As for proposals to counter yours, I have the following. I've been working these ideas out in my head for several weeks now. None of them are iron clad, but they would fundamentally change free agency in the NBA. Would be much more like the NFL.
1) Hard cap: Fairly self-explanatory, no team can spend endless amounts of money without regard for the salary cap. No MLE, no going over the cap to keep your own free agents, no trading for more salary, etc. If the salary cap is $55 million, that's the maximum amount of payroll you can carry in a given season.
The ramifications of this change would probably lead to non-guaranteed contracts, so that if a team needs to cut payroll to fit under the cap, it can do so. Would also require a function that prohibits insanely front loaded contracts, so that you can't sign Player X for $80 million over five years, but give him $30 million in the first season when you're cap rich, and then divide the remaining $50 million over the next four seasons, and stay under the cap.
Concession: A stronger luxury tax penalty, which would kick in once a team goes over the cap, and would escalate for every consecutive year a team is over the cap. Would also get rid of MLE contracts and strip Bird rights for teams that spend over the cap. The teams that spend less than the cap receive tax payments, but not in consecutive years. Would end luxury tax welfare for teams that don't spend money to compete. And the maximum received for each team in a given year is 10% of the cap ($55 million cap, you only get a maximum of $5.5 million in tax money). The rest goes to league related expenses, like referee training, rookie training, technology enhancements (like equipment for reviews, stuff like that).
2) Compensatory draft picks: Teams that lose players via free agency get extra picks in the next summer's draft. Set up a compensatory round after the first round of the draft, and another after the second round, and that's where these compensatory picks come from. If you offer your own free agent a contract and he signs with another team, whether you have Bird rights or not, you are awarded a compensatory pick. If you offer a max contract and he signs elsewhere, you get two compensatory picks. If he signs for less, you get two picks in the next draft, and a third in the following draft. Each team is allowed a max of three compensatory picks in a given year. There would have to be a formula for determining the order and value of the compensatory picks.
Hypothetically speaking, let's say Toronto receives two Level A compensatory picks, and a third Level B pick, in next year's draft. There's a total of ten Level A compensatory picks and four Level B picks. Along with the fact that they're going to pretty bad next season, let's assume they wind up fifth in the Lottery, they could conceivably wind up picking 5th, 31st, 36th, 45th, and 71st. Five picks in one draft, three in the top 40. Might not make up for losing their star power forward, but they get some form of compensation.
Concession: Restricted free agency. Much like the NFL, a team has the option to place a tender value on their star player. They would determine whether they want an average value on their player (a second round pick), a high value (a first round pick), or the highest value (two first round picks). The difference from the NFL's restricted free agency is that, along with that tender, they'd be offering a long term contract to that player, not just a one year deal. Values for the tendered contracts would be based on the average and max contracts allowable that season, same as MLE and max contracts now. If a team wants to sign your tendered player, they have to match that contract AND be willing to part with the picks that go along with the contract. Those picks have to be available starting the next season, so if you don't have them, you can't offer the contract. Trades are allowed outside of the restricted free agency process, so if the other team is willing to work out a deal with you, that's fine.
Hypothetical, the Raptors place a Level A tender on Chris Bosh, which includes a max contract. If the Heat want to sign him, they have to match the contract, plus surrender this year's first rounder and next year's first rounder, otherwise, they can't sign him. If the Heat are open to working out a sign and trade, that's allowable, but they ensure themselves compensation. (This would have killed the Miami fiasco.) At the same time, the player doesn't have to sign with just any team. If the Clippers are willing to match the Raptors tender, Bosh doesn't have to accept, but that might mean he stays in Toronto, where he doesn't want to be. Might throw in a player option after Year 4 of a six year deal, but free agency is still restricted.
3) End no-trade clauses: If a team makes a trade, no player can veto that trade because they don't want to play for the team they're being traded to.
That means that if Carmelo Anthony demands a trade, the Nuggets can send him to the worst team in the NBA and there's nothing he can do about it.
Concession: Trade kicker clause. If the Nuggets send Carmelo Anthony to the worst team, he automatically earns 15% more for the rest of the contract. He can waive this clause to go to the team he wants to go to.
4) Automatic Bird rights for all draft picks: The current system only grants Bird rights (the ability to offer better contracts to your own players than other teams can) on first round players. This is the basic reason Carlos Boozer was able to hoodwink the Cavaliers in 2004, and the reason why the Warriors weren't able to keep Gilbert Arenas in 2003. Simply put, this change would make it so that you can offer a better contract to any player you draft, regardless of how long they've been with the team. Doesn't apply to undrafted rookie free agents or veteran free agent signings; the current three year rule would still apply for those players. Bird rights would still be traded with the player.
