Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V5 #251

[Shawn Roth <ufpdev!shawnr@uunet.uu.net>]

Tom,

  Good idea, but how do you decide what "rung" a player is at.  What if I am
  the Wizards of a year ago when I have Howard and Weber on my team.  They are
  both first "rung" players in my book (at least on the Wizards team),  can a
  team have more than one player at a "rung"?  IF you cannot, then player egos
  get involved and the whole thing falls apart.  The players would never go for
  this, at lest IMO.

  Let me know what you think.

Shawn Roth

Originally from Tom Bisson:
> 
> Here is another thought about NBA salaries with my idea as to how to fix
> them.
> 
> First off, salaries structures are important to the health of the
> league. It's easy to say that owners are the blame for spiraling
> salaries since they must make the final decisions as to who and how much
> they pay. But the fact is that clubs lose value when they don't win,
> therefore, owners must pay. Because of the limited number of teams in a
> league and because it's a competition where for every winner, there is a
> loser, owners must invest heavily to ensure winning. Owners who choose
> not to compete in the salary game cannot compete for long in the real
> game and will not be in business long - period. That's bad for the
> league and the players. Players thrive when there are plenty of
> financially healthy
> teams.
> 
> Players are not at fault - they are acting like any good business person
> would by making the most of their resources. Owners do the same thing,
> look at ticket prices!
> 
> Owners and players need to work as a partnership to ensure that all
> teams remain competitive and that players are fairly compensated. They
> need a plan. Here's my plan:
> 
> The NBA Salary Ladder
> 
> In order to ensure labor peace and league prosperity while providing
> teams an opporutnity to make a good profit and players the opportunity
> to make market-level salaries, the following "salary ladder" shall be
> implemented by all NBA franchises. Each franchise shall designate the
> ladder rung (and thus salary) for each player. Contracts negotiated by
> teams and players shall stipulate which ladder rung the player shall
> occupy and for how many seasons.
> 
> Ladder Rung and Corresponding Annual Salary
> 
> Number 1 Player = $10m
> Number 2 Player = $7m
> Number 3 Player = $5m
> Number 4 Player = $3m
> Number 5 Player = $1m
> -----------------------
> Number 6 Player = $900k
> Number 7 Player = $850k
> Number 8 Player = $750k
> Number 9 Player = $700k
> Number 10 Player = $650k
> Number 11 Player = $600k
> Number 12 Player (and all others) $550k
> 
> Total Team Salary: $31.8m
> 
> This plan resembles current individual and team salary totals. 
> 
> The Collective Bargaining Agreement would determine salary levels for
> each rung. The plan would end the "salary speculation" where teams and
> players gamble with free agency and long term contracts. 
> 
> It would end "salary leap frog" where you pay a player more than market
> now in a long term contract gambling that the market will escalate in
> the next few years. It would give teams salary stability. 
> 
> Players would also benefit. Players would not have to be worried about
> being underpaid (i.e. Scottie Pippen, Shawn Kemp) because their salary
> would be stable as long they maintain the rung on their team's ladder.
> 
> But the BEST PART would be the wonderful fodder such a system would
> create for sports writers and sports fans!
> 
> - tom bisson
> 
>