NBA Lockout

Unlike the NFL, the NBA is probably going to have a lockout. Football just makes too much sense to not have, but basketball isn't the most popular sport in the U.S. So the new CBA becomes a little more give & take between the owners & players association.

So here are some issues that I think should be addressed in order to make the NBA better.

1. Salary Cap

2. Arbitration with contracts

3. Expand the court

4. High school or 2 years in college minimum, or 3 years overseas

Issues not to change:

1. 3-point line

2. Guarenteed contracts

So with this new CBA, there has to be some compromise between both sides. I think these items show it.

First, the salary cap. I don't think this should be a breaking point for either side, but I do think some sort of franchising similiar to the NFL would work. Basically the 1st star that signs with you could be your franchise player, or make room for 2 stars to be franchised. The salary cap could then be reasonably lower since the player(s) salary(s) don't count towards your salary cap. If LeBron & Kobe make your team, there's no reason to cut their salary. They aren't the problem. Andrei Kirilenko making $18 million a year is the reason NBA franchises go broke. Here's a list of the most overpaid players this year:

Rashard Lewis - $20.5 million

Michael Redd - $18.35

Andrei Kirilenko - $17.8

Yao Ming - $17.7

Gilbert Arenas - $17.7

Vince Carter - $17.3

Zach Randolph - $17.3

Kenyon Martin - $16

Elton Brand - $16

Peja Stojakovic - $15.35

Kobe at $24.8 million isn't bankrupting franchises, it's all these players. Kobe puts people in the seats, opens up different revenue streams in different markets, & gets better players to play with him (like Gasol & Artest). No one wants to play with an old Peja or Brand. Franchising players protects your best players salaries while limiting others. When Allen Iverson went out & found out that no one was willing to make him their #1 guy, it was easy to drop his salary to 10% of what he was asking for. So franchising at least 1 player would help with the salary cap issues.

The second point is arbitration with contracts. There's a big problem with players who get injured or who don't perform to certain levels while relaxing in their fat contract they signed 2 years before. There has to be a few things implemented & the players association have to allow it. These items need to be able to reduce contracts when injuries or extremely sub-par performances occur. Contracts also need to include cash incentives when team goals are reached. This should motivate players to win & accomplish team goals rather than individual goals. A set standard needs to be input for injuries but performance standards should be different for each player as well as each team for team goals.

The third point is expanding the court. I heard this on the radio driving tonight and I think it's a good idea to look into. I think the length & width should be expanded, even if it's just by a little bit. The dimensions have been the same for decades while the players have gotten bigger, stronger, & faster. Give them a little bit more space & maybe team basketball will be increased. In my church building, we have a very small court. There's less incentive for passing as opposed to playing on a bigger court.

The 4th point is for the players. They want to be able to jump right to the NBA from high school. Okay, go for it. For every Kevin Garnett, LeBron James, & Kobe Bryant there are 4 other players who were complete busts or close-to. Here are some names of players who declared & got drafted from high school:

Al Harrington, Korleone Young, Jonathan Bender, Leon Smith, Darius Miles, DeShawn Stevenson, Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Dasagna Diop, Ousmane Cisse, Travis Outlaw, Ndudi Ebi, James Lang, Shaun Livingston, Robert Swift, Dorell Wright, Martell Webster, Gerald Green, C.J Miles, Ricky Sanchez, Louis Williams, Amir Johnson.

So yeah, you have a few all-stars from high-school but you have a lot of busts. Allowing players to get drafted from high school would give the players association what they want, but also implement this rule: if they go to college, they need to play at least 2 years in college or 3 years elsewhere. This would help deter players from playing overseas & get them to go to college here in the U.S. This would not only help the college basketball product, but the NBA product as well. Maybe some players are good enough for the NBA out of high school, but most aren't. This gives them the opportunity to try for the draft but also forces them to play more than just 1 year in college so they can get at least an associates degree (unless you go to a school like the University of Utah, in which they don't give out associates degrees). I think it solves problems for all sides.

Don't mess with the 3-point line. Only really old people who played without it actually think about that idea. If anything, implement a couple 4-point shots like the Globetrotters do. But don't take away the 3. It's a part of basketball now.

And you won't need to mess with guarenteed contracts if you implement the arbitration for contracts, either. The only reason owners complain about them being guarenteed is because of people like Eddy Curry or Yao Ming in which owners are stuck paying dozens of millions of dollars because players got injured. It happens. Their salary shouldn't be taken away, but it should be lowered especially for those who are out for seasons at a time.

These are some of the ideas the parties involved in the lockout should consider.