So I thought it'd we worthwhile to check in on the cap numbers for next year now that we have a little bit better idea of what's happening. In particular, I'm interested in what the cap would look like if the Bulls bring back Deng, sign Mirotic and amnesty Boozer. In this scenario, the certainties are as follow: Rose $18,862,876 Noah $12,200,000 Gibson $8,000,000 MDJ: $3,326,235 Snell: $1,472,400 Butler: $2,008,748 Teague: $1,120,920 Hamilton: $333,334 Minimum salary contract (may be Murphy or another backup big): $915,243 Total: $48,239,756 Question marks: Deng: Comps are Iguodala $12,868,632, Josh Smith $13,500,000 Mirotic: Full MLE is $5,305,000 D.J. Augustin: Currently at $1,267,000, full bi-annual exception is $2,077,000 Charlotte's pick (estimated): $1,266,000 Chicago's pick (estimated): $2,103,500 Total high projection (using full MLE, bi-annual, and Josh Smith's contract): $24,251,500 Luxury tax (estimated): $75,700,000 (was 71,600,000 this season) Total team salary using least conservative estimates: $72,491,256 Takeaways: -- The Bulls are in a very decent situation to be under the tax threshold next season. -- I don't expect Augustin to be offered much if anything above a minimum agreement next season, but even if he is, the Bulls can re-sign him and still be under the projected tax. -- The Bulls should be able to sign Deng to a slightly above Josh Smith level agreement if that's what it takes. -- The Bulls can sign Mirotic to the full MLE if that's what it takes. Roster takeaways: -- The Bulls are going to be looking for bigs in this upcoming draft.
Deng's Bird rights are a huge cap hold. I think Mirotic may not be wanting to come over. I saw his brother Reggie Mirotic tweet that. Or it may take a LOT more than MLE.
I don't know what to expect from the Mirotic deal. People seem to have been guessing that it will take the full MLE with the theory being that his play has warranted that value. The problem with this logic is that, as anyone whose ever worked for anyone else knows, your bargaining power and not value dictates your salary. So the better Mirotic plays the more he is worth to the Bulls. But the better he plays the more likely it is that he will reap a windfall second contract in the NBA. So does his play increase or decrease his projected salary? His strong play has increased the importance of a deal to both parties.
From what I read, his euro team is going to rip up his contract and give him a much bigger deal. Does he want to play in the NBA so bad he'd take only a few extra bucks to play for a team that hasn't won a championship in 20 years and whose best chance has two bad knees?
Making the counter argument: wouldn't it make sense to come play for free for three years if there was a good chance you'd have a huge pay day when it came to your second agreement. I'm not sure how this will play out. (Obviously, I don't expect him to come here and play for the minimum or whatever.)
Deng's contract hold is $19M. Factor that in, FWIW. It's better to stay over there and be champ and MVP than come over here and prove you're neither. People I tend to agree with seem to think the Bulls already met with Mirotic and got his agreement at MLE, so the Bulls can proceed to sign Deng now. That's one way to read the tea leaves... The other is that Mirotic said, "ha ha ha, no!" The Bulls are faced with neither him nor Deng. Better sign Deng now before he gets an offer and leaves. At $1 over MLE, the Bulls have to get MLE + $1 under the cap to have the room to sign him. Picture he wants $7M or $10M. I hope I'm wrong. I liked Transplant's all in strategy. Max out the cap space by not re-upping anyone with an option. Something like $25m to be had. Along with Rose and a top draft pick, the situation might be more appealing. FWIW
Forgetting for the moment the actual cap #s, I agree that amnestying Boozer is likely and that, once this is done, the Bulls will be in a good position to come in under the LT line even when they re-sign Deng to a market-based contract. The full MLE ought to be plenty to bring Mirotic over. $5.3mil/season is at the absolute top of the Euro pay scale. Link Augustin has been a pleasant surprise, but I agree that thinking of him as anything other than a vet minimum guy next season is premature at this point. Of course one problem with all this is that amnestying Boozer, re-signing Deng and bringing Mirotic over from Europe doesn't fill the perceived hole in the Bulls roster where a "second shot-creator" needs to be.
Mirotic has a $3.2M buyout clause in his contract. The Bulls can only pay $600K of that, the test comes out of Mirotic's pocket.
Do you have a source for the $3.2mil?...I'm mostly seeing $2.7mil-$3.0mil. It may seem like nit-picking, but not if you're the one paying the nits. I can't find a good source for Mirotic's Euro salary, but I'm guessing it's around 1.0-1.5mil Euros ($1.3-$2.0mil). Mirotic is clearly hot stuff in the world of Euro hoops. I suppose it's possible that Real Madrid might offer an extension that would match the Bulls offer.
http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-b...umbers-behind-the-mirotic-contract-situation/ The Buyout An early termination clause in Mirotic’s contract with Real Madrid sets his “buyout” at $3,149,000 [see Note 1] to defect to an NBA team any earlier than 2017-2018. The new CBA limits the amount that the Bulls can pay without having it count against team salary. Here is what they can contribute each summer: ... Note 1: Based on the euro-dollar exchange rate on the morning of 15 June. (all kinds of tables analyzing the decision matrices)
From the same link: But we haven’t yet factored in the opportunity cost of Mirotic giving up his $4,408,600 Real Madrid salary. When we subtract his current salary, a negative number implies he's giving up money by coming to the NBA, a positive number means he's making more, and zero means he breaks even. His Real Madrid salary runs through 2016-2017, but for the sake of comparison we’ll assume that after 2017 he could continue to sign one-year contracts with Real Madrid each year for the same amount (in all likelihood he could get a raise).
Google translator is rough, but hopefully you get the idea. http://www.marca.com/2013/12/23/bal...b16cbbcb62a8d777082d55c3c20744ea&t=1387792882 IT IS THE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF THE ENDESA LEAGUE AND THE EUROLEAGUE The Madrid is already working on the renovation of Mirotic The Whites started the first contacts, which has continued in recent weeks, at the start of the season The temporadón Nikola Mirotic, the most valuable player of the Endesa League (tied with 20.5 Sekulic in the first place) and also the most valued Euroleague (20.5), is not going unnoticed in the offices of Shell Espina. Real Madrid, conscious of the appreciation in the market for his young power forward 22 years and 2.08 m., Machinery has already started to try to renew at Podgorica, that contract ends in 2016 . The Whites started the first contacts, which has continued in recent weeks, at the start of the season. The growing interest of the Bulls for the player, who has a clause out of 2.5 million who could face in its entirety franchise Chicago (from $ 600,000 disbursed spending affects their salary cap), could change rhythms of trading. From the United States as a means of prestige and ESPN reported that the Bulls are willing to throw the house out the window for Mirotic . Meanwhile pampers Chicago injury, which draftearon the Rockets in 2011 and the Bulls got in the same way Timberwolves draft night, meeting with him in Madrid to worry about your progress day by day.
