What is that feeling I am having in my gut

[Derek Bodner]

No, they don't count against the cap.

When a player retires due to injury, the contract continues to count against the salary cap for 2 years after the league determines the injury has occured.  Since MacCulloch hasn't played a game since February 2003, his contract will no longer count against the sixers salary cap as of tomorrow.

Likewise, Jamal Mashburn hasn't played in a game since March 2004.  Assuming he retires, he will no longer count against the salary cap as of next march.

For a past example, Matt Geiger (anyone remember him?) would actually still count against the Sixers salary cap.  He's still receiving salary.  But he retired, and he no longer counts against the Sixers salary cap.

In essence, mashburn's contract next year would be a better trading chip than an expiring contract.  He would stop counting against a teams cap almost instantly after the deadline.  What does this mean?  Not only will they be trading out long term contracts that they would have had to pay for years to come, but they are acquiring a contract that is 80% paid by insurance.  So that means on top of the additional years of a contract they are saving, they save 8 million this year, PLUS a dollar for dollar tax they would have paid in luxury (since Mashburn won't count for cap purposes).

So, typically a team with a 10 million dollar contract with 3 years remaining after this and 10% raises would spend:
Year 1: 10 million
Year 2: 10.1 million
Year 3: 10.2 million
Year 4: 10.3 million
Total Salary: 40.6 million
Luxury Tax on Year 10: 10 million
Total Spent: 50.6 million

When they trade for an expiring:
Year 1: 10 million
Year 1 Luxury Tax: 10 million
Total Spent: 20 million (save 30.6 million)

In Jamal's case, it would look like this:
Year 1: 2 million (20% of Jamal's salary)
Luxury Tax: 0 million (comes off salary cap in March)
Total Spent: 2 million (48.6 million saved).

Bigtime savings.

[JoMal]

Okay, dabods, that makes sense now.

[Laker Fan]

No, I saw your point Jomal, I guess I just completely disagreed with the overhype this clown brought with him hype he never lived up to. Plus I never agreed with the any publicity is good publicity axiom.

I do understand that to some extent you were talking about an era as opposed to his impact on the court, but you did label him a superstar and he, simply put, is not.

If he had any impact, I agree with you it was his ovehyped presence enticed some quality players to come play in Sacramento, and for several years they were one of the most, if not thee most, exciting team in the NBA, as long as the guy who enticed all those exciting players to Sacramento wasn't on the court to disrupt the flow and fun the Kings were having out there.

That sick feeling in your gut should be in Dabod's and Ricks gut, not yours, if I were you, I'd revel in the relief of knowing he is gone.

[JoMal]

Dan I am still figuring out exactly how I should feel with Webber gone. I don't view him as the complete negative influence as you do. I can't hold it against him for not being at Garnett or Duncan's level in ability, nor that the entire reason we failed to win a championship while he was here as entirely his fault.

What I saw was a guy who really did work out in the gym to make himself stronger, who adapted his game more to fit Adelman's system, then, as many here view it, Adelman adapted his system to accommodate Webber. Webber was doing exactly what Rick wanted him to do, and the rest of the Kings went along with it for most of the five/six years he was here. It only really changed late last year when Webber came back from his knee injury and by then he was the odd cog in the King's offense. It showed up pretty much then, while before it was a system entirely tuned to Chris' game.

It did not work any more, but Chris clearly was doing everything he could to try to make it work. He failed and now he is gone. What, exactly, could you expect of him at that point? He actually did readapt his game going into this year, because he recognized his failings from before and again tried to adapt. This final gesture - the trade to Philadelphia - was the final nail in the coffin for his stay in Sacramento, which was all but done late last year. It just took this long to put it down for good.