Congratulations! You’ve just been hired as the new commissioner of the National Basketball Association. Enjoy your spacious new office, the fourteen secretaries and the Rolodex of VIPs. You have been given the power to change the league. What would you do? Here’s my plan:
1. Ammend the infamous coming-off-the-bench rule. Since it’s fresh in everyone’s mind, we might as well start here. Even the most nonchalant sports fans remember where they were on November 19, 2004 when the Pistons/Pacers brawl erupted in Auburn Mills, Michigan. People tend to forget that this melee gave birth to the controversial rule suspending players for one game should they leave the bench while not officially on the floor. The rule itself was a typical over-reaction by the league office as well as a P.R.-motivated move by a league looking to do the right thing. Much like the five-second delay following the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident, league brass acted quickly and irrationally when instituting this rule, and it shows.
In principle, you can see the validity of it. But in practice, as we saw in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals, it goes too far. Phoenix Suns starters Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire simply came to the defense of teammate Steve Nash, who was given a cheap shot by Spurs Robert Horry. Sure, they left the bench. But Tim Duncan did the very same thing and the league didn’t flinch. Bottom line: you cannot suspend a player for walking on to the court. Players walk on to the court constantly and there is a better way to police it.
Suspend players for physical altercations (read: punching other players, shoving officials). Walking on to the court when not officially entered in the game is worthy of a technical foul. A second offense should be an automatic fine and one-game suspension.
2. Goodbye, soft salary cap. Hello, common sense. As it stands now, the NBA has a salary cap system in place, but teams can still exceed the spending limit and pay a luxury tax. So, basically, there is only the illusion of a cap. The only reason a hard cap doesn’t exist right now is that the players’ union, one of the strongest unions in North America, wouldn’t agree to the full system during the last round of negotiations and the league compromised. That’s understandable, but it’s time for a change. Look at the New York Knicks. With an astronomical team payroll of $139 million, they nearly tripled the 2006-07 limit of $53 million. Someone needs to put a lid on the free-spending owners of NBA franchises who crumble in front of player agents and offer the moon rather than risk losing their star. A hard cap will do this. Get rid of the luxury tax altogether and create a salary cap of $60 million for 2007-08. This takes into account a rise in payroll next season (an expected cap of about $55 million) as well as the mid-level exception ($5 million this past year) which allows teams to sign a player even if they’ve exceeded or met the limit. If a team’s transaction takes them over 60.0, it is rejected by the league office. This way, you avoid the heap of ridiculous contracts that have handcuffed so many franchises in the last decade while creating a level playing field and fostering competitive balance around the league. Union boss Billy Hunter would have to be swayed, but we’ll throw him a bone by extending the maximum length of player contracts from six years to seven. Look what the hard cap has done for the NHL. That’s really all the evidence you need.
3. Bring back the real fan. Now that the general managers aren’t worried about making a gazillion dollars in gate revenue to pay for their mistakes, we can lower ticket prices and open our doors once again to the true NBA fans. Escalating salaries had locked out the families, the working class and the lifelong (read: senior) supporters who followed the team in the days before their court was called the TD Banknorth Garden or Quicken Loans Arena. But thanks to change #2, we can now make going to an NBA game affordable again. Sure, there will still be corporate support. It’s absolutely essential. But you will need to dust off your earplugs, because NBA arenas won’t ever again sound like the public library. Good, hard-working people will be able to get great seats and you won’t need to know a suit to sit low on the floor. Welcome back, folks.
4. Cut the music during gameplay. This has to be done out of respect for the game of basketball. We all love music, but it has a time and place, and that is during breaks in the action. Today’s NBA doesn’t need to be about bombarding fans with music, P.A. announcer antics and sound effects. The game should speak for itself. The NHL has it right, as they stop music the second that play resumes. The best NBA cities fan-wise (Oakland, Salt Lake City, Chicago and New York City, to name a few) don’t need to be told when to chant “DEFENSE” or clap to a familiar rhythm. They understand the game and don’t need to be told what to do and when. They just know. A good crowd will rile itself up.
Well, my time as commissioner is coming to a close, but it’s been a great tenure. Here’s hoping these changes give us the league we all deserve.
The Splog. Sports Blogging From a New Perspective. 