Keep the cap but let the top players earn what they deserve. It will boost parity and prevent ridiculously lopsided teams like the Warriors from happening.
Beat me to it!!!! That is literally why I opened my computer right now. Completely agree. This really is making me dislike the league more and more.
Time to add the franchise desgination for NBA teams. OKC is crippled and is surely going to have to take offers to trade Westbrook. There is no such thing as loyalty. These guys are the ultimate selfish tools that market themselves as hero's... The NBA either needs to contract to prevent such talent parity...OR its time for the other 29 owners of the league to strike.
Please stop... its a free market and if Demar Derozen went to GSW this wouldn't be an issue General Managers are doing their jobs and if their have a winning team, it makes it easier to attract Talent. Hard Cap wont do anything to change that. Lebron , Wade, and Bosh all took paycuts to play together so there is always a way around it
I think Morey pushed for this idea in a podcast with Simmons like 5 years ago. I also think the max % is something the owners wanted more than players. Edit: I don't think OP is pushing for a lower hard cap (there already is a hard cap). I think he's saying there shouldn't be a "max," and just sign you to whatever...sort of like baseball.
This will never happen with the players union run on a 1 person, 1 vote basis. Jeremy Lin, Jerryd Bayless, Tyler Johnson and Jon Leuer are quite happy with their contracts. There are many more of these guys than there are of KDs and LeBrons.
Morey is your GM and he has no loyalty we have all complained about that over the years lol. THey are marketed as heros by Nike , Gatorade and the NBA to get people to buy their merchandise The NBA using psychology to get you to react.
The reason Warriors is so good is because of their GM and coaches. They draft extremely well. Thompson is drafted 11th. Curry is 7th. Green is round 2, #35. None of them is top 3 or even top 5. That's how they build their team. Now you want to punish their excellence in draft? Well, try to learn how to draft before you do it.
Nah, OKC got 9 years of Durant. Pretty much any franchise level player is guaranteed to stay with their teams 9 years (4 years rookie deal, plus 5 years after restricted FA, where the original team can offer more $ and match any outside offer). If you are not competent enough to put a team around your franchise player in 9 years, you kind of deserve to lose him. OKC specifically have only themselves to blame. They made it to the Finals and let Harden go because they were too cheap to pay Harden. They could have kept their own "super team."
This is more of a poor decision in how the CBA instituted the cap increase. Players saw an a few off seasons of huge cap space as a way to bank. However, a lot of players on prior contracts don't get helped and it allows Warriors to happen and teams like Cavs and Clippers with 3 Max's to persist now without luxury tax penalty. A better way would have been to raise all the salaries by the percentage the cap increased. Sure never been done before, but when gad the cap jumped like this before either? An exceptional situation required an exception to prior rules. They did not have the foresight.
OKC could have offered Durant twice as much money as GSW just gave him ($50m/yr), if there is no max. Anyone who doesn't see how the Bird Exception with no max is the best (maybe only way) to slow down the formation of super teams doesn't understand the OP's point about eliminating max salaries.
I used to be strongly against this, but I am strongly for it now. There is simply too much money in the NBA now. Next year, there will be 3+ Billion dollars for salaries to be split between 450ish players. Its one thing to get 50 million over your career. In todays game, role players will be able to get 200 million over their career. 25 years ago, the NBA was about winning. Now its about making money. If someone cares about winning, they go play for a superteam to get a ring.
Then, if GSW can't clear enough space, KD just forces a Sign n Trade like Riley achieved for Bosh and Lebron. Everyone can clear $26m for Durant. Don't fool yourself thinking anything other than an elimination of the Max giving OKC a huge, superhuge advantage with a Bird Exception, and Boston $45m to spend could have stopped this.
Nobody is arguing what GSW is wrong. They are a top notch organization. GSW and Lebron and Friends are two different situations. Its Durant taking the heat, not GSW. Of course GSW should sign Durant if given the opportunity.
I think they need to have each team have a "super max" where they can pay a player that has been on that same team $50,000,000 a year.
GSW won 73 games WITHOUT Kevin Durant. Cavs with Lebron in 2009-2010 won 61 games... Cavs without Lebron in 2010-2011 won 19 games... Lebron was the only person on that damn team that essentially carried a weak a$$ cavs team...Joining the Heat was a decision that still is bogus...but what Durant did today forever will tarnish his rep as the games best. Cant be the best if ur a pu$$y.
Its worrisome because even though KD made it to the WCF...he was still willing to bail on the thunder. James Harden would have more reason to do so even though the city of Houston has been great to him. Next time he feels like he can coat-tail to a ring he probably will to.
