It's the 2011 NBA playoffs! Mavs Win!

[Galaxy]

Shaq and his muppet lip-synching to Mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQGhL...layer_embedded

[Galaxy]

Mavs' DeShawn Stevenson got arrested for public intoxication.

Dallas Mavericks' DeShawn Stevenson busted for public intoxication - ESPN Dallas

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Arles

Yeah, I didn't mean the Heat won't have issues. But, if you assume the hard cap comes in during the 13/14 season - you will still have some major contracts for Dirk, Kobe, Joe Johnson, Amare and others who are past their prime then. Plus, you will have many contracts coming and current "bad" contracts still on the books. For just the Bulls in 13/14, you have Deng at $14 mil, Noah at $12 mil and Boozer at $15 mil. I think you can do that if you have Bosh/Lebron/Wade at 29-30 making big money, but not a 36-year old Dirk or Kobe or glorified role players (Noah, Boozer, Deng) taking up 70% of your cap.

The whole paradigm is going to shift and I think it will eventually be good for the league, but something will need to be done to deal with the current salaries going through that season. The Lakers alone will have $30 mil due to Kobe and $20 to Gasol. Even with a 25-30% rollback, they won't be able to field a team on a $50 mil hard cap unless they cut Kobe Bryant. I don't think Stern wants to see Dirk, Kobe, Amare, Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce cut going into the first year. But, those teams may have to do it as those guys (in 13/14) won't be able to shoulder 60-70% of the production (which their salary would dictate).

I'm not sure why you think Bosh is worth big money but Boozer or Noah isn't - IMO Bosh is just as much of a glorified role player as any of them. I also don't really see why you think the Heat are better off. Yeah without roll backs the Lakers have $50m committed to Kobe and Gasol in 13/14...but the Heat have $56.5 committed to James, Wade and Bosh. While Kobe and Gasol certainly cannot account for 60-70% of the production the Heatles can't do it either. That's why I said that I think the hard cap is going to put an end to the "big 3" and the stars can be spread out around the league again while the Luol Deng's of the league will never see a payday like that unless they can convince someone that they're capable of being the #1 guy on a bad team.

The one thing we know is that Stern will not screw over a major market team like the Lakers. There will be some kind of loophole - otherwise the economics of the hard cap just doesn't work. You can't have a $50m hard cap and have individual players making $20m. I don't know how exactly they will accomplish it but they could set a max salary at like 25% of the cap and tell teams that contracts already signed will be grandfathered in where a team will still owe the full amount of the (rolled back) contract but it will only take a cap hit up until the max salary limit. This would be a massive shake up in terms of the "rules" anyways for the financial side of the league so making a few temporary cheats/workarounds to bring everything into line over time probably isn't out of the realm of possibility.

[Arles]

I think Bosh is a lot better than Noah or Boozer. Noah is a glorified Joel Anthony with more energy and no offensive game. Boozer is a short PF who struggles to score in big games. I'm still not sold that the "big 3" can win titles without adding a few more pieces, but I'd much rather have Lebron, Wade and Bosh for their number than Gasol/Kobe or Noah/Boozer/Deng for what they're owed.

With the hard cap, you will need to be careful who you pay big money to. You can get away with paying a role player $5-6 mil, but not $12 mil. That's going to be a new thought process for the NBA and will take time to work through.

In terms of getting teams compliant, I think you'll see current contracts be rolled back a bit, but "grandfathered" in as well. So, the $30 mil Kobe has on the books will be rolled back maybe to $22 mil - but there will be a max that counts against the hard cap (maybe $12-15 mil?). Then, for future contracts, there will be a new salary max that goes completely against the cap.

My point was that no matter how it sorts out, there are going to need to be some methods to handle the Dirks, Kobes, Gasols and Amares of the world. And, once those are in place, they will also help out the Heat. I don't think Miami will be in a perfect position, but they will be able to afford all 3 guys and still have some money to round out a solid roster.

[Gary Gorski]

I think it all comes down to what happens with the salary roll back and what counts against the cap. If they roll everyone back 25% and then what is left counts against the cap then Miami is at a slight advantage - but if they roll everyone back and then say only a max amount of what is left can be counted (say a $15m max contract) then LeBron's $19m hit becomes a $14.25m one and Kobe's $28m hit becomes a $15m one - essentially negating any advantage because now Miami has LeBron, Wade and Bosh all basically at the max while LA has Kobe and Gasol at the max and a $15m differential to sign maybe 3 players or even sign Bynum instead (or trade for Dwight Howard or whatever). The only scenario that really helps Miami is one where the cap hit gets rolled back significantly for everyone - basically in order to get Kobe's cap hit reasonable then only half the salary counts against the cap...that would be a win for Miami but also would significantly help out every other team in the league except the Lakers and my money is on the Lakers not getting screwed in any sort of deal. I think its much more likely they call Kobe's salary an outlier that will get capped as opposed to rolling back the cap hits in a major fashion which would only then encourage owners to spend more money they don't have anyway.

The hard cap will certainly force teams to be a bit more careful in who they pay like you said. A Luol Deng will never see a $14m contract again and I think a team built like the Mavericks (talent wise, not salary wise) may actually end up being more successful in such an environment. You pay your mega star the max, pay guys like Kidd, Terry, Butler, Marion, Chandler in that $4-6m range and have about $5m left to round out the roster with guys on rookie deals and free agents willing to play for the min or close to it.

I just don't see the big 3 being a good idea in a hard capped world. If the cap is $50m and you roll back Miami's 3 by 25% in the 13/14 season that's still $42m leaving you with $8m for 10 players? You can sign 10 Juwan Howards but that's not going to win anything. Even if the cap is $50m next season and increases to $60m by 13/14 that's still an average of less than $2m per player and you're talking about 2 starters being paid that in addition to an entire bench. For as good as James, Wade and Bosh are they would be worse off trying to win with a team full of Carlos Arroyos and Juwan Howards as opposed to guys like Haslem, Miller and Chalmers.

[Neon_Chaos]

Rashard Lewis is the 2nd highest paid player in the NBA. Michael Redd is the 5th.

LOL

[Arles]

The more I think about this, the harder it is to figure out a good solution. If you go to a hard cap of $50 mil, I think you'd have to roll back salaries pretty significant to make it work. Right now, almost half the league is at or over $70 mil. Many of those salaries go through 13/14 (esp for the stars). Going from $50 mil to $70 mil is a 40% increase, so you'd really need closer to a 30+% rollback for it to work.

Plus, if you're a team like OKC, Chicago or Denver, who have a bunch of $3-$8 million guys and a Durant/Nene/Rose making big money - you get completely hosed by a "waiver" to the max salary of $11-12 million. In that case, your $6-7 million role players stay roughly the same while Kobe's cost drops from $30 mil to $11 mil. I can't see the "smart" owners agreeing to that. Especially since most teams will be trying to get as many guys as possible in that $3-$6 mil range to get ready for the hard cap.

Imagine if you go out have Durant making his $16 mil in 13/14 and have Collison, Sefolosha, Ibaka and all your role players in the $2-4 mil range. Then you sign smart contracts with Harden ($7 mil) and Westbrook ($10 mil) and have a team making right around $55 mil (with Perkins' $8 mil extension already on the books). Then, the NBA comes in and knocks down Gasol and Kobe from a combined $50 mil to $11 mil each - or $4 mil over what you're paying Harden and Perkins after the rollback. That's pretty awful. Now, the Lakers when from being at the cap with 2 guys to having $28 mil in room. Meanwhile, OKC had salaries rolled back to a tune of being only $5-6 mil under the cap.

It will be interesting to see, but my gut says nothing will be a pure "hard cap" until the 2014/2015 season. And, at that point, the big 3 of the heat will have had 4 full seasons together and able to opt out and re-sign to subvert the process once more.

[Groundhog]

It would be interesting to see the effect that a hard cap would have on the players between minsal and max deals. Teams are going to be forced to be a lot more conservative with contracts, and some of these guys might be able to get more cash with the Euro powerhouses.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Arles

I think Bosh is a lot better than Noah or Boozer. Noah is a glorified Joel Anthony with more energy and no offensive game. Boozer is a short PF who struggles to score in big games. I'm still not sold that the "big 3" can win titles without adding a few more pieces, but I'd much rather have Lebron, Wade and Bosh for their number than Gasol/Kobe or Noah/Boozer/Deng for what they're owed.

That is Bosh in a nutshell.

[Groundhog]

I would take Noah over Bosh in a heartbeat.

[Coffee Warlord]

Noah really vanished in the playoffs this year, though. It's not been his style throughout previous years, so I dunno if he was still a little hurt or what, but he had a bad, bad playoff run.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Noah really vanished in the playoffs this year, though. It's not been his style throughout previous years, so I dunno if he was still a little hurt or what, but he had a bad, bad playoff run.

I didn't even realise till I checked just now how bad he actually was in that Heat-Bulls series, especially offensively. Rest of the playoffs he wasn't so far removed from his regular season output as far as stats go.

I actually think that the Bulls as a whole were a different beast in the playoffs, and they looked an awful lot more impressive during the regular season, even in the series that they won.

[jbergey22]

I dont think he was healthy for the entire 2nd half of the year. He was a monster early in the season and while still decent in the 2nd half he wasnt the same player.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Arles

The more I think about this, the harder it is to figure out a good solution. If you go to a hard cap of $50 mil, I think you'd have to roll back salaries pretty significant to make it work. Right now, almost half the league is at or over $70 mil. Many of those salaries go through 13/14 (esp for the stars). Going from $50 mil to $70 mil is a 40% increase, so you'd really need closer to a 30+% rollback for it to work.

You let existing salaries stay put, but don't charge fully against the cap. With your example all existing contracts are charged 70% of their value against the cap. Players still get their money, teams don't get killed on the cap. As contracts expire, renegs are under the new rules. If there are any particularly long contracts out there, shave a year or two off so everyone is renegged by 2014.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Arles

Imagine if you go out have Durant making his $16 mil in 13/14 and have Collison, Sefolosha, Ibaka and all your role players in the $2-4 mil range. Then you sign smart contracts with Harden ($7 mil) and Westbrook ($10 mil) and have a team making right around $55 mil (with Perkins' $8 mil extension already on the books). Then, the NBA comes in and knocks down Gasol and Kobe from a combined $50 mil to $11 mil each - or $4 mil over what you're paying Harden and Perkins after the rollback. That's pretty awful. Now, the Lakers when from being at the cap with 2 guys to having $28 mil in room. Meanwhile, OKC had salaries rolled back to a tune of being only $5-6 mil under the cap.

Why would Durant's salary be $16m (his actual salary for 13/14) with Kobe and Gasol being rolled back from $28m and $19m to $11m each? If you're setting $11m as the arbitrary ceiling then Durant shouldn't be more than that either. I would assume that the roll back would equally affect players on rookie contracts so Harden's $7m qualifying offer would be lower (or probably just wiped out since there would be no need for RFA) and Westbrook won't be a free agent until after the new rules are in place so you don't sign him for $10m if $11m is the max contract and you don't feel he's a max player. Plus there's going to be the ability to wipe one player off the books - you might have to consider that being Perkins in the case of OKC.

If the hard cap comes into play everyone has to change their perception of what a "reasonable" contract is. $7m isn't reasonable for a player like Harden if there is a max contract at $11m - I'd say you'd want to be more in the "half the max" area for him putting him at $5.5m.

I also don't think the hard cap can wait until 14/15 - I think we're going to see something very quickly because the owners are not anxious to lose another $300m while the players make $2b and I don't think that you want to have another couple of years for teams to build up these super teams. You can do the hard cap immediately - here's what you do.

1. Roll back salaries 25% - the players still make $1.5b and the owners make a profit.
2. Salary cap at $50m.
3. "Max salary" tag - for current contracts the max they could count is 25% of the salary cap while teams would still be responsible for paying the rest of the rolled back salary figure. For future contracts any player signed to a "max salary" would get their salary and cap hit adjusted each season to be 25% of the cap.
4. Going forward "max salary" tags could only be given out by the player's current team after 3 years of uninterrupted service (basically the spirit of the Bird Rule here). Other teams with cap space could offer the player a salary of the current max contract but would not be able to exceed that limit in future seasons. So basically the Cavs and Heat both could have offered James $12.5m but the Heat only could have paid James 12.5m for each season while the Cavs could have paid him at least that plus whatever else if the cap were to rise over that time.
5. One time cap amnesty to buy out up to 2 players this offseason with no cap hit.
6. Contracts remained guaranteed but with a max of 4 years for players with bird rights and 3 years for players without.
7. Expand the NBA draft to 3 rounds (with 3rd round picks not able to be traded), encourage each team to operate their own NBDL affiliate and allow players assigned to the NBDL to not count against the hard cap unless they are called to the pro team at which point the salary counts against the cap for that season whether they remain there or not. Teams still pay salaries according to the rookie scale and the clock on their rookie contracts starts immediately but just no cap hit is taken if they are not called up.

To me this takes care of everyone - for the players they a) get to have a season and earn their paycheck, b) still make a ton of money, c) still get guaranteed contracts, and d) avoid any sort of franchise tag that could tie them to a team they don't want to play for.

For the owners they a) immediately lower their operating costs with the salary rollback b) get the structure in place to be able to profit each season c) can immediately clean up some of the past mistakes with buy outs d) have some retained advantage in signing their own players as they do now, e) save themselves from too many stupid contracts in the future with both the hard cap and the 4 year max deals and f) have a workaround with rookies so that they're only taking cap hits for players who are going to contribute to their team.

In addition to that trading in the league becomes MUCH easier because you do away with the whole salary matching thing - nobody can exceed the cap so you either have the cap space to make the trade or you don't and perhaps first round draft picks will stop being sold simply to avoid a guaranteed contract cap hit - if they want the space freed up they can still draft a young player for the future and just put him in the NBDL.

[Chubby]

any sort of "tags" makes it a soft cap

[Arles]

Gary,

I took that into account with the comparison. In my example, prior to the rollback, OKC would be at $55 million for their core and LA would be at $50 million for Kobe+Gasol. Because Durant only makes $16 mil that season, the "waiver" to $12 mil is the same as the 25% rollback. So, as a team, OKC doesn't save anything from the max salary waiver. They would still get the 25% rollback on all salaries, but it wouldn't help them a ton since most of their guys were (smartly) signed for between $2-8 mil. At 8 mil, you're only saving $2 mil with a 25% rollback. So, their entire team in the $55-58 million range (assuming smaller extensions for Harden and Westbrook) would still be in the $43-$45 salary range after the rollback.

Compare that to LA who would go from owing $50 million to Gasol and Kobe, to owing just $24 million. That means their cost against the cap dropped almost 55%! That's completely punishing teams who have good management.

1. Roll back salaries 25% - the players still make $1.5b and the owners make a profit.
2. Salary cap at $50m.
3. "Max salary" tag - for current contracts the max they could count is 25% of the salary cap while teams would still be responsible for paying the rest of the rolled back salary figure. For future contracts any player signed to a "max salary" would get their salary and cap hit adjusted each season to be 25% of the cap.
4. Going forward "max salary" tags could only be given out by the player's current team after 3 years of uninterrupted service (basically the spirit of the Bird Rule here). Other teams with cap space could offer the player a salary of the current max contract but would not be able to exceed that limit in future seasons. So basically the Cavs and Heat both could have offered James $12.5m but the Heat only could have paid James 12.5m for each season while the Cavs could have paid him at least that plus whatever else if the cap were to rise over that time.
5. One time cap amnesty to buy out up to 2 players this offseason with no cap hit.
6. Contracts remained guaranteed but with a max of 4 years for players with bird rights and 3 years for players without.
7. Expand the NBA draft to 3 rounds (with 3rd round picks not able to be traded), encourage each team to operate their own NBDL affiliate and allow players assigned to the NBDL to not count against the hard cap unless they are called to the pro team at which point the salary counts against the cap for that season whether they remain there or not. Teams still pay salaries according to the rookie scale and the clock on their rookie contracts starts immediately but just no cap hit is taken if they are not called up.

In this situation (which isn't terrible, outside of the 25% max against cap waiver for reasons stated above), Miami would come out great. The max cap salary would be $12.5 mil. So, if this went into effect in 13/14, the team could cut Miller's 6.25 mil salary via the amnesty. Even if they signed Chalmers to a deal that reaches $3-4 mil that season, his salary would only be around $2.5+ mil and then have the following roster:
James: 12.5 mil
Bosh: 12.5 mil
Wade: 12.5 mil
Haslem: $3.2 mil (25% rollback)
Anthony: $2.7 mil ( rollback)
Chalmers: $2.5 mil (rollback

That's roughly $45 mil for 6 guys. That leaves $5 mil for 2 more rotation guys, draft picks and some min-salary guys to fill out the roster. With that nucleus, they could easily get some "amnesty victims" to come in for the min and sign one more top role player for $3-4 mil and still be under the cap. I'm assuming that once you hit the cap, you can still bring in min salary guys to complete your roster. So, after all this, they could have:
Wade, Bosh, Lebron, Haslem, Anthony, Chalmers
one $3 mil role player (maybe signed before at higher rate and salary lowered via the rollback)
2-3 draft picks at a combined $2 mil total after rollback
1-2 amnesty victims ring chasing for the min
1-2 min salary roster fodder

Seems like a pretty strong team if they can get one quality amnesty guy and a good role player for the $3+ mil. They could also cut Haslem or Anthony (since you had 2 amnesty cuts) and use their $2-3 mil to bring in a better player if they wanted.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

That is Bosh in a nutshell.

Boozer:
regular season: 17.5 PPG, 51% FG, 9.6 RPG
playoffs: 12.5 PPG, 43% FG, 9.7 RPG
Miami series: 14.4 PPG, 40% FG, 10 RPG

Bosh:
regular season: 18.7 PPG, 49% FG, 8.3 RPG
playoffs: 18.6 PPG, 47% FG, 8.5 RPG
Chicago: 23.2 PPG, 60% FG, 7.6 RPG

Bosh was almost exactly the same in the postseason, while doing much better against Boozer and Chicago. Boozer crapped the bed in the playoffs and shot just 40% against Miami. I think Bosh actually got better as there was more pressure in the playoffs, Boozer folded.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Arles

Boozer:
regular season: 17.5 PPG, 51% FG, 9.6 RPG
playoffs: 12.5 PPG, 43% FG, 9.7 RPG
Miami series: 14.4 PPG, 40% FG, 10 RPG

Bosh:
regular season: 18.7 PPG, 49% FG, 8.3 RPG
playoffs: 18.6 PPG, 47% FG, 8.5 RPG
Chicago: 23.2 PPG, 60% FG, 7.6 RPG

Bosh was almost exactly the same in the postseason, while doing much better against Boozer and Chicago. Boozer crapped the bed in the playoffs and shot just 40% against Miami. I think Bosh actually got better as there was more pressure in the playoffs, Boozer folded.

Well Bosh shot 41 percent in the Dallas series so I dont really think he got better with pressure.
They both need shots created for them. LBJ/Wade did a nice job of getting Bosh some wide open 15 footers to shoot under 50 percent on.

Are you really saying that Boozer couldnt do the exact same thing Bosh does for Miami with Miami taking a downgrade?

Boozer is just as good on short jumpers, a better rebounder, plays better position defense, and wont get shoved around by bigger players.
Bosh is more athletic, better at drawing fouls, and a tough matchup for a slower PF.

Point being is that they are pretty much equals when it comes to production.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

Well Bosh shot 41 percent in the Dallas series so I dont really think he got better with pressure.

But he still averaged 18+ PPG. He had a couple bad shooting games early (but still had 18 and 19 pts), but finished the series shooting 47% (24 pts), 50% (19) and 78% (19).

They both need shots created for them. LBJ/Wade did a nice job of getting Bosh some wide open 15 footers to shoot under 50 percent on.

Are you really saying that Boozer couldnt do the exact same thing Bosh does for Miami with Miami taking a downgrade?

Bosh is a better shooter, longer and quicker defender, can create his shot off the dribble and (most importantly) stays healthy. In the last 3 seasons, Boozer has played 37, 78 and 59 games. The Heat can't afford to have a guys play half a season and that's always a risk with Boozer.

Boozer is just as good on short jumpers, a better rebounder, plays better position defense, and wont get shoved around by bigger players.
Bosh is more athletic, better at drawing fouls, and a tough matchup for a slower PF.

The only advantage Boozer has is in rebounding (about 1 a game), Bosh is a better player in every other facet of the game. Plus, he's more durable (played 70+ in all but 1 season - where he played 67) and had a better track record in his limited playoff games. Given both have roughly the same contract and Bosh is younger, I don't know why anyone would want Boozer over Bosh.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Arles

But he still averaged 18+ PPG. He had a couple bad shooting games early (but still had 18 and 19 pts), but finished the series shooting 47% (24 pts), 50% (19) and 78% (19).


Bosh is a better shooter, longer and quicker defender, can create his shot off the dribble and (most importantly) stays healthy. In the last 3 seasons, Boozer has played 37, 78 and 59 games. The Heat can't afford to have a guys play half a season and that's always a risk with Boozer.


The only advantage Boozer has is in rebounding (about 1 a game), Bosh is a better player in every other facet of the game. Plus, he's more durable (played 70+ in all but 1 season - where he played 67) and had a better track record in his limited playoff games. Given both have roughly the same contract and Bosh is younger, I don't know why anyone would want Boozer over Bosh.

Well you are just being stubborn by saying his "only" advantage is rebounding. Boozer is a great position defender like many of the former Duke players. He doesnt put up the great defensive stats but hes also not out there hurting his team on defense either. You must have missed them games where Bosh just gets owned by big physical players. I dont think anyone said they would take Boozer over Bosh, I think it was said that they are very comparable.

As for being a better shooter. I disagree. Boozer is a career 54 percent shooter in which he has lived off short jumpers. Bosh is a career 49 percent shooter in which he has done much the same.

And yes durability with Boozer is a huge issue.

[dolfin]

I'd also add that if Bosh were really that good of a defender he would have been guarding Dirk most of the time in the Dallas series, which he was certainly not.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Chubby

any sort of "tags" makes it a soft cap

No - my "max salary" tag does not allow you to exceed the cap. It only sets the value of the contract. If the cap is $50m then that player makes $12.5. If the cap expands to $52m next season then the contract becomes $13m and you only have $1.5m extra to spend instead of $2m

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Arles

Compare that to LA who would go from owing $50 million to Gasol and Kobe, to owing just $24 million. That means their cost against the cap dropped almost 55%! That's completely punishing teams who have good management.

The thing is that only a few teams are really out there in terms of salary. LA, NY and Miami basically. So yes Kobe/Gasol would go from $47 to $25, Amare and Melo would go from $40 to $25 and Wade/James/Bosh would go from $56.5 to $37.5 - what do you think the NBA would do? Keep the other 27 in a reasonable range by giving these three teams (especially the NY and LA markets) a little help or create an enormous amount of cap space for each team just to have an even percentage across the board for all teams?

Originally Posted by Arles

In this situation (which isn't terrible, outside of the 25% max against cap waiver for reasons stated above), Miami would come out great. The max cap salary would be $12.5 mil. So, if this went into effect in 13/14, the team could cut Miller's 6.25 mil salary via the amnesty. Even if they signed Chalmers to a deal that reaches $3-4 mil that season, his salary would only be around $2.5+ mil and then have the following roster:
James: 12.5 mil
Bosh: 12.5 mil
Wade: 12.5 mil
Haslem: $3.2 mil (25% rollback)
Anthony: $2.7 mil ( rollback)
Chalmers: $2.5 mil (rollback

That's roughly $45 mil for 6 guys. That leaves $5 mil for 2 more rotation guys, draft picks and some min-salary guys to fill out the roster. With that nucleus, they could easily get some "amnesty victims" to come in for the min and sign one more top role player for $3-4 mil and still be under the cap. I'm assuming that once you hit the cap, you can still bring in min salary guys to complete your roster.

No, the hard cap would the hard cap. If you max 3 players then you have 25% of the cap left to fill out the roster period. They could implement some kind of exception if they changed how injuries are handled. Lets say you had a 15 day DL instead of just inactive/active. Well if you put someone on the DL then you can have a minimum contract player for 15 days. If you IR someone for the year you can have a minimum contract player for the year. Outside of that the cap is the cap. So if they spend $45m on 6 players they have an average of about $715k for the other 7. So basically Chalmers/Wade/James/Haslem/Bosh and 8 scrubs if that's the route they want to go.

They also wouldn't have to wait until 13/14 to do this - they can do what I suggest this offseason and get the mess cleaned up now rather than losing a billion dollars collectively in the next 3 years.

[stevew]

The majority of players make much less than the league average salary, so I would not be suprised if there are significant limits on the top end of the salary scale, while there is an increase/no change on most salaries under 5m dollars.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by dolfin

I'd also add that if Bosh were really that good of a defender he would have been guarding Dirk most of the time in the Dallas series, which he was certainly not.

That doesn't make a ton of sense, esp when the Heat have Anthony and Haslem who are better defenders. That's like saying "if boozer was a better defender, he could have guarded Lebron". You put your best big defender on Dirk.

I can't see the hard cap initially coming in without allowing minimum salary guys to exceed the cap. Now, that could get phased out once all the "old" contracts expire 2-3 years into it, but I doubt it. If you are within $2-3 mil of the cap and hit a rash of injuries, it's not like the league is going to make you play with 9 guys all year. The players will probably insist on allowing min sal guys as well as it's more jobs. This isn't the NFL with a 9-man inactive list plus a practice squad or the NHL with a minor league system. You have 12-13 guys and that's it when you start a season.

[Noop]

People attacking LeBron's son. Seriously some of these people need help and LeBron despite his antics doesn't deserve this level of venom. I dislike some of his actions but LeBron is a basketball player. The way people are talking about him its like he was a murderer or rapist.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Noop

People attacking LeBron's son. Seriously some of these people need help and LeBron despite his antics doesn't deserve this level of venom. I dislike some of his actions but LeBron is a basketball player. The way people are talking about him its like he was a murderer or rapist.

I think these are the kinds of people LeBron was talking about when he said, "they'll still have to live their miserable lives", etc. Not the people who observe he's made some bad decisions and has played like crap at times.

[TroyF]

So you have three people attacking Bron's kid. I'm sure this represents a majority of the people who hate King James. I mean, a lot of us who were pissed at him on this board bashed his family, right?

Those guys are idiots, period. They are not representative of the standard LBJ hater.

[bronconick]

Facebook is full of people making idiotic statements. There's even a thread on this board about it.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by TroyF

So you have three people attacking Bron's kid. I'm sure this represents a majority of the people who hate King James. I mean, a lot of us who were pissed at him on this board bashed his family, right?

Those guys are idiots, period. They are not representative of the standard LBJ hater.

There was a lot more people. When I saw the article I went to view some of the comments and people were bashing LeBron & Son. The level of hate for LeBron is beyond ridiculous, he just plays basketball. Too me he is no worst then Iverson, Spreewell or any other diva athlete. I have issue with LeBron's antics and skills on the court but off it is not my concern.

Just me though.

[MrBug708]

Noop has apparently never read the comments in youtube or listened to any video game chat on xbox live. Lots of dumbass people

[Noop]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Noop has apparently never read the comments in youtube or listened to any video game chat on xbox live. Lots of dumbass people

I read them all the time. Just don't understand the level of venom for LeBron. I see people make comments like that to rapist and murderers. I will be the first to admit I think LeBron is a bit of a pussy and a front runner. That being said I try to leave his personal life alone because it has nothing to do with the game of basketball. He has said and done some incredibly stupid things over the years. I feel like a lot of this he has brought on himself but jebus thrist this shit is a bit much.

As for the Xbox thing I tried it once and proceeded was the most amazing racist rants. If I play online I just mute my mic and just play because getting called poach monkey, nigger, God's shit stain, etc. gets old after a while. I've come to the conclusion some people just love to pop shit. The facebook thing is crazy though because its their real name and they took time to like LeBron so they can comment.

[RainMaker]

It's not for Lebron, go to OpenBook and search any athlete, celebrity, politician and see the same thing. It's just the internet.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

It's not for Lebron, go to OpenBook and search any athlete, celebrity, politician and see the same thing. It's just the internet.

People talk crap to Peyton Manning? Tom Brady? Grant Hill? Jason Kidd? Dirk?

[duckman]

You should see the shit people say to Kevin Durant on Facebook.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by duckman

You should see the shit people say to Kevin Durant on Facebook.

Kevin Durant shouldn't be getting shit from anyone. Westbrook on the other hand... kidding although he does need to step up his point guard skills.

[Matthean]

[Qwikshot]

Armen Gilliam passed away at 47 playing pick-up basketball. I remember him playing on the Sixers.

[Groundhog]

Yup, I remember him. Semi-related, I stumbled upon this quite extensive "where are they now" list by accident yesterday:

ShamSports.com: NBA News That Doesn't Really Matter: Where Are They Now, 2011: Bookkeeping The Retired Guys

[Radii]

That site is fascinating.

Christian Laettner - A few years ago, Laettner was rich enough to almost buy the Memphis Grizzlies. This is no longer the case, however; his real estate business, ran with former team mate Brian Davis, has fallen on hard times, recently defaulting on a $3 million loan to Shawne Merriman. Laettner is now trying to make it as a coach. To that end, Laettner has started his own basketball academy, the website to which carries this message:

I offer discounts to all players, teams and coaches who hail from the states of Kentucky, North Carolina and Connecticut. This comes from the compassion and generosity of my heart and soul for causing you all so much pain, agony and hate over my four year career at Duke!!

LOL?

Shawn Bradley - Last year, Bradley ran as a Republican candidate for the 44th district seat in Utah's House of Representatives. He lost. After that, he volunteered at a leper colony. Spoiler alert: this is the only such entry on this list.