Hoops

How NBL salary cap reform has affected teams

Spot on, anon.

The article makes a point about the points cap being restrictive then goes on to say the league office will be making independent valuations of players. Sounds like the same thing but using money instead of points.

Sounds like the real difference is the fact it's a soft cap and the Aussie marquee rule as mentioned

I have a really uneasy feeling about the whole "salary cap" as it's being put in place at the moment. @PeterJohn has it right, there's no definitions on the table about which values are to be used, when they're going to be made public, or by whom.

There's also no description or definition of how any amounts clubs are stipulated to pay for going over the limit will be shared among the other clubs. Will clubs have to apply for the money? Will it be assigned on a shared basis according to how far under the cap a club paid its players the previous years? What if no one club is under the salary cap (unlikely, I know, but there should already be a system in place.)

^ link for those who are interested in the whole article

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/08/26/own-goal-chinas-richest-man-fires-warning-football-splurge

Interesting SBS website article today, about sports investment and focusing on the views of Wang Jianlin (China's richest man). I was taken by these quotes:

'"We don't want to acquire clubs... because these sorts of companies don't make a profit."

Instead, Wanda would look to own cycling races, soccer or tennis events or ice hockey tournaments, he said.'

Dalian Wanda is the investment group he chairs.

I thought the point about owning leagues (or at least media rights) and events being the way to make money, as opposed to owning clubs and teams, might interest others reading this thread. It suggests that the clubs individually may not need to be viable, as long as the league is (and so can prop them up?).

LC - thanks. Great article.

In reading this I got through to your other article on the Telstra deal. Very keen to see how that deal pans out and where we end up with the digital product. Really hoping for a strong digital product this year, having a mobile only product with the game live on Fox won't cut it moving forward IMO.

March 30 press release:

"Every player in the competition will be given a player value by an independent Contract Review Committee. It is that value – an independent measure of each player’s market value – which will be counted towards the salary cap – not the dollar amount, or the value of other benefits, which the team has contracted to pay to the player. "

So no stipulation of contract values, only stipulation of what a player is worth for salary cap assessment purposes.

When I read it, I felt the press release left open the question of whether these deemed market values or actual salaries would be used for other purposes. e.g., assessing the "Aggregate salaries of at least 5 players on each team must not exceed $400,000" criterion. I've seen nothing in the last 5 months to make that any clearer.

So, Freethrows, it may not be what those 5 players are paid that matters, only what the committee decides is their "market value".

Anyone know when actual salaries are used and when market valuations will be used under teh new rules?
Anyone know who's on the market valuation committee?
Anyone know how they'll determine market value?
Anyone know whether their valuations are going to be published?

Dazz, what was released publicly was a bit loose, but I think contract prices were only going to be stipulated where the contracts were signed at clear undervalue (like if Bogut came home at the end of his career to play a season on minimum pay).

Many of the big names you are talking about will have salaries 'capped' at the sliding scale for marquee signings. I doubt we will find out what they are actually paid.

Part of the supposed reform was that Salaries would be reviewed and if necessary stipulated (regardless of actual) by an independent committee, and then made public. This was to effectively replace the points system.
So what has happened to that?
It's going to be extraordinarily hard to "peg" a salary for some of the guys coming home from Europe.

There's also going to be a massive potential problem (aka shit-storm) with regards to imports.
Several (most?) teams have gone and signed some new "unproven" imports from the USA.
Now we all know that teams like Perth offered more money than say Cairns or Adelaide. But how do you quantify that when it comes to the committee setting the salary? eg you've got two guys, a year out of college, who spent a season in the D-League, played Summer-League, but couldn't land an NBA contract. You know the guy bound for Perth is getting paid twice the guy headed to Cairns, but on paper they fit the same category.

Without the dough, how do you guarantee the show?
And if the league goes more international (asian) how will all Auz teams survive?
Perversely, Cairns may be a contender for Tourism Australia (or a regional affiliate) backing where Adelaide might need to grow deeper roots locally.
2016/17 is possibly the start of a very different ballgame and, I hazard, no-one knows what the plan actually is; it will just evolve.

One of the salary cap reforms, which I have only seen really badly expressed, is that the bottom five players (in salary terms) of any club cannot have a combined salary of more than $400K.

Looking at the Melbourne United roster, I assume that would mean Nate Tomlinson, David Barlow, Tai Wesley, Majok Majok and Owen Odigie all fit below that $400K cap. It won't be any of their starters, surely, and none of their imports. Who's worth under $80K there? Tomlinson and Odigie. How much are the other three worth?

It's going to be interesting to see, as the clubs have to disclose how much they're paying players, as another stipulation to the new rules.

Who will be the other teams' bottom five?

Great article, love the work!

No sweat! Was a massive loss for the Aus program to lose Brown. I loved the way he coached.

Anon, thanks for the mention of that podcast. Really enjoyed it. Great that Brett Brown would go for the Aussies, when we play the USA

It can happen but only if international expansion happens and we don't expand into regional areas

It can happen but only if international expansion happens and we don't expand into regional areas

Listening to the Lowe Post podcast today with Brett Brown on there was a tonne of conversation about the NBL. Worth a listen as a side note. But it was interesting Lowe said that Kestelman was in vegas and they are aiming to bring the NBL up in line with some of the Europe and China leagues in terms of player salary.

These are great goals to have, not sure how this happens with a country population as low as ours. It has to involve international sponsorship surely or it just won't happen? Some of the chinese contracts are on the same level as NBA contracts.

It's great to see players such as Andersen, Bairstow, Newley etc back but a lot of revenue needs to come through to make this work.

We all now that a majority of the revenue needs to come from television broadcast deals. The NBL must rate well on Foxtel this season to bring in more sponsorship.

Obviously other forms of revenue are gate takings, merchandise etc.

Television is the lifeblood of any sport though

So guys what do we think is the best trade combination for the nuggets to get in return for Melo?
You gotta remember the nuggets don't have to trade him but are lookin at doing so, so they can get someone or something in return if he doesn't sign his extension...