Salaries: 01/02 and 11/12

[TehSwimGuy]

Ok, so I was looking at the old salaries for the 01-02 Kings, which came out to about $53.5 million dollars. And we had great players for it.

Right now our salary for 2011 is around $43 million, but we have Salmons as our highest paid player, who is playing like garbage, and Garcia at #3 highest paid, and he hasn't even seen floor time yet.

Any thoughts/opinions on how resources should be reallocated, etc, or if they are fine as is?

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

It's a mess, to say the least. Garcia isn't so bad that he should see zero PT so i wonder if they plan on moving him in a trade. Salmons has been all right but he isn't helping the team nearly enough to justify his salary.

 

[Telemachus]

Ok, so I was looking at the old salaries for the 01-02 Kings, which came out to about $53.5 million dollars. And we had great players for it.

Right now our salary for 2011 is around $43 million, but we have Salmons as our highest paid player, who is playing like garbage, and Garcia at #3 highest paid, and he hasn't even seen floor time yet.

Any thoughts/opinions on how resources should be reallocated, etc, or if they are fine as is?

You can't compare the salaries of 10 years ago to those of today. They have changed way too much (increased a great deal). The only way to do that would be look at the salary cap back then as compared to now.

 

[TehSwimGuy]

You can't compare the salaries of 10 years ago to those of today. They have changed way too much (increased a great deal). The only way to do that would be look at the salary cap back then as compared to now.

Ah, found it.
http://www.sportscity.com/NBA/Salary-Cap
In 2001-2002 the salary cap was 42.5 Million. Right now the salary cap is 58 million, I believe (not posted on that site, I was looking at other news discussing the lockout deals, etc).

 

[TehSwimGuy]

So about $11 million over then, and $15 million under now.

 

[TehSwimGuy]

Also, (though I'll take her writing for what it's worth) Voison noted that Petrie stuck around for all 4 quarters looking absolutely miserable. Rightly so. The two Magoofs bolted before the game was over.

Cheapskates.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Also, (though I'll take her writing for what it's worth) Voison noted that Petrie stuck around for all 4 quarters looking absolutely miserable. Rightly so. The two Magoofs bolted before the game was over.

Cheapskates.

I didn't leave before the game was over.

These guys don't even DESERVE to own the team. I can't wait for Sacramento to commit to an arena and for the Maloofs to inevitably sell the franchise.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

So about $11 million over then, and $15 million under now.

The previous figure of $43M for this year doesn't appear to be quite correct. According to Hoopshype (Sham has fallen behind) we're at about $40.8 without a value for Hayes and Thomas. We know Hayes is a bit above $5M and Thomas should be $800K, so we're probably just a bit short of $47M.

If you look at it in terms of percentage, in '01-'02 we were at 126% of the salary cap, and now we're at about 80% of the salary cap. However (and my prior 'dis' of the Maloofs still in effect) we are in a very different situation than we were in for the '01-'02 season. Then, we were contending for a title. We had several veteran players (Webber, Divac, Bibby?) in very large, non-rookie contracts. Today, our best talent (whatever arguments we have, it's still Tyreke and Cousins) is still on rookie deals. By all accounts we offered Kirilenko a significant contract, probably in the $8M+ range, and he didn't take it. At some point we have to recognize that we can't spend money that people won't take from us. Presumably, once Tyreke and Cousins graduate to serious money we'll be over the cap again...and they'll be good enough for us to be able to attract a few other big free agent contracts.

 

[TehSwimGuy]

The previous figure of $43M for this year doesn't appear to be quite correct. According to Hoopshype (Sham has fallen behind) we're at about $40.8 without a value for Hayes and Thomas. We know Hayes is a bit above $5M and Thomas should be $800K, so we're probably just a bit short of $47M.

If you look at it in terms of percentage, in '01-'02 we were at 126% of the salary cap, and now we're at about 80% of the salary cap. However (and my prior 'dis' of the Maloofs still in effect) we are in a very different situation than we were in for the '01-'02 season. Then, we were contending for a title. We had several veteran players (Webber, Divac, Bibby?) in very large, non-rookie contracts. Today, our best talent (whatever arguments we have, it's still Tyreke and Cousins) is still on rookie deals. By all accounts we offered Kirilenko a significant contract, probably in the $8M+ range, and he didn't take it. At some point we have to recognize that we can't spend money that people won't take from us. Presumably, once Tyreke and Cousins graduate to serious money we'll be over the cap again...and they'll be good enough for us to be able to attract a few other big free agent contracts.

Ah, gotcha. I'll look at Hoopshype for more up to date info. But yeah, definitely true about the 126% of salary cap and contending for the title.

Do you think there should be more of a balance between 126% and title contending versus the 80% now? I mean, I would think you'd want to use some of that space to try and get some real solid vets.

Like if we had put enough money for CP or something. I don't know. Use cap space to build a stronger team? Get one or two vets?

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Do you think there should be more of a balance between 126% and title contending versus the 80% now? I mean, I would think you'd want to use some of that space to try and get some real solid vets.

Like if we had put enough money for CP or something. I don't know. Use cap space to build a stronger team? Get one or two vets?

It's not as if we haven't picked up any vets since the last offseason (Salmons, Hayes, Outlaw). We went hard after Kirilenko and didn't get him. It appears neither Nene or Chandler wanted to be here, and Jordan and Gasol were restricted and matched. We inquired into Chris Paul but he was not interested in playing here - the last thing we need is to trade a good package (probably Tyreke + Cousins since we're handcuffed as far as picks go due to the Hickson trade) to get a player who doesn't want to be here, is going to act out and be a locker room cancer, and then leave at the end of the year.

The simple fact is it's hard to get players to want to play here because we've been so bad. We need to get into that upward spiral: get better, then get players to come, then get better...

 

[TehSwimGuy]

It's not as if we haven't picked up any vets since the last offseason (Salmons, Hayes, Outlaw). We went hard after Kirilenko and didn't get him. It appears neither Nene or Chandler wanted to be here, and Jordan and Gasol were restricted and matched. We inquired into Chris Paul but he was not interested in playing here - the last thing we need is to trade a good package (probably Tyreke + Cousins since we're handcuffed as far as picks go due to the Hickson trade) to get a player who doesn't want to be here, is going to act out and be a locker room cancer, and then leave at the end of the year.

The simple fact is it's hard to get players to want to play here because we've been so bad. We need to get into that upward spiral: get better, then get players to come, then get better...

I can't believe we gave up a future pick for JJ Hickson. I'm all for getting people who are not rookies, but at least make it worthwhile. Seems like we got jipped.

 

[bajaden]

I can't believe we gave up a future pick for JJ Hickson. I'm all for getting people who are not rookies, but at least make it worthwhile. Seems like we got jipped.

The draft pick is protected.

The draft pick is lottery protected in 2012 (1-14). The pick is then protected in 2013 (1-13), 2014 (1-12) and 2015-2017 (1-10). If the pick is not acquired by 2017, then the Kings will send their 2017 second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers.

 

[LPKingsFan]

I'm not sure what the point of this thread is.

Of course, on any team where your best talent is in young players on their rookie contracts, the highest-paid players on the team are not going to be the best. That will change in a couple years when DMC and Evans get their extensions.

As for free agency, who would want to sign here at this point? They went after Kirilenko and possibly Dalembert, and neither seemed inclined to come, much less the top-tier guys. Spending $$ on middling guys just for the sake of spending isn't going to help anything.

Edit: that said, as far as I've heard they have been particularly cheap in the front office and paying coaches. Westphal is the lowest paid coach in the league, IIRC. Sometimes, you get what you pay for.

 

[TehSwimGuy]

The point was to have a discussion about how far we are under the salary cap, and if there should be more spending, hopefully for a better coach/coaching staff. Maybe a balance between the 126% of salary cap we were over during the golden years, and how far we are under.

I would hope that we could get maybe a Vet (or two), instead of banking on a lottery pick, because getting new blood just means more uncertainty and more time for team chemistry to be rebuilt.

Or maybe use some of that extra money to spend on a coach? I mean, I feel like we've paid less and less each year on coaches, and they just go downhill.

If you want a great coach, you're going to have to pay for him, but I don't see the Magoofs doing that.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I can't believe we gave up a future pick for JJ Hickson. I'm all for getting people who are not rookies, but at least make it worthwhile. Seems like we got jipped.

Might seem different if we, say, played him. I thought it was a great trade at the time, sending a non-lotto pick and an increasingly annoying Casspi for a big man who could score and rebound to play next to Cousins. But we're not playing him much (sure, Chuck has something to do with that) and we're not really utilizing him when we play him. It's kind of frustrating. Hickson should be seeing 25 minutes (I'm surprised to see that he's averaging almost 20, actually). I don't know, it's certainly a disappointment so far.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

The draft pick is protected.

The draft pick is lottery protected in 2012 (1-14). The pick is then protected in 2013 (1-13), 2014 (1-12) and 2015-2017 (1-10). If the pick is not acquired by 2017, then the Kings will send their 2017 second-round draft pick to the Cavaliers.

Yup. And if the Cavs end up with a second rounder ... I don't even want to think about it.