Cautiously optimistic

NBA fans should take one thing from this offseason … the new CBA has hurt everyone and helped no one. Maybe the NBA players were sneaky-smart during the CBA negotiations. Or maybe they were just as clueless as to how things would shake out. In all honesty, it doesn’t seem to matter. The owners secured a deal that they intimated would help achieve competitive balance. Now that we’ve taken the CBA out for a test drive in the beginning of this free agency period, we see that it was a lot of smoke and mirrors. The new CBA simply disguised the same old handcuffs for the usual NBA dogs.

Dwight Howard is still spurning his small-market team for the bright lights of Broadway (or Brooklyn to be exact). Steve Nash has ditched Phoenix for a chance at a championship in Los Angeles. Deron Williams left Dallas holding a boatload of cash at the altar even though Dallas followed all the rules. At the end of the day, the players still have the power. And that’s a big blow to Stern’s idea of competitive balance.

                

           Competitive Balance is defined as “a market situation where no business is too big or has an unfair advantage.” Is the idea of competitive balance ever a realistic aspiration for a sports league like the NBA? As long as players are the recognizable stars and free agency exists, it seems virtually impossible to legislate competitive balance.

And the usual 27 owners are sitting there with egg on their faces. The problem with the cap that the owners pushed through in the new CBA is that it isn’t a hard cap. A hard cap would ensure competitive balance if for no other reason than teams would be forced to regress to the mean.  Without a hard cap, a crafty executive will figure out loopholes. Teams can still manufacture a situation that will work for them.

                 

           The bottom line is this … the players are winning because they’re still getting paid. The players are still going where they want to go. Players have the option to take less money … which means they can leave. Owners honor players’ wishes out of loyalty … which means they can leave. Miami remains a more desirable location than Cleveland … which means players leave.