Potential savings if Fin is waived - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

vjz · 06-28-2005, 05:17 PM

Not sure if it's already posted in a thread, but I thought this was interesting. Link to whole article here.

Mavs are expected to dump Finley
By Art Garcia
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

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Assuming the Mavs remain above the luxury-tax threshold -- a safe assumption -- Finley's deal would cost the Mavs up to $103.6 million. Waiving Finley would save Mavs owner Mark Cuban up to $51.8 million in luxury-tax payments.

But that's only part of the savings for the next three years, because Finley's contract is substantially deferred. The Mavs would pay Finley approximately $5 million of next season's $15.9 million salary, with the remainder spread out over a number of years. It's a similar situation for the last two years of his deal, meaning the overall bottom-line savings for the next three seasons could fall in the $80 million range, a figure even the billionaire owner can't ignore.

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If waived, Finley is free to sign with any team except the Mavs. The market for Finley, an effective locker-room presence with a career 19-point scoring average, is expected to be good. His new salary also could lead to even more savings for the Mavs. The new CBA contains a formula that could offset some of what the Mavs owe Finley, though the details have yet to be finalized.

#1MavsFan · 06-28-2005, 06:29 PM

So what another team pays him will be cut from what Cuban owes him? Finley will probably sign an mle contract if waived totaling about 15 mil over the next 3 years and that would equate to 30mil if the lux tax kicks in. That’s how Donnie got the $80 MIL figure.... interesting

dude1394 · 06-28-2005, 07:18 PM

Or nothing if no luxury tax is implemented.

I still haven't seen this anywhere. Has there ever beena luxury tax? I cannot remember one.

Ninkobei · 06-28-2005, 07:30 PM

It's becoming more and more likely that Fin-dawg will be gone. 80 mil is too much money even for our own beloved billionare to spend.

MavsFanFinley · 06-28-2005, 07:40 PM

No way can Fin stay now. Forget about the potential savings or not, the damage has been done. Surely it's not a happy atmosphere between the two parties with the newspapers all but writing Fin off and Donnie going around saying it's a very good possibility he won't be a Mav next year.

GP · 06-28-2005, 08:11 PM

This is the dumbest bunch of crap I've ever heard. There won't be any savings at all. Just a loss of money. On one hand Cuban can keep Finley and pay him the 52 mil that he EARNS. This is not a loss. If the luxury tax kicks in all 3 years and the Mavs are over the cap for the same or more than Finely's salary then he will lose the 52 mil. If it doesn't kick in the the losses will be substantially less. Ranging from $0 to 52 mil. In any case what you are seeing is the culmination of bad contracts, stupid trades and an idiot with a lot of money.

Cuban has known about the luxury tax for years now. He certainly didn't have to make the Dampier trade. He didn't have to make the LaFrentz, Van Exel and Wahed deal. If he really wanted to save the money he could have and should have kept Walker and let his contract expire. The problem with the Mavs is not players like Finley it is having too many players like Eschmeyer, Wahed, Bradley, etc. who have outrageous contracts or are completely unproductive. Cuban has thrown his money around unwisely for years now and it has caught up to him.

I don't follow the logic that Garcia is using in his article. I think they are trying to justify a crappy move to the fan base through the media using fuzzy logic and questionable math. No way is the savings in the 80 mil range. Maybe 30 mil. Possibly 52 mil. But no more than that. Take deferred money out of the equation. That really doesn't matter at all. It is still money that will be lost for nothing. The fact is that Cuban is losing money if he pays Finley to play for someone else.

If Cuban releases Finley and pays him the 52 mil.

Cuban loses 52 mil.

If luxury tax kicks in all 3 years.

52 - 52 = net loss of zero. Great move.

Luxury tax kicks in 2 years.

52 - 35 (approximation) = 17 mil. loss for cutting Finley. NO gain.

Luxury tax kicks in for 1 year.

52 - 17 = 35 mil. loss for cutting Finley. Absolutely no gain here.

Luxury tax doesn't kick in.

52 - 0 = 52 mil. loss for Cuban.

In any way you look at it this is going to be a tremendous risk unless Cuban knows for sure the luxury tax will be in effect all 3 years.

To offset this everyone needs to realize that if the Mavs cut Finley then they absolutely cannot sign another player to replace him. Otherwise, they would be paying dollar for dollar tax on that player and they would have just cut Finley for nothing. No realized savings. No paper savings. Nothing.

The smart thing to do might be to cut Finley and then let some contracts like Van Horns to expire while buying out players like Bradley and Wahed. In that case they could get close to being under the cap (from a luxury tax standpoint) and then get more young players in the draft. Oops! They don't have any draft picks this year. What about next year? As long as they have a healthy Dirk then everything will be alright. I guess.

#1MavsFan · 06-28-2005, 11:18 PM

Excellent post GP. From that POV Cuban isn't going to save a single penny... just lose a starter.

Thespiralgoeson · 06-29-2005, 12:12 AM

I agree with most of what you said, GP. Although, I certainly wouldn't go as far as to call Cuban an idiot.

chumdawg · 06-29-2005, 12:30 AM

"Charlatan" will do just fine.

GP · 06-29-2005, 08:15 AM

Chum, I know you think Cuban is going to cut payroll. However, I think he won't in the long run. I think he is one of those guys who maxes out his credit cards, gets them consolidated with one of those agency things and then goes out and gets a whole bunch more credit cards and maxes those out. I think once Finley is cut, he'll see some big name free agent and he won't be able to help himself. I can see him losing lots and lots of money because of this loophole. Has anyone checked the Forbes richest people list lately? Is he still on it? How long before he isn't? This guy reminds me of the main character in God Bless You Mr. Rosewater. He might actually be completely insane.

LRB · 06-29-2005, 08:54 AM

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think once Finley is cut, he'll see some big name free agent and he won't be able to help himself. I can see him losing lots and lots of money because of this loophole.

All cubes can spend is the MLE on a FA, same as if we kept Fin. Cubes won't be able to spend more than the MLE on a FA until we're more than the MLE below the salary cap, and that won't be for years if then unless he does some more major slashing like letting Jet's and KVH's contracts expire and/or not resiging Dirk and Howard or such moves. There's no real sunny side to letting Fin go talent wise. We're losers talentwise if we do this. It's just Cuban being a cheapskate and not even a very smart cheapskate IMO.

alby · 06-30-2005, 02:21 AM

Unless you do a sign and trade.

The Miles · 06-30-2005, 03:06 AM

There won't be any true savings. Either Dallas keeps Finley and adds no MLE level talent or Dallas releases Finley and can afford to add a MLE level talent and still break even in the balance. We can argue all day about Finley v MLE level big, but in the end the team has to decide if they want to go with Finley and the two rookies backing up Dampier or move Marquis up like they did last year with Josh and invest in a guy like Dan Gadzuric.

Pretty easy choice, I want the Mavs to win, it is about the name on the front of the jersey, not the back.

alby · 06-30-2005, 03:08 AM

Looking at your sig, Devin Harris better realize how good he can be. If he improves drastically from his rookie sophmore year, we would be in for quite a treat.