Cap affect of paying as you go vs pushing out and having dead space

[sharpe1027]

Right, this was very simplistic in structure. It was intentionally simple to show that really small cap hits early pay for dead cap once you’re in the habit of pushing ahead more than what is common.

Roster bonuses that trigger the day of the signing are guarantees. The first years base is pretty much a guarantee. There are ways to take a bigger cap hit early or late and still give the same up front.

If you’re in the habit of really pushing it out, and taking the tiniest hits possible early, you end up with dead space. What’s shown here is that you can function without a disadvantage as long as you’re continually pushing out to the same degree.

So Tex was right that you just keep pushing out to fix it.
He was wrong that it’s an advantage because after a few years, the dead cap nullifies any advantage you might have had when you went to the new way.

The common view was wrong that it cap straps you because like Tex always said, you just keep doing the same thing.



I was glad to see it in practice. Pushing out more is no advantage if it’s your regular practice. It’s better to be in a flexible spot as your main operation and then use the pushing out when there is a window or a special opportunity.

You're missing the point. if you push out cap into future years with signing bonuses, you'll have less money in those future years than if you don't. This gets worse when you factor in that when you don't push out cap you can get rid of underperforming players and bring in better players with the money you have extra due to less dead space. Add to that injuries and trades as being more problematic because they can accelerate cap and you start to see why large signing bonuses to push out cap are riskier.

[RashanGary]

You're missing the point. if you push out cap into future years with signing bonuses, you'll have less money in those future years than if you don't. This gets worse when you factor in that when you don't push out cap you can get rid of underperforming players and bring in better players with the money you have extra due to less dead space. Add to that injuries and trades as being more problematic because they can accelerate cap and you start to see why large signing bonuses to push out cap are riskier.

That is true if you’re willing to push out at some point. If you’re in “keep cap health” mode and you intend to always stay there, you absolutely do not have more to spend. The very nature of that is to take hits earlier than late. That offsets the dead money of always pushing forward.

Whether you always keep a healthy cap or always max it out, I have no doubt you are wrong that you end up having less to pay for talent.

However, the moment you switch strategies, for a couple years you will have more or less.