SomeCallMeTim
07-12-2010, 06:37 PM
I could be wrong here. Correct me if I am.
From what I understand, taking on a FA on a one-year deal then gives that team Bird rights.
Therefore, to circumvent the cap, teams could ostensibly sign star players to one year, below-market deals. MLE, LLE, etc. Would work even with teams over the cap.
Then once the team has Bird rights, those players could be signed to max extensions. I guess I'm not entirely clear they'd have those Bird rights after a one-year deal but I think they do.
This would require:
a) a team willing to spend absolute gobs of cash because team payroll would easily exceed $100M and then luxury tax would be huge
b) a little "wink-wink" understanding between team and player that they'll get extended. hard to imagine that wouldn't already be assumed for a guy like Melo or Paul -- what team is not going to sign them to a max extension if they'll take it?
c) league approval -- they could call shenanigans
I think step c might be the hardest one -- would Stern nix something like that?
Sure seems permissible under the current CBA... just like what LeBron and Bosh did was wholly OK -- no monkey business needed.
From what I understand, taking on a FA on a one-year deal then gives that team Bird rights.
Therefore, to circumvent the cap, teams could ostensibly sign star players to one year, below-market deals. MLE, LLE, etc. Would work even with teams over the cap.
Then once the team has Bird rights, those players could be signed to max extensions. I guess I'm not entirely clear they'd have those Bird rights after a one-year deal but I think they do.
This would require:
a) a team willing to spend absolute gobs of cash because team payroll would easily exceed $100M and then luxury tax would be huge
b) a little "wink-wink" understanding between team and player that they'll get extended. hard to imagine that wouldn't already be assumed for a guy like Melo or Paul -- what team is not going to sign them to a max extension if they'll take it?
c) league approval -- they could call shenanigans
I think step c might be the hardest one -- would Stern nix something like that?
Sure seems permissible under the current CBA... just like what LeBron and Bosh did was wholly OK -- no monkey business needed.