Thriller’s NBA Season Preview: the West

Northwest Division:

Utah Jazz

Projected Starters: Devin Harris, Raja Bell, Gordon Hayward, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson
Rotation players: Earl Watson, Alec Burks, CJ Miles, Derrick Favors, Enes Kanter

Key Additions: Alec Burks, Enes Kanter

OUTLOOK:

The Jazz are in a rebuilding year with many good young pieces. I expect them to continue their rebuilding by trading Jefferson for a few more pieces, and possibly Millsap as well to free up minutes for their young bigs. I’m very interested to see if Hayward takes a big step in to becoming a solid starting SF after a very good 2nd half of the year, and how Alec Burks plays in his rookie year as a 6’3 SG.

Denver Nuggets

Projected Starters: Ty Lawson, Rudy Fernandez, Danilo Gallinari, Nene, Timofey Mozgov
Rotation players: Andre Miller, Corey Brewer, Al Harrington, Chris Anderson

Key Additions:Rudy Fernandez, Corey Brewer

OUTLOOK:

They’re still waiting on Afflalo to re sign still, but this looks to be a year of transition for the Nuggets due to losing 3 main pieces to China. I think they’ll still compete for a playoff spot with the improvement of Lawson/Gallo, but their overall team just doesn’t look good enough to make it as of right now. Unless of course Mozgov turns in to Mozgod.

Portland Trail Blazers

Projected Starters: Raymond Felton, Wes Matthews, Gerald Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marcus Camby
Rotation players: Jamal Crawford, Nicolas Batum, Kurt Thomas

Key Additions: Jamal Crawford, Kurt Thomas

OUTLOOK:

Should be another year like last year for Portland, 1 and done. They do have a lot of good players, but they don’t have a 2nd big impact player anymore to put them over the top. The addition of Crawford will make them more dangerous, but they remain a solid team with little prospect of reaching the 2nd round.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Projected Starters: Russell Westbrook, Thabo Sefolosha, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins
Rotation players: Eric Maynor, James Harden, Daequan Cook, Nick Collison

Key Additions: None

OUTLOOK:

The Thunder stood pat this offseason because of their team make up. The one thing I dont like is the probability that Harden will come off the bench again, which may be ok for the regular season, but come postseason they cannot continue to get off to bad offensive starts in the 1st/3rd quarters due to them playing 4 on 5(much like CHI). If OKC wants to become a TITLE contender this year, they should start Harden and think about getting one more guard for scoring punch off of the bench. Either way, they may come out of the West due to the Lakers downgrade this offseason.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Projected Starters: Ricky Rubio, Wes Johnson, Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, Darko Milicic
Rotation players: JJ Barea, Luke Ridnour, Derrick Williams, Anthony Randolph

Key Additions:Ricky Rubio, JJ Barea, Derrick Williams

OUTLOOK:

Minnesota has acquired some nice young players in the past few years, and they look like they’ll be an exciting team to watch this year with Adelmans offence combined with the talent they have. Their starting lineup is still in question as there’s rumblings that JJ Barea may start, they may go small etc. It’ll be a transition year for the TWolves, in which they hope Williams shows himself to be worthy of the 2nd pick, and Rubio shows that hes NBA ready and improves as the season wears on. They do have trading chips if those 2 guys turn out to be as good as advertised, so MIN wont be too far away from competing for a playoff spot, next year.

Pacific Division:

Los Angeles Lakers

Projected Starters: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Rotation players: Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Josh McRoberts

Key Additions: Josh McRoberts, Jason Kapono(just so people see that Kapono is on the Lakers now)

OUTLOOK:

The Lakers come back with the same starting 5, but 1 year older. Fisher and World Peace didnt look great last year to begin with, and now theyre essentially going to be forced to force feed them or Blake and Barnes minutes. Unless the Lakers spruce up their bench or make a big splash with a trade, its possible this year they may be knocked out in the 1st round even with a top seed. But the Lakers are the Lakers and theyll pick up some players to improve the roster, I cant see them standing pat.

Los Angeles Clippers

Projected Starters: Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan
Rotation players: Eric Bledsoe, Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Ike Diogu, Reggie Evans

Key Additions: Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Reggie Evans

OUTLOOK:

The most anticipated team to watch for the 2012 NBA season. Theres obviously still question marks as to their bench, where theyre actually going to play Chauncey and for how many minutes, and the Mo Williams situation, but really, all that matters right now is they put together what possibly is right now the most devastating 1-2 combination in the NBA. If CP3 can get the crap filled Hornets to 56 wins, he should be able to work wonders with a much more talented roster. The Clippers do need to shore up their bench, and figure out the SG and Williams situation quickly though. Maybe Billups will play the SG role on defence like Kidd has and become that spot up shooter that Kidd has as well, if he does, then the Clippers could be contenders this year. That or if they get Afflalo, look out.

Phoenix Suns

Projected Starters: Steve Nash, Jared Dudley, Grant Hill, Channing Frye, Marcin Gortat
Rotation players:Sebastien Telfair, Shannon Brown, Hakim Warrick, Robin Lopez

Key Additions: Sebastien Telfair, Shannon Brown

OUTLOOK:

The Suns are stuck in a bad place right now with no prospects of the playoffs and an old team with no really good or potentially really good prospects. They should really look in to trading Nash at the deadline and trying to get a good lottery pick in this upcoming draft, and start the rebuilding process immediately.

Golden State Warriors

Projected Starters: Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, Dorrell Wright, David Lee, Epke Udoh
Rotation players: Klay Thompson, Kwame Brown, Andris Biedrins

Key Additions: Klay Thompson, Kwame Brown

OUTLOOK:

The Warriors, much like the Suns, are stuck in a bad situation of having no chance to make the playoffs, but the Warriors at least have the young talent and pieces to get better. They should really look in to a blockbuster deal involving Ellis this year to not only balance out their lineup, but hand the keys over to Curry who looks to be ready to be a premier PG in the NBA. But I expect the Warriors to stand pat and have another underwhelming year where theyll be exciting to watch and score a lot, but get killed inside and on the boards as usual. Expect Marc Jacksons head to explode from too many hand down man down situations.

Sacramento Kings

Projected Starters: Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton, John Salmons, Chuck Hayes, DeMarcus Cousins
Rotation players: Jimmer Fredette, Francisco Garcia, JJ Hickson, Jason Thompson

Key Additions: Chuck Hayes, Jimmer Fredette

OUTLOOK:

The Kings have many nice young players, but the make up of their team is not good. They have 4 guys in the starting lineup who get most of their points off of isolation and holding the ball(although Thornton didnt do that nearly as much after he came to the Kings), and their bench is too inexperienced to make up for the likely early leads theyre going to give up. I have no idea why they acquired Salmons back in the first place. Itll be a transition year for the Kings, who hopefully will figure out their arena and city situation, as well as who theyre going to look to keep in the future. This is a huge year for Tyreke to prove hes either a top level prospect, or another stat padder on a bad team.

Southwest Division:

Dallas Mavericks

Projected Starters: Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood
Rotation players: Rodrigue Beaubois, Jason Terry, Lamar Odom

Key Additions:Vince Carter, Lamar Odom

OUTLOOK:

The Mavericks definitely he upgraded in terms of offensive firepower, but have downgraded in terms of defence. Theyre probably going to be the 2nd most fun team to watch after the Clippers, but can they really come out of the West with only Haywood really protecting the basket? I think they need to get another solid center to really have a chance at a repeat. The Kidd Terry Marion Dirk Odom lineup is going to be a ton of fun to watch.

San Antonio Spurs

Projected Starters: Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson(not yet amnestied apparently), Tim Duncan, DaJuan Blair
Rotation players: TJ Ford, Gary Neal, James Anderson, Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter

Key Additions:TJ Ford, Kawhi Leonard

OUTLOOK:

The Spurs have fallen in to the ATL no mans land as of this year. Their 3 stars are aging and they have no one really to step up and take the reigns. I think theyll still be a playoff team, but one and done unless they make big changes.

Houston Rockets

Projected Starters: Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin, Chase Budinger, Luis Scola, Jordan Hill

Rotation players: Goran Dragic, Courtney Lee, Patrick Patterson, Donatas Motiejunas

Key Additions: Donatas Motiejunas

OUTLOOK:

Houston is stuck in mediocrity as they have a bunch of very solid 2nd tier type players but no real stars and no star prospects. By process of elimination, itll either be DEN or HOU making the playoffs now that Ive looked at the standings. Its a tough call, but I guess I’ll backtrack and take the Nuggets.

New Orleans Hornets

Projected Starters: Jarrett Jack, Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, Emeka Okafor, Chris Kaman
Rotation players: Grievis Vasquez, Marco Belinelli, Al Farouq Aminu, Carl Landry

Key Additions: Eric Gordon, Al Farouq Aminu, Chris Kaman

OUTLOOK:

It’ll be a year of losing for the Hornets, but they got a great deal for Paul and hopefully have a new owner by early 2012. The future in terms of their roster looks bright, so long as they move out of New Orleans soon. Expect them to win the lottery.

Memphis Grizzlies

Projected Starters: Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol
Rotation players: Greivas Vacquez, OJ Mayo, Sam Young, Darrell Arthur(injured) Quincy Pondexter
Key Additions: Dante Cunningham

OUTLOOK:

The Grizzlies were possibly a Rudy Gay injury away from advancing to the conference Finals and potentially the NBA finals due to them matching up well with the Mavs. This year they have Rudy back, and as many Grizz fans alluded to, MEM was playing great with the now starting lineup with Allen and Gay before Gay was injured. If Gay can fit in seemlessly and the bench continues to produce and get better, the Grizzlies are easily going to be a top seed and an extremely tough out come this years playoffs.

Thriller’s NBA season preview: the Atlantic

Atlantic Division:

Boston Celtics

Projected Starters: Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O’Neal
Rotation players: Keyon Dooling, Marquis Daniels, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox
Key Additions: Keyon Dooling, Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox

OUTLOOK:

This is either going to be a year where the Celtics somehow pull it together as a team and get hot going in to the playoffs and be one of the more dangerous teams in this years playoffs, or the Rondo situation combined with their old age will catch up to them and blow up in their face. I expect the latter to be honest as I dont think their pickups will be able to overcome the exhaustion setting in over the season, plus the stars likely sitting out multiple back to back games. Celtics may drop out of the top 4 in the East this year due to the scheduling/old age/Rondo situation.

Philadelphia 76ers

Projected Starters: Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks, Andre Iguodala, Elton Brand, Spencer Hawes
Rotation players: Louis Williams, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, Nikola Vucevic
Key Additions: Nikola Vucevic

OUTLOOK:

The Sixers had a solid team last year and likely improved it a bit with the addition of Vucevic(assuming he adapts to the NBA game and doesnt become another stiff) and the likely improvement of Holiday. They, like Atlanta, only have a 1st round and out ceiling though with the team currently constructed. They need to figure out what they have in Turner this season, as well as what they’re going to do with Iguodala. They’re stuck in mediocrity, but they do have a good young core in place. Expect 1 and done.

New York Knicks

Projected Starters: Toney Douglas, Landry Fields, Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler
Rotation players: Mike Bibby, Iman Shumpert, Bill Walker
Key Additions: Mike Bibby, Iman Shumpert, Tyson Chandler

OUTLOOK:

The Knicks have a team ready made for a defensive coach currently, but they have Mike D’Antoni. It’s going to be really interesting to see if D’Antoni changes his style at all with a very good looking defensive starting 5(but not likely). The Knicks obviously need to shore up their bench in the next 2 days as they literally have no big people off the bench(unless you count no name rookies) nor reliable guards/forwards. If they do get a couple of bench guys, I can see the team winning a round this year in the playoffs if D’Antoni can get his head around having his players play some defence. They have the best frontcourt in the NBA and a solid defensive backcourt who can rain 3s. They’re pretty close to contending with the right tweaks. I expect them to win a round this year and get ousted in the 2nd round by CHI or MIA.

Toronto Raptors

Projected Starters: Jose Calderon, Demar Derozan, James Johnson, Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johnson
Rotation players: Jerryd Bayless, Leandro Barbosa, Gary Forbes, Ed Davis, Aaron Gray
Key Additions: Gary Forbes, Aaron Gray

OUTLOOK:

BC did a great job this offseason getting as many scrubs to fill out the roster as possible, going for a top pick in a stacked 2012 NBA draft. The main goal of the Raptors this year will be to see how good Derozan really is, and continue to develop Ed Davis.

New jersey Nets

Projected Starters: Deron Williams, Anthony Morrow, Damien James, Johan Petro, Mehmet Okur (Brook Lopez)
Rotation players: Jordan Farmar, Sheldon Williams
Key Additions: No one yet(they just amnestied Travis Outlaw FYI)

OUTLOOK:

(As of earlier this week) The Nets are currently a very incomplete team with 2 days left in free agency . As currently constructed, obviously they wont make the playoffs, but I’d expect them to re-sign Humphries (check) and then go after a SF and some bench pieces then the playoffs will be within reach but barely.

Thriller’s NBA Season preview: the Central Division

Chicago Bulls

Projected Starters: Derrick Rose, Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah
Rotation players: CJ Watson, Ron Brewer, Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson, Omer Asik

Key Additions: Richard Hamilton

OUTLOOK:
If Rip Hamilton is healthy, the Bulls have a very good shot at coming out of the East. He should provide that scoring punch they need to be able to space the floor, as well as give Rose more options and space to operate with now being able to play 5 on 5 instead of 4 on 5 with Bogans last year. Their bench may be the best in the NBA, as well as their defence. Their team looks rock solid this year.

Detroit Pistons

Projected Starters: Brandon Knight, Ben Gordon, Tayshaun Prince, Jonas Jerebko, Greg Monroe
Rotation players: Will Bynum, Austin Daye, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiell

Key Additions: Brandon Knight

OUTLOOK:
I’m still sort of shocked they haven’t amnestied Charlie yet, and I’m super shocked that Dumars is trying to give Stuckey 9 million a year when he hasn’t done anything to earn it. They’re much better off letting Knight take the reigns and try to develop him. This will obviously be a rebuilding year for the Pistons.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Projected Starters: Kyrie Irving, Anthony Parker, Omri Casspi, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao
Rotation players: Ramon Sessions, Daniel Gibson, Christian Eyenga, Tristan Thompson

Key Additions: Kyrie Irving, Omri Casspi, Tristan Thompson

OUTLOOK:
Like many other teams listed above, another rebuilding team. The starting lineup likely wont be the one listed because there’s no for sure lock at the 2, 3, and 4. This year in CLE will be all about Kyrie and if he’s as good as advertised. With Baron amnestied, the keys are in Kyries hands to basically make everything happen for this offensively challenged team. I think he’ll be solid but he wont have a John Wall type of rookie year.

Milwaukee Bucks

Projected Starters: Brandon Jennings, Carlos Delfino, Stephen Jackson, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Andrew Bogut
Rotation players: Beno Udrih, Mike Dunleavy, Drew Gooden, Ersan Ilyasova

Key Additions: Stephen Jackson, Beno Udrih, Mike Dunleavy

OUTLOOK:
The Bucks are in win now mode(trading Kemba Walker with Maggette for Jackson) with a very mediocre team. I expect they’ll make the playoffs, but they’re just as inefficient and offensively challenged as last year due to their slow pace and Brandon Jennings not understanding how to run an NBA team. Look for them to be one and done in the playoffs.

Indiana Pacers

Projected Starters: Darren Collison, Paul George, Danny Granger, David West, Roy Hibbert
Rotation players: George Hill, Brandon Rush, Tyler Hansbrough, Jeff Foster

Key Additions: David West, George Hill

OUTLOOK:
Larry Bird is slowly but surely building a winner in Indiana. They have a very solid starting 5 on both sides of the ball, and I think their bench is one of the better ones in the NBA as well with Hill, Hansbrough, and multiple other players who played minutes for them last season who may not to get to play as much this year due to their influx of talent. This is going to be a top 6 team in the East easily, and they could surprise a team and win a round this year in the playoffs. If Paul George does turn in to a star like they think he will in the upcoming years, Indiana could be on track to get back to where they were with Reggie 15 years ago as a bigtime contender in the East.

All locked out and no place to go, Part 5: Conclusions

… or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Lockout

Well. It seems like the players have been winning CBA negotiations for decades now, and it might be time for them to lose one. The players’ pay has been increasing with time, but somewhat faster than league revenues have been – hence the increase in BRI splits. This has played into negotiations as though it was the owners’ fault that they spend so much.

Unfortunately, the system in place, with so many cap exceptions, means that smaller and even mid-market teams have to gamble and give high value and long term contracts to players who may not deserve them, due to the excess of artificial cap space every year. This is the only way for them to keep up with the big market teams. This has evolved to a point where something like the Miami Heat is possible – without cap exceptions, they would never have been able to put a team around those three players, and in coming years, those exceptions will allow them to build a dynasty almost by default. And of course they will use every penny they can – a team trying to compete tends to do this.

With the combination of competitive factors, a constant supply of players and ever increasing demand for them (represented through increasing amounts of available money – exceptions – to pay them), the current salary cap structure is unstable and will eventually yield a scenario where the league as a whole is losing money. Whether you believe this has happened yet (as the owners claim) or not, it is inevitable under this system.

So the owners will take their chance here to stabilize the system. They will insist on a hard cap or very stiff luxury tax. In the case that they relent on the luxury tax, they will demand a high escrow percentage – probably in the 20% range to cover all possible salary growth (or simply keep the risky overage clause, hoping to make it to the next negotiations before it goes nuclear). And in either case, they will push to get the system back to its equilibrium – where it started in the 50-50 range.

It is easy to say that the owners’ concessions thus far in the negotiations mean little. However, consider the difference between the hard cap they proposed and the luxury tax they are now proposing. One means no growth in BRI over time, the other means potential for the same problems over again. That is a real concession. If they go down to a stiff but not ridiculous luxury tax, they will have made a real significant concession there.

Look also at the 50-50 split offered by the owners. When the players started at 57 and the owners at 46, everyone said the players were being selfless – not asking for a raise – and the owners being greedy – cutting salaries by 20%. But once again, if you look deeper, there is a reason the players weren’t asking for more than 57% – they are already winning money hand over fist at that percentage, because they’ve learned that with the soft cap system in place, eventually they will surpass their escrow limit and earn more than the CBA allows them to. And there is a reason the owners were asking for 46% – with the soft salary cap in place, they know that very early in the new CBA, that number will effectively rise to 50% and higher if a more robust escrow system or luxury tax isn?t put in place. Consider that if the real status quo is 50-50, the owners asking for 54% and the players asking for 57% is cast in a very different light.

So since the owners backed off the hard cap, we’ve seen them start to attack exceptions again. A miniature MLE, eliminating sign and trades, restricting Bird Rights to teams that have had the player for at least one season, possibly eliminating the bi-annual exception. And the players have agreed with a few of these, and will probably make their stand on the escrow percentage – if they can keep it low, say at 8%, even with reduced exceptions they should be able to surpass whatever level of BRI they are entitled to within the next few years, especially if they can eliminate that year-by-year correction in the previous CBA (which was an unsustainable band-aid solution for the problem the exceptions caused the owners).

All locked out and no place to go, Part 4: End Game

So what does this mean? The revenue split was always meant by both the owners and the players to be 50-50 (or thereabouts). It was implemented incorrectly. So now the owners finally have a situation where they can make it right. Of course, they want a 46-54 split, but greed has ever been the driver of these negotiations. The fact that the players’ opening salvo was an offer to keep the current CBA active is an indication that they know just how good they have it. 57% is a huge cut of the revenues. Add in the limited escrow and the loose luxury tax and excessive exceptions, and that number would only rise again over time, even with the next-year corrections in place.

This is why the current situation is unsustainable – that 57% that everyone claims is ‘fixed’ is by no means fixed, and even a cursory glance at the BRI splits over league history shows that.

This examination of the history of the CBA negotiations has shown that there are three drivers for the owners (and players) to push for CBA changes.

1) The Hard Cap

The owners want a hard cap. And most think it is for parity’s sake, and it would help with that. But it is really the defining aspect of limiting the growth of BRI. If there is a hard cap set for a specific percent of BRI (say, 57%), then the owners will never be able to spend above that, and will simply top the players up to 57% every year. That would stop the growth dead.

The inclusion of exceptions to the hard cap could throw this off, but if it is limited to say, limited Bird Rights (one player per year, at a reduced salary), rookie, and minimum salary exceptions, then the spending should control itself – at some point it will become too hard to add talent while over the soft cap, and especially while above the ‘hard’ cap. High-paid teams will stagnate, and eventually move their players for expiring contracts to get back under the cap.

It should be noted that a very stiff luxury tax would operate in much the same way – they would have to set the bar lower so the ‘never going to spend that much’ point is not much higher than a hard cap would be. In this case, some escrow protection would be necessary, but it should be stable in the long run.

2) The Escrow Limit

Failing an effective hard cap, the owners need that withheld escrow to protect themselves from overspending. The escrow percentage has been between 8 and 10% and has been shown to fail to completely contain overspending under each of the last two CBA’s. Increasing this limit is the quick fix solution – it would help reduce the overpayment of players by more effectively covering the overage each year.

Unfortunately, without system changes, the effective BRI percentage would likely continue to grow each year. By settling for a soft cap and an increased escrow limit, the owners would be betting that they would get to the next CBA negotiations before the players’ salaries caught up to the escrow (which would almost certainly happen, if you want a league with any parity at all).

3) 50-50 Split

This has always been what the owners wanted. It used to be what the players wanted. At the time of the initial salary cap creation, it was the logical value (or range, at least) to use, and it remains so today. Everyone was happy with it then, and the players are only unhappy with it today because they tripped backwards (or were very shrewd negotiators decades ago) into higher percentages through cap exceptions meant to aid in player freedom.

The owners will not settle for much above the 50-50 split, and I’d be astonished if the next CBA has a split above the 51.8% defined in the 1995 renege clause.

…

Check back in tomorrow for final thoughts on what this all means for the lockout, and where we go from here.

All locked out and no place to go, Part 3: The 2005 Agreement

So the system had to be fixed. The owners saw that even with their escrow system, the salary cap structure and exceptions were driving spending (in a competitive environment) up beyond their control. So, in the negotiations in 2005, the owners took steps to control salary growth.

The owners established the luxury tax as independent of the escrow system – if a team went over the tax, they paid the tax, period. This was seen as a good way to discourage team spending, despite the ineffectiveness of the previous conditional luxury tax. The tax threshold was set at 61% of BRI, to try to prevent teams from driving the BRI split up above that.

And the owners attacked the salary cap structure. They reduced the maximum years and salary for maximum contracts. The cut the maximum raises for all contracts, thus lowering the value of the mid-level exception in particular.

Unfortunately, to make cuts to the big contracts, and establish their tax (which players saw then as a hard cap, believe it or not), they had to give back.

And the players’ union was wily. They exchanged the slightly reduced pay for superstars and mid-level guys for drastically increased pay for low-level players. The $1M exception was changed to the low-level exception (or bi-annual exception, if you prefer) and was worth twice as much.

On top of that, since the players were conceding so much in the system negotiations, they won the finance negotiations once again. The BRI split was raised to a standard 57% – which was once again seen by casual observers as an owner victory, since the effective split was in the mid-60’s in the previous agreement. In reality, the owners were once again being pushed up away from the original 50-50 split concept by the salary cap exception structure.

Of course, the players weren’t done. They also attacked the escrow system. With the owners’ new system rules in place, especially the luxury tax, it was felt that they wouldn’t need to hold back a full 10% in escrow. So they scaled it back to 8% over the length of the agreement.

However, the owners did manage to put in an addendum that when there was excess overage, it would be deducted from the next year’s salaries. So, for example, if the players were paid 10 million more than the escrow withheld, then 10 million would be deducted from the baseline for the next year’s salaries (reducing the effective BRI% from 57% to, say, 56.5%). This addendum works only under a situation where small corrections are applied each year. In the case where the correction continues to grow over the course of time, eventually the players would be effectively suffering salary rollbacks every year (and we all know how players feel about salary rollbacks…). Money would be taken from the existing player contracts to be given to free agents.

Also, as salaries are cut back, teams save money, leaving the top spenders with more money to spend the next year. This acts as encouragement to go over the tax threshold – sure, it hurts to pay the tax, but you are probably getting back at least 8% of your team’s salary in escrow (for a top spending team, that can be close to 8 million), and likely even more at the end of the year. It would have even stronger an effect on the teams under the tax – they could spend more, right up to the tax threshold, as they would be getting escrow back as well as payouts from the tax paying teams. ?So, the overspending actually might accelerate under these conditions.

Overall though, this is a fairly sustainable situation, but not one the union would ever support for long. Consider being in a job where having a co-worker sign a contract directly impacts your pay in a negative way. The players would start to ask, what is the point of being able to sign the large contracts we fought for, when each year other players signing contracts will shrink my actual pay? A strike would be inevitable if the yearly corrections grew over time (which they would, in a vacuum).

What Happened Since

And so things went back to the way they were. Rich teams spent into the luxury tax, almost every other competing team spent right up to the limit, and only a few rebuilding teams stayed under the cap. Player salaries kept going up.

The luxury tax and escrow system worked at first. Although player salaries kept going up, revenues were growing at a rate that allowed the escrow to keep them in check (at 57%). Until 2008-09, when the escrow had reduced to 9% (it has since dropped further to 8%), and the player salaries had finally caught up to the owners – once again, the overage exceeded the escrow by more than the 9% allowed. In this case it was only by a few dozen million dollars, but it was a wake up call to the owners.

The correction for the overage was applied the next season, but the overall numbers didn’t slow much – since the exceptions exist, the players could still sign for much more money than they are entitled to, and all the correction affected was the entitlement amount. So, with the plummeting market and an overage in spending in a supposedly overage-proof system, the owners started to cut back on costs – if a team wasn’t likely to win the championship, they were likely to cut salary and tank. Suddenly, the bottom teams in each conference were no longer winning 25 games – they were winning 15. More teams dropped to below .500, as the top spenders continued to spend, racking up 60+ wins, and the rest of the league, forced to watch their money in a revenue-sharing-light league, started to fall behind. The playoffs in the east could be attended by teams well under .500. Last year, as the pinch continued, and teams cut even more spending, parity was shot even further. Last year the owners managed to cut spending to below the 57% (of course they ended up having to top that up).

This has left the league in an interesting position. With the formation of superteams like the Heat and the continuation of super-spenders like NY, LAL, ORL, etc, the league now has a system where it can stay under the expected BRI split, at sacrifice of league parity. Most of the owners are unhappy about this, for obvious reasons. Those being mostly that owners do genuinely want to win for the most part, and that with so many teams not truly competing, individual team profits start to suffer.

However, the above scenario would probably be acceptable, and fixable with a few system changes, if it weren’t for that 57% BRI number. The 57% is far, far above what the revenue splits were ever intended to be. It is only the failing of the salary cap system that caused it to rise so far.

Remember to check back tomorrow, as we’ll get into the goals of the owners in this negotiation, and what we’ve discussed so far means in terms of what will happen this season.

All locked out and no place to go, Part 2: The Beginning of the End

Finally, we get to the meat of the CBA history. The last decade and a half has defined these negotiations in several ways, and it started in 1998 when the owners saw that the revenue split had grown to 58%. This was caused by the ever-growing team salaries described earlier and was well over the limiting 51.8%. So the owners nullified the CBA, bringing about the 1998-99 lockout.

The revenue split had been rising steadily because it was not defined in the CBA – the revenue split was supposed to be controlled by the salary cap. However, with teams utilizing such exceptions to the cap as Bird Rights, rookie exceptions, and minimum salary exceptions, the average payroll was growing quickly far beyond the salary cap. The salary cap system was failing – it was designed to define a precise relationship between the league revenues and the player salaries – but had instead become a sort of ‘floor’ for team salaries, as more and more exceptions were used to stay ahead of the competition.

Another very important point is player raises. In standard contracts, there were high yearly raises (10.5% for new players, 12.5% for retained free agents – these have since dropped to 8 and 10.5) and this was also a problem. Early in NBA history, revenues grew quickly, so there was no impact. But in more recent times, growth slowed (in terms of percentage) and projections now assume a growth of 4% per year going forward. Consider that for a second: revenues are growing by 4% per year; a standard player contract has 8% annual raises. See the problem?

These issues defined the 1999 CBA negotiations. The league attacked the salary cap structure, and established the luxury tax and escrow systems to restrain team spending above the cap. The luxury tax was meant to be a deterrent to team spending, but proved too soft to truly impact the big spending teams. It would only be active if the player salaries exceeded the escrow capabilities though, so it was a fallback plan of sorts. A maximum salary scale was also put in place – this was considered a big win for the owners, but was really not a big picture game changer. ?The real win was the escrow system.

The escrow system was put in place to help keep the player salaries in check. The way it worked was that the owners held 10% of player salaries in check until the end of the year, when total player salaries versus revenues was calculated, and compared to a newly-agreed-upon limit to player salaries.

If the player salaries exceeded the allowed amount, a portion of the escrow equaling the overage was kept by the owners, and rest given to the players to give them exactly the BRI split agreed upon. At this time, the revenue split was defined as 55% – this was seen as a win for the owners, considering the 58% it had been sitting at before the negotiation. However, keep in mind that the original split limit of 50-50 had been eroded by the system concepts the players had put in place years earlier.

Unfortunately for the owners, the players weren’t going to give in to these demands without something in return. On top of the generous BRI split definition, the players also got the Mid-Level Exception. This allowed teams another method of going over the cap to sign free agents. The owners allowed this as they believed their new luxury tax and escrow systems would keep the BRI split from growing even with additional exceptions.

The Effects of the ’99 Agreement

And so the ’99 lockout ended in time to save half the season, and the league went on as before. And I do mean entirely as before. The new luxury tax prevented a few teams from spending that high, but was treated as a new, much higher ‘cap’ by the rest of the league. Team salaries kept growing, with the mid-level exception being used excessively – often driving the salaries of the low-level free agents each year up, as even teams over the cap could suddenly offer the average salary; supply stayed the same, demand (money available) went up.

Of course, the owners had that escrow system in place! So none of this mattered unless the system drove spending up so high that even holding back 10% of all player salaries, close to 200 million dollars, would not cover the overage. And that could never happen.

Then it did. For several years running. The effective BRI split jumped up to 60% in 2001 – well above the 55% defined in the agreement (as a note, this was the first year the escrow system was in place; it was not in effect the first 3 years of the agreement). This was within a decimal point of providing an overage beyond 10% – in the first year of the escrow system! The next year? 65.5%. This resulted in an overage of 280 million – well beyond the 174 million the owners were allowed to hold in escrow. So the players got a $110 million bonus. The year after? 63.4%. Another overage above 200 million – and in those years, the BRI was between 2.5 and 3 billion, nowhere near the 4 billion they are close to now.

In 2004-05, there was a jump in revenues that allowed the escrow system to cover the smaller jump in player salaries, but that is partially because the agreement defined the BRI split in 04-05 to be 57% instead of the previous 55%. Once again, the player salaries ended up at 60.3% – a value that would have been an overage beyond the control of the escrow if the original 55% had been kept.

Check back in tomorrow for the third part of the series – the infamous 2005 CBA.

Thriller’s Season Preview: the Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks

Projected Starters:Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford

Rotation players:Kirk Hinrich, Tracy McGrady, Vladimir Radmanovic, Zaza Pachulia

Key Additions: Tracy Mcgrady, Vladimir Radmanovic (if you consider him key)

OUTLOOK:

Atlanta stayed with the same team as last year, while replacing Crawford with Tmac which looks like a downgrade unless Tmac can prove otherwise. The one brightspot they have going for them is Teague, who will get an opportunity to prove himself right away with Hinrich out at least the first month of the season. If Teague improves on his impressive Playoff showing, well, it doesnt really matter, as ATLs best case scenario for the season is like previous years, 2nd round team at best(but unlikely this year due to Indiana/NY rising)

Orlando Magic

Projected Starters: Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, Glen Davis, Dwight Howard
Rotation players: Chris Duhon, JJ Reddick, Quentin Richardson, Ryan Anderson

Key Additions: Glen Davis

OUTLOOK:

The present and future looks bleak for ORL with Howard demanding out twice now in the past week. If they dont get a deal done in the next 2 days before free agency ends, there’s going to be a lot of turmoil and a potential cancerous type of situation with Howard staying in a city that now hates him. In short, expect a disasterous year. If Howard stays the entire year, they still will likely make the playoffs as a lower seed, but they really have no chance of winning a round this year. They’re obviously best off trading him before the season starts.

Charlotte Bobcats

Projected Starters: DJ Augustin, Gerald Henderson, Corey Maggette, Boris Diaw, Desagana Diop
Rotation players: Kemba Walker, Reggie Williams, Tyrus Thomas, Bismack Biyombo

Key Additions: Kemba Walker, Reggie Williams, Bismack Biyombo

OUTLOOK:

As you can see with their starting 5, they’re deplorable. This will be a rebuilding year for CHA, with the main goal being to see what Walkers role will be in the NBA. Is he good/smart enough to man the starting PG position? Or will he be another combo scoring guard off the bench? Expect Charlotte to contend for that #1 lotto spot with Toronto.

Washington Wizards

Projected Starters: John Wall, Jordan Crawford, Rashard Lewis, Andray Blatche, Javale Mcgee
Rotation players: Ronny Turiaf, Jan Vesley, Trevor Booker

Key Additions: Jan Vesley, Ronny Turiaf

OUTLOOK:

Another rebuilding year for the Wizards. The thing is, if their frontcourt of Blatche/Mcgee had half a brain combined, this would be a playoff team in the East with their talent. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Young over the next 2 days whether they do re sign him or let him go. Expect John Wall to climb up the PG ranks in the least this season.

Miami Heat

Projected Starters: Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Joel Anthony
Rotation players: Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem
Key Additions: Eddy Curry(LOL), Shane Battier

OUTLOOK:

They made a very good pickup with Battier, but them winning it all this year will depend on Lebron/Wade/Spoelstra figuring out the offence and figuring out how to get the most out of both this year. They cant continue taking turns dominating the ball with the other guy standing in the corner watching. A more complex offence is necessary, as well as Lebron going back in to aggressive mode as he was a passive little bitch in the Finals.