Hoops

NBL to introduce marquee player, 25% luxury tax

Not sure if its been mentioned in the fine print but every club has to give the NBL it's summary of earnings and spendings on a monthly basis (to determine the viability of each club so they don't get surprised that at the end of a season a club has a $1m loss) so I reckon that with these monies being spoken about that clubs under the salary cap should get paid a portion of the money on a monthly basis. This would allow for roster changes like what happened in Sydney this season etcetera or Wollongong with Darrel Summers at seasons start to be taken into account if you up/downgrade your import.

It's a great idea and very positive, I agree with Mick about giving good young players court time on bad teams over veterans that could be chasing titles instead. I'm scared about getting NBA players that lack motivation in any facet whether it be on court, Practise or with media when we want them being the face of the league or atleast their region of the country.

Johnny Flynn came in and seemed excellent and that's the type of player is like us to attract

The key maybe how the tax is distributed.

For example given it is about equalisation, if Townsville & Woolongong spend only 75% of the cap, they receive a larger % of the taxes collected than a team who spend 95% of the cap.

Could also tier the tax. Say 25% for up to $200k over the cap & 50% for anything above that.

The stronger teams will realise that having all teams in the league financially stronger with better rosters = better crowds, tv deals etc for their club and the whole league.

Ennis draws a crowd and is a great promo tool for the league, but imagine if each side had an Ennis level player going at each other every week. Anything that encourages clubs to get to this point is surely a good thing.

This is a great initiative but needs careful thought how to implement.

percentage is too low to help all teams to fund an extra player
marquee coaching? your kidding me?
3 imports cost too much to get 2 decent imports as it is

lets not give up on Iverson rumours until the 36ers retire his jersey lol

Tracy Mcgrady couldnt even defend MJ right now
so what he had big numbers in china 2 years ago?
whats he doing now?

Penney won't be back next season, I believe he's going back to the States to finish a degree and then possibly may be back the season after.

Luke Nevill is a real chance at coming back. It would be good to see him replace Ogilvy in the NBL landscape.

Iverson isn't coming to Australia to play in the NBL. Neither is T-Mac.

IMO Barlow is terribly overrated. I wouldn't go over the cap for him. Ingles, Newley or Jawai, sure. Barlow.. Not a chance in hell.

All this talk of McGrady. The guy is trying to make it at baseball with a team he bought a stake in. He's not going to come to Australia to play.
I think with this we can now choose decent imports tempting with decent pay compared to Asian leagues plus the selling of the Aussie lifestyle. Plus they only play 20+ games.
We should be able to hang onto Rotnies, Ervins and Beals. Moving forward.
In fact the imports that come here cannot expect it to be easy because teams will sack and hire until they find a stud.
This gives tremendous flexibility to teams.

@429,

The luxury tax goes on to all payments made in excess of the salary cap; i.e., to the extent your marquee player takes you above the cap, that is what you will pay 25% cap on.

So, rest of squad signs on for $950k.

Sigh a marquee for $450k. You are now $400k over the cap.

You pay a luxury tax of 25% on the amount in excess of the salary cap. In this case you pay $100k in tax, which is then redistributed.

You pay no luxury cap at all on payments made beneath the salary cap.

I would like to see a tiered tax system.
25% seems like a nice number to me, for teams that are having to increase their salaries to keep good or improving players. If you've got a successful young team that you want to keep together then this will allow it.

However for recruiting superstars, if a club has that kid of money then they should be able to afford extra tax.
So I'd like something like 25% for every dollar over the cap, but say 40% for every dollar once you exceed $200k over the cap.

@'423
Is a marquee coach going to earn media coverage and create highlights?

@Isaac,

Depends if this is just a way to fudge your salary cap and do a little squad strengthening, or if you're trying to actively compete with Euro wages for someone with showmanship. If you're dropping $200k for your marquee, you aren't really doing it right. You're more likely to be looking in the $500k sort of range, where a 100% luxury tax quickly starts to get prohibitive. Now a $500k player is not 2.5x as good as a $200k player, but when you have a lot of cashed up Euros to compete with, you have to offer at least a similar wage. We only got Ennis for that price because of the NBA release clause, which haunted us the whole bloody year.

Basically, if your marquee is just the same sort of player you would have had anyway, you're doing it wrong.

..basicly..barlow got paid f.all this season...

NBA players names aside, it will allow teams to chase stud imports who would otherwise get better money elsewhere. Guys who didn't quite make an NBA roster but can't survive on D-League Money to buy Escalades & Rims for for Family members.
This combined with the NBL Summer League in Vegas could dramatically raise the quality of NBL Imports

No Mick, 100% luxury tax would hamstring the idea to the point of uselessness, and clubs under the salary cap would end up with nothing. The 25% mark gives something to both sides, and importantly, advances the league. A 100% luxury tax would just leave us with our current stagnation.

Great news and glad to intoducing marquee player.

Will be fascinating to see how the more financially well-off teams approach the opportunity to exploit that marquee opportunity. Ideally it should be done with an eye to players who can bring showmanship more than anything else.

The more players in the league capable of putting each other on posters, the better!

I agree with this, this will will enhance the player's standards.

may allow NZ to put a serious offer to Penney & Jackson.
Any word on the Points Cap?

I like the idea of it all. Thumbs up.

BUT, no disrespect to Barlow, you’d want the rule to attract bigger names than him.

The rule is designed to get marketable players, players who can sell tickets and pull crowds with flashy, but effective play (ala Del Piero)


I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want the rule to be abused by Euro-based Australians just for the purposes of pulling a bigger salary. That isn’t how a marquee rule should work.

Teams will have to get it right.

Use it to as a vehicle to sell tickets/gain interest and not just because a Euro-based Aussie has come knocking because he realises the extra salary he can make with the rule.

Great to see the NBL showing some daring and coming up with great initiatives. Marquees also provide a great media and fan focus point in terms of speculation over prospective signings.

Isaac, that is a good move, I would have gone with 50% though...