Salary cap

[asgsjb]

First posting for me on this site. Just got NBA Live 2005 last week...works with my video card.

The cap issue in Dynasty Mode is a bit tricky to navigate, as EA doesn't do it justice in the instruction manual and it's not dealt with well in any game guide. You all have done a great job explaining how it works, so I won't ask you to repeat the basics. My issue is more along the lines of strategy.

I chose to do a fantasy draft. I lucked out with the 1st pick in the draft and, because you don't seem to see salaries as you draft, I just drafted based on stats and ratings. That led me to take Shaq with the 1st pick. In addition, I later went on to get Amare Stoudemire and Michael Finley. I also have Tinsley and Moochie Norris at PG, Kittles and Childress at SG with Finley, McCarty, Willaimson and Korver at SF, David West at PF with Stoudemire, and Bradley to back up Shaq at C. It's a strong team, and I kicked butt in All-Star mode in my 1st 2 games.

But then I tried to pick up on trades and free agency and saw that I am -$28 million or so. Shaq himself takes up about $20M of cap room alone. Kittles, my backup SG, is really pricey too.

Anyway, my options are: (1) stick with my team as is and push to the championship despite having restricted ability to trade or sign free agents, or (2) I could work on swapping Shaq and Kittles (my 2 most expensive players, especially Shaq) and get back under cap and free up my ability to make trades and sign free agents. Shaq is a monster, though, and he clearly is better than other center options (Ming, etc. drop down to the 80's in overall ranking or lower compared to Shaq's 92 rating). I could make a good run to the championship in my 1st season by relying on him. But he alone also kills my ability to be under the cap. Do I stick with Shaq and try to win now or do I trade him off to get under the cap? Which way maximizes the enjoyment of the game?

Thanks guys. Appreciate the advice.

[Andrew]

Welcome to the Forum!

It's a lot harder to manage the salary cap in a Fantasy Draft because it usually ends up with every team over the cap, which eliminates the shortcut of dumping players with big contracts on a team with a lot of cap space (like the Bobcats, for example) or working your way under the cap with a series of moves. The good news is that every team is in the same boat so it's an even playing field when it comes to all the teams making trades.

It certainly would be an interesting challenge to try and get under the cap but I think your best bet is to simply work out deals as best you can under the rules of trading above the cap. As far as which deals work, it depends on how well your roster is performing. Do you feel you can win with Shaq on the roster? If so, you probably don't need to be in any great rush to get rid of him.

Personally, I'd keep Shaq and try to win the championship; there's a better chance of that happening then being able to work your way under the cap, unless by chance there's a team with a little bit of cap space.

[asgsjb]

Thanks Andrew....both for the welcome and the reply. Glad to actually find this forum....I didn't think anybody was still chatting about NBA Live 2005, so it's nice to find the community. Wish they also had this for the other EA 2005 sports.

As for the cap, I was leaning in the same direction as you suggested. Many of the other teams are somewhere over the cap (many being far less over the cap than me, but 1 or 2 other teams are also as far over), so finding a team with a ton of cap room is unlikely. Plus, I do think I can win with Shaq, Stoudemire and Finley as my core...I also found that Tinsley can be a great PG for this game (great at 3's, passing and especially at steals) and McCarty si turning out to be better than I expected (he's real solid at 3's and FG). I've dominated my 1st 2 games (I'm new to it, so I still like playing the full 10 minutes quarters) with this team and feel I can continue to do so...in fact, I may have to ratchet up the skill level past All-Star in order to keep games more competitive.

So I may keep things as is and make smaller deals within "over the cap" constraints. I have put in for a few free agents (i.e. Funderburke, Glen Rice) and have to see about some potential trade targets. I am not 100% thrilled with Kittles, and he is costly. I also like my SF's to be able to shoot 3's, and Weatherspoon sucks in that area. It also might be good to add another backup C for safety. We'll see what I can work out.

Thanks again.

[Andrew]

No problem, glad I could be of some help. Unfortunately free agents are stubborn in NBA Live 2005 and because lower rated players are pruned from the Free Agent pool when you start a new Dynasty, you rarely find many players who are willing to sign for the minimum. They kind of fixed that in NBA Live 07 though it's still rare to find a decent player who will lower his price to latch onto a team for a season.

[super_man322000]

yeh that was like me wen i came also i was browing the web yesterday and i found a nhl forum/patches and also a cricket one too!