Who else is sick of everything revolving around LeBron!?..

Franchise player tag, NBA style:

let's say in the upcoming CBA they limit contracts to 5 years

so, teams are allowed to offer a "franchise player contract" to their own free agents. Said contract cannot be turned down, and lasts for the maximum years (5) at 10% over the otherwise maximum salary. This would make this an effective tool in dealing with free agents up to about age 30 or so (who would just be slowing down at 35 by the end). Older guys in their early 30s might no longer draw the tag since it requires a 5 year committment, and would be freeer to go ring chase for instance. If the owners somehow do get some sort of waiver provision into the CBA to let them escape bad contracts to guys who get hurt, you could except franchise contracts so that they would be fully guaranteed. Along with the 10% extra money, might be enough that the player so tagged might not be entirely despondent and would represent enough of an investment that teams would have to think about it rather than tossing it around willy nilly.

teams could only have one franchise player contract on their team at one time. Could be enough that guys like Reke and Boogie might prefer to be tagged franchise guys than have to settle for just a max deal as the #2 guy.
I don't know, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea of teams locking up a player for 5 years if the player doesn't want to be there. Maybe for a shorter term, but that's a little too much.
 
Lmao @ the bar reactions in Miami and Cleveland during his decision! It was like Miami played Cleveland for the trophy and in game 7 Miami won on a buzzer beater 3 from halfcourt after being down by 2 points!
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I don't know, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea of teams locking up a player for 5 years if the player doesn't want to be there. Maybe for a shorter term, but that's a little too much.
No its not.

In order to make a franchise player tag plan stick with minimal whining from the millionaires, you have to give them a clear win financially. If they are going to receive a 5 year max deal otherwise, then you have to make a franchise tag 5 years at even more $$. You've effectively done no more than make the franchise players restricted free agents, albeit restricted at 10% more than they get paid otherwise.

If you wanted to give players or their agents more power -- which is a dumb thing to want to do, but we'll go with it -- you could emphasize the restricted angle and just say that the home team has the option of matching any one contract given to any one of its players with a franchise player option, at whihc point they have to pay the player a 10% bonus above the contract signed. That way if the player for some reason had only intended to sign elsewhere for 2 years, after being matched you would only have a 2 year franchise player contract with that player.

Regardless, this superstars hopping onto a bandwagon thing cannot become commonplace, and the league has had restrcted free agents coming back home despite signing offers elsehwere for years without this catastrophic collapse in team chemistry people are warning about. In fact in a franchise player environment, the franchise guys would likely know well beforehand that they were going to get tagged, and might even plan on it.
 
Shortly after James announces his decision, the Heat announce another trade...

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer 14 min. ago

Shortly after "King" James announced he will be joining Wade and Bosh, the Miami Heat confirmed a trade. The Heat will trade Michael Beasley to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Delonte West.

Through his agent, Delonte West said that he "looks forward to tapping that azz more in Miami" and that he "was surprised King James signed off on the deal".

LeBron James had no comment, but was clearly upset about the old teammate joining his new squad.

:)
 
This is a great post. And I really want to agree with you. But while Kobe certainly flirted very publicly with the Bulls and the Clippers, he sure as heck didn't have a 1-hour TV spectacle to announce his decison.

Second, the image I can't get out of my head is LeBron in the playoffs this year against the Celtics. Maybe it's me, but he just looked like he quit out there. Like his mind was elsewhere, looking forward to the future and the impending free agency. Now, he bolts for Miami to join Wade and Bosh. On some level, I don't feel bad for Cleveland because they did have 7 years to get it done, and they did get close in 2007. But this year's playoffs really soured my opinion of LeBron, and this specatle of the summer has only made it worse.
a 1 hour special might have been over the top, but he did donate all the money they got to charity so it wasnt just all about him. and second maybe his mind wasnt on the game. maybe he was distracted cuz of the reports that his "teammate" allegedly slept with his mom. that would distract me. a teammate that, by the way wasnt moved this offseason. that would be the first thing i would want my team to do before i resign with them.
 
Congratulations Miami, you have found a loop hole in NBA Free Agency that allows you to skip the entire painful step of rebuilding (the suffering through 20 win seasons and praying NBA Draft Ping Pong balls land in the right spot).

David Stern, you better fix this or else small market teams like CLE, SAC and MIN will NEVER have a chance to compete.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Congratulations Miami, you have found a loop hole in NBA Free Agency that allows you to skip the entire painful step of rebuilding (the suffering through 20 win seasons and praying NBA Draft Ping Pong balls land in the right spot).

David Stern, you better fix this or else small market teams like CLE, SAC and MIN will NEVER have a chance to compete.
The irony is that this situation was in part created by the attempt in the last CBA to control out of control superstar salaries before they bankrupted all the little teams. So you invent the max salary. But now unfortunately that means that the high end max guys like LeBron and Wade are actually worth far more than "max" in an unregulated market. And because you have capped salaries you can have a team clear its payrolll and sign three of these guys, when in the wild and wooly 90s LeBron himself wuold have probably come with a $30mil a year price tag, and there's no way all three guys could fit.
 
The irony is that this situation was in part created by the attempt in the last CBA to control out of control superstar salaries before they bankrupted all the little teams. So you invent the max salary. But now unfortunately that means that the high end max guys like LeBron and Wade are actually worth far more than "max" in an unregulated market. And because you have capped salaries you can have a team clear its payrolll and sign three of these guys, when in the wild and wooly 90s LeBron himself wuold have probably come with a $30mil a year price tag, and there's no way all three guys could fit.
Based on this, a solution to this issue is that a new CBA should allow CLE's max to automatically overule any FA offers. But CBA should sweeten this deal by raising the max that CLE could have offered. Say from 6 years 120, raise it to 6 years 140 mill.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Congratulations Miami, you have found a loop hole in NBA Free Agency that allows you to skip the entire painful step of rebuilding (the suffering through 20 win seasons and praying NBA Draft Ping Pong balls land in the right spot).

David Stern, you better fix this or else small market teams like CLE, SAC and MIN will NEVER have a chance to compete.
Among the many reasons to hope for Miami failure is that would put the kabosh on the "model" of selling off virtually your whole team for the prospect of buying three superstars and parlaying it into an NBA Championship. If Miami wins, and they get respect for it, whoooa, then other players are going to see that not only does it work, but that they can be respected for buying it. That sends an awful message. A terrible message. If older FAs play for the minimum and adopt this notion of buying a championship and go to Miami to "get their ring", that is a terrible precedent for the league. It would cheapen that golden ring into a tarnished blackened symbol of whoredom.
 
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No its not.

In order to make a franchise player tag plan stick with minimal whining from the millionaires, you have to give them a clear win financially. If they are going to receive a 5 year max deal otherwise, then you have to make a franchise tag 5 years at even more $$. You've effectively done no more than make the franchise players restricted free agents, albeit restricted at 10% more than they get paid otherwise.

If you wanted to give players or their agents more power -- which is a dumb thing to want to do, but we'll go with it -- you could emphasize the restricted angle and just say that the home team has the option of matching any one contract given to any one of its players with a franchise player option, at whihc point they have to pay the player a 10% bonus above the contract signed. That way if the player for some reason had only intended to sign elsewhere for 2 years, after being matched you would only have a 2 year franchise player contract with that player.

Regardless, this superstars hopping onto a bandwagon thing cannot become commonplace, and the league has had restrcted free agents coming back home despite signing offers elsehwere for years without this catastrophic collapse in team chemistry people are warning about. In fact in a franchise player environment, the franchise guys would likely know well beforehand that they were going to get tagged, and might even plan on it.
I don't know, I think that would effectively kill free agency. Why would a team ever sign a player that was just going to get franchise-restricted by the team with rights? In this case, Cleveland would just franchise-restrict LeBron. And if the limitation is that the team that with rights can only match a max contract, then you just sign players to a contract slightly less than max and avoid the whole restriction. I don't see that being workable, not without some tweaks.
 
I don't know, I think that would effectively kill free agency. Why would a team ever sign a player that was just going to get franchise-restricted by the team with rights? In this case, Cleveland would just franchise-restrict LeBron. And if the limitation is that the team that with rights can only match a max contract, then you just sign players to a contract slightly less than max and avoid the whole restriction. I don't see that being workable, not without some tweaks.
I think it would make FA signings of 2nd tier players a lot more interesting. It would also make teams with 2 "franchise" players have to choose one of them. Who would the Lakers tagged their franchise player? Shaq or Kobe? Or think of it this way. The Kings would obviously tag Tyreke their franchise player when he became a FA. But the following year when Cousins became a FA, they couldn't do the same with him. If he becomes the dominate center he is capable of becoming, he would be a player you didn't want to lose.
 
a 1 hour special might have been over the top, but he did donate all the money they got to charity so it wasnt just all about him. and second maybe his mind wasnt on the game. maybe he was distracted cuz of the reports that his "teammate" allegedly slept with his mom. that would distract me. a teammate that, by the way wasnt moved this offseason. that would be the first thing i would want my team to do before i resign with them.
Why does giving away the money mean it wasn't all about him? Like that money amounts to anything to him? That was shameless self-promotion.