Give Em' the Bird

Last week, the New York Knicks received some remarkably important news when the arbitration hearing concerning Early Bird Rights was ruled in their favor. In effect, the ruling meant that Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak could resign with the Knicks without their salaries counting against the salary cap. But what exactly was the impact of the ruling in favor of the NBAPA? First, a little history lesson. What exactly are Early Bird Rights? Well if you guessed that it had something to do with Larry Bird, you are indeed right. Back in the 1980s, the Celtics were seeking to resign Bird without it affecting their team salary cap. To appease the Celtics, the league instituted something called Bird Rights, which allows a team to resign a player for an amount up to the maximum allowable salary if the player has been with the franchise for any assortment of 3 years. Later, Early Bird Rights were introduced which allowed teams to resign players who had been with the franchise for any assortment of 2 years. In this case, concerning Lin, Novak and also Chauncey Billups, the NBAPA argued that teams should be allowed to resign players who had played with a team for a minimum of one year, thus allowing them to resign those players at the maximum allowable salary without it counting against the salary cap.
Remarkably complicated? Yes. So I'm here to simplify the equation for you as best as I can. In essence, a player with Early Bird Rights under the new ruling, unless the NBA's appeal is successful (fingers crossed), will allow the Knicks and Clippers to resign these players at no immediate harm to the team's cap. This is incredibly crucial for the Knicks who are desperate for a starting point guard and Lin certainly fits that mold. In addition, Novak was the top 3 point shooter in the NBA last season and brings an extra dimension to the game.
Ready for it to get even more complicated? The Knicks estimated salary for next season is a whopping $61,688,422, which is well over the cap line of $58.044 Million for the upcoming season under the newly ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement. Of course, teams are bound to go over but like in baseball, there are tax penalties for teams that choose to do so. Looking at the Knicks roster for the upcoming season, there are only 7 players currently under contract. This includes Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Renaldo Balkman (who is no longer with the team), Toney Douglas, Iman Shumpert and Jerome Jordan. The Knicks do hold a team option on Josh Harrelson and J.R. Smith has until tomorrow to pick up a $2.5 Million player option for the upcoming season, which if he rejects, allows the Knicks to resign him at a 120% raise of his current salary. It is also expected that the Knicks will resign Landry Fields despite his struggles last season (there doesn't seem to be many takers for his services as of yet) and also expect the Knicks to bring back defensive stalwart Jared Jeffries at the veteran's minimum next season as well. But with the Knicks being well over the league's salary cap, how do they go about resigning these players and also bringing back Lin, Novak and any other free agents? Well the CBA also calls for something called Mid Level Exceptions (MLEs) and veteran's minimum contracts as previously mentioned. These are noted as contract exceptions which protect a team from too greatly exceeding the league's hard cap level. A veteran's minimum contract is as it sounds; a player who is a veteran in the league (5 years or more) can be signed for the league's minimum allowable salary. This can allow the Knicks to resign someone like Jeffries on the cheap without it affecting the cap drastically. The MLE is not as simple. There are two levels. The $3 Million exception and the $5 Million exception. The benefit of the $3 Million exception is that it allows teams to sign a free agent if they are over the cap without it affecting the previously mentioned hard tax line which teams over the salary cap may fall privy to. Of course, the disadvantage is that players in free agency will likely be seeking to make more money which brings the $5 Million exception into play. The benefit of the $5 Million exception is that it allows team to more aggressively pursue free agents with a greater salary to offer the players. The disadvantage of course is that it sets off the hard tax line and may affect a team's ability to navigate their salary cap in the future. Ok, now let me catch my breath.
With Lin and Novak presumably safely resigned under their newly enacted Early Bird Rights, the Knicks are free to use their veteran's minimum contracts, their MLE and also their bi-annual exception (which allows them to resign a free agent at a $1.672 Million annual contract). So what does this all mean for the Knicks to now be players in the 2012 free agency game? With guys like Steve Nash, Ray Allen, Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd available beginning at the start of free agency on July 1st, the Knicks are now free to use these various contract exceptions in order to bolster their team roster and become serious players to challenge the defending champion Heat next season. While it may be a reach, the Knicks could presumably sign Nash at the MLE of $5 Million (it's unlikely he'd take the $3 Million option), Kidd at the MLE of $3 Million (if Nash does not work out and Kidd is willing take the pay cut for a chance at challenging the Heat), and look to sign Allen and/or Felton with the veteran's minimum or with the bi-annual exception. All this, with Lin and Novak possibly on the roster as well. There are also rumors of the aforementioned Landry Fields being traded for a late 1st round draft pick in this Thursday's NBA draft or maybe even for a swingman like Gary Neal who could greatly fill a void in the backup SF position for the team. So what could the Knicks roster possibly look like for the upcoming season? Feast your eyes:
PG- Lin, Kidd/Nash/Felton/Douglas
SG- Smith/Shumpert (likely returns by January from ACL surgery)/Allen
SF- Anthony/Fields/Neal
PF- Stoudemire/Jeffries/Novak
C- Chandler/Jordan
And a likely starting 5 (for the time being) of:
PG- Lin
SG- Allen or Smith
SF- Anthony
PF- Stoudemire
C- Chandler
It's all remarkably complicated and all this may not even register through to everyone, but know this; the Knicks could be even better than last season and give the league it's first taste of real Linsanity and Mobb Deep action with a challenge to the reigning champion Miami Heat and the rest of the NBA for the fast approaching 2012-2013 NBA season. Here's to hoping.

The Heat is Still On

Last night, LeBron James finally obtained the one career distinction that had continually eluded him since his entrance into the NBA. A ring. He's gotten everything else. MVPs, All Star appearances, NBA-First Team selections and even a gold medal in the Olympic games. Yet, as most sports professionals aspire to, he was lacking the one piece of hardware that would finally separate him from his detractors and catapult him into NBA supremacy. And last night he finally got it. The widespread sentiment in the NBA community after the victory last night over the Thunder for the Heat's second NBA title and first since 2006 was that James had finally reached the precipice of NBA lore. He had finally included himself along the greats like Jordan, Bryant, Russell, Magic and Bird. All this with just one ring and no guarantee that he'll ever win another. So HOLD THE PHONE.
Let's backtrack and remember who we're comparing this guy to. Jordan has 6 titles and is likely the greatest player we'll ever see don an NBA uniform. Bryant is only the greatest player to grace an NBA court over the past decade and happens to wear 5 rings. Russell? How about 11 for size? And Magic and Bird? They only went back and forth for the entire decade of the 1980s swapping shots at the ring year by year in what was surely the greatest rivalry we will ever see in NBA history and maybe even in sports. And then we come to LeBron. One title deep and only 27 years old. Sure that's an incredible achievement but you simply cannot compare him to these other greats.
There is no doubting LeBron's achievements as a player. He has clearly been the best player in the league for quite awhile and there is almost no one who can dispute that. Already with 3 MVPs under his belt, it is not unwarranted to think that he might continue winning them year in and year out for the next decade with his level of athleticism and skill. But as even LeBron has frequently said, greatness is defined by championships. We'll always regard guys like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone and Elgin Baylor as some of the all time greats but they will always be regarded as missing that elusive ring. Even Barkley acknowledged this in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech for the 1992 Dream Team. Greatness is defined by the number of rings you can accumulate. Statistics are merely just a crowd pleaser. And while LeBron has become a notoriously unpopular player over the last 2 seasons because of his exodus from Cleveland and promise of not 1, not 2, not 3.....rings speech when he arrived in Miami, he is clearly the most scrutinized and watched player in the league which of course, drives ratings up, making David Stern a very happy man. But while it's good and great that LeBron has become the face of the NBA, he's done so without much success in the NBA playoffs until this point. There's no doubt that he'll have more opportunities being at such a young age and presumably in the prime of his career but again it's no guarantee. The media firestorm that ensued when LeBron guaranteed championships upon his arrival in Miami was clearly an ill fated move. It is something we never saw Jordan do and he is the player who we most compare him to. I'm not saying that he won't ever reach the level of Michael Jordan but as we saw from this past post-season, it takes heart and soul and an incredible amount of dedication. We know Jordan had it, we know Bryant had it and may still have some left in the tank but we do not know if LeBron has it. All we've gotten so far is a taste of the hunger that LeBron claims to have. But we haven't yet seen if he has what it takes to reach their level of greatness. Until then, the heat will always be on LeBron until he comes close to the number of championships of the all time greats. LeBron is the best player in the NBA right now. Ask me in 10 years if he's the greatest player in NBA history.