Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bairstow

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

First of all, the tweet doesn't say anything about signing Baristow. The tweet says the Bulls offered him a 3-year deal. But that's really beside the point.

"We" don't accept anything as "fact". Maybe you do, maybe others in this thread do, I can't speak for anyone else. I most certainly don't accept it as a "fact" any more than I accepted the "fact" that we were signing Mirotic with the MLE just because Woj said we were. How'd that work out? Oh I remember, I was right, we didn't sign Mirotic for the MLE.

Assuming the Bulls offered the bare minimum $507,336 to Bairstow out of their cap space, that's a total of $1,590,498 less over three years they would have to pay Gasol and Mirotic. Personally, I believe that the Bulls used each and every last penny of cap space they had to sign Gasol and Mirotic. (Obviously if we're pretending that Bairstow will sign with cap space, that's even more money out of Gasol's ans Mirotic's pockets)

I don't believe for one second that either of those guys gave up any money so the 49th pick could get a deal that pays him less than the minimum salary exception over the first two years.

If he signed for the minimum but with cap space, he could get $1,590,498 at the most over 3 years. He can sign for the minimum exception and get $1,352,395 over two years. I have a rule about not believing stuff that makes absolutely no sense, and Bairstow getting three years makes absolutely no sense. He'd be playing that third year for $138,103.

I'm willing to bet that the biggest contract Bairstow signs is a two-year deal for $1,352,395 ($507,336 this season and $845,059 next season) with a qualifying offer of $1,180,431 in year 3. That's a damned generous offer for a player taken in the bottom 12 of the draft. I could be wrong, it's happened before. Maybe a one-month sig bet? Winner chooses loser's sig for a month?

Of course, there is the possibility that for some reason the Bulls are having the press conference today without having signed Gasol or Mirotic. It goes without saying that if you sign Bairstow to the rookie minimum amount before you sign Mirotic and Gasol, the cap space you've used is equal to a cap hold.

I still can't imagine any reason that Bairstow would agree to play for much less than the minimum salary for the next two seasons, but maybe his agent really, really sucks?

 

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

I read that a while back, and while it's awesome that you were a part of getting Rip City Two hooked up with the Blazers, I don't remember the article saying anything about the workings of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and/or the Salary Cap?

Just curious what the Rip City Two/Blazers marriage has to do with the discussion in this thread, but whatever floats your boat.

 

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

Wear and Lance Thomas are the two non-roster guys who have done the most to help themselves make a team somewhere.

I agree that Wear has more three skills. I could see him walking onto a roster and filling the Steve Novak role pretty easily.

But more active? Cam's best attribute so far has been his chippiness. He's got a very good motor and always seems to be mixing it up with someone. I think he'll be a decent big off the bench whenever he gets a chance.

 

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

Yeah Thomas has looked good, but he has the most NBA experience so really he should.

Wear duplicates what Mirotic will give us, and Bairstow looks like a banger. For me I say advantage Bairstow for this team, we don't have a big body like him.

 

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

Before anyone reads this thread and thinks I'm some sort of idiot, it's time to come clean and stop having a good laugh at another poster's expense.

It was just so funny to read someone saying that Bairstow could be making $575,000 after three years in the league that I figured I would play along for a while.

This has nothing to do with Mirotic or Gasol of course. It has everything to do with the Collective Bargaining Agreement not allowing a player to EVER make less than the league minimum.

Players are ALWAYS guaranteed to make at least the minimum salary, and no offense to anyone but I figured even the most novice basketball fan knows that a player can't make less than the minimum. Seriously, it's called the minimum salary for a reason.

Obviously, I was wrong.

What the hell, I pointed out that someone can't make less than the minimum salary, and someone is going to argue it? MINIMUM!!!!!!! I couldn't resist.

I guess a little credit is due for knowing that the Bulls can sign Bairstow for up to four years as long as they sign him with cap space. But then to suggest that a player can EVER make less than the league minimum salary?

That's just embarassing, really.

http://bit.ly/Bullsville71814

MINIMUM!!!!!!!

 

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

No, it's fine transplant, I don't mind explaining it to someone who isn't pretentious and actually wants to learn, because the CBA is pretty damned complicated. And Coon's site is awesome, it's where anyone trying to figure things out needs to start, but there are small little nuances in the actual CBA that aren't covered in the FAQ.

I'm no expert, and I'm not any more intelligent that most of the guys here. I've just invested a lot of time studying not only Coon's site but the actual CBA, so I've educated myself pretty well. It's nothing any of you guys couldn't do if you invested the time, I'm a genius but I'm not special.

Anyway, since the Bulls are under the cap, they can sign Baristow to a contract that is equal to the rookie minimum out of their cap space. Since a cap hold is the same figure as the rookie minimum, it's the same first-year salary either way.

The difference is that when a team is over the cap, they usually sign 2nd round picks with the Minimum Salary Exception, and those contracts can only be for two years. Signing Baristow with cap space means they can offer a 4-year deal, just like any other contract that is signed using cap space. (Of course they could pay him more than the minimum if they wanted to pay Gasol and/or Mirotic less, but we all know that ain't happening.)

Normal contracts call for maximum 4.5% raises, that's true- but player's aren't allowed to make less than the minimum salary. Ever. You won't find that in Coon's FAQ, but it is in the actual Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Article II, Section 6 (d) reads like this:

(d) On July 1 of each Salary Cap Year, any Player Contract (whether
entered into before or after the date of this Agreement) that provides for a
Salary for the upcoming Season that is less than the applicable Minimum
Player Salary shall be deemed amended to provide for the applicable
Minimum Player Salary.

So Baristow can sign a 3 (or even 4) year contract, and it won't effect the Bulls in any way as long as it's only for the rookie minimum amount. Even after Gasol and Mirotic sign, the Bulls still have three cap holds equal to the minimum salary for a rookie. The 9 players they have under contract combine to make the salary cap minus three cap holds, so they can pay Baristow one of the cap holds and it's the same effect on the team salary.

I hope that made sense, like I said I know it's complicated. The article I wrote today and linked in this thread explains it and shows exactly how much Bairstow can make over the next three years. Not that it's complicated, if he signs for the league minimum this year, he can make the league minimum next season. And he'd make the league minimum again the season after that, if he signs a 3-year deal.

NOTE: I was only an ass about it because Denny insulted me and Blog A Bull specifically by saying that we couldn't possibly discuss the amount of cap space the Bulls have because "we didn't have all the information, because Sham's site doesn't have all the needed info". I pointed out to him at the time that all the info he was talking about is right there on Sham's site, as long as you know how to find it.

Danny didn't "mis-speak" and he wasn't "mis-led", he was "uninformed". Ignorant to the actual mechinations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, if you will. He quoted a part of the FAQ that doesn't apply here, because the FAQ doesn't cover each and every scenario.

Then the same day he wants to doubt me when I say that it's impossible for a player to make less than the minimum? Ironic, isn't it, that I know where to find the info that tells you a player can't make less than the minimum. I just quoted it.

/high horse
/rant

 

Re: Chicago Bulls have offered three-year contract to Australian draftee Cameron Bair

Definitely, it's pretty rare that there is something in the CBA that isn't covered on Coon's site. But I have run across a few things that are such minor technicalities that, like you said, are pretty damned insignificant if I wasn't getting paid to write about the Bulls. I certainly wouldn't have wasted my time learning them but, like a great man once said "it's a profit deal".