Where the Celtics are already ahead of the game

Article from redsarmy.com

http://redsarmy.com/2012/09/19/your-morning-dump-where-the-celtics-are-already-ahead-of-the-game/


With the 2012-13 training camp opening in less than two weeks, one encouraging sign for Boston is that the team as a whole appears to be ready for the new season. Younger players like rookies Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo, and Kris Joseph, and first-year guys Jamar Smith and Dionte Christmas had the benefit of summer league and worked out together in Waltham for much of the summer (training camp bodies like Rob Kurz have joined up in recent weeks).

Veteran bodies like Rajon Rondo, Jason Terry, Chris Wilcox, Brandon Bass, and Courtney Lee have jumped into the informal workouts in advance of camp. Kevin Garnett just wrapped up a promotional tour of China, but there’s little reason to worry about his conditioning. Paul Pierce spent the summer rehabbing the left knee that hampered him in the postseason and his health will be one of the few question marks when camp opens in Waltham on Sept. 29.

First of all… media day for the Celtics is in TEN days. As in the number after nine and before eleven. Then the Celtics embark on an overseas trip where they will, without a doubt, build an unbreakable bond that we’ll look at fondly as we reminisce about it while the parade winds its way past City Hall and down Tremont street.

But I might be getting ahead of myself there.

Regardless, it looks like the boys are in shape and already enjoying each other. That picture is from Courtney Lee’s Instagram account. You can see Chris Wilcox peeking into the shot on the left, and you can see a clearly animated Jason Terry, who has sort of become “captain of the new guys,” decked out in his red Reebok gear. He mentioned Rondo and Jeff Green as part of a group trip to the West Coast. Other guys like Kris Joseph and Fab Melo have been tweeting from Los Angeles… so they might be part of the run. And then there’s Paul Pierce running an insane set of stairs in Santa Monica.

I’m not sure yet how it’s going to translate on the court, but this team is getting ready. And by the looks of Pierce’s stairs workout, I’d bet his knee is just fine. Fitness won’t be the problem it was a year ago.

So maybe the Celtics are getting together for a little private court time out west so they don’t get bothered.

Or if you’d like to believe something I totally just made up, then the Celtics are out in LA working out to show the Lakers how it’s done… and so they can begin and end their season the same way… having a great time after a successful run on a court in L.A.

Speaking of L.A… check out this piece on the Lakers, and how this new CBA will either make them the New York Yankees of the NBA (and then, undoubtedly, the subject of the next lockout) or force them to break the team up (and then, undoubtedly, make them the new face of this past lockout).


My Note: What follows is the article about the Lakers that mentioned in the above article. I tried the link to the one about Pierce, but it didn't connect. Maybe you need a twitter account, which I am fighting getting. If you have one, then go to the redsarmy.com site and click on it. If you can copy it here, great.


http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/other_nba/view.bg?articleid=1061161235&srvc=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bostonherald%2Fsports%2Fbasketball+%28Celtics+%26+NBA+-+BostonHerald.com%29


LOS ANGELES - It won’t be long before $128 million doesn’t buy the Los Angeles Lakers what it used to.

Like, by next season.

This season, that amount will cover the 2012-13 payroll and associated luxury taxes for a roster dripping with superstars Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol.

A year from now, it could pay for only a portion of that same roster and maybe a pair of Bryant’s high-end sneakers. Keeping the core of the Lakers together could cost nearly $200 million.

Thanks, new collective bargaining agreement.

NBA owners who like to pair eight-figure player salaries with their caviar are bracing for the party pooper known as more punitive luxury taxes, set to arrive in the 2013-14 season. Designed to expand the league’s middle class and reduce the number of bloated contracts, the tax may force big spenders such as the Lakers to reconsider just how much they are willing to lavish on star players.

Then again, Jerry Buss has never been known to skimp on headliners, much less parade confetti, in his 33 years as Lakers owner.

“My feeling is that we’ll continue to pursue the top players in the league,” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. “There will always be an emphasis on having the franchise be able to survive and prosper.”

Even so, the cost of success is about to go up ... and up ... and up.

This is the last season the Lakers will pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty for exceeding the luxury-tax threshold, meaning that their league-high payroll of $99.2 million will cost them an additional $28.9 million in taxes, because that’s how far they are above the $70.3 million tax level. The tax will raise the tab for their player costs to $128 million.

Starting next season, the tax burden gets significantly heavier. NBA teams must pay a $1.50-to-$1 ratio for the first $4.99 million they are over the luxury-tax threshold, a $1.75-to-$1 ratio for being $5 million to $9.99 million above the threshold, a $2.50 ratio for $10 million to $14.99 million over, and a $3.25 ratio for $15 million to $19.99 million beyond the threshold.

Teams that are $20 million or more over the tax level accrue additional penalties, increasing by 50 cents per dollar for every $5 million.

Those extra pennies can add up to millions, particularly for teams with multiple all-stars.

“All of these penalties are designed to try to change behavior and the thinking of the people that make the decisions and to try to make the cost of making the decisions outside the parameters more painful,” said Peter Guber, co-owner of the Golden State Warriors. “How it will play out, you never know until you see it whether it changes the culture as well as the metrics.”

The Lakers already have $79.6 million committed to eight players for the 2013-14 season. Assuming they re-sign Howard next summer to a maximum contract that calls for him to make $20.5 million in the first year, that bumps the Lakers payroll over $100 million.

If their final payroll was $105 million, that would put them $32 million over the league’s projected tax threshold of $73 million, triggering a tax of $94.5 million and putting the team on the hook for a staggering total of $199.5 million - a 55.9 percent increase over the total for this season with essentially the same group of core players.

My Note: I think this is all noise to the Buss family. They want rings. Period. Where this CBA hurts them is their loss of the $5M mid-level exemption if they are over the salary cap for 3 straight years, replaced with a $3M mini-exemption. How much will that hurt? Ask Boston and Miami what kind of talent you can attract for less money if you have a team that is the World Champion or is a legitimate contender for it.


bob


.

Bob

What happens to all that cash the league rakes in on the luxury tax anyway? If it is spent on training for better officals ................. it ain't workin!

And with the TV deals the league must be rolling in dough but many "Teams" are in the red. Mr Potato(e) head write his own checks?

beat

beat wrote:Bob

What happens to all that cash the league rakes in on the luxury tax anyway? If it is spent on training for better officals ................. it ain't workin!

And with the TV deals the league must be rolling in dough but many "Teams" are in the red. Mr Potato(e) head write his own checks?

beat

beat,

Good questions, I wish I knew the answers. Lord knows, in addition to not producing better refs, it's not resulting in cheaper tickets for us.

Maybe it's time for Mr. Potato Head to wake up and smell the audit...


bob


.

Hey Bob as I was googling NBA finances I stumbled upon this

Had No idea this was/is going on!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2011/05/12/revisiting-the-greatest-sports-deal-of-all-time/

beat

and the above was found in this bit a couple years old but interesting none the less

http://wagesofwins.com/2011/11/08/the-bottom-line-on-the-nba-finances/

beat wrote:Hey Bob as I was googling NBA finances I stumbled upon this

Had No idea this was/is going on!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2011/05/12/revisiting-the-greatest-sports-deal-of-all-time/

beat

and the above was found in this bit a couple years old but interesting none the less

http://wagesofwins.com/2011/11/08/the-bottom-line-on-the-nba-finances/

beat,

Great articles, for very different reasons. Great finds!

The article about the Silna's is amazing. Just goes to show what you can do if you negotiate hard, are forward-thinking and get lucky (let's be honest, there was no small amount of luck and it broke their way). $95M coming their way over the next 5 years with no effort involved. Good for them. Of course, their naivete and stupidity trusting Bernie Madoff is like the slave riding behind Caesar on the chariot reminding him that he is a mere mortal. Their slave pulled a hammie and fell off there. Still, it's hard to feel too sorry for them.

The 2nd article is more germane to what we were talking about, although not the human interest story the first one is. If you look at those charts you see why the Buss's are willing to spend what it takes to field a competitive team. If their team is not competitive or entertaining, and is not viewed as such for a few years, they are in big doodoo since so much of their money comes from the gate and that's because they have the highest ticket prices in the league. What would happen to their season ticket holders if the team sucked? Their high ticket prices allow them to pay the high luxury taxes, but if they have some bad years and ticket prices fall or people don't buy tickets for this year then they'll see a bigger drop in revenue than other clubs (99+% capacity with highest ticket prices = good. 92% capacity with lower prices = not so good). Credit to the Buss', by landing Steve Nash , who will be 39 come the playoffs, they have ensured fan interest this year and, if D12 resigns with LAL, interest into the future.

bob


.

Bob

The Lakers may sell out but who in the first few rows actually has a clue as to what is actually going on.... on the court?

as to your Jerry Buss comments...

Can they keep affording to spend this $$$$$????

My answer,

Can they afford NOT TOO?

sort of as you point out much better than I.

beat