[surveParticipant]

 

The cap is complicated. Just consider all the factors that actually determine a "team salary" for each year. It’s no wonder teams have to hire resident capologists to keep it all square. You can’t simply add it all up. And dissecting a cap situation can feel like being handed a complex dish and asked to peg the ingredients, and amounts used. Consider some variables:

• The total includes salaries to veteran players on the current roster and money owed to players who have been waived.
• There are cap holds used to replace veteran free agents until they are signed or renounced; there are unsigned past and current first-round picks.
• A rookie minimum cap hold is also included when a roster falls below a combination of 12 players that are under contract and those that have cap holds. For example: A team with just nine players counting against the cap will get three rookie minimum salary cap holds. Those will be eliminated each time a player is signed and the roster gets back to 12.
• Then there’s an offer sheet: A team’s salary total also will include an offer sheet that has been signed by a restricted free agent.

Easy, right?

The new CBA is bound to have new rules moving forward and will partly determine who will have the most salary cap room. But for now, we’ll use the old rules, meaning the same salary cap number ($58,044,000) for 2011-12 that was used for 2010-11. The new collective bargaining agreement will have new criteria for determining salary cap room, but regardless of what changes take place, here are the six teams that have the worst payroll situations entering the 2011-12 salary cap year. They will be able to improve only via trades or cap exceptions — if they exist in the new collective bargaining agreement.

The Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks just miss the cut and are in the next group with the high team salaries for next season. Listed are the likeliest scenarios for each team. Note that free agents that could be renounced by each team are not listed.

Los Angeles Lakers

12 players under contract: Ron Artest, Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Shannon Brown, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, Derrick Caracter, Devin Ebanks, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton
Total payroll: $93.48 million
Estimated over the cap: $35.44 million

Notes: The Lakers currently have the highest 2011-12 payroll in the NBA. It can be reduced to $91.60 million if Brown opts for free agency. They do own a $5,475,113 trade exception from Sasha Vujacic that can be used to acquire a player without having to send out one of their own. There are plenty of discussions about the Lakers adding a point guard, or dealing, but in reality, this team has to be concerned with the degree to which current salary situations would be progressively enforced if a hard cap is a result of whatever deal gets struck.

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Portland Trail Blazers

12 players under contract: LaMarcus Aldridge, Luke Babbitt, Earl Barron, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Camby, Raymond Felton, Armon Johnson, Chris Johnson, Wesley Matthews, Brandon Roy, Gerald Wallace and Elliot Williams
Total payroll: $69.95 million
2 free-agent cap holds: Patrick Mills and Greg Oden (using 2010-11 max cap hold)
Total: $14,738,854
3 first-round cap holds: Nolan Smith (No. 21), Victor Claver (2009 draft No. 22) and Joel Freeland (2006 draft No. 30)
Total: $3,078,600
Estimated over the cap: $29.73 million

Notes: Portland’s cap can decrease slightly if it waives Barron and Chris Johnson, who have conditional contracts for next season. Regardless, the Blazers will be well above the 2011-12 salary cap when it is announced. They may be content with moves made so far, or simply have no choice.

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Dallas Mavericks

10 players under contract: Rodrigue Beaubois, Corey Brewer, Rudy Fernandez, Brendan Haywood, Dominique Jones, Jason Kidd, Ian Mahinmi, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry
Total payroll: $68.84 million
2 free agent cap holds: JJ Barea and Tyson Chandler (using 2010-11 max cap hold)
Total: $22,675,250
Estimated over the cap: $29.47 million

Notes: Dallas is third on this list, but it’ll actually land in the second spot if it doesn’t renounce Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson. The contracts for Barea, Chandler, Stevenson and Butler will be less than their cap numbers, so the Mavericks team salary will decrease as their new deals are signed. The Mavericks, either way, will have a high "team salary" for next season. Creativity will be key.

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Boston Celtics

6 players under contract: Ray Allen, Avery Bradley, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo
Total payroll: $64.37 million
1 waived player: Rasheed Wallace
Total: $491,109
1 free-agent cap hold: Jeff Green
Total: $13,367,964
1 first-round cap hold: JaJuan Johnson (No. 27)
Total: $895,700
3 minimum roster charges
Total: $1,470,540
Estimated over the cap: $22.56 million

Notes: The Celtics already have about $64.86 million on the books for next season with just six players under contract plus Wallace’s buyout. They can get to eight signed players by agreeing to deals with their first-round pick, Johnson, and restricted free agent Green. They can also bring back Glen Davis. However, it seems that both sides want to part ways. The rest of the squad will be signed to minimum contracts if the new collective bargaining agreement eliminates the midlevel and million-dollar exceptions. They can also bring back a player who makes no more than $2.488 million by using the trade exception from Marquis Daniels. In terms of dollars and roster parity, this is a top-heavy situation.

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Orlando Magic

10 players under contract: Ryan Anderson, Gilbert Arenas, Brandon Bass, Chris Duhon, Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Daniel Orton, J.J. Redick, Quentin Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu
Total payroll: $77.02 million
1 first-round cap hold: Fran Vazquez (2005 draft No. 11)
Total: $1,827,400
Estimated over the cap: $20.81 million

Notes: The Magic have three free agents, and Jason Richardson, who made $14.44 million last season, will have to take a major pay cut to return to Orlando. The Magic own a good-sized trade exception of $6,422,320 from Marcin Gortat that can be used to acquire a player without having to send out one of their own, so they’re not totally stuck. Obviously, Howard’s situation figures to be front and center regardless of other moves.

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San Antonio Spurs

12 players under contract: James Anderson, DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner, Da’Sean Butler, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Daniel Green, Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, Gary Neal, Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter
Total payroll: $72.98 million
2 first-round cap holds: Kawhi Leonard (No. 15) and Cory Joseph (No. 29)
Total: $2.372 million
Over the cap: $17.31 million

Notes: The Spurs can get to a cap number of $68.95 million if McDyess retires and they waive Butler and Green. Both players have conditional contracts for next season. Will Parker still be around?

 

[boshjonesfordParticipant]

all playoff teams….you gotta spend money to win….i guess oklahoma and a couple other teams would be the exception

[boshjonesfordParticipant]

all playoff teams….you gotta spend money to win….i guess oklahoma and a couple other teams would be the exception

[What The DevilParticipant]

OKC is only an exception for now because some of their players are on rookie deals.

[What The DevilParticipant]

OKC is only an exception for now because some of their players are on rookie deals.

[boshjonesfordParticipant]

^ i was thinking memphis but i dont know if they would quillify

[boshjonesfordParticipant]

^ i was thinking memphis but i dont know if they would quillify

[Ahkasi ClayParticipant]

 Shannon Brown just opted out of his contract, 

Not sure if this helps the Lakers much

[Ahkasi ClayParticipant]

 Shannon Brown just opted out of his contract, 

Not sure if this helps the Lakers much

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 What about the Bulls, they had the 4th lowest pay roll last year. Of course Noah and Rose were still on rookie contracts. Noah goes up to 10 million this year though and they are still at 60 million on payroll.

[DunksNJordans23Participant]

 What about the Bulls, they had the 4th lowest pay roll last year. Of course Noah and Rose were still on rookie contracts. Noah goes up to 10 million this year though and they are still at 60 million on payroll.

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

man, the lakers payroll is just so high…

luke walton makin 5million

artest making 6million

bynum making 13 million (which is ridiculous… kaman makes less while being about twice as good during the duration of his contract..)

they’re gonna be screwed when this new cba comes in..

[esperanzafleet69Participant]

man, the lakers payroll is just so high…

luke walton makin 5million

artest making 6million

bynum making 13 million (which is ridiculous… kaman makes less while being about twice as good during the duration of his contract..)

they’re gonna be screwed when this new cba comes in..

[Author]

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