Is it time to Hard Cap NBA Teams?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by tykendo, Aug 17, 2021.

  1. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    Why not? You think movie studios aren't profitable, since they don't have salary caps or max contracts?
     
  2. tykendo

    tykendo Don't Tread On PDX

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    A hard cap forces the teams to make better personnel decisions. You can't just throw money at it to fix the problem.
     
  3. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    I think a hard cap would work if the split of revenue between players and owners was 60/40.

    Players get the 60.
     
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  4. tykendo

    tykendo Don't Tread On PDX

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    Industry does cap itself internally. They will say, hey this position is only worth 17 per. hour. Take it or leave it. Entertainment allows for negotiations. Because the talent is rare.
     
  5. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    You mean like all the slick maneuvering LA just did to land 5 rotation guys on the minimum because they wanted to be in.... LA? I think this notion is just flawed.

    Just put yourself in the shoes of someone like Malik Monk and Kendrick Nunn, who are in reality worth around 15 mil/yr. Capspace had dried up in the league and the only $ available was the TP MLE which is around 5-6 mil/yr. So their thinking is that they can take the minimum for a year in LA (~2 mil/yr) and then with the exposure they get because they play in LA, they can land a larger deal later (didn't work out great for Harrell/Schroeder, but regardless).

    Now imagine if a cap didn't exist and another team desperate for a guard threw 15 mil at one of these guys. The difference would be much greater for these guys to dismiss and take less. And would LA outbid that number to sign an 8th man? The market would naturally adjust itself.
     
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  6. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    Every industry does that. Some just at higher rates than $17/hour.

    Yes, but they still cap it at what they believe the actor is worth. Just like they "cap" the $17/hour worker. In a capitalistic society, every worker is capped at what their employer believes their value is to making them money. Sports didn't always have salary caps (even in the free agency period) and the sport didn't go under. Salary caps were just inventions by owners to earn them more money at the expense of players.
     
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  7. Tince

    Tince Well-Known Member

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    How close do you think this will be to the final NBA standings?

    https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/
     
  8. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Eliminate the cap, but also mandate 100% revenue sharing. Give the small-market teams the ability to benefit from the large-market media deals.
     
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  9. tykendo

    tykendo Don't Tread On PDX

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    The Lakers & Nets are Wayyyy over the line. A hard cap wouldn't have allowed them to sign those guys, even at those ridiculous low prices those ring chasers settled for. Because they wouldn't be allowed to go over like they did. The Lakers have spent 20 mil, more, and the Nets 40 Mil. more than the Blazers as currently constituted.
     
  10. tykendo

    tykendo Don't Tread On PDX

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    Baseball already does that. The only reason Small Markets contend is each team's Minor League System has so many player that were drafted and signed under their control, they have Wayyy more room for error in judging talent than NBA teams do.
     
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  11. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    I completely agree. I think the logic for revenue sharing is unassailable: no team is profitable by itself. Fans don't pay big ticket prices or tune in on TV to watch famous players stand around. Teams are only profitable as part of a league, so all the teams need each other. The league revenues should thus be considered shared revenues, earned collectively.

    I do think that if revenue sharing was put into place, there should be a salary floor. Team owners should not be allowed to simply pocket shared revenue and not spend on their team.
     
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  12. RR7

    RR7 Well-Known Member

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    There is a salary floor currently
     
  13. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    Baseball doesn't have anywhere close to 100% revenue sharing.
     
  14. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    That's true, but it would need to be significantly higher, IMO. Right now, if I understand it correctly, it's just a floor that ensures that players are guaranteed to receive their CBA-mandated percentage of league revenue, not a floor that really signifies trying to win.
     
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  15. hoopsjock

    hoopsjock Well-Known Member

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    I don't think the salary cap should be eliminated or hard capped.

    My idea has always been to make the super max a substantial amount of money, like twice the amount a player could get with another team. However, the twist is that it only counts against the cap for 1/2 of the contract or if they get traded or leave instead of re-signing their new team it counts against the cap double what they make.

    For example, let's say Dame was a free agent. The Blazers could offer him $60 million a year and it only counts against the cap as $30 million or he could leave and only get $30 million on his contract. If he left the team he signed with would have that contract count as $60 million against their cap even though they signed him for $30 million.

    This would prevent a good portion of stars from leaving the team that drafted them and screw over teams that tried to form super teams.
     
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  16. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    Free Market with no cap is the way to go, imo.
     
  17. hoopsjock

    hoopsjock Well-Known Member

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    As of right now, teams like Portland who keep their stars get penalized because he counts as so much of the cap. Giving teams the ability to still sign or trade for other quality players to put around their super max would help the league greatly. Dame shouldn't have to be questioned as to why he took the max.
     
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  18. andalusian

    andalusian Season - Restarted

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    Free market with a limited set of 'actors' always results in concentration of talent - if you want any kind of semi parity you will need a cap to regulate the competition.

    Formula 1 had exactly that problem, it was once a sport new teams could come in and compete, but the ever growing budgets have made it so that the last 15 or so championships were among only 3 teams really (if you account for name and ownership changes). Renault (not small teams) and McLaren are the last ones to win out of the teams that are Ferrari, Mercedes and red bull in 2008 and 2006.

    Technically, 2009, Brawn won and it was a small team, but it was really a very well funded Honda team that went out of the sport, so Brawn bought a lot of IP that was invested already, when regulation changes assured no-one else was ready for the big diffusers era - and the company was bought a year later by Mercedes which pretty much dominated the last decade.

    This is the first year with a cap - and the competition is better than it has been in years (some of it is regulation changes, but still). Hopefully next year with regulation changes it will be even better. Unregulated expenditures in popular sports with limited teams and "actors" (talent) always leads to a limit on competitiveness.
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2021
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  19. tykendo

    tykendo Don't Tread On PDX

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    Love this idea Hoops. Bravo!
     
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  20. tykendo

    tykendo Don't Tread On PDX

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    :cheers:
     
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