Surely he didn't say those bits about likely avoiding luxury tax while casting aspersions instead at other teams with a straight face.

If the Kings don't have to pay luxury tax then the system is a joke.

It would be nice to see those "independent contract values" released.

Even without knowing any figures, lets be honest here, it's not drawing a long bow to say a Kings side with Blake, Powell, Lisch, Newley, Kazzouh among 5 others are paying above $1.1 million. It's a fairly intuitive assumption.


Whatever the complex system is, surely it must be setup in a way to ensure a team like the Kings with a roster of highly paid stars pay luxury tax to equalise for the budget teams like the 36ers.

Lisch + locals would be close to the cap

Turn it up, Andrew!!

TURN IT UP!!!!

Ever think that maybe even though they were paid multi millions by their NBA clubs.. they may NOT need to look for another HUGE payday, but still be paid a 6 figure sum?

There's all this hysteria about the Kings simply because we're top of the table and "seem" unstoppable.

We've recruited well & we're getting lambasted for it. You lot can't have it both ways.

Give me concrete proof that we're cheating & I'll put an asterisk next to our title for this year...

Gaze tip-toed around the issue as well as he did when he was on DWTS!

It's unfortunate to hear this sort of talk publicly, it is reminiscent of the NBL in the 2000s when some clubs just weren't credible with their public statements.

Gaze is well known for talking gibberish, but it's a shame after making such a good impression early in his first coaching stint that he has made these comments that don't really appear credible.

The Kings should just be open and honest, and so should the league. There is a soft cap, no reason to deny you're paying players what they're worth, it's encouraged under league rules.

Oops, that was me ^^^. Got back from the studio and forget to change my moniker!

It makes sense. Kings shouldn't pay luxury tax. Why should they? They only have two guys who have played 1,200 odd NBA games between them, a 2 time NBL MVP, two former Boomers from relatively recently, a 2 time all NBL first teamer and MVP runner up, a highly rated import who starred for the D League champions last year.....

(And then a couple of other bench scrubs named Jason Cadee and Tom Garlepp, as well. Hacks...).

In other headline news today, it's been reported that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are upstanding, principled, ethical, truthful, sincere and individuals.

Cool your jets SJ, it's not Kings v The World. Sydney have been absolutely crap the last few years, when you're Perth or NZ you can start with the bluster.

I think many are happy for the Kings to do well precisely because they've been so awful. Plus, the NBL needs the biggest market to succeed.


But, you're clutching at straws even for someone with purple and yellow sight. You'd be going to extreme lengths to justify the idea the Kings are below $1.1mil. This is probably why people are annoyed at the NBL for not doing what they said they would: publish independent contract values.

People aren't annoyed at Kings recruiting well but it is absolutely a systematic failure if the Kings don't end up paying luxury/equalisation tax.

KET- don't bother.

SJ is a nice man, but is best ignored when discussing the Kings. I've known him for 10+ years, believe me, he genuinely does believe that the sun shines out of the a$$ of anyone wearing Purple and Yellow.

Love ya, SJ :-)

"There's all this hysteria about the Kings simply because we're top of the table and "seem" unstoppable.

We've recruited well & we're getting lambasted for it. You lot can't have it both ways."

I think most people are actually happy for the Kings recruiting and playing well, but at the same time questions are being asked how they got there.

I certainly have more admiration for them than the Hawks under James Spencely, screwing people out of money with a bullshit VA and re-branding, then spending big.

I'll be honest I've lost a fair bit of respect for Gaze with these comments. He's got the cheek to imply the Kings are under the cap when they would be closer to double it and then to try and point the finger at other teams?

Very poor Drewy.

Take it easy on Drewy. 8 of the team are sleeping on foldup beds in his garage and he's paying their $27.50 pocket money each per week. He knows exactly what the team is spending.

Gaze put these quotes out and has been refreshing the hoops.com.au forum ever since.

High level trolling. Well played Drewy.

Anon he is quoted as saying:

"But I don't think we're in that extreme category where we might be facing some prospects of, depending on the end numbers, being involved in having to pay some taxes."

The don't at the start of the sentence gives the negative, even though it got a bit long-winded in the middle.

'I don't think we're in [the] category where we [have] to pay taxes.'

^
That reflects what Gaze was saying

Would anyone in the world buy this deflecting nonsense?

All I'll add to my previous Turn It Up, is that if the Kings aren't paying luxury tax then that's a sure sign that the system needs significant repair work.
It seems to be the intent of the rules to allow someone like the Kings to assemble a superteam, but the intent is surely also that the strugglers who can't do that get compensated for it.

Surely he didn't say those bits about likely avoiding luxury tax while casting aspersions instead at other teams with a straight face.

On a sadly serious note, this simply fuels the stink and suspicion.

Every knows the Kings are massively exceeding the soft-cap. I can say that with confidence because its based on deemed salaries, so even if their stars agreed to play for peanuts, that doesn't matter.

The assumption has always been that the (max) 150% tax would prevent anything too extreme, and if a rich owner was crazy enough to spend that kind of money, the league and other clubs would just laugh and happily take their money.

The fear with an owner like Anschutz is that they will do what thy want and tell the NBL to shove their tax. The suspicion is that part of agreement for them to buy into the NBL via the Kings, was some form of sweetheart deal.

Over the years there have been many egregious issues regarding the Salary Cap, but for mine this is eerily reminiscent of the 1995 fiasco. After cracking down on other teams, the NBL allowed the Giants to go nuts. They took no action during the season, and waiting until after the Giants lost the GF before announcing massive fines (which were then immediately waived.) I have always wondered what would have happened if they had won?

blake has never won a title despite being in the NBA for many yrs. Is he now playing for money , or the chance to win a ring. Powell has won a couple of rings, but is he playing for money or success in his twilight yrs.

With their NBA careers over, they would have "banked" enough money to be sitting pretty now. I would think their priorities are now not money, but life style in an english speaking country, and the chance of winning a ring

I think we need to take Gaze's statements with a grain of salt, as he likes to talk and usually waffles on without thinking of any surrounding issues... He's got a point that no-one knows what players are being paid, but that's on the NBL to fix.

His statement, if not taken out of context, that the Kings might be in the camp of teams that might not need to pay tax is RIDICULOUS...

If he's trying to avoid any stigma that might be on a team overpaying, that's silly, but if he's legitimately trying to make people believe that we aren't over the soft cap to a significant degree that we would have to pay taxes, then I'm embarrassed to be a Kings fan... If you don't want to answer something, fine, but it's just going back to the old days of multiple sets of books and dodgy old Seamus to try to work the numbers to avoid the rules and to pay what should be owed... It hurts the credibility of the team and in the end, will contribute to destroying the league again...

So what if we're over the cap? Own it... "Yes, we've spent over the soft cap, but as per league rules, we thought that it was worth paying the taxes in the best interest of getting the sport back to its high levels of popularity in Sydney and investing int he longevity of the sport in this great city blah blah blah" there, easy...

And as for everyone against the Kings, SJ, it's definitely not the case, I've actually been surprised how little shit they've copped for their recruitment, it's just the lack of transparency, (which is a league wide problem) and the potential to dodge the numbers, which as a fan of the NBL in the past, I think we can all agree has been the case and something that we all hope never happens again...

@drewfan - I think you're right to a certain degree... It's hard to just assume thought that both players have banked their money and not been irresponsible with it (look how many high and low profile players have gone bankrupt) although recent articles suggest that Blake at least has been planning for his non-playing days for a while now (coaching and real estate training already undergone) and having a family, you'd hope that he was wise with his cash...

Powell is pretty active in pushing his charity, so either he's a shyster that is using it to scam people, or he's a pretty decent guy with his head on straight that has a moral compass leading him to help people which could mean that he's been a bit smarter with his cash as well, instead of living the high life and making it rain dolla bills ya'll...

I'm sure they wouldn't knock good money back or gift it back or play for peanuts, but it seems like a least a good portion of their motivation is to keep their playing career going for as long as possible in as top a league as possible... being a primarily English speaking country in a beautiful part of teh world ad not have to freeze your arse off getting to training (I remember one ex-King import having to ride a bike through the snow to training!).

After reading this article http://i.imgur.com/pEtLcWE.gifv

wookiee taking it further, how good is it for their families to live in a safe , english speaking country, great climate, great city, like being on holidays.

All of this is worth something other than $$$$$$$$

Ever think that maybe even though they were paid multi millions by their NBA clubs.. they may NOT need to look for another HUGE payday, but still be paid a 6 figure sum?

That makes it sound like an NBL ring is a substitute for an NBA ring... If Blake and Powell win an NBL championship, I hate to say it, but it probably doesn't rate highly on their excitement scale and probably won't be highest on the list of proud achievements at the end of their careers.

I agree with Luuuc and Wookiee, not much I can add

wow.... Andrew hasn't dropped a zinger like that since he said that he'd played defence.......

"blake has never won a title despite being in the NBA for many yrs. Is he now playing for money , or the chance to win a ring. Powell has won a couple of rings, but is he playing for money or success in his twilight yrs.

With their NBA careers over, they would have "banked" enough money to be sitting pretty now. I would think their priorities are now not money, but life style in an english speaking country, and the chance of winning a ring"

Drewfan ftw!

I give up. I'm out. Doneskies! Outta here.

This quote just wins the whole argument. How could I have been so stupid as to think that Blake and Powell might be on more than pocket change. They might get to WIN A RING in the NBL!!!

Wow!

6 figures a season minimum wage? Sign me up!! Hehehe

At others. Not seeing this as Kings V World.. just hilarious that this even starts because of some wins. If we were any less than 50% win loss.. how much would this be an issue?

" If we were any less than 50% win loss.. how much would this be an issue?"

It would the equivalent of United....and we'd be calling for Gazes head....like we are calling for DD's!! lol

blake has never won a title despite being in the NBA for many yrs. Is he now playing for money , or the chance to win a ring. Powell has won a couple of rings, but is he playing for money or success in his twilight yrs.

With their NBA careers over, they would have "banked" enough money to be sitting pretty now. I would think their priorities are now not money, but life style in an english speaking country, and the chance of winning a ring

Joe, it's partly starting in this thread at least because Gaze thinks it's not ludicrous to claim that they aren't above the soft cap. And yet it doesn't stop him claiming that others are. That's going to antagonise people...

Part of the issue with a salary cap has always been that its hard to nail down all the extra bits and quantify them.
It has been alleged that the Bendats own a mansion at City Beach, fitted out for players, complete with a maid and chef, where the imports get to "board" for a very low sum. And that other players with families get similar "rental" deals. So ostensibly, the Cats are not providing accommodation.

It's also been alleged that teams employ creative accounting, and/or simply lie to the NBL.
The league has had a hard cap for decades, but when was the last time you heard of a team being penalised for breeching it? I love the Cats and bleed red but I would never suggest they adhered to the full spirit of the cap.
That's why the points system was introduced, and why the new system is supposed to use independently assessed values. It would be the height of naivety to think that simply because penalties have been replaced with a tax, that teams would suddenly start reporting every cent.

Which just highlights (as if there was any doubt) what a moron Gaze is, why he has never had a senior coaching gig before, and who the real coach is at Sydney.
Other teams don't need to lie, in fact there is no reason for them to provide any financial data.

It's just as well that Sydney have stacked their line-up, because otherwise there'd be a risk that player might actually listen to him during a game.

After all these years, I finally understand why refs were often so lenient on him. Despite his phenomenal talent, he clearly has a mental impediment. We should have sent him to the Paralympics and won some gold.

Well that escalated quickly. Talk about uncalled for.

Dazz dickhead

We all bleed red Dazz

I have always liked Gaze and i think hes been doing s great job coaching so far but I agree with the few comments here that he should be keeping those sorts of comments to himself now that he is a head coach.

Its disrespectful and he wouldn't know what other clubs are paying their players anyway. Its so obvious it was a bad attempt at deflecting

Right well, that took a turn from making a decent point to doing a Dazz...

Gaze was foolish putting it out there that his team might not have to pay any taxes, given the team that they've put together, and the compounded it by eluding to other teams going over, if not worse than them... One or the other is not nearly as bad ("Sure, we're over the soft cap which is legal and we will pay our taxes, but it's not like we are the only team going over to make our teams better") but both was just stupid and is just making the situation worse...

They are definitely going to be paying luxury tax, they have blown the cap. Gaze has no clue, the monkey couldn't even work out how much he is being paid, so best he stick to basketball instead of running his mouth. There are documents from AEG Ogden that have been obtained, I have seen them. Kings are still paying Childress. This is how they get away with it. They keep paying these big imports what they have promised during the offseason as to go unoticed. They're cheats. Wait for the leaked documents, I cannot wait until the Kings management gets redfaced when they are posted to the NBL. ;)

Also ignore any purple and gold whingers on here, what they say is irrelevant.

Dazz= biggest douchebag on Hoops.com.au.

Butthurt bad, and taking it out on the internet. Poor bloke.... Must have a tough life.

MK, if the Kings are still paying Childress it is the result of a deal signed by the previous owners.

Dammit, why can't Julian Assange look into the big issues like this one instead of trawling through government emails looking for dick pics?

It's the his next big scandal that will shock the world

How in the hell would the Kings still be paying Chill and NOT have him on the team? And you're saying that because of this it's how they get away with other stuff? Wow, that's tough even for Hoops logic... If true and I can't see how, that's got to be the icing on the cake of the previous management's reign of incompetence...

Apparently the Kings are still buying Firepower tablets as well. ......

I've got no problem with anything JVG says there.
As long as teams over the cap pay their dues, the system has a chance of working as intended.

Exactly. We do need transparency though, or else we don't know if the system's working.

For mine that is completely missing the point.
I don't think anyone (sensible) has suggested that Sydney are doing anything other than what the NBL's new rule's allow. What we want to see is the NBL make those numbers public. Until that happens we have no assurance that Sydney are actually paying the tax they should.

I also don't like the assertion in that article that the tax basically goes into a slush for LK and his mates to play favourites with. That is not what was promised.

And as for whether this system is the way forward, well that remains to be seen.

It is only the way forward if it generates serious revenue. There is nothing to suggest NBL clubs spending big on players increases revenue, it is up to HQ to do the other work that brings people to the product and keeps them there.

It seems like common sense that if a team spends an extra million then they'd want to make sure it results in at least that amount of increased revenue in return otherwise you can be sure they either won't be spending big again or won't be in the league much longer

@Dazz, exceeding the salary cap by $1M would result in a tax bill of $1,062,500.00 (post #606634.)

Your point, though, is that the extra salary cap money spent would need to be raised in revenue to make it worthwhile for the owners. It's been alluded to in other posts that this is not necessarily a one-year deal for Anschutz, so they may well be prepared to take a hit in the first year, in an effort to build the team's image (and income) over several years.

I think you're also correct in your concern over what the NBL is (or isn't) planning to do with this money. I know I'm not alone in having had concerns since the new salary cap rules were posted on 30 March.

Bring on some transparency, NBL. They have a partnership with CPA Australia that was made for the pre-season. Perhaps it's time to have the CPA come through and run a ruler over the whole situation, then actually come up with the goods.

As far as I know, the "Contract Review Committee" still doesn't even exist. Does anyone know otherwise?

Question here....

If a club is paying a tax... would not that be a percentage that they pay... not dollar for dollar?

Yep. General admin.

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