In Depth Look at the Bulls Roster/Salary Situation

[The Ball Dont Lie]

(Article has been edited since originally posted. Credit changes to "czman")

More of an informative article. A good look at what Chicago's front office will be dealing with this summer.

Chicago Bulls 2013-14

Derrick Rose: 17,632,743
Carlos Boozer: 15,300,000
Luol Deng: 14,275,000
Joakim Noah: 11,100,000
Taj Gibson: 7,550,000
Richard Hamilton: 5,000,000 (non-guaranteed)
Kirk Hinrich: 4,059,000
Jimmy Butler: 1,112,880
Marquis Teague: 1,074,720
Malcolm Thomas: 884,923 (non-guaranteed)
(cap hold - incomplete roster charge) - 490,180
(cap hold - incomplete roster charge) - 490,180
(cap hold - incomplete roster charge) - 490,180
(cap hold - incomplete roster charge) - 490,180


Richard Hamilton's contract is non-guaranteed till 7/11/13. If waived before then, Chicago only owes Hamilton 1 million. Contract is fully guaranteed after date.

Malcolm Thomas's contract is non-guaranteed till 7/25/13. If waived before then, Chicago owes Malcolm nothing. If Malcolm is on the roster 7/25/13, 250,000 becomes guaranteed. If Malcolm is on the roster 12/10/13, 500,000 becomes guaranteed.

Team Salary: 73,104,343 (guaranteed) 75,065,063 (including cap holds)

2013/14 Salary Cap Projection: 60,000,000

Chicago's Projected Cap Room: (-15,065,063)

2013/14 Projected Tax Level: 72,000,000

Chicago's Projected Tax Hit: 1,656,514
________________________________________
Chicago's Exceptions:

Trade Exception worth 5 million (From Korver Trade) Expires: 7/16/13

Tax Paying Exception(mini mid level exception): 3,183,000 million

Minimum Player Salary Exception: Salary varies on player's experience.
__________________________________________
Chicago's Draft Picks:

20th overall
49th overall
__________________________________________
Chicago Bulls Upcoming Free Agents:

Nate Robinson - Bulls do not own bird rights.

Marco Belinelli - Bulls do not own bird rights.

Nazr Mohammed - Bulls do not own bird rights.

Vladimir Radmanovic - Bulls do not own bird rights.

DeQuan Cook - Bulls do not own bird rights.

Since Chicago does not own any of their free agents' bird rights, Chicago can offer a maximum of 3,183,000 total to all of the players above(mini MLE). Or they can offer the minimum player salary exception to all of them.

Chicago may also offer the non-bird exception to the players above. The exception allows the Bulls to resign its own player with a starting salary up to 120% of his previous salary. DeQuan Cook is not eligible for this exception.
_____________________________________________

 

[Jerry Cortez211]

Thanks for the insight

 

[czman]

Couple things to clarify.

The Bulls can resign any non-bird rights player to a 1 year contract that is up to 20% larger than their previous contact.

The Bulls can sign any player to a vet minimum deal without it counting against their MLE.

Nate Robinson should be eligible to make $1,265,977 from the Bulls on a guaranteed conrtact. That would be a 1 year deal and not using the MLE.

The Bulls MLE is probably to small to realistically break up into 2 multi year deals. Although it could be done, it is highly unlikely.

The Bulls really only have 8 players under contract once Rip is gone and Thomas. That means they will have 5 cap holds at about ~500k each that will count against their cap.

From what I remember the CBA stated that the salary cap would not rise for the 3 years after it was signed so that means everything should be same as it was last season. I am not sure if there was a clause in it stating if revenue grew X% that the hold on team cap would be lifted or not. This means that the cap/tax/apron are all probably going to be the exact same as they were last season.

The bulls will be very close, depending on who they sign, to going over the Apron this season. It should be interesting to see if they actually allow themselves to go over the apron or not.

The Bulls have the 49th overall pick or the 19th in the 2nd round.

I think that is everything that I noticed.

 

[czman]

One other thing. Thomas can be traded in a deal to help even out money and he can be cut by that team at no cost. This allows the Bulls a little more flexibility in trying to make trades.

 

[clonetrooper264]

So basically unless we trade Deng we're screwed in terms of free agents.

This doesn't surprise me.

 

[scottiepippen1994]

I think the masterplan is to get as much money off the books as possible so we have a realistic shot at landing a star player in the big 2014 free agent class.
Lebron purhaps.
Anyway, I don't see any major signings this summer.
The Bulls can't afford it right now, unless they use the amnosty clause.
I would try to bring back Nate for 1 more season though because the team as it stands has scoring issues.
Nates the only guard other than Derrick that's good at creating shots for himself.
Plus I think it would be interesting to see Derrick and Nate on the floor at the same time.
Could eliminate double and triple teaming on Rose.
Just my opinion.
Y'all may carry on now.
Have a nice day.

 

[ChettheJet]

I doubt that will put and end to people letting their imaginations run wild about this or that overpriced unrealistic player being signed.

They have the #49 pick in the second round. I'd be shocked if they didn't draft a Euro player who won't be available for a couple of years who takes up no cap space.


It's also foolish to suggest they amnesty Boozer. Unless you weren't watching the games this season. Certainly they could get someone for less who wouldn't be any stronger on defense but not someone that could put up the same numbers. They aren't going to trade Deng. To me it's obvious they're going to play 13-14 with the roster that finished this season less Robinson, Hamilton, Cook and Radmonovic. Adding Rose, hopefully Derrick feels like he can play by Halloween, resign Mohammed, try to resign Bellinelli. Maybe Thomas for the minimum. That would be 11, plus the first round pick for 12 and maybe 2 minimum FAs.


As for the 20 pick, that's it. I doubt there is anybody in the draft the Bulls think could come in and start. I don't see a team who wants anybody the Bulls have, like Deng or Boozer and their contracts, to move up into the lottery. They wouldn't trade Noah, Butler, Hinrich or Gibson. Another team could draft someone like Teague. I guess the Bulls could trade down or even out of the first round, it might net the same level player who is going to sit on the bench anyway and save some money but they have to take someone back and they don't want a bad contract.

I might consider trading this year's first round for a future first round pick. Projecting ahead, Rose comes back at an MVP level, Butler improves, Noah at the very least is as good as he is now, maybe Teague can contribute, Gibson remains healthy. You have Deng and Boozer nearing the end of their big contracts. Maybe trade one amnesty the other and you have much more cap flexibility. Get a couple of 1st round picks in 2014, you're a year closer to Mirotic.


They aren't in bad shape but by the numbers above, they don't have any room to move this off season.

 

[The Ball Dont Lie]

Couple things to clarify.

The Bulls can resign any non-bird rights player to a 1 year contract that is up to 20% larger than their previous contact.

The Bulls can sign any player to a vet minimum deal without it counting against their MLE.

Nate Robinson should be eligible to make $1,265,977 from the Bulls on a guaranteed conrtact. That would be a 1 year deal and not using the MLE.

The Bulls MLE is probably to small to realistically break up into 2 multi year deals. Although it could be done, it is highly unlikely.

The Bulls really only have 8 players under contract once Rip is gone and Thomas. That means they will have 5 cap holds at about ~500k each that will count against their cap.

From what I remember the CBA stated that the salary cap would not rise for the 3 years after it was signed so that means everything should be same as it was last season. I am not sure if there was a clause in it stating if revenue grew X% that the hold on team cap would be lifted or not. This means that the cap/tax/apron are all probably going to be the exact same as they were last season.

The bulls will be very close, depending on who they sign, to going over the Apron this season. It should be interesting to see if they actually allow themselves to go over the apron or not.

The Bulls have the 49th overall pick or the 19th in the 2nd round.

I think that is everything that I noticed.

Thanks for your feedback first of all.

I believe I did say the Bulls can offer the minimum to any of their free agents. So it would not count towards their tax paying exception.

I did not include the cap holds for Nazr, Cook, and Vlad because the Bulls will likely renounce their rights anyway. And if they want them back, they will be offered the minimum player salary exception again. But I don't think either of them are in a Bulls uniform next year.

I was unaware that the Bulls could offer 20% raise to their non bird free agents. But with that said it's fair to say Nate and Marco played their way into long term contracts next year. Well I think Marco did, Nate we will see.

I have not heard about the salary cap remaining the same. According to Hoopsworld it is likely to rise to 60,000,000. That is where that number came from.

Richard Hamilton could be traded similar to how Rashard Lewis was traded last year. Washington used his non-guaranteed deal as trade bait. They traded Lewis to New Orleans for Ariza/Okafor. New Orleans than waived Lewis's non guaranteed deal to free cap space. I believe the Bulls will try to do something similar. So they can avoid paying Hamilton 1 million to leave.

Could you explain to me the 20% raise to non bird free agents? I never head of this.

 

[czman]

NON-BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. Its name is somewhat of a misnomer, since Non-Bird really is a form of Bird rights. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Non-Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA. They are veteran free agents who are neither Qualifying Veteran Free Agents nor Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents, and include the following:

Players who finished the season with a given team, who have played no more than one season without clearing waivers or changing teams as a free agent.
Players who were Early Bird free agents, but whose team renounced its right to use the Early Bird exception to re-sign the player.
Players who were to be Larry Bird or Early Bird free agents, were playing on one-year contracts, and were traded mid-season.

This exception allows a team to re-sign its own free agent to a salary starting at up to 120% of his salary in the previous season2 (not over the maximum salary, of course), 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount needed to tender a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent

 

[czman]

I did not include the cap holds for Nazr, Cook, and Vlad because the Bulls will likely renounce their rights anyway. And if they want them back, they will be offered the minimum player salary exception again. But I don't think either of them are in a Bulls uniform next year.

Cap holds are not based on a particular player. All teams have to have a minimum of 13 players and for every player that they have under that number they have a cap hold. I did not look up the exact cap hold number for this year but it should be around 500k. If Cap holds put you over the Apron you are bound by Apron rules and not just regular tax paying team rules.

I have not heard about the salary cap remaining the same. According to Hoopsworld it is likely to rise to 60,000,000. That is where that number came from.

I think they are incorrect on this. I would not bet my house, but I am pretty sure. Take it for what it is. Someone you don't know on the internet making claims--the source of all inaccurate knowledge.

 

[The Ball Dont Lie]

NON-BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. Its name is somewhat of a misnomer, since Non-Bird really is a form of Bird rights. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Non-Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA. They are veteran free agents who are neither Qualifying Veteran Free Agents nor Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents, and include the following:

Players who finished the season with a given team, who have played no more than one season without clearing waivers or changing teams as a free agent.
Players who were Early Bird free agents, but whose team renounced its right to use the Early Bird exception to re-sign the player.
Players who were to be Larry Bird or Early Bird free agents, were playing on one-year contracts, and were traded mid-season.

This exception allows a team to re-sign its own free agent to a salary starting at up to 120% of his salary in the previous season2 (not over the maximum salary, of course), 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount needed to tender a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent

Awesome. Thank you.

 

[chibears55]

I would amnesty boozer because their not going to get anywhere nesr the production they got from boozer this year.. he going to be 32 and his numbers were inflated mainly because he had to play extended minutes.. they basically wore down an old car even more this past yr.

they need to trade deng..If their going to get anything in return for him , this is the year to do it before he jsut ends up being a mediocre one dimensional player (defense)..


Both hamilton and Heinrich needs to go...

this team needs to get younger and needs to start putting the right players in place around Drose, Noah, Gibson, and Butler

id dangle deng before the draft and see if they can get a high pick for him or multiple picks

 

[The Ball Dont Lie]

Cap holds are not based on a particular player. All teams have to have a minimum of 13 players and for every player that they have under that number they have a cap hold. I did not look up the exact cap hold number for this year but it should be around 500k. If Cap holds put you over the Apron you are bound by Apron rules and not just regular tax paying team rules.

I think they are incorrect on this. I would not bet my house, but I am pretty sure. Take it for what it is. Someone you don't know on the internet making claims--the source of all inaccurate knowledge.

My understanding of a cap hold is this:

Your team's free agents have what is called a "cap hold." This is an amount of money that is charged to your team's salary cap number, even though the player isn't under contract. This is a deliberate ploy that exists to close a loophole; if cap holds didn't exist, it's theoretically possible for a team to have its entire roster become free agents at the same time, have their entire cap to spend on other team's free agents, and then use Bird rights to re-sign their own ones afterwards. And that would be disingenuous. This way, your free agents eat into your cap room, forcing you to prioritise a bit better.

If you waive a player, they are automatically renounced, and so will not have a cap hold. If a player signs with another NBA team, they also no longer have a cap hold to their former team. And if a player retires (by which I mean he properly retires, sending official retirement paperwork to league and everything, and not just informally saying that they've retired), then their free agent amount is removed too.

As far as the salary cap... Well time will tell.

 

[sicko]

That Boozer deal was a HORRIBLE DEAL!

 

[czman]

My understanding of a cap hold is this:

Your team's free agents have what is called a "cap hold." This is an amount of money that is charged to your team's salary cap number, even though the player isn't under contract. This is a deliberate ploy that exists to close a loophole; if cap holds didn't exist, it's theoretically possible for a team to have its entire roster become free agents at the same time, have their entire cap to spend on other team's free agents, and then use Bird rights to re-sign their own ones afterwards. And that would be disingenuous. This way, your free agents eat into your cap room, forcing you to prioritise a bit better.

If you waive a player, they are automatically renounced, and so will not have a cap hold. If a player signs with another NBA team, they also no longer have a cap hold to their former team. And if a player retires (by which I mean he properly retires, sending official retirement paperwork to league and everything, and not just informally saying that they've retired), then their free agent amount is removed too.

As far as the salary cap... Well time will tell.

That is one type of cap hold. Empty rosters spots below 13 are also held at the scale of a second round pick/undrafted FA (the least amount of money a team can sign a player for.)

Teams have to have 13 players so those empty spots are given a weighted value.

 

[The Ball Dont Lie]

That is one type of cap hold. Empty rosters spots below 13 are also held at the scale of a second round pick/undrafted FA (the least amount of money a team can sign a player for.)

Teams have to have 13 players so those empty spots are given a weighted value.

I never heard of that. It doesn't make any sense to me.. What does this accomplish? I don't understand the idea behind this...

 

[czman]

I never heard of that. It doesn't make any sense to me.. What does this accomplish? I don't understand the idea behind this...

It has been like this for years.

I am not sure what you don't understand. Empty spots have to have some value against the cap or a team can use a smaller roster to bump up against certain thresholds for their advantage and then after they use the advantage sign players and go over that threshold.

 

[The Ball Dont Lie]

It has been like this for years.

I am not sure what you don't understand. Empty spots have to have some value against the cap or a team can use a smaller roster to bump up against certain thresholds for their advantage and then after they use the advantage sign players and go over that threshold.

Thank you for your feedback. I am going to edit my post accordingly.

I do understand now as it is explained to me in slightly more detail.

 

[Bear Pride]

I think the masterplan is to get as much money off the books as possible so we have a realistic shot at landing a star player in the big 2014 free agent class.
Lebron purhaps.
Anyway, I don't see any major signings this summer.
The Bulls can't afford it right now, unless they use the amnosty clause.
I would try to bring back Nate for 1 more season though because the team as it stands has scoring issues.
Nates the only guard other than Derrick that's good at creating shots for himself.
Plus I think it would be interesting to see Derrick and Nate on the floor at the same time.
Could eliminate double and triple teaming on Rose.
Just my opinion.
Y'all may carry on now.
Have a nice day.

Don't forget about Teague! He showed some flashes of being able to penetrate to the rim quickly, imo. And if he joins the Jimmy Butler off season mini camp, he could be a pretty good 2nd option. However, I'd like Nate back just for his toughness and heart!

 

[JosMin]

I would amnesty boozer because their not going to get anywhere nesr the production they got from boozer this year.. he going to be 32 and his numbers were inflated mainly because he had to play extended minutes.. they basically wore down an old car even more this past yr.

We were watching the same player? Boozer only averaged three more minutes per game then his previous two seasons with the Bulls, and essentially averaged the same number of points and rebounds. Why on Earth would we amnesty a guy who's going to give you 16 and 9 every night when we're still going to be forced to pay his salary? It'd only save us about $1.4MM in tax money anyway. Not worth it. I'd rather shop him, along with Deng, if the FO decides they're dead-set on dealing him.