Interesting article In today's Parade Magazine on the troubled NBA.

[Gargamel]

Like what most of you already said, most of the suggestions are silly.

But overall, I think lower salaries for players will allow the ticket prices to go down and attract a lot more fans to attend the games. I think there should a restructure from top to bottom. Even the best players don't deserve 25 million to play basketball. Thats close to half the teams cap.

Only partial of the contract should be guaranteed. Meaning there is a base salary and also the performance incentives. Too many players sign a good contract and stop working hard. That way teams aren't stuck with bad contracts for years on a once promising player who gained 30 lbs since his new contract.

Yeah, I look forward to that after year long lockout. The last time we had one is ironically when a player gained the 30 lbs you mentioned (Kemp).

 

[Gargamel]

I'm no expert on college ball, but I'll throw some points out there:

-there have been some dynasties- UCLA is the obvious example. and while those were system-driven teams, i think it had a lil something to do with Kareem and Walton too

Your point is still valid, but Wooden won 5 w/o either of those two. He was the anomaly as the main piece to those teams instead of the players. Lew and Bill were the difference between the standard route to a national title for some other good team and 80 gm win streaks and such.

Artest signed for the MLE. Does the league do away w/ that if a hard cap is instituted? It allows teams to sign FAs while being over the cap.

 

[Gargamel]

True. I knew there would be quibbles when I posted that, but I liked it, so...

However, a hard cap would be the first natural step toward a so-called parity movement in the NBA. And that ain't gonna happen under Stern (or any commissioner, really) because the big markets make the big bucks in the big leagues.

Revenue which is shared among the bottom feeders as it is. TV contracts and other things ratings and money driven can hinge on exciting teams being there, not on a league of a dozen teams with about the same shot at beating each other, which we had in 94 and 95 and most definitely in the 70s.

Stern has just about maxed out the lengths he wants to go to in order to foster competition between big markets and small markets. Some of the small markets that are nearing or in the red are usually in unsustainable markets to begin with because Stern is too sweet on expansion to increase his bottom line (it's harder to improve the product itself).

 

[Superman]

Revenue which is shared among the bottom feeders as it is. TV contracts and other things ratings and money driven can hinge on exciting teams being there, not on a league of a dozen teams with about the same shot at beating each other, which we had in 94 and 95 and most definitely in the 70s.

Stern has just about maxed out the lengths he wants to go to in order to foster competition between big markets and small markets. Some of the small markets that are nearing or in the red are usually in unsustainable markets to begin with because Stern is too sweet on expansion to increase his bottom line (it's harder to improve the product itself).

Revenue is only shared among the "bottom feeders" when those teams are under the tax threshold, which most of them aren't this year. As average salaries increase (especially for above average players, not just superstars) and the salary cap doesn't, we've seen fewer teams under the cap every season.

And it's not just about revenue and TV deals. It's not even about making it harder for good teams to stay good. It's about making it easier for bad teams to get good, when they're well run. Of course, by nature, that means that you place certain restrictions on the top tier teams, because you don't want one team to be able to throw money around while the other teams are playing on a set budget. But the whole point is that you want every team to at least try to get and stay good, rather than just using the luxury tax as a source of income. Yes, I'm talking about Donald Sterling.

 

[TheFifthMookie]

Look at the Lakers payroll. With a hard cap, they can't resign Lamar Odom, can't sign Ron Artest, can't extend Kobe for $30 million per, can't extend Pau for $18 million per, and so on.

Just related to this, I was thinking about Ron Artest the other day. He's like the 4th option on the Lakers. Not more than 2 years ago, he was the clear best player on the kings, and now he's the #4 option. If that doesn't speak to the lack of parity in the NBA, I don't know what does.