Bulls talking about Miller/Salmons swap (confirmed, done deal!)

Well, we pretty clearly are out of the Running for Amare since we traded away all of our expiring contracts.

 

I like the deal.

Miller > Gooden

I don't mind paying Miller next year. He is better balance with the two young bigs than Gooden IMHO. We needed some beef in the middle. Contract expires at the right time for the 2010 FA bonanza.

Salmons > Nocioni

Salmons is better than Noch, cheaper and his contract expires one year sooner. He is good insurance if BG is hell bent on leaving and probably can be traded away this summer if we need the room to sign Ben.

 

I'm ok with this deal. Miller is a big, expiring deal next year, which could be trade bait next season or just a nice chunk of cap relief. With Salmons, we have an insurance policy now if Ben leaves in FA.

 

The bulls are going to be players in FA after next year with $25 million of expiring contracts. Bosh is looking like a real possibility. If Tyrus keeps improving he'll be a trade chip or an expiring contract if nothing else. And I like Miller being a solid back up to Noah and Tyrus. Gray may be out now. There won't be any minutes for him.

 

Salmons has a 15% trade kicker that makes his deal effectively the same as Noc's in 2010. And I'm not sure he's at all better than Noc. :|

 

Does a trade kicker increase the salary in each remaining year of the deal?

Does it kick in another 15% if he gets traded again?

 

Yes and no.

Basically the kicker is 15% of the remainder of his deal, which comes out to ~$2M. The actual money is paid immediately but the cap charge is spread across his remaining years in proportion to their value of the remaining contract. But not the ETO.

<p>Closely reading the&nbsp;<a href="http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q83">CBA FAQ</a>, I gather that if a player has an Early Termination option in his contract, the value of the ETO year <b>IS</b> counted when adding up the value of his trade bonus, but the value of the bonus <b>IS NOT</b> applied to his ETO year for salary cap purposes.</p>
<p>So here's how to calculate Salmons' cap value.</p>
<p>His current contract calls for him to be paid</p>
<p>08/09: $5.104</p>
<p>09/10: $5.456 (ETO for 2010/11 to be exercised at end of this year)</p>
<p>10/11: $5.808</p>
<p>Now, his season is about 65% over, so his remaining 08/09 salary is only about $1.805M.&nbsp; Thus is total remaining salary for adding up the trade kicker is $13.069M.&nbsp; 15% of this is $1.96M. That's the amount Salmons gets as a bonus for being traded.</p>
<p>He gets paid the $1.96M now, but it's applied over the remainder of his contract, excluding the ETO (if I understand it correctly). This means the trade bonus applies only to this year and next year's cap, in proportion to his salary.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if it applies in proportion to his annual or his remaining salary.&nbsp; Since it's calculated based on his remaining salary, I'm going to assume it's applied to the cap in the same way (if I'm wrong, someone speak up).&nbsp; That means his cap value goes up $487K this year and $1.473M next year, making his total cap hits:</p>
<p>08/09: $5.591</p>
<p>09/10: $6.929 (ETO for 2010/11 to be exercised at end of this year)</p>
<p>10/11: $5.808</p>

I'm not 100% sure of that, but it's my best guess.

The FAQ is pretty clear, however, that there's only a bonus the first time you get traded, subsequent trades don't yield subsequent kickers.

 

Why is Sac-town giftwrapping Miller and Salmons to you.

 

Apparently Miller's having a tough time letting go from Sacramento.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/57420/20090219/brad_miller_breaks_down_after_trade/

 

I can't quickly find the article, but he expressed pleasure at leaving Chicago after his first go around.

 

So Mike, if it was your decision would you really rather have Noc than Salmons?

 

I'd rather have neither. Various folks (not just ones working for the Bulls, apparently) claimed Noc had "value" around the league. Boston was supposedly interested. Paxson said in his press conference today that this was a 'basketball trade' for Salmons and Miller and he spoke effusively of Salmons.

Well, I wanted a financial move. I prefer Gordon to either of them. I'd prefer the chance to use the MLE in a buyer's market than either of them. I'd prefer 2010 cap room to either of them.

So in the grand scheme of things, maybe that's ducking your question, but I think I'm still giving a pretty clear stance. Making a "basketball trade" for Salmons is just as smart sounding to me as making a "basketball trade" for Nocioni.

 

Well, I like Salmons better than Noch, but am with you that I would take the cap space over either.