The New Salary Cap Kills Dreams, and Gives Other’s Hope

Today the salary cap numbers were released for the NBA, and as projected the cap space for next season dropped by close to $1 million from $58.68 million this past season to $57.70 million this upcoming season. It is also projected to drop 5% more next year during the extremely hyped free agency class of 2010.  I know that I’ve been a little depressed and couldn’t really tell what the motivations were for the moves made by my Warriors, but now I feel that this is going to give us the boost we needed, as it may help us get rid of our horrendous owner (back to that later).

Teams that have been clearing cap space for the 2010 free agent bonanza are suddenly realizing that they may not have the cap room they first thought. The Knicks have been the most adamant in trying to get a superstar to the big apple in 2010, as they have been dumping salary like Steinbrenner gives out $100 million contracts. Their obvious goal was to make enough room under the cap to sign a combo of star players and bring the franchise back to contention for a championship. Since they were trying to clear out enough money to sign a combo of players, they haven’t really developed much of a team. During the tirade of trades that would be off the books by 2010 the projected cap was in the $60 million range. Now it appears that number will be around $8 million less than what was projected a year ago to spend on the superstar summer. Basically, instead of signing two superstar free agents, they will have to settle for one superstar and one MLE player. In the Knicks case, it seems that not developing a team worthy enough to entice a superstar, is going to hurt them next summer. As of now, it seems much more likely that Cleveland, Toronto, and Miami can retain their franchise guys, and possibly, for slightly less money than they had originally thought. Does it sound very tempting to a player like Lebron to go to a lottery team like the Knicks or stand pat and keep trying in Cleveland where he knows he’s close. If Lebron isn’t moving to a team with a player like Bosh, Wade, or Amare there isn’t a point for him to leave.  I’m sure he believes he could make them a playoff team, but I doubt he could talk himself into thinking that they were a championship caliber team.

What does this do to the Warriors you may ask? Not only is the cap not a concern to me, even though the Warriors have a lot of their money tied up for many years down the road, it actually could be a franchise changing year for the good of the team! Being a lifelong Warriors fan, I wasn’t old and wise enough to enjoy the early teams they had with Run TMC, so I’m stuck with the visions of the Chris Cohan era, which has produced a whopping 1 playoff appearance in 15 seasons! This recent news has helped our horrible owner have what alcoholics like to call “a moment of clarity”. Even if this team does get blown up because of the sale, is that really the worst thing that could happen to this franchise? I love the way their team is set up with youth and some veterans, but any longtime Warriors fan will tell you that it can’t get much worse as long as the new owner doesn’t take us for a Donald Sterling type ride. I’d love to see a front office that actually has relationships with the GM, coach, and players. What a concept!