A salary cap, why?

It’s well known in the world of sports that every team has a cap they cannot exceed, except for the MLB.  A salary cap is a limit on the amount of money a team can spend on a player’s contract, so that it helps maintain a competitive balance in the league. If it was not for the salary cap, teams with more “mullah”( which means  money- in modern English)  could simply outspend the other teams in the league for the best free agent out there.  The idea behind it is very simple; teams can only sign a free agent if the total payroll of the team will not exceed the salary cap.  So the team with more brain and mullah is playing on a better playing field with the others.

Now there are 2 types of caps, the soft cap and the hard cap. The NBA has the soft cap; it’s the idea to allow exceptions. For instant, it can allow a team to exceed the cap under certain condition but in the NBA very few team are ever under the cap anyways. I personally think is horse crap, especially with  last season when the Miami Heats were able to not only exceed their cap but also grabbing two of the “it” players in the NBA.  Miami, who were ranked 4^th highest team cap in the NBA, went down to being ranked at 7^th. And worst of all they didn’t even win the NBA finals with all the changes and struggles they went through to get Lebron James and Chris bosh.  The soft cap is also not fair for the rest of the team, it’s not only the team suffering with their income, but some players can get traded just so that it fills in the team’s budget.

Derrick Rose,Chicago Bulls
discussion on the NBA cap

Some of the NBA stars are not very pleased with the cap and wish it wasn’t there just like the good old days when rookies coming out of college were signed with multi-million dollar deals, but now these rookies make very less on their first year. For instant Derek rose, of the Chicago bulls had mentioned an angry remark during the NBA lockout dispute. He said “Greed is not on our side, we’re not greedy...what they’re trying to do to us is dead wrong. I wish it was back like where it was in the old days where there wasn’t a cap.”

The discussion to eliminate a cap in the NBA was brought forward at the beginning of the lockout, which in my opinion can and will result in a big disaster if they agree to do it. It takes no genius to realise that some teams i.e *caught* Miami Heats,  New York Knicks*caught* have some of the best all stars on their team, how is this sport suppose to be entertaining if teams are just going to get blown out each game! It’s senseless! I believe that the only teams that deserve the best all stars are the ones that actually save their money and put in work to actually make it to the playoffs with who they’ve already got * caught* Lakers! *caught* the league last reported that the Los Angeles Lakers are on top with their team payroll at $91,311,749, oh and did I mention the didn’t have to buy out 2 all stars so that they could win the NBA championship 2 years in a row, I mean no offense Miami heats. 

https://webfiles.uci.edu/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm#Q1

http://hoopshype.com/salaries.htm

The NBA lockout economic impact

With the American economy on life support and thousands of people out of work, one must question the wisdom of multi millionaire owners and players arguing over a multi billionaire business. Believe. Just recently mayors from 14 NBA cities have penned down an open letter to the NBA commissioner David Stern, telling him to end the lockout and also stating that “ It has impacted negatively residents, and that it is taking a big toll on our cities, and our local economies.”

Believe it or not the NBA contributes enormously to the economy; it is no question that sporting goods and events generate sizable amounts of spending in cities. For example According to the Oklahoma City Chambers of Commerce, every Oklahoma City Thunder game they make up too $ 1.3 million into local economy. Also as the Atlantic recently posted, Spurs games generate 95 million for San Antonio, the Portland Trail Blazers made 2 billion between 1980 and 2004. So now that these games are lost in the lockout, it is obvious that NBA cities are losing out on big money. The lockout is also doing some more damage on a more micro level such as the arena supports staff, the vendors, the concession- stand operators, the security guards, the ticket takers all these people are out of job. And have no other source of income to provide for their families. It has gotten so bad that, public organisations are starting to open local food banks for those who lost their jobs.

At this moment the NBA unemployment rates are well above the national average of 9.1 percent, according to the atlantics Memphis and Orlando are holding steady at 10.3 percent, while Sacramento struggle at 11.9 percent. Memphis count 1,200 jobs in their Arena which is not so bad compared so Sacramento who hire up to 700 workers and 650 par-time employees. (Moneyland) It is even worst that the lockout has happened at this time, with the city trying to move forward on a proposal for a new arena that may not even happen for another 2-3 years.  

Though several mayors and chambers of commerce have recently indicated, they believe most of the fans in NBA markets would come back once the players and coaches agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. We all hope that happens sooner or later.


http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/07/the-nba-lockout-and-the-economy-an-overstated-impact/

Is the lockout benificial or not?

The NBA and the players cannot come to an agreement. The owners want to save their money and the players want to save their jobs. Both sides have reasons to be upset with the other, but picking sides as a fan would be pretty useless. I however want to discuss who has benefited, or not benefited.

The NBA lockout has been tough on everyone. But one thing is sure.. The fans hate it. Speaking as a fan I dislike it. But one thing most of us don't realize is, this could be beneficial for some of the best players in the league. One player that stands out to me Kobe Bryant, who has gone through multiple injuries last season, deteriorating his knees and fingers but still averaging 26.5 points a game and bringing his team to the playoffs. And this lockout is surely giving him a break that he deserves to feel 100%, if the season resumes. A healthy Kobe could lead the Lakers to the finals with much more physical strength not to empty out against the Mavs again.

The lockout also means the players are jobless! And it’s obvious that they are losing money, game time and also gym time. Some players have had a worst lockout than most, for instance Chris Humphries who got married on national television and divorced 72 days after. Without mentioning he bought his “Ex- fiancé” a 2 million dollar ring. Yes, I did say million. Now let’s try and do the math, Chris only makes 2.5 million a season excluding the taxes. As people would normally say “that guy is in sh*@” Chris is definitely one of those players waiting to get his job back. 

Another player who has not benefited from this lockout at all is the Lakers veteran point guard Derek Fisher, who has taken the responsibility to represent the players during the lockouts agreements and debates.  He has constantly been announcing the bad results of meetings and has had his intelligence questioned, not to mentions all the criticism he’s had to swallow from the reporters. It’s easy to say that some players could use a break, and others would wish to have their jobs back...soon.


http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2011/10/blame-game-in-nba-lockout-is-beneficial-to-no-one/