What the Rockets, and now the Raptors have done by offering poison pill contracts to RFA..is a way for teams to be punished for having multiple Allstars on the Roster. If teams are willing to shell out top dollar for their allstars, they will be at risk of the luxury Tax. This is clearly limiting teams that made blockbuster trades from getting better. For example, the NY knick were holding on with a glimmer of hope to be able to sign Nash for a 3mil//year deal. Now with the Fields offer and tom, with the Lin offer, The Knicks will have to decide on paying players. Considering that Melo, Amare, and Tyson make a bulk of the salary, the addition of a poison pill contract will push the team over the brink of the luxury tax line, and they wil be severely punished. Omar Asik was another example, this is going to force teams to look at the concept of having a big three, b/c teams like the Rockets are going to poach bad contracts, and make teams make tough decisions. In the long run, players will no longer get offered massive salaries, and players will have to decide btwn winning and money a bit more carefully.
This is a good thing. Talent spreads more fluidly throughout the league. The two examples you gave to support your argument (from what I can tell you are saying that these types of "poison pill" contracts should not be allowed) are tremendously flawed -- if the Bulls hadn't overpaid for Boozer and the Knicks not overpaid for Tyson Chandler -- perhaps the two most overpaid players in the league, they wouldn't be in this predicament.
No ..i think the poison pill contract...is an excellent weapon that small market teams can use against big market teams... Everyone knows that small market teams have a hard time getting big time players over...especially because they are in an area not conducive to playing. These contracts punish teams for offering bad contracts to players, and force teams to make really tough decisions...I am almost certain big market teams didnt see this coming...the Rockets were in a position to attack based on cap space... Another soon to be example is when Mario Chalmers becomes a RFA...teams will over pay... him in order to make Miami either break apart the big three, or face a luxury tax by retaining an important part of Miami basketball...
I don't think you understand the Gilbert Arenas Provision; how few RFAs it affects; and how it was designed to help teams not hurt them -- by preventing other teams from poaching the drafting team's free agents. This Provision actually gives the Bulls hope they can resign Asik. Prior to this provision, Chicago would just be outbid. We would just outbid their Early Bird Exception limit (by $1, for instance), such they are unable to match, since they are over the cap. There are scores of other provisions and caps in the CBA to prevent stockpiling All Stars...this is not one of them.
Agreed. What probably confused the OP is the way Morey structured the contract for Asik which was ingenious. It was a specific situation since he could look at the Bulls cap situation in year 3 to make it as difficult as possible to match for Chicago. Hardball negotiating at its finest.
great insight...didnt know...thanks for feedback...but yes...i do agree...the way the contract was structured, makes is really hard for Chicago to match...which btw i do suspect will happen...they will move to amnesty Boozer at a later time...
I love it. It might force the NBA back to the exciting 90's. No superteams. Just a balanced league won through pure talent, hard work and intelligence.
