Blog

This has gone on so long that one has to believe there is an agreement in principle. I suspect the $36M over four years is probably a good assumption. The devil is in the details

Dateline: August 17, 2012––44 days until the start of training camp!

Back load the contract and the Bi-Annual Exception is in play for this year, front load it and the BAE is in play for next year and/or the MLE, or front load it to reduce the tax penalty after the heftier penalties kick in in 2014.

The maximum raise (or cut) for Jeff Green would be 4.5% of his first year salary. So, as I understand it (and lord knows I’m no cap-ologist, nor do I have the six figure salary due if I were), the upper and lower bounds for a first year salary providing thirty-six million over four years would be:
x + (x + 0.045x) + (x + 0.09x) + (x + 0.135x) = 36 = 4.27x or x=8.431 for lowest starting salary
x + (x – 0.045x) + (x – 0.09x) + (x – 0.135x) = 36 = 3.73x or x=9.651 for highest starting salary;
as for the final years in these scenarios, start low and end at 9.569, or start high and end at 8.348.

So if my half century old algebra is accurate Danny could make the salary hit for this year vary as much as $1.22M. Since most guesstimates put the current salary commitment around $72.5M and the hard ceiling for teams (like Boston) using the MLE is $74.3M. With a BAE of $1.957M, the fit is tight (and we don’t really know the exact figures of the 2012-13 salaries of several players (near MLE for Jason Terry and Courtney Lee for instance).

At the other end of the deal (2013-14 and beyond), the difference of $1.221M could have a tax impact of making the multiplier anywhere from 1.5 to 2.75 if Boston is over the luxury tax cap; or it could be the difference in being able to use the MLE, or not.

So if Green and his agent are comfortable with Danny’s handshake and the 4-year total number, it would make sense that Ainge would hold off the actual signing while he considers his million dollars plus of flexibility.