Enjoy It While It Lasts, Miami Heat

NBA Players Union Executive Director Billy Hunter walked away from the latest collective bargaining agreement negotiations and told reporters that he felt good about where the conversation is heading. That’s a bit surprising considering the owners’ latest proposal. While teams currently enjoy a soft, flexible salary cap of $58 million that allows for excessive spending by teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, the new $45 million hard salary cap would put an end to overspending by making teams actually… *GASP* spend wisely.

Some team owners and presidents have always pushed for this hard cap inclusion, but they’ve always bitched out at the last second and continued giving guys like Jermaine O’Neal and Shawn Marion huge contracts, but now they seem intent on putting their collective foot down. What’s that? My arm? Oh, it naturally wanks in a dismissive motion.

“If you lower the cap and harden it, there’s going to be teams that are going to have to make some tough decisions,” said Steve Patterson, former president of the Portland Trail Blazers and founder of Lake Oswego, Oregon-based Pro Sports Consulting LLC. “Certainly, Miami is one of them.”

Patterson said he told owners four years ago that for low- revenue clubs to break even, a hard cap of about $45 million was required.

“There were a lot of eye rolls,” Patterson said in a telephone interview. “And here we are.” (Bloomberg)

Yes, here we are. Suggesting that we can just put a new deal in place that gives teams the right to ditch players that don’t fit into their new budgets. I’m sure that will go over well with the Heat, what with their Big 2 and Chris Bosh making more than the proposed cap combined. Even if the new CBA states that 2-3 years can pass before teams definitely have to fit under the new hard cap, the players won’t cave for this, especially LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, since Bosh would be the odd man out.

Damn, I almost finished this post with a straight face. Two years? James and Wade will pack Bosh’s bags for him in one year if it means that the new CBA makes it impossible for teams to sign multiple superstars. Now excuse me while I go stuff Hedo Turkoglu into a duffel bag and ship him to Syberia.

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