What do you guys think for a hard cap? yay or nay? http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/5629666 Ted Leonsis praises NHL-style cap Associated Press FAIRFAX, Va. -- Washington Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis told local business leaders Wednesday that he expects the NBA soon will have a hard salary cap similar to the NHL's model. Leonsis, who also owns the Washington Capitals, spoke to a group of Northern Virginia business leaders before the Wizards' daily training camp session. He told them that the more fans a team has, the more they spend on the team, and the more the team has a chance to get and keep good players. "In a salary-cap era -- and soon a hard-salary cap in the NBA like it is in the NHL -- if everyone can pay the same amount to the same amount of players, it's the small nuanced differences that matter," he said. Asked after the speech to clarify his remarks, Leonsis pulled back from the comment, saying he was not authorized to speak about the ongoing NBA labor negotiations, but said he believed the NHL's system "is a good one." "It's working," he said. "The teams are very, very competitive. There is no way that big markets teams can outspend small market teams. So when the season starts everyone thinks their team can compete for the Stanley Cup."
ooops i meant Wizards owner not Nets Net's owner is new billionaire russian dude who would probably be against this
In a BS Report podcast, Morey said he prefers a hard cap with no other rules about contract length or anything else. He says this favors the smart and prepared. He got fined by the league for discussing the CBA.
I think some of the CBA rules are there to prevent dumb owners/GMs in important markets from crippling their teams. So while a hard cap with no other rules would be sweet for us cause we have a smart GM, I doubt Stern would go for it.
I recall it differently. Morey said he tended to think like a libertarian and wanted a laissez-faire-esque open market with no restrictions on max salaries and the like. In that way, teams could pay the superstars as much as they wanted (say, 40M a year for Lebron) and have to deal with the consequences later if they ended up making a bad deal. He said that the max salary system was a device established by the NBA to act as a safety net from the stupidity of the general managers. In a more open system, a guy like Morey would thrive because of his prudence in not doling out huge contracts. I don't remember him saying anything about the cap.
A hard cap would stop so many teams from going over the cap with the MLE on crap players. I think they should also raise the max contract amount to 40% of the cap. It would prevent 3 max free agents from joining the same team, unless they took a 25% cut in pay.
And he now feels the wrath of the godfather... STEIN_LINE_HQ NBA announces $100,000 fine for Wizards owner Ted Leonsis for his comments about potential hard salary cap in league's next labor pact
I remember that fine. Looks like the Wizards owner just got fined for discussing the same thing. If Morey thinks it's a good think I'm all for it.
A hardcap with guaranteed contracts sounds like disaster. If their was a hard cap with no other restrictions how would a team like the bucks or the cavs have any chance against NY. If their was a hardcap and no other restrictions every team would be waiting to sign a top tier free agent and only the NY, LA, CHI of the world would have any chance. I think the current system is pretty fair to both sides.
Those teams have been horrible with top tier free agents and drafting. CHI, NY, and the LA Clippers have been in the lottery almost every year for the last decade. A hard cap and guaranteed contracts would just make them look dumber.
I'm not really sure how the 90m+ lakers that still generates the highest profits is fair to the other teams. We like 2/3 of the other teams tend to stay under it, Buss, who is a penny pincher, still doesn't really care too much unless their luxury bill starts approaching 40m, in which case, his 6-10% returns are threatened....
It's not possible, unless they allow bought out/waived players to no longer count against the cap. Otherwise, contracts are no longer guaranteed, and the players would sooner all leave for China than agree to that. The luxury cap has been effective. Go to version 2.0, don't abandon it for a completely different system. Tax line at 120% of the cap. Teams over tax line do not share in tax revenue. Limited tax forgiveness for teams over but within $2M of tax line - if below tax the season before, these teams do not pay the tax but also do not share in the revenue distribution. Double tax line at 135% of the cap. Minimum payroll at 75% of cap. For Example: Cap at $60M Tax Line at $72M Double Tax at $81M Rockets ($72.6M) above the tax line, but below it last year, don't pay tax or receive payouts. Lakers ($94.7M) above both tax lines, owe $18M (single tax) plus $27.4M (double tax). Even the Lakers are going to feel that pain - payroll virtually becomes $140M. Double tax line will be as good as a hard cap, while still allowing teams to cross it if they're on the threshold. Hard caps blow - you never want a championship team cutting a key member because of it.
The hard cap will equalize the $$$ advantage the Lakers, Celts etc. enjoy. However it will also cripple teams like the Hawks, Memphis etc. who have dumb GMs because they won't be able to get out the crap contracts they give people. What I would want is to keep the soft cap, but take away the full guaranteed contracts players enjoy. Fully guaranteed contracts are crazy, esp. in NBA when they make a lot more money than in the NFL. What I would want is once the player's contract exceeds a certain number, like say 10M, then only part of the contract would be guaranteed. So even if you're paying someone like kirilenko 35M for the next 5 years, once he starts dogging it you can cut his salary and just pay him 10M. The other thing I'd like to do is increase the dollar-for-dollar tax and turn it to a 2-dollar-for-dollar tax. That way teams who want to spend over the cap like the Lakers will have to fork over more dough, which helps the small frnachises of the league.
Players are the ones who benefit most from soft cap, especially the big name players. You guys are talking like team owners are dumb and didn't want to get some rules saving them some money. They simply can't.
The Nba is all about superstars. If I could have 2 superr stars and a bunch of scrubs or a 5 good players I take the two super stars. all the big market teams wiill clear cap space and get 2 or 3 super stars and fill the roster with scrubs like the heat. The current team can't do any better because of the hard cap.
