 |
| RealGM Hoop Net |
|
| Search |
|
|
|
|
| Trade Checker ID |
| Draft Sim ID |
| Newsletter |
|
|
|
|
Authored by Christopher Reina - 22nd June, 2005 - 1:37 am
A new CBA is here and there will be no lockout, but who won and what exactly will it mean for the NBA's future?
One thing is for sure, Trade Checker will have to be changed. Under the old CBA, a trade would be approved if the salaries were within 115 percent and $100,000, but now it has been raised to 125 percent and $100,000. This change will make it even easier for teams to trade and will be more about talent for talent, rather than talent for salary dump.
“I call it a 50-50 deal,” said David Stern during the joint NBA/NBPA press conference from San Antonio on Tuesday.
The commissioner has become very modest as he enters his third decade on the job.
Like clockwork and to the surprise of hardly a soul, the NBA won the basketball-related negotiations of the new CBA.
The following three issues make this new agreement so favorable for the league.
- The reduction of rookie contracts of players selected in the first round from three guaranteed years to two guaranteed years.
The timeframe for young players to prove their abilities is now one year shorter and this will lead to a higher turnover rate and players going over to Europe as washed up NBA players at an even younger age.
For a player coming out of college after his freshman year, having just two years to prove your worth, places a small margin of error on your performance.
- The agreement to an age minimum, which will be 19 years of age and one year out of high school.
When it was first reported that a 19-year-old minimum would be agreed to, it was ultimately a meaningless change to the new CBA.
But it is 19 and one year removed from high school, which will revolutionize the draft back to how it was before Kevin Garnett became a phenomenon in 1994.
The 2005 Draft is actually a sneak preview of upcoming drafts, as it is a draft loaded with college players and international stars that are over the age minimum anyways. Gerald Green and Martell Webster are the only high school players projected as lottery picks.
The league may have wanted the minimum to be 20 years of age, but by agreeing to a rule that prohibits players from making the jump directly, their point has been noted and a stand has been made.
The Ben Gordon’s, Deron Williams', Emeka Okafor’s and Tim Duncan’s will now have exclusive reign, with the order of the LeBron James’, Dwight Howard’s and Tracy McGrady’s now gone.
There does appear to be a loophole to this rule, which means that players won't have to necessarily go to college and that is because the NBDL has lowered its minimum age to 18. It is plausible that a high school prospect can decide he wants to play in the NBDL and receive a token salary rather than on the big stage of the NCAA.
- The reduction of the maximum contract length.
You might want to nickname this the ‘Tim Thomas Clause’ right now. There is absolutely no problem with Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett getting deals that last more than half a decade, but when guy’s have one good postseason and get that kind of contract, the owners’ need protection from themselves and they have it now.
Another important thing that the owners won on was dropping the raises from 12% to 10% if a player re-signs with his team.
- These are the on the court factors, which NBA fans care about the most, but financially, the players did very well.
Dan Rosenbaum, Economics professor at UNC Greensboro and one of the foremost experts on the NBA’s labor issues, believes that the NBAPA dominated the NBA on these negotiations.
“I would like to see more of the details before coming to a definite conclsuion, but my early impression is that the players took the league to the cleaners on this one,” said Rosenbaum when asked which side fared better.
“I think the league lost a lot of money in the last lockout and that along with seeing the effects of the NHL lockout resulted in the owners caving to the players' demands. The players won on almost all of the economic issues and gave the owners some consolation prizes on non-economic issues. But again, it could be the case that when we know more about some of the details that the league did a little better than this. But right now, this is a huge upset win by the union. My guess is that over the life of this deal the players may average 60 percent or more of BRI. It shocks me that the league was willing to give up that much.”
Rosenbaum also went on to say that the escrow distribution issue will ultimately be of great importance.
"I think the age limit will get a hundred times as much press as this luxury/escrow tax distribution issue, even though it is probably only one tenth as important. How the luxury tax amnesty program works will be really interesting," said Rosenbaum.
The Issue That Was Fortunately Addressed:
During the previous CBA, players like Gilbert Arenas and Carlos Boozer became poster children for the 2nd round, so I was hoping that there would be a clause added, which helped teams keep these gems they find and sure enough there is.
A team may match any offer sheet given to a 2nd round player if that team still holds their mid-level exception.
The Meaningless Factor:
The drug testing is a moot issue because steroids aren’t a prevalent factor in the game of basketball. While I would be shocked if there were no players who have done steroids, I would be even more shocked if 3% of the players tested positive.
The Biggest Win(s) For The Players:
The percent that players currently pay into escrow has been lowered from 10 to 9 after this coming season.
The owners have been keeping this money in recent years, as the player salaries have been over the 57% BRI (basketball related income).
A raise of the salary cap has also been agreed upon. It will now be at 51% of the BRI. This will raise the cap in the 2005-06 season by as much as $7 million from last season's cap that was just under $44 million.
The Great For All Part:
Teams will now be allowed to send players with less than two years of service down to the NBDL.
This effectively makes the NBDL as true of a minor league system as the NBA will ever see.
Teams will have the opportunity to take risks on high-ceiling players that are a few years away and instead of having them rot on the bench, they will play heavy minutes in the NBDL.
Names like Kwame, Darko and Skita would have been very well served if this had been part of the past CBA.
When a new CBA is being negotiated in six years time, people will look back to this part of the new CBA as being the part that improved the game the most.
Now for the notes on the NBA Finals…
- For the first time in eleven seasons, the NBA will get a Game 7 in the NBA Finals and it will be a great one.
All of a sudden the Pistons are once again America’s team, wearing the red, white and blue and battling a foreign legion.
Chauncey Billups is the coolest Finals player since Jordan and in the second half of Game 6, he hit big shot, after big shot, after big shot, just as he did last season against the Lakers.
The Pistons play hard-nosed, blue-collar basketball and there isn’t an ounce of fear in any of the players at any time, while the Spurs are a team filled with unlikable players.
Tim Duncan is overrated and a nerd.
Manu Ginobili is the boy who cried wolf.
Bruce Bowen is a dirty one-dimensional player.
Tony Parker routinely disappears in the clutch.
These opinions come from a columnist who holds the entire Spurs organization in the highest esteem. The Spurs are just not a team that captures a fan’s imagination and unless you are from San Antonio or anywhere outside the United States, I couldn’t see how someone could possibly a Spurs fan.
Prediction: Pistons win by 4 points when Horry is contained and Duncan shoots 50% from the line again, coupled with a double-digit 4th quarter from Billups.
Christopher Reina is the executive editor of RealGM.com and may be reached at Christopher.Reina@RealGM.com. |
