Next Year's Lockout

This just in: Donnie Walsh and Rick Sund have completely and utterly forfeited their future rights to complain should the NBA enter a lockout next season over player's contracts by signing Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson, respectively (in such a scenario, managers and owners will complain about players' ridiculous contracts when the Collected Bargaining Agreement expires in early fall, 2011). Meanwhile, back in 2010, owners and managers are busy happily signing as many ridiculous contracts as they can. Stay tuned for further ridiculous max amounts of money being offered for Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer (a slight overpayment in the first case, a Knicks/Hawks level overpayment in the second).

These deals make little sense. Cap space was cleared to pay for the (justified) max contracts of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. But since there are only two such guys worth max money available this year (and only a handful more in the league), and since there are many teams with spending cash that will be gone should they not lavish it on players, anyone lucky enough to be up as a free agent who has played in a couple All-Star games can expect a max deal. I think it would make a lot of sense for some of these teams to wait for Carmello Anthony, Brandon Roy, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, and Kevin Durant (among others) all of whom will become free-agents before Stoudemire's new contract is up (not to mention Johnson's ridiculous 6 year max contract, which might, should LBJ go to Chicago, prove that Johnson is better than LeBron, according to the free market). There is an argument that some revenue will be lost from empty seats while these teams wait around for the potential free-agents to maybe sign with their squads, but surely Amare is not a solution to that problem. Things are going to be pretty grim in Madison Square Garden unless The King plays there (this is, after all, a recession). Making the Stephon Marbury mistake again will hardly help New York reclaim its glory days of losing in the finals that one time (and that other much worse time). It may turn out that this year's big free-agency losers: The Clippers, and maybe the Nets, will be its biggest winners come a few years in which they can snag some good picks and spend some saved cash; its biggest winners, that is, besides whatever team signs two of the Bosh, Wade, James triplets. To this mystery team I must offer my most sincerest congratulations and support in Beating LA. Bash their skulls in guys.