. That would fall under your minimum $20M assumption, which is based on questionable numbers at the very least, and something that could potentially be disastrously different if one of those players isn't resigned because it could mean significantly fewer postseason games at Staples; little point in chancing potentially $10M-$20M in postseason ticket sales over less than $5M in additional contract dollars Buss *might* not want to spend on Ariza/Odom.
Well, since my statement and Forbes' statement are not diametrically opposed, I'd say we're both right. The quote from Forbes that you brought up said that the Lakers get up to $20 million extra in revenue from being in the playoffs. My point is that Buss historically will not allow his franchise to operate at less than $20 million profit annually. And of course, I know that Ariza and Odom are different than Fisher and Turiaf. But that doesn't change my contention. Look, if Buss spends like crazy this summer to keep Odom and Ariza, I'll be surprised. It won't mean the end of the world to me and it won't mean that I'm an idiot. It'll just mean that I'm very surprised because Buss will have operated against his norm. He has every right to do so. Right now, I just don't think he will.
We're step for step in line until this point, and that's what makes the difference between your $112 million and my $117 million. I think it'll take $16 million to sign both, you say $13 million. $3 million salary plus $3 million tax. As for my contention about $20 million being based on questionable numbers, that's not quite true. Is it my opinion? Absolutely. I don't think Jerry Buss will allow the Lakers to operate at less than $20 million annual profit. You don't have to agree with that. But the historical data about annual profit is not questionable. Jerry Buss makes a lot of money annually as owner of the Lakers. There's nothing 'questionable' about that statement. And if he can make it - more power to him! I just think that he'll want to keep making $20-40 million annually. I don't think he'll sign both Ariza and Odom this summer for that reason.
meh...even if all you say is true past doesnt always dictate future...This is Dr. Buss's last chance to get 'ships while he is the man in charge. Buss has ALWAYS paid the players he thought it took to win 'ships. Signing both is well within reason and I obviously believe it will eventually happen. You made some good points...im just gonna have to disagree with the endresult
Seem to know your shit...hope you stick around these parts. You a Blazers fan or just interested in the thread
He's a voice from the Golden Age of this Blazers community... come back to save us from the darkness. Ed O.
I like to think I know a few things about salaries and the CBA..... I am indeed a fan of the Blazers and have been since 1982. I've posted with a lot of these Blazers fans through the years as they've migrated from board to board. I don't post on this board as much as I do on BlazersEdge and that's just a preferential thing (I don't care for the cursing and the edginess). To each their own.
Storyteller is the person to talk to about salary cap questions. If you want to go into Salary Cap overload check out his web site http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/
