Re: Owners now the problem?

["Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>]

The negotiations are stuck now on determining what a fair amount is.  
It's an issue that needs to be resolved, with or without a hard cap.

I think teams should suffer when they sign long term contracts for 
players who aren't worth it.  Maybe that will keep the contracts 
shorter.  Wasn't it always that way in the good old days?  Long term 
contracts should be the exception, given to players who have proven 
themselves to be dedicated to winning.  As you said before, many of 
these players stop trying as hard when they get that long term deal (at 
least I think it was you that I am paraphrasing).

That said, I think it is reasonable for the players to expect guaranteed 
contracts.  Would you sign a contract that says you can't leave your 
employer for X years, but they can dump you whenever they wish?  I 
wouldn't.

As far as players jumping from team to team, I think that free agency 
has already seen to that and I don't think any cap system will stop it.  
You are suggesting, and the league has been trying, to stop it by 
implementing cap structures that allow teams to pay whatever they can 
afford (and more) for their players.  Well, salaries have gone through 
the roof, and players still jump ship.  I would like to see some 
restriction on free agency, as has been proposed in the negotiations.  
Maybe longer rookie deals with right of first refusal on second 
contracts.  An exception to allow buying out injured players contracts 
would be fair.  So, you would have to cut the player and pay his 
contract in order to get him off your cap.  Also, there might need to be 
limited exceptions to allow signing low end players, though that 
probably leads to lots of minimum wage players.  Note, the "hard cap" 
I'm referring to is league wide, and does not preclude limited 
exceptions for teams.

The big thing is that the Bird Exception must go.  If that means teams 
can't keep franchise players, then tough.  Maybe that will lead to some 
reworking of the free agency rules, which would be the only way to 
really stop that.  Otherwise, they will just keep getting more and more 
money and leave anyway.

You say that guaranteed long term contracts are the problem.  I think it 
is the combination of unlimited salaries and unlimited free agency.  
Let's face it, even if Kevin Garnett is an all-star for all seven years 
of that contract he signed, the Timberwolves are still screwed.

Jim


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