Hard salary cap?
No guaranteed contracts?
No one-year-rule?


I think a hard salary cap is a good idea. It works for the NFL

I want to see partially guaranteed contracts. I think that's the key change that needs to happen.

I'd really like owners/management to realize that just because there's a max contract figure that doesn't mean that they have to give it to their best player. That doesn't seem likely though.

I'd really rather not see a hard cap, that'd only make expiring contracts even MORE valuable. Plus I'd still like to see teams be able to keep guys that they drafted and developed.

Maybe get rid of the MLE? That seems to lead to a lot of stupid contracts right now. I think shorter contracts would help reduce the impact of stupid deals. Or combining it with the partially guaranteed thing, make deals three years with two mutual option years.

I agree about the MLE, I think it should be tossed. If there isn't even a hard cap then there shouldn't be a Mid Level Exception either. One thing I'd like to see is non fully guaranteed contracts.

actually yeah. i think that would eliminate the whole expiring contracts thing because you could just cut scrubs like kwame brown instead of shuffling them around the league in meaningless trades

No MLE. You have players, you make it work under cap.

The Larry Bird Rules need to stay however.

I don't think that the MLE has really been the problem. It's been the contracts above the MLE using either cap space or Bird rights.

I'd love to see more of a signing bonus type structure....where EVERYTHING isn't guaranteed.

I understand this would be impossible to fly with the player's union, but something where teams/players have buy-out clauses instead of flat team/player options. I'd also axe the MLE...if you're over the cap...you're over the cap. The luxury tax generates a lot of money for NBA teams in partial revenue sharings, but it just isn't a level playing field. Heaven forbid the NBA make more money by spending less of it. The Bird rights need to stay in play where teams can keep their own players.

I'm a huge fan of the current rookie pay scale, but would like to see everything extended by a year or two. To go along with this- teams should have the option of negotiating a new long term contract with that player by year 3 or 4. If the player isn't interested in a new deal by then...they'd have to let it ride through a 5 year deal at lower dollars and wait to see where their value is at the end of that. This system could make draft picks A LOT more valuable.

Yes, but it lets teams over the cap continue going over.

I also think Bird Rights need to be changed to only the team that drafted you.

So, the 2000 Lakers would have to get under the cap to extend Shaq, or the 2008 Celtics would have to get under the cap by $20 million to extend Garnett?

You're making this difficult.

I need to rethink this...

I'd do 3 levels of Bird Rights

1) Team that drafted (if you've stayed there at least) you can offer the the most money/years, like current Bird Rights
2) If traded or spent 3 years with current team, less money and years, but still more than just outright free agent. Still can go over cap.
3) Bird Rights can not be exercised in a sign-and-trade.