Because of the cap, many Superstars forced to switch Teams.

[fishfuego.]

In early years and without an NBA cap, a great player could simply stay put, and his team to keep the player happy and knowing that with the main piece in place, adding a few extra pieces would equal a contending/championship team and would overspend to make it happen .. fast forward to 2010, and the only way to win multiple championships is by having top talent around you, not just one, but multiple pieces, but due to the cap, a player now must accept joining another team with the pieces .. a complete different scenario .. That old notion of staying on the same crappy team cannot and will not fly today due to the reasons above, sorry, but that notion is dismissed

Discuss.

[Malinhion]

Most championship squads are built through trades, not free agency.

[loserX]

There's some truth to what you say. However, I accept that as a perhaps unfortunate side-effect of a policy that I like because it prevents richer teams from just loading up every year because they can.

[brownfishfarmar]

One player does not win championships. Look at Jordan or Russell they wouldn't have half the rings they have now if they didn't have all-world caliber supporting casts.

[fishfuego.]

Most championship squads are built through trades, not free agency.

I agree, but the gamble of having your team possibly never put a competitive "true" contending team around you today is more of a reality that in the past, and it is a lot more difficult or even almost impossible due to the cap and teams unwilling to take on higher salaries.

[JustBlaze]

Great players rarely switch teams through FA...and NBA teams and fans are lucky that there is a soft-cap in the NBA which gives exceptions to allow teams to keep their star players.

If the NBA had a hard cap like the NFL players would be switching teams much more often. Can you imagine if NBA teams had to stress about clearing enough cap space to get far enough under just to resign players they drafted?


If they had no salary cap, the NBA would just be lame just like the MLB.

I still truly believe the NBA would be so much better off with only partial guaranteed contracts (like the NFL) and keeping the same soft-cap structure they use now.

[JustBlaze]

Most championship squads are built through trades, not free agency.

I agree, but the gamble of having your team possibly never put a competitive "true" contending team around you today is more of a reality that in the past, and it is a lot more difficult or even almost impossible due to the cap and teams unwilling to take on higher salaries.

Without any form of salary cap I don't see how you expect small market, and relatively unsuccessful teams to put together a true contending team.

[fishfuego.]

Great players rarely switch teams through FA...and NBA teams and fans are lucky that there is a soft-cap in the NBA which gives exceptions to allow teams to keep their star players.

If the NBA had a hard cap like the NFL players would be switching teams much more often. Can you imagine if NBA teams had to stress about clearing enough cap space to get far enough under just to resign players they drafted?


If they had no salary cap, the NBA would just be lame just like the MLB.

I still truly believe the NBA would be so much better off with only partial guaranteed contracts (like the NFL) and keeping the same soft-cap structure they use now.

Success at the end of the day is king.. Jordan had it, but not without pieces around him, Magic had it with pieces, Bird etc .. look at the legacy of Stockton and Malone without a chip. KG would be an afterthought if not for joining the celtics, etc.

It is very novel to have the same player on the same team, but it doesn't do much for their legacy.. today's cap situation will simply put the breaks on their success, as far as winning championships.

[JustBlaze]

Great players rarely switch teams through FA...and NBA teams and fans are lucky that there is a soft-cap in the NBA which gives exceptions to allow teams to keep their star players.

If the NBA had a hard cap like the NFL players would be switching teams much more often. Can you imagine if NBA teams had to stress about clearing enough cap space to get far enough under just to resign players they drafted?


If they had no salary cap, the NBA would just be lame just like the MLB.

I still truly believe the NBA would be so much better off with only partial guaranteed contracts (like the NFL) and keeping the same soft-cap structure they use now.

Success at the end of the day is king.. Jordan had it, but not without pieces around him, Magic had it with pieces, Bird etc .. look at the legacy of Stockton and Malone without a chip. KG would be an afterthought if not for joining the celtics, etc.

It is very novel to have the same player on the same team, but it doesn't do much for their legacy.. today's cap situation will simply put the breaks on their success, as far as winning championships.

So, say there was no salary cap at all. Do you think that would help the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kings, and Milwaukee Bucks get more talent on the team around their star players? No way dude. It would just make it easier for L.A., Chicago, New York, Miami, Dallas etc to load up all the talent and to have a great chance at stealing the smaller market team's franchise players when they become free agents.

Stockton and Malone's problem wasn't that they didn't have enough talent...They were great teams that just weren't good enough to beat the best team ever with the best player ever.

KGs problem was he was on a team with an idiot general manager

[Rockice_8]

As someone pointed out you win with good drafting and making good trades. Once you assemble a championship squad they can stay together even if you have a rookie who is becoming a star like Durant. You can go over the cap to keep your squad together. So the answer is NO you are wrong. There are also MLE and LLE to sign guys if you are over the cap if your GM thinks he could use another piece.

[BubbaTee]

In early years and without an NBA cap, a great player could simply stay put, and his team to keep the player happy and knowing that with the main piece in place, adding a few extra pieces would equal a contending/championship team and would overspend to make it happen .. fast forward to 2010, and the only way to win multiple championships is by having top talent around you, not just one, but multiple pieces, but due to the cap, a player now must accept joining another team with the pieces .. a complete different scenario .. That old notion of staying on the same crappy team cannot and will not fly today due to the reasons above, sorry, but that notion is dismissed

Discuss.

A great player can still stay put, and his team is allowed to exceed the salary cap in order to re-sign him.

If that player chooses to sign elsewhere because he believes playing on another team gives him a better shot at winning a title, that's his choice. It's not the result of any him being forced to go anywhere.

[Sedale Threatt]

As a Laker fan, I'd love playing without a cap. As an NBA fan, I love the fact we have one.

Beats the absolute hell out of, say, European soccer, where only two or three teams have any hope of winning and 95% of the rest of the leagues serve as de facto farm teams. That's basically what you'd be looking at.

[Profanity]

As a Laker fan, I'd love playing without a cap. As an NBA fan, I love the fact we have one.

Beats the absolute hell out of, say, European soccer, where only two or three teams have any hope of winning and 95% of the rest of the leagues serve as de facto farm teams. That's basically what you'd be looking at.

Still the most famous sport world wide

[Doctor MJ]

In early years and without an NBA cap, a great player could simply stay put, and his team to keep the player happy and knowing that with the main piece in place, adding a few extra pieces would equal a contending/championship team and would overspend to make it happen .. fast forward to 2010, and the only way to win multiple championships is by having top talent around you, not just one, but multiple pieces, but due to the cap, a player now must accept joining another team with the pieces .. a complete different scenario .. That old notion of staying on the same crappy team cannot and will not fly today due to the reasons above, sorry, but that notion is dismissed

Discuss.

I think you're lacking historical perspective here. Oscar switches teams to win a title, Kareem switched teams, Moses switched teams. Meanwhile in the modern era Duncan's won 4 titles in San Freakin Antonio.

Having no salary cap will help create dynasties in big markets, and will kill that from being an option in small markets. If the goal is to maximize dynasties, they should remove the salary cap - however if the goal is to make it possible for any team to become a dynasty then the salary cap is a huge positive. Clearly they didn't put in the salary cap with the goal of maximizing dynasties so the salary cap isn't a failure by any criteria it makes sense to judge it by.

[TommyTheCat]

As a Laker fan, I'd love playing without a cap. As an NBA fan, I love the fact we have one.

Beats the absolute hell out of, say, European soccer, where only two or three teams have any hope of winning and 95% of the rest of the leagues serve as de facto farm teams. That's basically what you'd be looking at.

Still the most famous sport world wide

i don't think he's trying to knock the sport.

[Free Rider]

If anything the exact opposite is true. The salary cap prevents players from switching to large market teams that can afford to stockpile a huge pool of talent. Just look at what the Yankees do each and every year when they target big free agents from other teams and throw money at them their teams can't possibly match. In the NBA it would be an even bigger disaster especially when so many small market teams are losing money. Guys would be fleeing to the Laker, Bulls, Knicks the second they had the opportunity.

[Heat3]

They should be like the NFL. Non guaranteed contracts with a hard cap. Sure you get more movement, but you cut down on the garbage contracts that really hold a team back.

[fishfuego.]

I agree with all of you about being good for small market teams , but tell that to a player like Lebron for example (Wade already won a chip, so he is home free and still would not have any other way), who wants to be compared with the likes of Jordan etc, but his team is not good enough get over the hump.

Does he wins a championship with this Cavs team? maybe or maybe does not even smell the finals anytime soon. Far too many good and COMPLETE full of talent teams to compete against.. His legacy can go from an all time high by winning 4-5-6 championships to a mere 1 possible ship, maybe.

[Hemingway]

I disagree with the premise of this thread. Why do players have to switch teams to win? Will not their salary count against their new team?

[Azull]

I like the soft cap and i do think contracts should be guaranteed. The system does need some tweeking however. For example, if a player is bought out and signs with another team they should not count agaisnt the 1st teams cap. Teams should be punished for giving out stupid contracts however and if they get stuck with a player to bad for them.

The good news is theres still the Knicks to trade overpaid players to for high draft picks!