Mat : Hey Alan, are the knicks trying to stay (or get) capped out by the end of the season so they can use the Mid-Level Exception? That of course is if the knicks are satisfied with Ray at the point for the future...

Tuesday January 11, 2011 11:33
Alan: There won't be an MLE this summer because the current CBA will expire on June 30 and no one expects the MLE to return in the next agreement.

Best thing to ever happen to the game.

BlueSeats wrote:So with the exception of using Bird rights there would essentially be a hard cap, and FA's can only go to under the cap teams, or be re-signed and traded?

gotta believe that either Hahn made a premature statement or one that is lacking details.

Allanfan20 wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:So with the exception of using Bird rights there would essentially be a hard cap, and FA's can only go to under the cap teams, or be re-signed and traded?

I wonder if teams would be able to dump players and take them off the salary cap (But still have to pay the contract) in order to make this work.

Interesting proposition. A bit of win-win for each side. Not gonna save the owners cash, but at least save them from boxing themselves in for years.

The problem is twofold. The league loses luxury tax revenues, and the wealthy clubs are still advantaged by being able to afford tossing money out the window. And then what is the vehicle for other teams to pick up dumped players?

You should be able to void a contract or dismiss players like Eddy Curry, Mo Taylor, Jerome James etc that come into camp overweight. If I can can't find two hours a day in the offseason to workout in between buying rims, clubbing and playing video games you doesn't deserve to be paid.

That said, I think as a compromise, either the MLE will be reduced (# of years or dollar amount), or if completely eliminated, the vet min scale might be increased. Mainly to prevent a lot of players from running off to Europe.

BlueSeats wrote:
The problem is twofold. The league loses luxury tax revenues, and the wealthy clubs are still advantaged by being able to afford tossing money out the window. And then what is the vehicle for other teams to pick up dumped players?

What's wrong with wealthy clubs having an advantage? No need to inject socialism into sports.

MS wrote:NBA contracts should be structured more like football contracts.

You should be able to void a contract or dismiss players like Eddy Curry, Mo Taylor, Jerome James etc that come into camp overweight. If I can can't find two hours a day in the offseason to workout in between buying rims, clubbing and playing video games you doesn't deserve to be paid.

That's all subjective though. You can't just put him on the scale and say "You're overweight" because he may just be like Ron Artest.... and the players would have a legit beef when it comes to this. They would have to take other measurements such as body mass index and body fat% (Which is VERY hard to calculate).

And that's not the only beef. Shaq is probably the most overweight player in the league right now but he can probably play for any team he wants to until he is ready to retire. The players will be able to point to that easily and get the backing of the Union.

This issue isn't nearly as easy to handle as you may think it is.