Would there be no union either? If there was no union would there be a draft? Imagine no draft too? My head is going to explode!
It's freakin basketball anarchy!!!!!!!!!!!
Now picture no contracts either. It's a game-by-game basis.
Tony Allen is getting about 61k a game (about 5m a year), has a few of good games in row putting up 20ppg, 5rpg, 5apg, 50% from the floor. Sacramento needs some scoring from the 2, so they offer him 122k to play for them tomorrow. He stinks, puts up like 2ppg, on 15% shooting, with 4 turnovers per game for like 2 games, and Sacramento decides they don't want him back anymore. Now he has to decide between a 20k offer to play for Minnesota in 2 days, or go back to Memphis for 12k on the same day. When you’re playing good everybody in the league wants to sign you, when you’re playing bad nobody wants to sign you. Now if players are slacking on the court, it's really going to hurt them, so they have to come to play every game.
What keeps some player stability is knowing that they produce best playing with familiar guys and knowing the team’s plays. Rondo knows he’ll produce best playing with Ray, Paul, and KG who he’s played with for years. Big Baby thinks he should have a bigger role, he can try the market, go play with another team for a few games, see his value drop when he doesn’t produce as a starter, realize the grass really isn’t greener over there, and come back to the C’s for bench player money all within a couple of weeks.
Guys like Eddy Curry aren't getting paid because they haven't produced in years.
No players complaining about being underpaid, no fans complaining players about players being overpaid to be on the injured list or sit on the end of the bench or be out of shape (because if any of this happens that aren’t getting paid. Although there would probably be some league wide insurance policy for injured players, but paid by the league or union and not by the teams).
A young guy with a lot of energy trying to make a name for himself, could split games between 2 or 3 teams. Picture a hungry and healthy Leon Powe, maybe plays 10 minutes with the Celtics today but they have 3 days off in a row, to get some more time he goes and plays a game with the Knicks, then comes back to the Celtics for their next game. Want to play a lot of games, you can. Want to play less (old veterans who have established themselves) , maybe don’t want to play a back-to-back, then you can choose not to play.
Talk about the ultimate free market. The league would just be like a giant pick up game. Kind of cool to think about (although I know there are a ton of flaws/holes to be patched).
Topic: What would the NBA look like with no salary cap? (Read 8718 times)