Ed. Note – please welcome Kyle Bright back to the staff. If you remember, he wrote for this site back at the end of last season.
– Sean
This wasn’t any normal lockout by any stretch of the imagination. Since about September there had been endless reports about how the sides were close, or even if they were not close, that progress was being made. Whether it be they had solved the system, or the players had given permission to Billy Hunter to agree to a 50-50 split, there always seemed to be progress, regardless of the negative comments being made. Then, the league seemed destined to maybe lose the season. The players had decertified and negotiators had made comments like David Stern’s “Nuclear winter” statements. There was no optimism and the predictions about the NBA losing the season finally seemed to have some validity.
Then, when the sides were supposedly meeting to talk about resolving the lawsuits, there was a major breakthrough. The sides had reached a tentative agreement and they were going to start the season on Christmas
Wait, what?
The lockout had just taken a turn for the worse. The players were suing and had decertified the union. Plus, Stern’s nuclear winter comments seemed to say that the lockout would last the whole winter. How had the league reached an agreement?
That is what made this lockout so bizarre. Now we move onto other talking points.
There is almost a whole month before basketball actually starts, and even a few more days before free agents can sign with a new team. When I heard that the lockout was over, the first thing that I immediately thought was about how the NBA would now start. Well, the lockout actually still is not officially over yet, and there is still a while until actual NBA basketball. The 76ers announced a preseason game on the 20th, so that is when the first game will be. Even though it will not be meaningful, it will still be a nice sign that the NBA is back. Until that time, we will just have to entertain ourselves with meaningless discussions about who we think will be released via amnesty clause and who will sign where, which is pretty much what we have been doing the whole lockout, minus the speculation about when a deal will be reached.
As for something I have been wondering since the new labor deal came out, how does this deal affect the 76ers?
It does not really affect them that much, although they may be able to tuck away the amnesty clause they are getting to use at a later date. The mid-level exception change, where you get to use less of it if you are a tax paying team, shouldn’t affect the 76ers, as they are not in the tax area so they will have the same amount to spend. Another major change is the strengthening of the luxury tax, and this just probably means that the 76ers will not spend into the tax area, as most teams probably will not now. The Sixers have not done that recently, so this will not be much of a change.
Another change is that a player can no longer sign as long of an extension with a team, something that contradicts the NBA’s stance on wanting to limit player movement, but this should not affect the Sixers for the time being. That is, they do not have a star player that they are desperate to extend. One change that could affect the 76ers is the change in trades. It used to be that teams over the cap could take on salaries up to 125% of their salaries they were giving up, but for non-taxpaying teams, that number has been upped to 140%. That could allow for more flexibility if the 76ers ever wanted to trade someone like Andre Iguodala, or even if they wanted to trade the expiring contract of Andres Nocioni.
The other major change in the CBA is that the players are going to make a lot less money, so while that will not really affect the 76ers, it is worth pointing out that player salaries are going to drop anywhere from $225 million to $305 million around the league. That should lower the salary cap, but will not really change player movement or do anything except lower the amount of money the players make.
So there you have it. That is how the changes from the CBA will affect the 76ers, and what a bizarre lockout this was. But remember, no basketball until December 25, or if you are so starved like me, you can watch the preseason on December 20th.