The NBA needs a fix

The Seattle Supersonics tipped off the first game last Wednesday as the NBA begins yet another season. While I would not say the outlook is completely hopeless, all signs point to this being another boring, mediocre season of Sonics basketball. No playoffs to follow, but also no high draft pick to get excited about next year. I am not alone in my thoughts. In Sports Illustrated's NBA preview issue, Seattle was picked to finish 12th in the Western Conference, four spots out of the playoffs. Meanwhile, on ESPN.com, the first release of the weekly power rankings puts the Sonics at number 29, above only Charlotte, which was not even in existence a year ago. This column, however, is not about the upcoming Sonics season. It is instead about the fundamental problems inherently wrong with the way the NBA is structured. Unfortunately, for us basketball fans in Seattle, the Sonics' never-ending mediocrity can be explained by some of these problems. The number-one issue that plagues the NBA is the general structure of the salary cap. The "sign and trade" and the matter of guaranteed contracts undermine the competitiveness of the league. In the NBA, players can be signed to contracts exceeding the salary cap if they have been on the team for at least three years. This is known as the Larry Bird exception, and is generally a good tool to be used to keep a team's franchise players in town even if they have no cap space. When two teams agree to a "sign and trade," what is happening is that one team is taking advantage of the Larry Bird exception by having the player's former team sign him to a deal that they could not because of the salary cap restrictions. The second team then trades the player to the first team, getting something in return for a player would have lost without compensation to free agency otherwise. The problem with this is that teams such as the Dallas Mavericks can stockpile free agents they would not have otherwise had the resources to sign under the cap. This can lead to an excess of talent on teams willing to spend more money and not worry about the luxury tax. By means of the presence of guaranteed contracts, problems can happen that keep bad teams from getting better while actually trying to gain a competitive edge. With the NBA so centered around superstars as it is now, it makes it so teams tend to overpay for players in hopes of them having a breakout season. Then, as that season never comes they are just stuck with the large contract. For the Sonics, the problems with guaranteed contracts came in a different way when the team signed Vin Baker. After a solid first year in Seattle, the Sonics signed the big man -- who was an all-star during his time in Milwaukee -- to a huge multi-year deal. However, for the next four years, Baker went downhill and never regained the form he showed during that first season in the Emerald City. Kevin Garnett is responsible for the next problem facing the NBA. Ever since he jumped early from high school in 1995, the number of high school seniors drafted has escalated each year, including a record eight in this year's draft. With such young players entering the league, it has made the draft basically a crapshoot, as teams look more for potential than for actual ability. This keeps bad teams from getting better because, instead of bringing in a player that can play now, they have to develop talent and teach these young players things they should have learned at Michigan State or Duke. On the flip side, this can help good teams get players ready to contribute right away. By passing on athletes who spent time in college in favor of high school kids, players such as Josh Howard and Tayshaun Prince drop down and become productive players for teams already among the elite. While the Sonics have not yet been affected by this trend, the pick of Robert Swift out of high school in this year's draft may give us first-hand experience. While Swift should be the starting center at USC, he will be sitting on the Sonics' bench for the next few years. Discussing every problem there is with the NBA would take up much more column space than I am allowed, but implementing these three things would go a long way to fixing the competitive slant prevalent in the league today.

The NBA needs a fix

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