NOTES AND REMINDERS
Things you should keep in mind as you look at the spreadsheets on this site:
Team Salary Spreadsheets
1) The MLE and BAE begin to reduce in value starting on January 10th of each season. The spreadsheet reflects this reduction.
2) Exceptions are only for teams over the salary cap (thus their name of 'exceptions'). If a team is under the salary cap, they lose any exceptions that they might have earned up until that point.
Individual Player Spreadsheets
1) The "Actual" column refers to what amount actually counts against the salary cap. When a player is signed mid-season, for example, his contract sometimes only counts proportionately to how many games (pre-season and regular season) he plays. In this case, the number under the year column is the base amount that the player makes, based on years of service. The "Notes" column should help you discern what's going on most of the time.
2) "Veteran Adjusted" numbers (aqua background) are there to indicate when the league pays for a portion of the player's salary. The number under "Actual" shows how much the team pays.
3) Unrenounced free agents count against the cap (red background) in the "Actual" column.
4) Starting with 2006-07, sums for the first three columns can be found at the bottom of each column.
5) I don't differentiate between Player Options and Early Termination Options on my spreadsheets. They both have peach backgrounds. There is a difference between the two in the real world, but not enough to warrant a distinction for my purposes.
6) Team totals are listed at the very bottom of the sheet for comparing one team to another.
7) Any player with his name in parenthesis is either no longer on the team's roster - he has been waived, has retired, etc. - or has been given an offer sheet from another team (see #8).
8) Restricted free agents who have received offer sheets from another team are listed twice - under the "new team" with a full contract and under their "previous team" as a free agent. The player appears under the latter team with their name in parenthesis. Once the "previous team" has either matched the offer or refused to match the offer, the player will once again only appear in one team's list.
9) Players are sorted by their numbers in the current year column, then by their numbers in the "Actual" column. Unsigned 1st round draft picks are always listed at the bottom of each team's list.
10) Starting with 2006-07, the spreadsheet has a "Signed Using" column. This tells, to the best of my knowledge, whether the player was signed using cap space or using an exception.
11) The number underneath each team name - showing how much above or below the cap each team is - does not take into account any exceptions that might count against the cap. This number only takes into account player salary in the "actual" column. For a more complete guess at team salary, consult the team salary spreadsheets.