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Philippines, 06 May 2024 |
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NBA - Salary cap woes limit Bulls' spending By Nader Taiym PhilBoxing.com Sat, 14 Jul 2012  CHICAGO -- Three days ago, the NBA announced the figure of $58.044 million as the salary cap for the upcoming 2012-13 season. More importantly, the league pegged the tax level at $70.307 million, which simply means that any team whose payroll exceeds $70.307 million will pay a $1 tax for every $1 they are over the limit. And this is largely the reason why the Chicago Bulls didn't do a lot of signing and spending when the free agency season officially opened last July 1. It's not that the Bulls are frugal or cheap, they just don't have salary cap flexibility. Putting together a championship caliber team is extremely hard, and that is why franchises constantly add or subtract parts hoping to find the winning combination. But the greater challenge is undeniably the funding. Elite teams are expensive to keep. The Bulls know that too well as they enter next season with a severely bloated payroll. When the 2012-13 campaign opens this November, superstar point guard Derrick Rose will collect a staggering $15,506,632 salary. Power forward Carlos Boozer gets $15 million while small forward Luol Deng rakes in a cool $14,275,000. Center Joakim Noah also collects a hefty $11 million pay. That Big Four alone eats up $55.781 million of the Bulls's payroll, leaving the team very little money to acquire expensive talent. Well, going over the salary cap and paying a luxury tax is always an option, but bleeding red ink isn't the Bulls way of doing business. Never has, never will. Fans have been clamoring for the Bulls to amnesty Boozer, pay him the remainder of his money and alleviate some of the team's cap woes. But with Rose (torn ACL) and Deng (torn ligaments in the wrist) expected to miss a huge chunk of the coming season due to injuries, Boozer is the only legitimate scorer Chicago has. And this is why Boozer's isn't going anywhere despite his glaringly underwhelming postseason play. Also staying with the Bulls are Rip Hamilton ($5 million), Taj Gibson ($2.155 million) and Jimmy Butler ($1.06 million). Players come and go all the time. That's just the nature of the beast. And though the Bulls managed to keep their core group together, they had to part with their fan-popular Bench Mob. Ronnie Brewer was let go when Chicago refused to pick up his $4.7 million pay. CJ Watson, who was due to make $3.2 million suffered the same fate. And Kyle Korver and his $5 million salary appears bound for Atlanta in a trade that paves the way for former Bull Kirk Hinrich to ink a 2-year, $6 million deal and return to Chicago. Another key Bulls reserve, John Lucas III, is looking for employment elsewhere, although Chicago could still re-sign the streak shooting guard. But the biggest Bulls move this summer has yet to come. The team has until this Sunday to decide on whether they are going to match the 3-year, $25.1 million offer sheet the Houston Rockets have tendered for center Omer Asik. The 7-foot, 255-pound Asik is a tremendous asset who plays defense with passion. Asik averages only 3,3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game but he is only 26 years old with plenty of room for improvement. The Bulls would like to keep Asik, but then again, it's all about the money. And $25.1 million just seems a little to high. (Nader Taiym). Click here to view a list of other articles written by Nader Taiym.  |
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