It's a messy situation that no one wants to talk about, and probably won't ever happen, because David Stern doesn't admit defeat... and contracting teams is admitting defeat. However, it would be for the overall good of the league if there were fewer players. The CBA is expiring at the end of the year and we're headed towards a lockout of some length. I don't claim to be an expert of the ins and outs of the CBA, the NBPA, or anything really. However, if the player's portion of the proverbial pie is decreased... players could keep similar salaries if there were... wait for it... FEWER PLAYERS! Genius, I know.
My plan would be for 2 teams to be contracted, 1 from each conference, in an effort to rid the Association of marginal players getting ridiculous contracts. Now, I'm not naive, I know that GMs will continue to give marginal players ridiculous contracts... but this way, there will be about 10-12 less of them each year.
The teams I think make the most sense are Memphis and Toronto, from the great Canadian expanision of 1995. However, I'm sure the league doesn't want to lose the tiny piece of the Canadian market they hold (because the Raptors are currently the most unwatchable team in the league), so Charlotte could also be substituted for Toronto... kind of a in-last, first-out situation. Also, Toronto AND Charlotte could go, and Memphis could move to the East... But, this is my plan... and Toronto and Memphis have to go.
If you look at Toronto's roster, you will find no one of real worth, and several guys (Barbosa, Stojakovic, Amir Johnson, Calderon) who are committing outright larceny with those salaries.
Memphis's squad does not have the same problem, however, Memphis draws few fans, has no real history, and is the easiest team in the West to bid adieu to. (The Kings and T'Wolves could be better choices, but the Maloofs grip on the Kings (along with their impending move to Vegas in a few years) and the slightly longer history and better fan presence in Minnesota keeps Memphis as the team to cut). Memphis has some quality pieces, in Gay, Mayo, Randolph, Conley (so-so), and Marc Gasol.
The simplest and most fair plan to disperse these players to the other teams is to simply treat them as unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Would Gay get another $120 Million dollar contract? Probably not, but that's good for the NBA. Player salaries have gotten a little ridiculous. Amir Johnson is not worth $34 Million over 5 years. He's not. Almost every team in the NBA is paying one of their players a "max" contract... some even have more than one on the books. The thing is... there are probably only 12-15 max players in the league. That means an additional 15 guys are making that money just because everyone else is doing it... this same principle trickles down and too many players get too much money pledged to them.
So just think, would you rather see Toronto and Memphis continue to play "NBA Basketball" or would you like to see OJ Mayo on the Thunder, Andrea Bargnani in Houston, Rudy Gay running alongside John Wall, Marc Gasol taking his talents to South Beach, Zach Randolph eating up the post in Chicago, and Leandro Barbosa returning to his only fit... as a backup PG in D'Antoni's system?
Oh, and a bunch of scrubs can go to the D-League or Europe... or China to hangout with Starbury.
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