Stern: '10-'11 cap could be $56 million....Up from projected $51-53 Mil

7,674
374
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
[h2]Stern: '10-'11 cap could be $56 million[/h2]

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.c...uthor?xurl=/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/21004897 

NEW YORK -- At the end of a typically mundane summary of the NBA's two-day Board of Governors meeting, commissioner David Stern dropped a bombshell of sorts Friday. And it means that teams chasing 2010 free agents will have considerably more money to spend than they thought.

Based on a more optimistic revenue picture than the league was projecting as recently as All-Star weekend, Stern said the revised projection for the 2010-11 salary cap is $56.1 million. That's significantly higher than last summer's estimate of between $50.4 million and $53.6 million -- figures that were floated last summer in a doomsday memo to teams that warned of a league-wide revenue decline of between 2.5 percent and 5 percent.

Teams that have been clearing cap space to pursue marquee free agents like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade this summer -- such as the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Heat and Clippers -- have spent much of the season budgeting on a $52 million cap in '10-'11, which would've been a nearly $6 million drop from this season's payroll limit of $57.7 million. The reason for the healthier figure was what Stern called a "Herculean effort" by teams to prop up ticket and sponsorship sales that were hit by the recession.

Stern said "it's pretty clear" that although revenue will still be down from last season, the drop will "not be as much as we feared at the beginning of the season."

One of the people most affected by the revised financial picture, Knicks president Donnie Walsh, was sitting in the second row of Stern's news conference when the announcement was made. Walsh, who already was figuring on having enough cap space to sign two max free agents for about $32 million, now has more flexibility.

Walsh, who was on hand to learn the result of a draft-pick tiebreaker, merely smiled when I dropped this line on him after Stern's news conference broke up: "Now you have enough money for two max players and Jerome James."

But the news was far more significant than that for an organization like the Knicks, which has hitched its future to the hope of landing at least one major free agent this summer when numerous NBA stars will be on the market. In addition to courting LeBron, Walsh also will be exploring sign-and-trades to revamp the roster and will be simultaneously juggling his desire to retain unrestricted free agent David Lee. For every dollar the cap exceeds Walsh's $52-$53 million projection, it helps his efforts on all fronts.

Similarly, the Heat now don't have to sweat losing Wade nearly as much, as they'll get $2-3 million more space on top of the $18-$19 million they were already projecting -- money that can be used to sign a star and a second-tier player to placate Wade and persuade him to stay. The Bulls now will have enough room to sign a max player and add another piece without doing a salary-dump trade beforehand.

So what changed?

The precipitous decline in the cap that teams were warned about last summer was based on a doomsday projection of an 11 percent collapse in gate (or ticket) revenues, a person with knowledge of league finances told CBSSports.com. As the league closes the books on the regular season, the person said gate revenue actually declined only 7 percent. Based on league-wide gate receipts of $1.1 billion last season, an 11 percent decline would've amounted to a loss of $120 million in ticket revenue. A 7 percent decline at the gate would result in a loss of only $77 million.

Whereas league officials were projecting a decline in overall league revenue of between 2.5 and 5 percent last summer, the revised figure now calls for only a 0.5 percent decline, said the person familiar with league finances, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Basketball-related income, or BRI, determines the salary cap and luxury tax threshold, which is now estimated to be $68 million next season -- down only slightly $69.9 million this season.

Stern was less specific about a controversial number related to the ongoing negotiations aimed at achieving a new collective bargaining agreement and avoiding a lockout after the '10-'11 season. Despite the rosier revenue picture he painted, Stern didn't back off much from the $400 million in league-wide losses he projected for this season during his All-Star address in Dallas two months ago. He placed the new figure at between $380 million and $400 million. Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, already has disputed the $400 million figure, telling CBSSports.com last month that it was "overstated."

On the labor front, Stern said the league continues to furnish financial data to the union and that negotiations are taking place on the "staff meeting" level. League owners and executives will meet again during Summer League in Las Vegas, but no high-level CBA talks are expected to occur until after the players submit their counterproposal to the league. Hunter told CBSSports.com last month that the players intend to do that sometime between May 1 and July 1.

 
WojYahooNBA
  
Salary cap projection of $56.1 million, says one Eastern Conf. exec., "really puts Miami in the driver's seat of free agency this summer."

   "MIami can re-sign Wade, add a max player and another $9-10 million guy," laments one executive on Heat. "They control free agency
 
laugh.gif
Pat Riley is going !%%+ the NBA up, this off-season. I cannot wait until July 1st.
 
Originally Posted by YEEUPP

Originally Posted by Dade B0Y

laugh.gif
Pat Riley is going !%%+ the NBA up, this off-season. I cannot wait until July 1st.

o057k0.gif


$#!+ just got real
laugh.gif
nerd.gif
ohwell.gif


i'm getting flashbacks to when it was the knicks and the heat fighting for sprewell's services that year...oh boy
smh.gif
 
Originally Posted by Steve212

roll.gif
Knicks gonna go ham.

Nah, but Chicago will be a major player. 

you're this close to being taken off the knicks fan list on page 1 of that thread
laugh.gif
 
"That means the Knicks probably would have had room for two max free agents even before giving away two potential lottery picks and Jordan Hill to the Rockets just to get Jared Jeffries' long-term deal off the books. Nice going, guys."

28morey.1.600.jpg
 
Originally Posted by outacontrol music

Just about to post this.



Mia should land Bosh

I think Stat stays in PHX
they will....and sign wade....hell they could sing both to a max and still have enough left over to sign a solid 10-12 million contract player.......MIA is about to be a force.!!!!  Hope the pistons can make a few good moves with all that bread they can spend....
 
[h2]Wade professes desire to stay in Miami
[h2][/h2]

nba_g_dwade1_576.jpg


Victor Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images

Dwyane Wade loves his hometown of Chicago, but he said his heart is with the Miami Heat.
Miami Heat star and Chicago-area native Dwyane Wade said he frequently hears from people who want him to sign with his hometown Bulls when he becomes a free agent this summer, but Wade compared that possibility to a romance that might not work.


[h4]Mike & Mike in the Morning[/h4]


Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade talks about how he approaches the playoffs having already won a championship. Plus, Wade comments on the offseason, saying he is Miami's to lose.



"I hear it a lot, especially in the summertime," Wade said Friday on "Mike & Mike." " It' an honor for people to even want you that way.

"It's like when you're young and at school, and you find out that girl wants you. The girl you had a crush on for a long time, wants you, and you get excited about it. But it might not be the right situation for you, you don't know. I don't necessarily think about it as much as people think I do."

Wade reiterated how happy he is in Miami, where he won the 2005-06 championship. The Heat open the first round of the playoffs Saturday in Boston.

"Chicago is my home city, and I love Chicago," Wade said. "But my heart is here in Miami.

"All the cards are in Miami, and it's their game to lose, more than anything. I appreciate that organizations want me to be a part of them, but right now Miami is in the driver's seat."

Wade said his impending free agency has not distracted him during this season.



"It's really not a factor to me," he said. "My situation is kind of simple. Miami knows where I stand. We do a lot of communicating with myself, [President Pat] Riley and [owner] Micky Arison.

"Right now, I'm focusing on what I can do to try to be the underdog and do something great that we haven't done here in a couple of years, and that's continue to compete and move onto the next round. The summer is the summer. We all know what that's about. It's exciting for fans. It's exciting for the game of basketball. But it's a big decision in our lives, and that decision will come with time. I'm not worried about it. I don't think Miami is worried about it, either. They know and understand what I want, and I'm happy here, and hopefully we can try to make everything work."
[/h2]

 
"That means the Knicks probably would have had room for two max free agents even before giving away two potential lottery picks and Jordan Hill to the Rockets just to get Jared Jeffries' long-term deal off the books. Nice going, guys."
No?
 
"That means the Knicks probably would have had room for two max free agents even before giving away two potential lottery picks and Jordan Hill to the Rockets just to get Jared Jeffries' long-term deal off the books. Nice going, guys."


^that's not true in any way shape or form. i mean i'm quck to admit when the knicks #%@! up but it's not true.

i couldn't care less about hill. i'm sick of hearing that busta rhymes lookin dudes name. hill won't make or break anybodys franchise. he won't even be a third option.


i honestly think lebron will block miami getting bosh by signing with new york with bosh. then miami gets stat and another big piece.

knicks heat rival. city wise someone could easily choose MIA because of the whether and well MIA is a cool place to be. depends on a players priorities. but crowd and fan wise/building wise/hype wise nyc is where a player would want to be. would pat riley coach next year?


if lebron stays in CLE after this year he will have to face wade, bosh, and another piece and whatever they get for trading beasly for the next 5 years. AND orlando is stacked. i don't think he wants to do this. and i think it gives him a rational explanation to leave CLE without looking as bad.
 
Originally Posted by DublBagn

Originally Posted by outacontrol music

Just about to post this.



Mia should land Bosh

I think Stat stays in PHX
they will....and sign wade....hell they could sing both to a max and still have enough left over to sign a solid 10-12 million contract player.......MIA is about to be a force.!!!!  Hope the pistons can make a few good moves with all that bread they can spend....
How would they be able to fill out the rest of their roster to 12 players then?

if three dudes are making a total of about $40-$42M, what about the other 9 players?
 
Back
Top Bottom