Golden Nuggets: I've got your "game changer" right here

So, apparently Mark Cuban proposed a new system that union executive director Billy Hunter titled as Game Changer last week. Or did the NBPA propose it? We try to sort it out in this morning’s Golden Nuggets.

According to Billy Hunter, during his interview with Bill Simmons on the B.S. Report podcast, Mark Cuban went outside the box and proposed a system called Game Changer. This "plan" (as speculated by Hunter) would essentially eliminate the salary cap as we know it. Replacing it with a very high threshold for a luxury tax – for example, setting the luxury tax at $75 million. Then having teams over the luxury tax pay an extreme penalty – like $3 for every $1 over. The new plan would also have a minimum spending floor and teams would have the ability to spend big for superstar players – essentially the Major League Baseball (MLB) pay structure.

This plan was rejected (however, Hunter said there were several owners who were on board). Then the following day the NBA owners claimed that it was the union that proposed the deal, not Cuban. So the finger pointing and bad feelings continue.

I'm aware that 99.9% of my fellow Stiffs here would reject that sort uncapped idea. I'm not going to put any sort of sway on my thoughts here. I happen to think hard caps only work for competitive balance when rosters are large and players are plentiful (per the NFL.) Or, it could work if there's a legitimate and fully funded minor league system to develop players (per the NHL & MLB). Talent is spread so thin in the NBA that you need smart drafting and key trades to succeed. That will continue regardless of any cap.

With all that being said, I'm not a big fan of the MLB system because their revenue sharing plan is TOO robust and quite frankly there's some unscrupulous teams that just take the revenue share and sit on it … making money regardless. If it was Cuban who proposed the plan, then I think he must have been thinking some franchises will both get a hard cap AND sit on revenue sharing money. Yet, we can only guess at this point.

Put your thoughts below. The plan was rejected so I guess it's a moot point, but it does show that there are at least some people involved in these talks that are trying to think outside the NBA norm. Kudos to them (whether it be Cuban or someone in the union.)

Your morning links are below!

B.S. Report: Billy Hunter interview – Bill Simmons, Grantland
Here is the hour long interview Bill Simmons did with Billy Hunter on Monday. There's interesting tid bits sprinkled all over. Obviously Hunter is a politician and is deliberately spinning but it is still a very interesting interview.

NBA says union, not Cuban proposed elimination of salary cap – Washington Post (via AP)
And the merry go round continues. The NBA claims that it was the union, not Cuban who proposed the elimination of the salary cap. Like I said above, either way it was refreshing to hear an outside the box idea.

Karl biding his time while waiting for NBA to unlock it’s doors – Woody Paige, Denver Post
Short interview with George Karl by Woody Paige. Short because Karl can’t say anything about the players or otherwise he will be fined (which is silly beyond belief when you think about it)

Owners and players to meet in small groups today, game cancellations on hold – Mitch Lawrence, NY Daily News
In the "wheels on the bus go round and round" portion of the show, the NBA players and owners schedule another meeting. This time with small groups. Oh boy. I flatly refuse to get excited about this. It's like Groundhog Day.

Now – one of my favorite songs of all time