Chad Ford's article about what could save the Jazz franchise

[DelaneyRudd]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... player-tag

Franchise player tag in the NBA?

When LeBron James bolted from Cleveland this summer, the move not only devastated Cavs fans, it diminished the value of Dan Gilbert’s franchise by $200 million.

The Nuggets have been in a high-stakes chess match this year with their own star, Carmelo Anthony. Although he already has a strong supporting cast and an owner willing to pay the luxury tax in Denver, Melo has refused to sign a contract extension with the team, instead pushing for the Nuggets to trade him to the team of his choice, the New York Knicks.

Owners in Orlando, Utah and New Orleans are also growing increasingly anxious about their star players doing the same thing in the summer of 2012. Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Chris Paul might also decide to leave good, playoff-bound teams for bigger markets and to hook up with other stars like the Miami Heat's new Big Three did.

This would be beyond fantastic for the Jazz. It's a tough sell to the Players no doubt; but there's a lot of concessions I'd give to the players to make this work. It couldn't be a NFL style thing though. It would have to be set up in a more restricted use situation because as the article mentions one NBA player is a far greater proportion of the roster than in the NFL. Hell, I'd be willing to lose the salary cap all together if they did an NFL style tag for one player every year.

[DelaneyRudd]

Maybe not the whole cap. Maybe the trade restrictions based on the cap. Teams can go over via trade perhaps.

[StocktonShorts]

I don't think there's any way this gets into the new CBA. It would effectively kill free agency in the NBA.

[DelaneyRudd]

They could alter it though, provide more opt outs after the contract is signed for the player. There could also be more "outside the cap" money, such as with the minimum veteran salary.

[Jazzfan12]

This would be breed resentment and kill a lot of excitement in the NBA. There's far better ways to bring competitive balance to the NBA and if you do that, you won't have to worry about stars leaving after their 7th year.

[hoops4life]

What are some other ways? I kind of like it.

In the NFL you can only use the Franchise Tag on one play per off season. The player's salary would then be an average of the top 5 players at their position in the league or 120% their last year's salary.

I think that they can only use the Franchise Tag twice on a player.

You wouldn't use it on just any player. Their needs to be more protection for the teams.

[DelaneyRudd]

I think making the last two years of the contract player option and then only counting the average salary at the position against the cap (thus creating a larger pool of money going to the players overall) could be a reasonable compromise. Another option could be to only make it a biannual thing and it can only be used on a player once. If this can keep a player two more years, it would get a player drafted by a team to his prime condition with the drafted team if it's the rookie contract, max contract, player option year pattern.

[Matt007b]

I'm all for making the NBA more fair instead of paying to win. I think the lakers/boston are what paying near $90 million? Bring on the hard cap with one franchise player tag and bring more on if it works better. Reward good GM moves/Drafts not a giant payroll.

Thank goodness the NFL is nothing like the NBA..some smaller market teams like the saints/chiefs/titans would never see the playoffs or ever have a chance winning the superbowl.

[TDIDDY]

All a player has to do is sign a 1 year contract force the teams hand to use the franchise tag on him next year. If a Player doesnt want to be somewhere a team will move him. But at least this way they get something in return where Cleveland got nothing because they had faith in Lebron staying.

[DelaneyRudd]

There's risk that their value drops though. Carmelo is calling the bluff but most won't.

[BarneyGumble]

In before Jazzfan's "A hardcap benefits LA and New York because all else equal, stars want the beach or the big apple" argument.

The truth is, a hard cap favors small markets. Ask Carlos Boozer if he'd rather make his $X millions in Salt Lake City, where real estate, income taxes, and a basket of goods is far cheaper, or in New York City where you pay a 5% city tax on top of regular income taxes and it costs about $9 to get a box of cheerios.....