[NBA Salary] “Cap And Trade” Deadlines

For the past few years, the term “Cap and Trade” has been bantered about ad nauseum. Here’s the simplest definition from http://whatis.techtarget.com: “A cap and trade system is a market-based approach to controlling pollution that allows corporations or national governments to trade emissions allowances under an overall cap, or limit, on those emissions.”

In a different context, The NBA has a “salary cap” and “trade” system to prevent larger market teams from gaining dominance by signing more top players than their rivals and trading players arbitrarily to gain an advantage. The basic idea of  a “salary cap”  is that a team can only sign a free agent if the total payroll for the team will not exceed the salary cap.

The NBA has a “soft cap” which means that under certain conditions, a team can exceed the salary cap to keep a player. For example, if a popular player like Kobe wants to stay with the Lakers when his contract is up, the team wants him to stay and the fans adore him, the Lakers can offer him a competitive enough contract to stay. To determine salary caps for the ensuing year, each July, the league projects Basketball Related Income (BRI) and benefits for the upcoming season.

This year, with the largest number of free agents in its history, many of whom are star players openly expressing their desire to become the “Lord of the Rings,” The NBA is all abuzz about the all important “trade” deadlines: July 1 is when teams and players can officially discuss offers. July 8 is when contracts are officially signed.

After winning his 5th Championship with the Lakers, Kobe Bryant vaulted into NBA history furthering his comparison to Michael Jordan. LeBron is still part of the debate, but without a “Ring” cannot be really considered in the same context. LeBron has made it very clear. He wants to be on a team that wins him a Championship. That set off a media-hyped courtship from coast to coast and a hometown rally to keep him in Cleveland.

The most relevant LeBron suitors are Cleveland, New Jersey, New York and Chicago. Make no mistake. Cleveland wants to win a title. So, they are continuing their search for head coach and one of the leading contenders to replace recently fired Cavs head coach Mike Brown is Byron Scott. The Cavs will have to build a solid supporting cast beyond Mo Williams because LeBron needs reliable shooters when he is doubled and tripled.

New Jersey even with its new billionaire owner and new coach Avery Johnson are not yet that attractive a destination for LeBron. While they are waiting to move to Brooklyn, they need to acquire a well-rounded team.

New York on the other hand offers Madison Square Garden, Madison Avenue and the biggest sports media market to make LeBron a global icon. Not to mention Coach Mike D’Antoni known for his “run and gun” offense and named Coach of the Year in 2004/2005 as Suns’ Head Coach. The Knicks also have more financial flexibility to acquire LeBron plus one to propel their franchise back to significance and relevancy.

Chicago has not seen the “running of the Bulls” since Michael Jordan left. However, the past two seasons have shown promise. With Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, the Bulls could very well fast track to a Championship. However, the backlash could be that he turned his back on Cleveland and took the easiest road to win a Championship instead of building a Championship team.

As is expected with so much attention on the LeBron free agency, starting Sunday June 20, 2010, ESPN’s “SportsCenter” had a three-part series on LeBron’s free agency:

Sunday: The Wooing of LeBron: How cities have made their case

Monday: Global Marketing: How LeBron’s decision will impact global marketing

Tuesday: Worldwide Wes: How much influence does William Wesley have?

Another young star in the spotlight is Dwayne Wade, already with one ring, looking for more. Although rumors abound about him and LeBron going to the same team, it is somewhat unlikely that Dwayne Wade will want to be eclipsed by a mega star like LeBron. Wade told ESPN.com’s J.A. Adande on June 13 that he intends to bring other players to Miami rather than search for a better opportunity: “It’s going to be fit with me first,” Wade said. “I’ve made that very clear. Do I want to leave? Nope. Mmm-hmm. I want to be in Miami. That’s where it starts.” If Wade stays that probably means Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire have signed with the Heat (LeBron will not go to Miami).

Speaking of Chris Bosh – although not a household name, he is a star player and is considered part of the “Big Three” along with Wade and LeBron. Bosh has the same agent as Dwayne Wade. If he leaves the Raptors for the NY Knicks, imagine LeBron, Bosh and Allen Iverson. Bosh has openly admitted he is considering the Knicks with or without LeBron.

Allen Iverson, another great player and hard worker has never won a Championship. While playing for the 76ers, just like the NJ Nets with Jason Kidd, were beaten by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001, 2002 respectively. Iverson has great speed on fast breaks and still has a few good years left. If Dirk Nowitzki re-signs with the Dallas Mavericks, and Iverson joins them, he could be a starter along with Jason Kidd. That would be a triple threat as well.

It’s obvious that Larry Bird, Indiana Pacers President is tired of losing and will do whatever it takes to win. After the NBA finals, Bird went against conventional wisdom by announcing his draft night strategy—adding a point guard, upgrading the Pacers’ talent level and looking for a good trade to make it all work.

If the Lakers want to keep the Larry O’Brien trophy in Los Angeles, they would do well to keep Derek Fisher. He has proved his worth in gold at clutch times in the playoffs. However, the Lakers still need a backup 3-point shooter – by adding Allen Iverson, Chris Bosh or keeping Jordan Farmar they can counter attack the likes of Ray Allen.

While on the subject of Ray Allen – his erratic performance (hero to zero) in the NBA Finals may probably have hurt his bargaining power with other teams. That may well be the reason Allen has increased the chatter about his desire to return to Boston.

One thing is for sure, as fans, we have been witness to one of the best years in basketball. Regardless of the outcomes of this Poker game, the high wire anticipation rivals that of the high stakes gambling in Casino Royale. It makes for a long hot summer. When the trade deadline is officially over, I, along with NBA fans and media alike will be emitting a collective sigh of relief and doing our part to control the pollution of our teams’ parquet floors. And, as the season starts in September, we will look forward to some great basketball and begin rooting again for our favorite players and teams. In the meantime, regardless of the jerseys they wear, here’s wishing all the free agents a great summer flowing with champagne. May the best team win!

That’s my opinion, what’s yours?