NBA needs limits on contracts

Overpayment has become a way too frequent method of dealing in professional sports, and it has now clearly spread to the NBA. It started last season with power forward Carlos Boozer jumping ship from Cleveland to Utah for a 6-year $68 million deal, luring him away with nearly double the salary of what he was going to get offered by Cleveland. Utah also signed Mehmet Okur to a 6-year $50 million deal after finishing the season averaging 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds.

It has continued this offseason with Michael Redd accepting a MAX deal from the Milwaukee Bucks, a 6-year deal worth $80-90 million when he's not an elite player. He's more of a $8-9 millon dollar a year player, I would've offered him a 6-year 50 million dollar contract, but of course Milwaukee had to offer him everything with Cleveland trying to pry him off their hands for a deal in the $70 million range.

The outlandish deals continued with Milwaukee agreeing to terms with Bobby Simmons to a 5-year deal around $47 million. That comes out to about $9 million a year for a guard who has 1 good season on his resume (contract year). While he's a good player I think a more fair/reasonable contract would've been in the $7 million range. I would've offered him a 5-year $35 million contract and that's what he should've gotten.

The Cavs followed suit, giving Larry Hughes a 6-year deal around $70 million, greatly overpaying the guard to make sure he couldn't reject the team like other players had before. Hughes is an overrated player in my book, as Wade took apart the first team defense guard. Giving him around $11 million is way high and he probablyy should've been more in the $7-8 million a year range. I think a 6-year $45 million contract would've been a fair offer, although I hear the Wizards offered him something like that and he was angry at the thought. Sigh.

And the overpayment doesn't stop at players, it's even spread itself into the coaching ranks. Nate McMillan a good coach that hasn't done much in the league in respect to winning titles or going deep into the playoffs was signed by Portland to a deal around $7 million a year. That's way too much for a coach, and I'm disappointed he went for the money (and supposedly a better off the court situation) instead of taking the 4-year $18 million contract that was on the table by the Sonics (and I think is the right price for Nate). Not to mention the rumors that Flip Saunders, another good coach that has nothing on his belt in the big coaching categories is expecting an $8-9 million a year payday from whoever ends up with his services. It's ludicrous that the prices have gone up so high.

The worst thing that can happen to a league is buying more than you can afford, and right now the NBA is successful enough that they don't have to worry about it. They already put limiters to an extant when they negotiated the labor agreement in '99, but I do think they'll need to fix things at the next agreement the way things are going. My solution would be to have an arbirtration council look at the performance of the players the last season(s) and provide a ceiling to the MAX he can be offered, and have it adjusted so that his present team is the only team that can offer him the highest amount. I want to see the league continue to thrive, so if things get worse with contracts I'd hope my idea would be thought up by someone with the power to do something.