With Leiweke on board, what happens to Colangelo now?

[Soft Euro]

If I'm not mistaken ownership has to sign off on any move anyway; so Colangelo will never be able to do this without Leiweke aproving.

[Fully]

Let me paint a picture for you: Colangelo stays on. This offseason, he "addresses our need for a backup point guard, toughness, and scoring ability off the bench" by signing Will Bynum to a 4-year, full mid-level deal with player options on year 3 and 4. Lowry starts off next year like he did this year, and BC decides to do one of his trademark "lock 'em in to a long-term extension so they don't hit the open market" moves, and extends Lowry for 3 more years at $10,$10.8,and $11.7 million.

Now he says to the press, "Our point guard situation is now taken care of for years to come. With this young, still-developing core, we believe we can grow from within to become a top-shelf eastern conference contender within 3 years."

The team, of course, wins 37 games, which turns out to be 3 games back of the final East playoff spot. We have a #14 pick, absolutely no cap room, and very few tradeable assets. Who's gonna take that job?

I say, the sooner BC's out on his ass (and preferably Stefanski with him*), the better.

* I don't know to what degree Stefanski's been responsible for our front office failures since he was hired, but he made a lot of bad decisions in Philly, and didn't exactly set the world on fire in Jersey either.

Well said. I think the major concern with Colangelo acting as a "lame duck" for a season is that he will make moves in the interim that will hinder the future flexibility of the team even further. The Lowry extension is on deck. BC's already thrown around the concept of extending Gay for another few years of max pay. He scares me, quite frankly.

Yes, you could neuter BC by putting some stipulation in place where Leiweke needs to sign off on any transaction but at that point - why not just pull the trigger and fire him. I think it's important to get a fresh set of eyes in the position to evaluate the roster objectively, regardless of which direction they decide to go (continue to add pieces in an attempt to 'win now' or start to tear this thing down)

[tkfu]

But I don't want to people here to judge Tim too quickly if he decides to keep Colangelo on. Think about it this way. What potential can a new GM be offered right away. We have no pick, no space, no expiring contracts worth dumping, a few tradeable assets, and the bloated carcass of a contract that Bargnani has, as well as the overpayed deals of Fields, and arguably DeRozan. It might just be in the best interest to let BC lame duck it for a year, or fire him and let Stefanski ride it out for a year

Let me paint a picture for you: Colangelo stays on. This offseason, he "addresses our need for a backup point guard, toughness, and scoring ability off the bench" by signing Will Bynum to a 4-year, full mid-level deal with player options on year 3 and 4. Lowry starts off next year like he did this year, and BC decides to do one of his trademark "lock 'em in to a long-term extension so they don't hit the open market" moves, and extends Lowry for 3 more years at $10,$10.8,and $11.7 million.

Now he says to the press, "Our point guard situation is now taken care of for years to come. With this young, still-developing core, we believe we can grow from within to become a top-shelf eastern conference contender within 3 years."

The team, of course, wins 37 games, which turns out to be 3 games back of the final East playoff spot. We have a #14 pick, absolutely no cap room, and very few tradeable assets. Who's gonna take that job?

I say, the sooner BC's out on his ass (and preferably Stefanski with him*), the better.

* I don't know to what degree Stefanski's been responsible for our front office failures since he was hired, but he made a lot of bad decisions in Philly, and didn't exactly set the world on fire in Jersey either.

[Puffer]

41 games of a players salary is taxed in their 'home' team jurisdiction.

The other 41 games are taxed at the 'visiting' team jurisdiction.

Toronto taxes are definitely on the high end of the NBA but I think they are reasonably comparable to states with high tax rates such as New York and California. One might bring up value added tax (GST) but I don't think most players are buying their big ticket items in Torono so I don't see it making enough of difference. Teams in states like Texas and Florida are always going to have big advantage as long as they have no state income tax.

Thanks Matt. You do consistently add value. Props.

[thead]

MLSE/Rogers and a new direction - The way I see it

When Rogers and Bell took over MLSE one by one they retooled and now we are in a situation where

the Leafs are in the playoffs, Toronto FC has been overhauled, Tim Leiweke has come in, and everything for once feels like it is going in the right direction. The purse strings have been opened, there is no question now that the Raptors would go well into the tax if it means winning. But I don't want to people here to judge Tim too quickly if he decides to keep Colangelo on. Think about it this way. What potential can a new GM be offered right away. We have no pick, no space, no expiring contracts worth dumping, a few tradeable assets, and the bloated carcass of a contract that Bargnani has, as well as the overpayed deals of Fields, and arguably DeRozan. It might just be in the best interest to let BC lame duck it for a year, or fire him and let Stefanski ride it out for a year because next year's GM will get

Bargnani 11 million dollar expiring deal
Amir 7 million dollar expiring deal
Fields 6.5 million dollar expiring deal
picks both 1st and 2nd rounders
Lowry's 6 million off the books or resigned...maybe
Kleiza's 4 million off the books
Aaron Gray 2.5 million off the books
Gay either off the books or 20.1 million dollars expiring

Everything was set up to allow maximum flexibility in 2014/2015

So maybe I'm wrong but unless the GM coming in wants to address things such as coaching, staff, and make a few ticky tack trades here and there, the wont really get the chance to put their stamp on it for another year.

All of this being said, the direction of MLSE has me very optimistic, even if it doesn't happen THIS summer, I know damn sure it will NEXT summer.

[mcHAPPY]

Any idea what that difference is when calculated for average (5 mln) or max salary?

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfa....cfm?Docid=406

In the US you are looking at $200/300K difference between high tax state like NY/California versus no tax states like Texas or Florida on $5M annual salary as federal taxes remain the same remembering only 41 games are taxed in "home" state.... although then you look at those same no tax state teams playing against each other and suddenly it turns in to 43 or 45 games.

[Soft Euro]

41 games of a players salary is taxed in their 'home' team jurisdiction.

The other 41 games are taxed at the 'visiting' team jurisdiction.

Toronto taxes are definitely on the high end of the NBA but I think they are reasonably comparable to states with high tax rates such as New York and California. One might bring up value added tax (GST) but I don't think most players are buying their big ticket items in Torono so I don't see it making enough of difference. Teams in states like Texas and Florida are always going to have big advantage as long as they have no state income tax.

Any idea what that difference is when calculated for average (5 mln) or max salary?

[mcHAPPY]

41 games of a players salary is taxed in their 'home' team jurisdiction.

The other 41 games are taxed at the 'visiting' team jurisdiction.

Toronto taxes are definitely on the high end of the NBA but I think they are reasonably comparable to states with high tax rates such as New York and California. One might bring up value added tax (GST) but I don't think most players are buying their big ticket items in Torono so I don't see it making enough of difference. Teams in states like Texas and Florida are always going to have big advantage as long as they have no state income tax.

[Puffer]

Toronto's pretty middle-of-the-road. High provincial taxes compared to most states, but lower federal taxes.

http://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/i...iew&post_id=37

This never occurred to me before, but Obama's tax plans are actually pretty good for the Raptors; in increasing top-earner taxes in the states, in gives Toronto a bit more of an edge and will likely edge them into one of the better tax markets for NBA players.

Don't know how it impacts players who play here. I guess they could say that all of their income is earned in Canada, therefore they wouldn't have to pay any US tax on their income. When I was in construction and looked into moving to another country (say construction work in Saudi or Korea) you had to divest yourself of any assets to avoid paying tax. Maybe I am remembering wrong, and maybe (I would suspect) there is special provisions for athletes.

[octothorp]

Toronto's pretty middle-of-the-road. High provincial taxes compared to most states, but lower federal taxes.

http://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/i...iew&post_id=37

This never occurred to me before, but Obama's tax plans are actually pretty good for the Raptors; in increasing top-earner taxes in the states, in gives Toronto a bit more of an edge and will likely edge them into one of the better tax markets for NBA players. The top earner tax bracket in the states is jumping from 35 to 39.6. By my count, that would raise the federal tax rate of every US NBA market to the point that only Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Miami, Orlando, and San Antonio will be lower, and even then only by a percentage or two.

edit: yeah, to what Puffer said, it's probably more complicated across borders. It would take someone who actually knows anything about taxes (my 2013 forms haven't been touched and April 29th now) to say how this actually applies.

[omgsomuchpotential]

What I've wondered and don't know anything about: is there big difference between the taxes for players when they play in Toronto in comparison with American cities which would make them expect a higher salary to get the same net salary?

I have wondered that too. What is that actual difference in percentages?

[Soft Euro]

What I've wondered and don't know anything about: is there big difference between the taxes for players when they play in Toronto in comparison with American cities which would make them expect a higher salary to get the same net salary?

[footarez]

well yes. Toronto may be a "small market" popularity wise among NBA players but it ain't really small market considering MLSE and that is it the 4th biggest city in North America.

[ceez]

Leiweke's going to blow it up. I don't know if he's going to bring in Phil or Shaw (that would be amazing though) but he seems like a pretty intelligent guy and you don't need a high IQ to tell BC isn't ever going to make the team dominant.

[mcHAPPY]

Arse on the homepage noticed the very striking disconnect between Leiweke's approach to Toronto (great city, compete with any) to Colangelo's (we need to overspend, we are at a disadvantage).

I have never been a fan of the "boo hoo Toronto" excuses. Win and these things won't and don't matter.

I am tired of Colangelo. For all the talk of culture change in the last 2 years, the previous 5 years saw Colangelo in charge. I don't think he would have called himself or the team a loser in 2006-2008 when they had playoff appearances so this loser mentality has come about on his watch.