Real Deal

In a way, he's correct in saying that the 1-2 punch is great compared to Bosh...because compared to the other two superstars, he's not. Now, I wouldn't call the duo great, either, and I don't use the word "great" to describe very many players...but this is just Shaq making Bosh look bad. When you look at the comment as a whole, and you consider who said it, then yeah, he's in the wrong.

I read somewhere that a lot of die-hard UFC fans think that Aldo is overrated and would be dominated by their top fighters. I've never watched the WEC, actually, and I've never seen the guy fight. Just saw on the news a bit ago that he won his fight, though...and easily. I guess nobody should try and stand toe-to-toe with him?

It all ends on OTR. Permanent bans will be given, and it doesn't matter the member. If needed, I'll drop 75% of this community or more, just to get rid of the issues...I really don't care at this point. Posts, images, avatars and signatures, anything that is racist or bashes religion or atheism, and you will be tossed. The mods will be aware of this once they read this topic, and they will be advised to ban indefinitely, PM me, and I will drop the member from the site for good.

Haha, yeah, I hate LeBron because he's black. That's why my favorite player is white.

It will be just as easy, because player salaries will be lower. Again, the big three in Miami makes $14-15 million each. A five-year, $60 million contract (what was projected to be the max first proposed for the new CBA) will pay guys $12 million a year, on average. Max deal. Of course, there's a salary increase per year, which means that starting salary will actually be lower, or players will agree on $12 million a year for five years, no increase. That's only $36 million off the hard cap to keep three max deals. And big markets DO care about the luxury tax. Jerry Buss had a deal on the table to bring in Kirk Hinrich, but he refused because the Bulls would not take Vujacic's $5 million off our hands, and Hinrich's $9 million contract would cost us double. And what free agents are willing to take the MLE to begin with? Mike Miller is one, but he's been injured for a couple of seasons. Guys like Odom and Ariza...they will all make over the MLE until they are too old or injured to be considered stars. The overpaid players actually help prevent teams from snagging stars for the MLE. Rudy Gay is a great example. You introduce the hard cap, and it's going to be packaged with salary cuts. Salary cuts make it easier for teams to retain players. Hard cap in place or not, the "elite" teams will always dominate professional basketball, while teams like Milwaukee and Minnesota will always struggle to contend, and it's mostly because of the market and tradition. New Jersey just brought in a Russian billionaire. Even with a hard cap, what NBA player would NOT consider living a life with him by their side? What NBA player would choose the city of Memphis over Los Angeles, one filled with celebrities, spotlight, sponsorships and rich history?

Wait a minute...isn't that tampering?

Basically, that's it. No MLE or LLE's, no Bird Rights. You have $70 million (making up a number), and you don't go over for any reason whatsoever. You have a draft pick that you need to sign, and you're at a $70 million payroll? You waive someone (or buy them out), or trade someone for future picks, to free up space.

I wasn't aware that Marc Gasol was trash. He was scouted for two years before that draft, and the only reason why he wasn't a first-rounder was because he wasn't showing interest in the NBA. But anyway...your first sentence...a hard cap of $65 million? So, basically, the Big Three in Miami can co-exist? Because all three are making under $15 million that first season. It gives the Heat $20 million to work with, due to your hard cap proposal. Mike Miller signed for $5 million, with Ilgauskas at under $2 million. House is cheap, Anthony had for cheap, Arroyo is vet's minimum, Chalmers is under a million, Howard and Magloire are at a million each. Miami basically has the same team they have now. Here's what will happen with a hard cap, and here's why it will ruin the NBA: superstars will still go to those teams, taking less money (like the Heat trio) knowing that they can make much more through endorsements. Because the max contract will more than likely decrease significantly, it will not be a problem to sit at a $65 million playroll every single season, maintain your three superstars or all-stars, and still dominate the league. It also kills players like Haslem, who are loyal to their city, but will be waived once he starts getting good enough to earn more money. So less talented, borderline stars (not all-stars) and sixth men basically get punished for getting better? They grow on the fans, and suddenly, get tossed aside so a team like the Knicks or Heat can bring in another superstar for $14 million? I'm a GM of the Knicks, and I'm in New York. We all want to be there, as players. Superstars will have lower max deals, so why not just try out my Knicks? Why not just create the super-team of three, $15 million each, and surround them with $20 million worth of players? Salary cuts across the board, so even guys like Mike Miller will be had for much cheaper. Hockey is not basketball. The hard cap will never work in the NBA, and it only promotes players signing cheaper deals that, as an option, may never increase per season, which means three superstars can be had for five or six years even with the hard cap, and that owner never, ever has to change that team's core during that time, never has to worry about salary increases and hitting a luxury tax, and he can go on winning titles galore. Same boat, but with bad weather awaiting.

LOL, I was thinking SOMEONE on this site would see it the way a few analysts and people over at RealGM do, but I guess not. No debate here, haha.

In other words, two reasons: small market teams can compete, and undeserving players would be given smaller contracts. Most of what you said falls under the category of having all 30 teams compete. Thing is, paying less for guys like Gooden also means underpaying deserving players, so that cancels itself out. As far as all 30 teams competing goes, that's what the draft is for, and that's why teams hire intelligent and witty general managers and scouts. The Sixers are dishing out over $69 million, 9th most in the league, and it's not translating into wins. However, the Thunder are at $50 million, 24th most in the NBA, and they nearly upset the Lakers and won 50 games last year.

It actually has extended outside of the Heat forum, just an FYI. And this will not continue to happen, by the way...just sticking that fact out there.

You got me there. It rarely happens, so go brag about it to your parents and friends.

Chill out, fellas.

Gotta pin this, or else it falls to the last page of the forum...don't know why ESPN didn't have this game on the schedule, but I missed it. Sorry fellas.

TIME: 2:30 PM ET TV: ESPN2

Yeah, we get it, the NBA revolves around the Heat. Most of us don't [expletive]ing care. The hard cap proposals have absolutely nothing to do with the circus in Miami right now.

I really doubt this happens, and if it continues to be part of the new CBA negotiations, you'll most definitely see a lockout. A hard cap will eventually restrict where free agents choose to go. If all contenders are at the cap, or a hair below it, big-name players will literally be forced to go to a struggling team, or in many cases, a small-market team. And in restricting team availability, it will force salary cuts. Someone like John Wall may be a deserving max player, but the only teams that could offer the max are the Bucks, Cavaliers, Pistons and Pacers...and assuming they are all struggling, and they aren't Los Angeles, Miami, or New York (where all big-name players want to go because of the market), Wall will have to look to a team like Denver, who may have a little less money to offer, is a better team, but not exactly cream of the crop (yes, Melo has left). So, really, a free agent really won't be free anymore. Also, you create a problem come draft time, if a team is maxed out and has a top pick. That's $3-4 million they will need to shed off of their roster just to sign their top pick, which could mean some deserving player ends up out of a job because his team had to waive him. Most all contract lengths will be shorter (much, much shorter) for guys like Oden, Yao and Bynum, who have been suffering from injuries over the last three seasons, because teams know they will NEVER be able to get out of those contracts once they write them up. How many times will you see a team offer expiring contracts in deals for non-superstar players? It would be much easier to pick up a superstar through free agency, with the hard cap, so teams will more than likely keep their expiring contracts, even of those players who are barely logging minutes. Could lead to more teams tanking seasons, keeping useless players on their rosters just to have an extra $18 million for the following season. You drop the luxury tax, and suddenly, the NBA doesn't make money off of it. I could go on and on.

The discussion of a hard cap has been ongoing long before LeBron and Bosh were even free agents, and serious talks about one were going on last offseason.

Bosh stated that he was waiting to see what LeBron was going to do, so it's sort of up in the air for me...not really sure how they would look today. Assuming Bosh did go to Miami, regardless of LeBron's decision? AND they signed everyone else? Miami would be under Boston, Orlando and maybe Chicago, so fourth best team in the East.

Haha...well, I'm not going to say Melo sucks, but I'm starting to think the Nets should just stick with Favors and Harris, see what comes out of it.

Ford and Woj were talking about it a LONG time ago on Twitter, which means I'd have to go back to February or March (when Amare was in trade rumors), because they were discussing how Amare would rather not sign a short extension with Phoenix, then look to sign as a free agent later, when contracts are lower. If you use Twitter, you know how impossible that would be, lol. http://www.nba.com/2010/news/07/02/cba.proposal.ap/index.html http://www.nba.com/2010/news/02/11/CBA.proposal.ap/index.html http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-labortalks020610 The initial proposal (talking about just max deals, nothing else) was to drop them to $60 million, and hell...that's a 50-55% salary cut, which is significant. Ford and Wojnarowski had posted it on Twitter, and they were stating that it was likely those cuts would see anywhere between 25-35% by the time serious talks were in session, that 50% was not even up for discussion at the end of the day.

One team stated they would trade for Melo regardless. If I recall correctly, that team was the Warriors. EDIT: http://www.ibabuzz.com/warriors/2010/09/20/warriors-may-want-carmelo-bad-enough-to-not-require-extension/

Once you're 27 and you go back and look at all of the mentally-unstable chicks you've been with, you'll realize how less shallow you should've been. Got with a girl during our senior campout (this was nine years ago, lol), and she walks around to this day thinking she's hotter than fire, probably going to be single for the rest of her life. I can name six guys who have hit it since me, no telling who before me. She might have the smallest brain in the world, too. Got fired from Blockbuster because her friends (I guess) were sticking burned copies of movies back into the drop box, and she would open the cases and close them back up, stick them back on the shelves as if it was nothing, and she ended up telling the manager (who I know) that she honestly thought the Blockbuster DVD's were all burned copies, and that's why they have so many of them (no joke, by the way). And no, I'm not throwing her under the bus for any particular reason other than she's the super slut...one of the better bodies I've seen around school back then, beautiful face, and absolutely nothing else.

See poll.

If you were the GM of the Detroit Pistons, what would you do at this point? C - Ben Wallace | Jason Maxiell | Chris Wilcox PF - Charlie Villanueva | Greg Monroe | Jonas Jerebko SF - Tayshaun Prince | Austin Daye | DaJuan Summers SG - Richard Hamilton | Ben Gordon | Tracy McGrady | Terrico White PG - Rodney Stuckey | Will Bynum