Friday, February 25, 2011

A Hard Cap For The NBA Might Be Bad News For The Lakers




News of an NBA lock out for fans is disheartening but usually the details of the quarrels between the owners and players have little effect on the fans themselves. A fan isn’t interested in the players’ level of health care or their pension plan; nor is he concerned about the owners’ bottom line. The fan base merely wants to watch their favorite team play the game that they love and be amazed by the feats and abilities of the stars.
The NBA has some worrisome times upcoming as the players and owners’ CBA (collective bargaining agreement) is set to expire at season’s end and unless the two sides make some dramatic concessions to their demands a lock out prior to the start of the 2011-2012 season is inevitable.
There are many points of contention between both sides and most have little to do with Joe Schmoe NBA fan, except one. The one idea being talked about on the owners’ side and one that the players’ union would undoubtedly be completely against is the implementation of a hard salary cap.
Unlike the NFL and NHL, the NBA uses a soft salary cap which allows teams to go over the limit for team salaries with numerous exceptions. A good example of the flexibility of a soft cap is the Lakers who currently have a payroll of 90+ million dollars despite the league salary cap limit being set at 58 million. The Lakers were able to get over the salary cap with exceptions that allow them to sign their own players and free agents without restrictions of the cap. In a Hard Cap world, there would be few exceptions and a team must keep their salaries below the set limit.
If a hard cap is shoved down the players’ throat and they relent by accepting the terms, what does that mean for the prospects of the Laker organization which has an incredible advantage by having an owner not afraid to spend the money necessary to form a championship team?
What happens to the Lakers current squad if a hard cap is set effective immediately and they need to get under the threshold before the start of next season?
We look at some of the devastating effects of a hard cap on both the current Laker squad and the future of the organization.
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The Best Tough-It-Out Moments in Laker History




The sports talk world is a buzzing after this past weekend’s NFL divisional playoff games where we saw Green Bay and Pittsburgh advance to the 45th Big Game (I think we can’t refer to it as its actual name which rhymes with Luper Toll). The buzz isn’t around the goal line stance of Pittsburgh or the 1st quarter of near perfection by Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, but like most hot topics in the sports talk world and one many Lakers fans are familiar with, it involves controversy surrounding a polarizing figure.
The topic that has the sports talk radio station phones ringing off the hook is the Jay Cutler knee injury that kept him out of the 2nd half of the pivotal NFC championship game leaving the Bears quarterbacking duties to a decrepit Todd Collins and an undrafted and unproven rookie in Caleb Hanie. To place this in perspective, it’s like having a choice of replacing an injured Kobe Bryant in Game 7 of a conference finals game with either Morris Petterson or Devin Ebanks.
In that situation, most would say that a one legged Kobe would still be more effective and trustworthy than either of the aforementioned players. That is what has the Chicago fanbase so irate, that considering the quality of players that are behind Cutler and the gravity of the moment, how he could not continue to play despite the injury?
Many in the sports world are saying that Jay Cutler lacks toughness, including the Chicago fan base, former and current players, media pundits and pretty much every group imaginable outside of his own team.
The Lakers have had their own moments where one of their players had their toughness or severity of their injury questioned:
Pau Gasol’s toughness is still questioned to this day.
Shaquille O'Neal had long been criticized for delaying surgery and not putting in the work in rehab to get on the court quicker.
Andrew Bynum was questioned just this past off season for delaying surgery to attend the World Cup. Also, the times he has been injured his recovery period has always exceeded the initial expected return date.
While we can follow the lead of the national media at Lakersnation and focus on negativity by reliving these moments, I think it would be better served to review the Lakers history of the polar opposite to what Jay Cutler is being accused of this week.
This brings to mind the absolutely greatest examples of toughness in the biggest games in Laker history. I want to focus on the times where despite injury and excruciating pain, the player willed himself back on the court to finish out a game or a series in the interest of the team and winning.
These are the greatest moments of toughness in Laker history that come to mind.
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It’s Official; Artest Owns Durant Outright




Monday nights 7 point win over the Thunder was probably the biggest and most impressive win for the Lakers this season. The Lakers have struggled mightily against the elite teams in the NBA and they desperately needed the W for their confidence in addition to trying to build some momentum going into the All Star break. While a team coming off two straight championships doesn’t have their confidence shaken easily by regular season wins and losses, doubt however, even if a little, has to begin to creep in and build in the player’s subconscious as the bad losses pile up.
A huge factor in last nights win was the complete smothering of Durant by Ron Artest which caused an ineffective and inefficient night by the leagues reigning scoring champ. Durant shot a horrid 8 for 24 on his way to a lackluster 24 points. Artest’s hand cuffing of Durant was no aberration as this was their 10th game where the two have matched up over the last two seasons (including playoff games) and the other 9 games look eerily similar to last night.
It would be a very hard to believe a statement that someone of the adept scoring ability of a Kevin Durant is owned by any one defender. In this case, with 10 games of hard evidence, we need to start considering that Artest has a strangle hold on all claims to Durant.
I have some compelling pieces of evidence that can substantiate Ron’s claim of ownership, should he ever choose to bring it fruition.
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