Hoops

How do Melbourne get away with this?

Backloading a contract isn't cheating.

From what jois has produced, i wouldn’t think he’d be expensive or has a sensational agent.

"If Jois is expensive and United are accommodating the cap, they just backload a contract. This season of his is therefore virtually nothing"

So in other words, they will cheat any way they can.
Thanks for the explanation Larry.

Why didn't Perf just sign LeBron because obviously his salary would be the same as Greg Hire.

Right, because "cultural thing" could only mean that two people have the exact same cultural background...

Let's say you're an average NBL player, earning $122k from your NBL club.

You can earn an extra 30k playing SEABL/NZNBL/State league.

If you're well connected or have some qualifications you could earn another $30k-$50k working full time for half the year while you're playing SEABL from March to August. As NBL pre season training only kicks into full swing in August.

That would put your overall salary at $180 - $200k.

I think $180k puts you in the top 3% of Australians. It'd probably put you in the top 1% of under 35's. Not bad.

Man, the NBL pays jack-shit.

LV - ignore them. There will always be the "Only the ATO and the player truly know" types. (As though the ATO necessarily would, too.)

It's irrelevant to the discussion too. It's possible to have a $70k dev player and then cheap guys in your 11-man roster.

I knew him kissing LK on the cheek instead of the old handshake (not joking) everytime they see each other would pay dividends!

Because he is an Adelaide supporter

Actually it's probably slightly less than I would've expected (As average and median are different things, and guys like Bogut I would've thought would bring the average up a bit more). But it's in the ballpark of my expectations for sure.

Thanks PeterJohn- I wasn't aware of that

That's roughly what I would've expected.

In October last year, Fox Sports quoted the NBL as saying the average player salary for a local was $122,000. If you adjust for the 10 highest played local players (like Bogut, Newley, Bairstow, Kay, Lisch, etc), then the average for the other 55 odd locals would be about $100,000 or less.

On that basis I can believe that Melbourne has a group of five players on $450,000 less. Noting that Pledger need not be one of the five and that Jois gets only a part of a season salary as he replaced Trist.

The average figure above is online if you want to check it.

“But if you look at Sydney I reckon they'd have a higher payroll. Their starting 5 would be on more than United's. And their bench wouldn't be on peanuts with Kickert and Bowen in there.”

I don’t think Bowen’s salary would count, as he’s on a next star deal (paid by NBL).

IFF the next star program ran properly, with all teams having a fair shot at scoring a free player, it would certainly help all teams with their lowest paid 5 calculations. Teams could, essentially, up each bottom 5 player’s salary by around $20k. If the next stars doesn’t apply to all teams, then it’s a competitive advantage in recruiting bottom 5 players who can contribute more.

And to throw something else into this discussion, Barlow wouldn't be on much more than Pledger, if at all.

United probably has 5 fairly well paid players.

But if you look at Sydney I reckon they'd have a higher payroll. Their starting 5 would be on more than United's. And their bench wouldn't be on peanuts with Kickert and Bowen in there.

What do people think these guys are actually earning?

Pledger 110k
Moller 90k
Trist/Jois 80k
Hooley 60k
Smith-Milner 60k

Total 400k

And the 400k is from 2016-17 so would now be higher.

Remember a few years ago Massingale was reportedly on minimum wage, 38k or something like that. I doubt any of those guys would be that low but you never know, Hooley or Smith Milner might conceivably be on 50k, it's only 6 months, August to Feb plus playoffs. And they're SEABL/NZNBL guys who were given an NBL opportunity by United, presumably without many other offers.

These guys would be earning what, 20k-40k from SEABL/State leagues? Maybe Pledger would earn more from NZNBL? So they'd all be on 70k bare minimum, up to 150k. Not bad for young blokes running around playing off the bench in a third tier sport

And thirdly I spoke to this immediate family member myself.

It wasn't some yarn I heard off somebody who claimed to know a family member of an NBL player.

The sauce was an immediate family member. Not a cousin or anything. Very reliable.

Secondly they gave a very specific figure, not a round number.

Again LV - player and/or family member are probably quoting an inflated salary.

This was already explained to you last year when you first mentioned it.

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Re: PlaymakerMo's comment - source? Saw on paper?

Not sharing any more

The point is that guys buried deep on NBL benches may be earning more than we suspect

Ah okay got anons mixed up. That is hilarious - thanks for sharing.

Anon I was replying to LV and his hearsay.

Can you tell us more?

Newsflash: People lie about their salaries.

I have no idea about United, but I spoke to a family member of an NBL player last season and I heard their salary- it was more than I thought.

Can't give away too much detail but this player wasn't from one of the "cashed up" clubs eg United/Perth, and they were in the 9-11th player range.

That's gold if true.

It is actually excellent use of the cap by Melbourne to keep a little in reserve out of that $450k (or whatever) so that they could bring in a quality guy in the last quarter of the season. Kudos to them for making maximum use of the system.

Time for a royal commission.

Melbourne isn't going to audit Melbourne.

I've read that Sydney's offer to Moller was around that $90k mark and they were outbit by 30-40k. I would have to assume that Pledger is worth at least that as well as a serviceable NBL big. The others... well... I wouldn't be shocked if they were over the mark, but I wouldn't think egregiously so.

Smith Milner and Hooley wouldn't be paid much.

I assume for the purposes of the calc, Trist's salary from the first part of the season would be included. I doubt he was on big bucks though.

Pledger signed from NZ on a 1 year deal, so he's the only one that jumps out as a highly paid bottom 5 guy.

But he's also the only one of the 5 who actually achieved anything in the NBL before signing with United.

I really doubt United would be paying those 5 more than $450k.

Are you seriously and incredulously asking how Hooley, Moller, Smith-Milner, Pledger and Trist would earn more than an average of $90k each? Jois is not exactly playing a full season; he's there for 3-4 games.

Melbourne is one of the last teams I'd use to question the 450k thing! Their scrubs aren't all that unscruffy.