8/1 ESPN Insider - more about the Clips (Double Yawn)

[OutletPass]

Does Sterling really care about winning?
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Friday, August 1
Updated: August 1
8:18 AM ET


Donald Sterling can fool some of the people, some of the time, but I'm assuming most NBA fans out there have their own calculators and can figure this out, too.


So far, the Los Angeles Clippers owner has forked over some relatively big contracts to a few players who are now supposed to elevate the team to respectability despite the fact that Elton Brand and Corey Maggette and, possibly to be added later, Lamar Odom have yet to play in a single playoff game much less win one.

With nine players under contract for the upcoming season, the Clipper payroll stands at about $32 million. The league minimum is $32.9 million. The salary cap has been set at $43.8 million. The luxury-tax threshold is expected to be around $52.9 million.

Let's begin by giving the Clippers the benefit of the doubt and say they have re-signed Odom to a long-term deal at $10 million a season. Add in a couple other players to reach a 12-man team and Los Angeles would have a payroll of about $46 million.

Yes, this is more than the $42.7 million they paid out for last year's team, lowest in the league, or the $33.8 million the year before, the lowest in the league again, or the $29.6 million the year before, lowest in the league, too, or the $22.4 million the year before that, the lowest in the league . . . and so on.

But in reality, that $46 million figure would have placed them only 27th of the 29 teams last season.

It's $6.7 million less than the San Antonio Spurs needed to win the NBA title. It's $7.4 million less than the Lakers needed to win the championship the year before that. And $12.7 million less than the Lakers needed to win the championship the year before that one.


Donald Sterling (right) has finally opened his wallet, but not nearly enough to win big.
Since 1994, the league's salary cap has grown from $15.1 million to last season's $40.2 million. In that 10-year span, the eventual NBA champion's payroll has also climbed from the Rockets' $16.8 million payroll to the Spurs' $52.7 payroll of last season.

On average, the league's salary cap has been set at $28.7 million over the last 10 years while the NBA champion's payroll has averaged $43.6 million. That's $14.8 million more, or 51 percent more than the salary cap, each season that it takes to win the NBA title.

Use that formula on next season, and we see that some team will probably have a payroll of about $66.1 million to win next year's championship.

That's $20 million more than Sterling is already being applauded for and $13.2 million above the luxury-tax threshold, meaning that in a dollar for dollar penalty format, that team's payroll would eventually end up costing someone $79.3 million not to mention the lost revenue he forfeited by being over the threshold.

It's what Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban has been saying all along. The salary cap and luxury-tax threshold are merely barometers to measure teams that really want to win a championship and teams that simply want to collect a TV check while watching the Finals on that same channel.

The highest-paid team doesn't necessarily win the title but it does take more money to do it.

Let's remember that both the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers have crossed over the $100 million payroll marks a few times already. The Chicago Bulls had a $61.3 million payroll way back in 1998 when they won their sixth NBA title and the salary cap was set at $26.9 million.

Yep, Michael Jordan's final championship team was $34.4 million over the salary cap.

So if Sterling really wanted to put a title-contending team on the floor, he could have signed a big-time free agent such as Jason Kidd or Jermaine O'Neal with his $20 million-plus cap space THEN re-signed his own restricted free agents to the same deals they have now.

Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, this is completely legal. That's how the Lakers got Shaquille O'Neal in 1996 and THEN re-signed Elden Campbell. Of course, Campbell was then part of a trade that brought over a high-priced Glen Rice, who in turn was traded for Horace Grant, whose position is now occupied by future Hall of Famer Karl Malone. Somewhere along the line, they re-signed Kobe Bryant to a max deal and, in 2001 for example, had a $58 million championship payroll when the salary cap stood at $35.5 million.

That's what it takes to win an NBA championship.

Not two or three signings and a new coach making less than a third of the amount of the guy just fired in Milwaukee, which just so happens to be the same franchise that once fired the coach previously mentioned.

It's a step in the right direction but a step that should have been taken a long time ago.

Let's see him take that step after he stubs his toe on a free agent gone bust with injury or ailment or the law.

In reality, Sterling decided not to re-sign or sign and trade Michael Olowokandi, his No. 1 pick in 1998, and replaced him with a rookie. He also decided not to re-sign or sign and trade Andre Miller, who will be replaced by a duo of point guards who have a grand total of 14 starts in their combined careers.

Until then, Sterling is just pretending to care while he counts the $40 million he reportedly made last season off of the league and we should just be pretending to praise him for doing what any professional sports team owner should be doing in the first place.

[Dooby]

So if Sterling really wanted to put a title-contending team on the floor, he could have signed a big-time free agent such as Jason Kidd or Jermaine O'Neal with his $20 million-plus cap space THEN re-signed his own restricted free agents to the same deals they have now.

Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, this is completely legal. That's how the Lakers got Shaquille O'Neal in 1996 and THEN re-signed Elden Campbell. Of course, Campbell was then part of a trade that brought over a high-priced Glen Rice, who in turn was traded for Horace Grant, whose position is now occupied by future Hall of Famer Karl Malone. Somewhere along the line, they re-signed Kobe Bryant to a max deal and, in 2001 for example, had a $58 million championship payroll when the salary cap stood at $35.5 million.

Uhhhh....that is not true anymore.

[Chiwas]

It's what Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban has been saying all along. The salary cap and luxury-tax threshold are merely barometers to measure teams that really want to win a championship and teams that simply want to collect a TV check while watching the Finals on that same channel.

Very bad barometers certainly.

[JoshHoward5]

Sterling just retire. I don't really care though cause I'm not a Clippers fan.