Second and third salary tier players

[Crow]

When I have time I intend to look again at value delivery for second and third salary tier players. Say those making $8-12 mil a year and $5-8 mil a year. Anyone else have thoughts about the general value record for these groups and for title contenders / winners in particular? I have a gut feeling that these players are generally not good value propositions but haven't looked at it closely recently. Sometimes it may well be a necessary part of the design or of the patch job to the real less situation with less actual degrees of freedom than desired.

[Crow]

Only about 30 players currently have contracts for next season that pay between $8-12 mil a year. Only about 60 between $5-8 mil a year. That seems lighter than in the past. CBA and team practices working toward team preferences perhaps.

[Crow]

Five seasons ago there were about 43 between $8-12 mil that season and 67 between $5-8 mil not even adjusting for salary inflation in the league.

[Crow]

RAPM for 30 guys paid $8-12 mil last season averaged less than +1. Take out 5 really strong performances and the remaining 80% of players averaged 0. Maybe not that unexpected, but not that impressive with regard to the buyer's eye or at least yield.