Dumb Question...

[Billythekid]

Why are teams allowed to go over the salary cap?

Why isn't it just illegal. Forget the extra money teams must fork over when they exceed it, why not just say the salary is 'this much' and thats it. no going over.

It's a joke that teams like LA are so far over the cap.

 

[Evil Ash]

Why are teams allowed to go over the salary cap?

Why isn't it just illegal. Forget the extra money teams must fork over when they exceed it, why not just say the salary is 'this much' and thats it. no going over.

It's a joke that teams like LA are so far over the cap.

The short answer is because during negotiations for the new CBA there was no way in hell that the players association would agree to a true salary cap. If they had a true salary cap, all players (especially superstars) would make less money.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Why are teams allowed to go over the salary cap?

Why isn't it just illegal. Forget the extra money teams must fork over when they exceed it, why not just say the salary is 'this much' and thats it. no going over.

It's a joke that teams like LA are so far over the cap.

Actually most of the league is over the "salary cap" of $43.18 million. And the Lakers are far from the most gluttonous spenders in the NBA. The team they just knocked out of the Western Conference Finals spent over $10 million more in salaries this year, and conference rivals Dallas, Sacramento, and Portland spent more as well. In case you were wondering, the Knicks dropped over $30 million more than the Lakers in salary in order to field a team good enough to get bounced in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

The NBA has a "soft cap" where as the NFL has a "hard cap". The largest difference is in the NFL a team may not exceed a dollar amount. The reasoning the NBA had for creating a soft cap is so teams close the the threshold can resign players of their own.

That is also why the cap number is so high. It was created as a prevention of player movement via FA. They didn't want the large markets able to buy their teams so easily.

 

[Billythekid]

thx. i had a vague understanding, now i'm with it.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Why are teams allowed to go over the salary cap?

Why isn't it just illegal. Forget the extra money teams must fork over when they exceed it, why not just say the salary is 'this much' and thats it. no going over.

It's a joke that teams like LA are so far over the cap.

That would be great if the NBA would copy the NFL. No more Penny and Gugs contracts. I'm sick of these trades to move salaries.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

That would be great if the NBA would copy the NFL. No more Penny and Gugs contracts. I'm sick of these trades to move salaries.

If the NBA went to a hard cap it would ruin the league. At least for about 5 years.

The cap would have to be set very high, contracts couldn't be guaranteed and player movement would increase....especially to big markets.

 

[George O'Brien]

No other sport is like basketball. Football has 22 starters plus two kickers, not to mention situation specialists that are virtual starters. Baseball has 8 field starters and 8 to 10 pitchers who play all the time. Hockey teams rotate at least three lines plus they have penalty killers, etc.

Basketball has five starters and a rotation of no more than 8 or 9. Adding a star in other sports helps a lot, but in basketball it can be decisive. The result is a sport where the players have vastly more leverage than in other sports, thus stars get guaranteed long term contracts for up to six or seven years.

The players contract is up for renegotiation and it seems likely there will be a tradeoff that will restrict how long contracts can be guaranteed for in exchange for dropping the luxury tax. They may also try to find a solution to the problem of players like Grant Hill spending six years on IR.

 

[Bada0Bing]

If the NBA went to a hard cap it would ruin the league. At least for about 5 years.

The cap would have to be set very high, contracts couldn't be guaranteed and player movement would increase....especially to big markets.

I totally disagree. You would obviously have to phase in the hard cap and allow exceptions for players currently under contract. It wouldn't matter what the actual cap number would be, it's all relative. Contracts definitely should not be guaranteed. One or two terrible guaranteed contracts can ruin a team. Like George O'Brien said in his post, the star players have more impact to their teams than any other sport.

How many players are out there that teams would give away just to rid themselves of the guaranteed contract? Probably at least a couple on each team. Teams like the Suns have to give away 2 1st round draft picks just to get rid of one bad contract. And they still have at least 2 and some would say 3 more to go. Shouldn't the purpose of making trades be to make your team better?

 

[George O'Brien]

I totally disagree. You would obviously have to phase in the hard cap and allow exceptions for players currently under contract. It wouldn't matter what the actual cap number would be, it's all relative. Contracts definitely should not be guaranteed. One or two terrible guaranteed contracts can ruin a team. Like George O'Brien said in his post, the star players have more impact to their teams than any other sport.

How many players are out there that teams would give away just to rid themselves of the guaranteed contract? Probably at least a couple on each team. Teams like the Suns have to give away 2 1st round draft picks just to get rid of one bad contract. And they still have at least 2 and some would say 3 more to go. Shouldn't the purpose of making trades be to make your team better?

Actually the luxury tax has changed the process dramatically. Even teams with a huge amount of money don't like the idea of subsidizing their less affluent competitors. The impact over the past few years has been a dramatic drop in the number of "over the top" contracts for second and third tier players..

There are still players getting overpaid (Shawn perhaps), but KG went from $28 million to a deal starting at $16 million, J. O'Neal signed a deal starting at $13.1 million, Duncan signed a deal starting at $12.5 million. Big bucks to you or me, but compared to the kind of deals made a few years ago they are almost bargains. The problem as it currently stands is not price, but length of contract and the absence of a good way to deal with major injuries.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Actually the luxury tax has changed the process dramatically. Even teams with a huge amount of money don't like the idea of subsidizing their less affluent competitors. The impact over the past few years has been a dramatic drop in the number of "over the top" contracts for second and third tier players..

There are still players getting overpaid (Shawn perhaps), but KG went from $28 million to a deal starting at $16 million, J. O'Neal signed a deal starting at $13.1 million, Duncan signed a deal starting at $12.5 million. Big bucks to you or me, but compared to the kind of deals made a few years ago they are almost bargains. The problem as it currently stands is not price, but length of contract and the absence of a good way to deal with major injuries.

Pretty much agree with that. Several of the horrible contracts of the late 90's and early 00's are expiring. Still a few left such as Jamison, Houston, Penny and the Heat's Jones & Grant to think of a few.

My beef is that with nonguarnteed contracts Miami could dump Jones and Grant and pick up someone that could help out that young squad more than they could. I think it would make for a much better product.

 

[George O'Brien]

My beef is that with nonguarnteed contracts Miami could dump Jones and Grant and pick up someone that could help out that young squad more than they could. I think it would make for a much better product.

What they do with their MLE this summer will be huge. Late in the season the Heat were one of the top teams in the East, possibly only just below the Pistons and Pacers. In their case, it doesn't matter what Jones and Grant make as long as they are over the cap. Both played well, though not as well as their contracts would suggest they should.

 

[Bada0Bing]

What they do with their MLE this summer will be huge. Late in the season the Heat were one of the top teams in the East, possibly only just below the Pistons and Pacers. In their case, it doesn't matter what Jones and Grant make as long as they are over the cap. Both played well, though not as well as their contracts would suggest they should.

However, if those two contracts are causing Miami to be close to the luxury tax (not sure if they are or not) then they probably won't use the MLE. The Suns didn't use theirs last year like several teams because they didn't want to end up paying double for the player

 

[devilalum]

I totally disagree. You would obviously have to phase in the hard cap and allow exceptions for players currently under contract. It wouldn't matter what the actual cap number would be, it's all relative. Contracts definitely should not be guaranteed. One or two terrible guaranteed contracts can ruin a team. Like George O'Brien said in his post, the star players have more impact to their teams than any other sport.

How many players are out there that teams would give away just to rid themselves of the guaranteed contract? Probably at least a couple on each team. Teams like the Suns have to give away 2 1st round draft picks just to get rid of one bad contract. And they still have at least 2 and some would say 3 more to go. Shouldn't the purpose of making trades be to make your team better?

When I read your post I imagined Chef from South Park was saying it and cracked up.

I think it's all the South Park avitars.

 

[George O'Brien]

However, if those two contracts are causing Miami to be close to the luxury tax (not sure if they are or not) then they probably won't use the MLE. The Suns didn't use theirs last year like several teams because they didn't want to end up paying double for the player

It's only money.

You are certainly right about the Suns. I don't know about the Heat's ownership but the Florida papers certainly write as if it is certain they will use both their MLE and their LLE (probably to Rafer Alston).

 

[Bada0Bing]

When I read your post I imagined Chef from South Park was saying it and cracked up.

I think it's all the South Park avitars.

What are you talking about? I've never watched the show before in my life. I'm being serious.

 

[Bada0Bing]

It's only money.

You are certainly right about the Suns. I don't know about the Heat's ownership but the Florida papers certainly write as if it is certain they will use both their MLE and their LLE (probably to Rafer Alston).

I know it's only money and I'm sure they have plenty of it to throw around, but my point is that instead of spending $24 million on Grant and Jones they could probably use that cash to sign players to complement their nucleus of Odom-Wade-Butler^2. Miami would release Grant and Jones for nothing if they could. Guaranteed contracts are just plain terrible for sports.