Best Guess Is The Raptors Have Less Than Two Million Dollars Available To Fill Out The Roster
By RaptorTalk
Now that the bulk of the Raptors roster is in place, the question on the minds of Raptors fans is "how much money does Bryan Colagelo have left to spend on additional players"?
The answer is “no one knows for sure”! That’s because we don’t yet have exact salary figures for Calderon and Ukic, nor do we know what the confirmed Luxury Tax threshold will be for next season.
Bottomline is that the Raptors do not want to pay the Luxury Tax and therefore, they must keep team payroll below that number.
Salaries of the Mascot and Nathan Jawai don't count against the cap!
According to the Toronto Star, “nine teams paid tax last year. It ranged from New York paying about $20 million to Phoenix paying about three. Boston ($6 million) and the Lakers ($4) paid into it, too. Of the nine, the Celtics, Lakers and Cleveland were the only teams to win a playoff series.”
Based on information available to us and our best guess-timate of the Luxury Tax threshold, it appears that the Toronto Raptors will have approximately $1,500,000 to $2,500,000 available to fill out their roster. The best guess would be a number that’s less than $2 million.
Here are the numbers RaptorTalk used to determine the salary dollars still available to Bryan Colangelo.
Projected Starters
Jermaine O'Neal - $21,352,500
Chris Bosh - $14,410,581
Jose Calderon - $8,000,000 (estimate)
Jason Kapono - $5,784,480
Anthony Parker - $4,550,000
Bench Players
Andrea Bargnani - $5,176,440
Jamario Moon - $711,517
Kris Humphries - $3,200,000
Roko Ukic - $1,000,000 (estimate)
Joey Graham - $2,449,184
Hassan Adams - $711,517
Nathan Jawai - $442,114 (not counted against luxury tax)
Jorge Garbajosa - $2,000,000 (estimated salary cap hit)
Estimated 2008-2009 Raptors Salary Total (excluding Jawai): $69,346,216
Projected 2008-2009 NBA Luxury Tax: $71,000,000 to $72,000,000
Excess Funds Available Below Luxury Tax: $1,653,781 to $2,653,781
The salary picture will be clearer after July 9th when all signings become official and the Luxury Tax threshold is announced by the NBA.
Tony Allen??
Jamaal Magloire (alot of pplz hate him though)?
Diawara, Yakhouba???]
Tony Allen!!!
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Can we trade players?? AP and Jopey are good trade baits but can we trade them??
RaptorTalk: Yes, they are potential trade bait. Combined they have salaries totalling $7 million. Both are expiring contracts.
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Why won't the Raps go over the cap and pay some luxury tax? Its not like they are a deep team! They still need a wingman who can create off the dribble and having a back-up point guard with SOME NBA experience wouldn't hurt either.. They are soo cheap!!
If they really want to win they should add a 2 or 3 who can start games. Not to mention another glue guy on defence. The way it stands now, they have improved. However, if they can't stay healthy they will be worse off. If they really want to compete for a championship they should us they are serious and bring in some more proven talent.
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