Change to the CBA You Would Like To See

[Smitty731]

For those who understand the CBA, what is the number one change you would like to see? It could be anything. Contracts, schedules, general changes. I'm just curious to see what you all think.

For me, I would like to see the formation of a real minor league and expansion of the Draft. I combined them in to one thing, since they are related.

On the minor league side, nothing complicated. Simply, each team has their own minor league team.

The expansion of the Draft would be to 3-5 rounds. This is to fill out the minor leagues. In addition, for rookies, I would add some form of stipulation around options. Similar to MLB. A guy can be sent up and down only so many times. Obviously it needs fleshed out far more. But that is the change I would like to see.

[giberish]

A full 30-team D League is coming along as-is. I'd like to see high enough salaries there that players can stay there and develop. Something like $100-150K vs the $25-50K they get now. Players go to the D-League hoping for callups, but after a year or two they have to go overseas for $$. The total additional cost would be minor compared to NBA budgets.

I'd also like to change the 1 and done rule to the MLB model, where players can declare out of HS, but if they go to a 4-year college they have to stay at least 3 years. This would add continuity to the college game without forcing players who have no interest in the school part of college to pretend otherwise. An expanded minor league would help with this as well, as many of the players wouldn't be ready for NBA play straight from HS but could learn basketball in the D-League (and teams would care about their development as long-term assets to the franchise).

At the NBA level, I'd like contract extensions to be easier / more useful. Now many players either can't have their contract extended or would lose money by signing an extension vs becoming a FA. Having so much of the league become FA's each year IMO isn't good.

[bondom34]

I'd agree with both the minor league and the MLB model over one and done. That's the big 2 for me.

[nodeal]

A minor league combined with 6 yr rookie deals. This will cause teams to put a lot of focus on player development. The quality of basketball will increase greatly as a result. The 5th and 6th yr would have significant raises, but if the team opts out of either year they would still retain RFA rights.



Max 50% of contracts are can be guaranteed. I dont know why the players would be against this, the owners wouldnt get the money. The money would go from the overpaid josh smith's/arenas to the underpaid curry's and the rest would be spread out to all the players who are good enough to not get waived.


This is an obvious one. The top 16 teams make the playoffs, but to limit scheduling conflicts/traveling if the west is loaded the west teams furthest east move east. If the east is loaded the east teams furthest west move to the west.

This is what it would look like if the playoffs started today. MEM and NOH move east and happen to match up against each other.
West
1 GS vs 8 OKC
2 POR vs 7 PHX
3 HOU vs 6 SAS
4 DAL vs 5 LAC
East
1 ATL vs 8 MIL
2 MEM vs 7 NOH
3 WSH vs 6 CLE
4 TOR vs 5 CHI

[MarkDeeks]

Add more diagrams to it. Make it more digestible. Loosen up the language a touch. Maybe have some smooth jazz playing in the background. A coffee bar. A scratch-and-sniff section. Basically take the lawyerese out of it.

[AkronsFinest91]

Get rid of guaranteed contracts.

[SlideRuleJockey]

The Larry Sanders situation really burns my cookies. Something has to be done to give the owners an out in this type of situation.

My next point comes back to the Sanders buy out. The Bucks are under the cap this year. I think they should be able to move forward some of the cap hit they are taking in the next few years against their remaining cap space this year.

Also with the sanders buy out. I have no final numbers but the only options presently on the remaining buy out sum after this season for Sanders is to pay his buy out over the three years remaining on his contract or stretch it out over 7 years. I would like to see an option where they can pay him his current contract rate until the buyout is done. As an example, Larry was due $11 Million per year over the next three years on his contract. Assume the buy out comes in at $15 Million of his remaining $33 Million after this season. I think the Bucks should have the option to pay him $11 Million next season and $4 Million the year after and be done with it. Call it the "shrink" provision.

Give the teams flexibility with how these buy outs affect their cap. Not all teams want to stretch. Some are setting up for big cap space a few years down the road, and a "shrink" option could be helpful.

Just my $.02

[Dunkenstein]

Add more diagrams to it. Make it more digestible. Loosen up the language a touch. Maybe have some smooth jazz playing in the background. A coffee bar. A scratch-and-sniff section. Basically take the lawyerese out of it.

Mr. Deeks, I note that you've only been a member of this forum since September of 2013, so you may not yet understand some of the customs we follow here. Smooth jazz? Are you kidding? Nothing but Hip Hop on this forum. A coffee bar? This is more of a microbrewery crowd.

I do, however, think that the scratch-and-sniff idea has some promise. But what do you have in mind for the smell of this proposal? Hopefully, not the sweaty jock straps of players who have run up and down the court for 48 minutes. How about a selection of aromas emanating from each team's cheerleaders? Though they're probably pretty rank after dancing for 2 1/2 hours.

[Laimbeer]

Eliminate the individual salary cap. It would be harder to accumulate superstars.

[MarkDeeks]

Add more diagrams to it. Make it more digestible. Loosen up the language a touch. Maybe have some smooth jazz playing in the background. A coffee bar. A scratch-and-sniff section. Basically take the lawyerese out of it.

Mr. Deeks, I note that you've only been a member of this forum since September of 2013, so you may not yet understand some of the customs we follow here. Smooth jazz? Are you kidding? Nothing but Hip Hop on this forum. A coffee bar? This is more of a microbrewery crowd.

I do, however, think that the scratch-and-sniff idea has some promise. But what do you have in mind for the smell of this proposal? Hopefully, not the sweaty jock straps of players who have run up and down the court for 48 minutes. How about a selection of aromas emanating from each team's cheerleaders? Though they're probably pretty rank after dancing for 2 1/2 hours.

It should smell like confusion and despair. Drizzled with the ire and heart palpitations of a thousand attorneys arguing for a thousand hours. Also, it should smell like new carpets, because that's a cracking smell.

[Curmudgeon]

I would scrap the whole thing. Seriously. The CBA is a horribly drafted, byzantine document with many traps for the unwary. It's the worst labor agreement I've ever seen, and I doubt if there is a single player in the league who has actually read it. It would take some work, but you could put the same substance into a much cleaner document. That's basically what Larry Coon does every time a new agreement comes out.

[meekrab]

I would scrap the whole thing. Seriously. The CBA is a horribly drafted, byzantine document with many traps for the unwary. It's the worst labor agreement I've ever seen, and I doubt if there is a single player in the league who has actually read it. It would take some work, but you could put the same substance into a much cleaner document. That's basically what Larry Coon does every time a new agreement comes out.

Won't happen, there's too many lawyers between the players and the league that make their living because nobody else can understand the thing.

I would like to see unlimited incentive compensation that doesn't count against the salary cap, sort of like how NFL players can (or used to be able to, they might have changed the rules since) get a bonus several times their actual salary for making the Super Bowl.

Yes, it would make lawyers more money, but it would also give players on uncompetitive teams things to play for in games after the ASB.

[d-train]

The CBA is an agreement between NBA owners and the chumps represented by the NBPA. The NBPA had some good lawyers but what can a lawyer do when your clients are chumps or corrupted.

David Stern and Adam Silver know the CBA is a chump deal and use labor laws to protect owners from having to negotiate salaries with starting quality NBA players.

Aside from my above stated beliefs, I do think NBA owners and players should have a collectively bargained agreement that makes sense for both parties. I would do away with all arbitrary individual player and team salary caps. The NBA and NBPA should negotiate a division of revenues between owners and players, but the current system of dividing the player’s share of revenue between teams and players should be completely dumped. Team salary should be based on regular season and playoff TEAM success. The team that is the eventual champion should get the largest share of revenue to divide among its players. And, every player should get a percentage of his team revenue share rather than an amount unrelated to actual performance. The percentage of team revenue a team pays a player should be negotiated between teams and players. A wise player would consider a lower percentage to be on a team that has LeBron because ultimately success is financially rewarded.

[Devilzsidewalk]

clauses to invalidate a contract if certain incentives aren't met

[sportscrazy]

The Dwyane Wade Rule (aka being allowed to reward a key veteran to your franchise ie Kobe or Wade without being penalized for rewarding past performance):

Any veteran that has started his career with your team from his first professional game and has spent 10+ years with only one team (so LeBron would have disqualified himself from this rule in Cleveland due to his days in Miami), their full contract would be paid by the owner, but only counts 25% against the salary cap. If you wanted to expand it to motivate superstars to spend their whole careers with one team, after 10+ years with the team that you started from day one, only 25% of the salary counts against the salary cap and there is no MAX salary on these rare players contracts.

I think making this rule very known would give players second thought on leaving the team that drafted them knowing that if their team doesn't trade them along the way (more players that re-signed would make sure they negotiated a no-trade clause to avoid this), there would be no MAX salary after 10 seasons with that team without jeopardizing building a contender around them because only 25% of that contract would count against the salary cap.

[Winglish]

Eliminate or reduce the number of guaranteed contracts in some way.

[immortalone23]

Anyone here practice sports law? I'm looking to get into the field.

[contract]

For those who understand the CBA, what is the number one change you would like to see? It could be anything. Contracts, schedules, general changes. I'm just curious to see what you all think.

1. Players eligible for the full max (35% of cap) as soon as their rookie deal is up.

2. I'd like to see all contracts capped at 3 years. The guys generating the revenue should be the guys making the money.

3. I'd also like each team to get one "franchise tag" so that talent would be distributed more evenly, each team would have someone to build around, and fans in all cities would have something to cheer for.

[contract]

Get rid of guaranteed contracts.

Why should players be bound to a team at a fixed salary while the team has the freedom to terminate the contract whenever it pleases?

[statsman]

The Larry Sanders situation really burns my cookies. Something has to be done to give the owners an out in this type of situation.

My next point comes back to the Sanders buy out. The Bucks are under the cap this year. I think they should be able to move forward some of the cap hit they are taking in the next few years against their remaining cap space this year.

Also with the sanders buy out. I have no final numbers but the only options presently on the remaining buy out sum after this season for Sanders is to pay his buy out over the three years remaining on his contract or stretch it out over 7 years. I would like to see an option where they can pay him his current contract rate until the buyout is done. As an example, Larry was due $11 Million per year over the next three years on his contract. Assume the buy out comes in at $15 Million of his remaining $33 Million after this season. I think the Bucks should have the option to pay him $11 Million next season and $4 Million the year after and be done with it. Call it the "shrink" provision.

Give the teams flexibility with how these buy outs affect their cap. Not all teams want to stretch. Some are setting up for big cap space a few years down the road, and a "shrink" option could be helpful.

Just my $.02

Similar to the above ideas, allow some flexibility to the stretch waive option. Make two times years remaining plus one be the maximum stretch period. Minimum stretch period would be years remaining plus one. For example, someone with two years remaining could be waived normally (two years), or stretched over three, four, or five seasons. For simplicity, I would have the yearly amounts averaged as they are now, although I see some merit to speeding up or delaying the salary hit.

Allow one amnesty per team every two or three years. The player would still get paid the remainder of the contract. With a limited number of players on a team, even one really bad contract can cripple a team. This might have a better chance of happening than trying to make contracts non-guaranteed.

This next one probably has too many faults to make it work, but here goes. Allow any trade where the incoming salary is up to 200% of the outgoing salary when the team ends up over the cap after the trade. Exceeding the existing trade salary limits would hard cap the team at the apron.