The NBA is enjoying its most talked about season possibly ever. I have come across countless people this year who have told me that they are watching the NBA now for the first time in a very long time. As the playoffs get set to tip off next month, that momentum should continue as many teams have a legit shot at hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy. Unfortunately, once the Finals are over sometime in June, there will be a work stoppage as of midnight ET on June 30 unless a new Collective Bargaining Agreement can be worked out between now and then.
As a fan of the league, I am optimistic that a deal will be met in enough time so that a work stoppage will not impact the 2011 – 2012 season. The primary reason that I have this confidence is because the league can ill afford to have a repeat of the 1999 season where only 50 games were played in that labor shortened year. I trust that those involved realize that the league is as popular as it’s been since Michael Jordan gave Bryon Russell a gentle shove, so I’d hope nobody wants to sacrifice that.
However, I do expect changes in the new labor deal. Aside from a reduction in the amount of money that players can make over the life of a contract, the biggest change I expect is a loss of freedom for free agents. I don’t think guys will have the opportunity to leave their current team for another one as easily as they do now, and that will be unfortunate.
This growing concern primarily began amongst NBA brass when LeBron James chose to leave the Cavs last July for Miami. A few days prior, Chris Bosh did the same thing and left Toronto as well. So in a span of a week or so, you had three marquee players on the same team with two of them regarded as top five players in the entire league.
Then not too long after Miami formed their trio, Carmelo Anthony exchanged nuptials in New York and one of his wedding guests, who happened to be Chris Paul, spoke during the reception and said he’d love to form his own trio with Anthony and then brand new Knick, Amar’e Stoudemire in New York. Well, Chris was on to something since ‘Melo joined the Knicks last week. The growing sentiment is that Paul himself will in fact join those two next summer when he’s a free agent (if the new Collective Bargaining Agreement allows him to).
When the Carmelo deal was official, I was shocked as to how many figures in sports were commenting on how this is a problem for the league. They feel that star players joining forces is somehow bad. Especially since they are leaving smaller markets for major cities. The argument is that other teams won’t be good enough to compete, which diminishes the brand. I’m sorry, but “we’re not as good as they are” isn’t a good enough argument in my book. These are grown, highly paid men who play basketball for a living so the claim that they won’t be as good as the Miami’s and New York’s and Boston’s of the world (teams with “Big 3’s”) is an embarrassing argument. If you told me that bigger market teams have an advantage whereas they can continue to start five players, while smaller market teams can only start four players, then maybe I’d listen. And guys leave cities like Cleveland, Toronto and Salt Lake City for places like Miami and Chicago simply because those are more desirable places to live for a 20-something millionaire. I’m not sure anything can change that.
Similar to what they have in the NFL, I think there will be some sort of franchise tag for players. I’m assuming there will something that significantly limits their ability to leave. That is a complete contradiction because what happens when a team no longer thinks a player is good enough to contribute? They either get released or traded. So how is it fair that a team can control the fate of a player more so than the actual player can? That seriously doesn’t make much sense to me. The Jazz blindsided Deron Williams last week with a trade that he initially wasn’t thrilled about, but that’s somehow acceptable. The same happened to Kendrick Perkins.
I was also shocked to learn that people feel compassion for cities like Cleveland, Toronto and Denver that lost superstars and must start from scratch. I’m confused because these cities had those superstars (you know the ones) for seven, seven and seven and a half years respectively. That’s a long time if you ask me. It’s not as if they Marbury’d out and left right away. The Cavs, Raptors and Nuggets failed to build championship teams around James, Bosh and Anthony. That’s not the fault of the players. Management didn’t do a good enough job of bringing in talent to support those guys. Oklahoma City is the smallest market in the NBA, but they have the brightest future, so it isn’t as if it’s impossible.
At the end of the day, everyone involved is still going to be filthy rich so what’s all the fuss about anyway?
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
