NBA salaries/cap considerations to compete with Euro teams?

very interesting points and reasonable solutions.

i have to think a bit more about how you're suggestions for the nba salary cap can affect the league, but overall nice assessment.

 

Just my 2 cents: Problems bringing Euro players to the NBA is nowhere near the biggest problem the league faces. I consider it a minor issue. We just signed Scola last summer, who was supposedly the "best Euro player not in the NBA". Rudy Fernandez is probably going to Portland this summer. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I couldn't care less about the NBA losing a couple of Euro players here and there. The situation has to get a lot worse before it becomes a blip on the radar.

Your suggestion #1 is the worst decision the NBA could make. Implementing the rookie scale is one of the best decisions the league has ever made and removing it would be insane.

#s 2 & 3 would create the effect of a hard cap like the NFL, which would be very unforgiving because the NBA (unlike the NFL) guarantees all contracts. Teams would not be able to cut players in order to sign new ones. Teams also could not cut players in order to give raises to other players. The buffer between the salary cap and luxury tax level and the MLE for teams over the cap are cushions that gives NBA franchises flexibility in the offseason.

I don't think your point #4 makes any sense at all.

 

You would have to define "proffesional".

I think the NBA can say something like "if you've played in x number of games over at least x number of years in one of the following leagues, you are exempt from the draft".

This way, you will have seen enough of the player gto make a good assesment and offer him a fair contract. The rookie scale is for players who have not played proffesional basketball yet.

We got Scola cheap but that's because he is in his late 20's. There will be fewer international players coming to the NBA soon, and more NBA talent going to Europe.

Lebron could've skipped his final high school year and played in Europe for a ridiculous amount of money before joining the NBA.

If ONE marquee player decides to do it, everyone else will start doing it. Suddenly you'll have people who don't want to leave.

 

The suggestions to change the salary cap/luxury tax makes no sense business-wise. The cap is set according to a percentage of revenue divided between the players and owners. To arbitrarily increase the cap would mean that the owners would be giving up a chunk of their profits, and would dramatically change the business arrangement between the league and the players. Good luck with that.

 

In Australia the sport I follow (Rugby League and the NRL) is facing this problem right now.


Basically there is more money for players in Europe and its harder to retain players because of it.

I can tell you that by the time fans realise there is a problem, its too late. The European competitions will not wait around, they will continue to grow and continue to throw money at players.

Another problem you find is that European sports clubs dont care about losing money hand over fist. When they are backed by rich Europeans looking, you tend to find they use these clubs as a status symbol and will target top players no matter the cost.


The NBA is lucky in that right now, its where the money is. But this will change.

The NBA's best bet is to look at expansion and allowing some of these European teams to eventually come into the NBA.

 

It's true actually. Someone like Abrahamovich will decide that they want to have the best basketball team in the world and is willing to shell out a few billion dollars to do it. What will the NBA do to stop him? Especially once he starts picking up the college players and every major international player.

Then someone buys another club to compete with him. So on and so forth.