My idea for a new collective bargaining agreement

[Michael Joseph Byrnes <mbyrnes@leland.Stanford.EDU>]

Ok, this will never happen, but how about...

1) A hard salary cap.  Having a salary cap at all is stupid when one
player on a team can exceed the cap all by himself.  So, instead of a
"soft cap" at $27.9 million, how about a hard cap at $50 million or so
(or actually, some % of the total league revenue).

2) Luxury tax.  Teams are still allowed to exceed the $50 million (or
whatever) cap, but a team which exceeds the cap must contribute one dollar
to a revenue sharing fund for every dollar over the cap.  The revenue
sharing fund would then be divided between all teams which do not exceed
the cap - this revenue sharing income would be used on player salaries,
but would not count against the salary cap.

3) Waived players' salaries can be removed from the cap.  currently, if a
player is signed to a long term deal and then cut, his salary counts
against the salary cap.  Rule change: teams that want to cut a player with
a long term deal can remove his salary from their cap by paying an equal
amount of money to the revenue sharing fund.  (Note: they still have to
pay the player, of course.)

4) Rookies entering the league are bound to their initial team for their
first four years in the league.  For the 5th-7th years (or the player's
second professional contract, whichever comes later), the player's initial
team has a right of first refusal on that player.  After seven full years
in the league, players become unrestricted free agents when their contracts 
expire.  Also, if team that is over the salary cap signs a restricted free
agent, that team must directly compensate (either finiancially - 50% of
the value of the contract - or by sending a mutually agreed-upon player to
the other team) the team losing the free agent.

... and finally (deep breath) ... 

5) The NBA draft is ABOLISHED!  Instead of filing to enter the draft,
rookie players simply file for free agency and go into the same pool of
talent as all of the NBA free agents.  (To an extent, that is the way
things are today anyway - note the Globe article which described how Paul
Pierce's agent told three teams that Pierce would not play for them.)

---------------

Well, those are my ideas.  Perhaps the abolishment of the draft and the 
use of the "luxury tax" system would make it easier for the players to
swallow the changes restricting salaries and player movement.

Michael Byrnes
mbyrnes@stanford.edu