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Will another team ever recieve a harsh penalty like the Wolves did for a salary cap violation?
I have believed for years that if that same situation happened to a marquee franchise, that team would not be stripped of the #1 draft choice for 5 years and the GM had to have no contact with the team for a year. That one moment of stupidity set the franchise back for years, and this came when they had one of the true superstars of the game. Do you see this happening to any other team, or did the teams get wise and make sure they play by the rules? Or, if there is a violation, did the league see that this is too harsh and future violations will not be punished in the same way? I know this was years ago, but I can't help but think the Wolves would be a much better franchise if this punishment was not so harsh. It was why they could not build a proper team around Garnett, save for 2004.
3 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
I don't think any franchise would be immune to the penalty that the Wolves received honestly. I do think that Kevin McHale made a huge risk for a marginal player. He wanted to lock up Joe Smith to a secret 3 one year deals for under his market value, in exchange for a multi-million multi-year dollar deal that would kick in the 2000-2001 season to get around the salary cap rules... for what reasons to this day I don't know why he would risk such a deal.
Joe Smith is a good locker room guy and a consummate professional. Every team he's played on... and there have been many... he's always made an improvement to the team however big or small his contributions were. But to know the rules and to still break them, and worse to be caught, lays solely on McHale and the Timberwolves management.
It is in the best interest of the NBA for all of it's franchises to be successful. Especially with Garnett as a main NBA draw for so many years with his jersey being one of the highest sellers and his commercial appeal so high. KG was in a small market (not my words... just what it's considered), yet he could be seen everywhere. It was the NBA's loss (lots of revenue money lost there) that potential franchise changing players could not be added to a legit superstar, because of McHale's under the table agreement with Smith.
Had Minnesota not gotten the violation I believe the the Wovles would of done more than just first round appearances and that with good picks that 2004 team would of been the beginning of a run of WCF's and possibly a ring or two for KG.
In my opinion any franchise would of been penalized. In truth there are many ways to get around the cap. Legally. Why the Timberwolves decided to go the most visible and franchise damaging route I don't know.
Especially with Joe Smith leaving for Detroit and returning a season later.
- TWASLv 51 decade ago
I am glad that these penalties exist in the NBA. I would hope they do it to every team. I know it sounds crazy, but my worst nightmare is the NBA and the NFL become like the MLB, where the league is dominated with the teams with the most money. Anything to keep those caps in place I am fine with. The last thing we need in basketball is teams like the Spurs, Pacer, Hornets, etc to never have a chance to excel because the Lakers and Knicks would buy all the talent. Look at the Knicks right now all their stupid moves hurt them as it should, if this was the Yankees they just go out and buy players to make up for their mistakes instead of being forced to deal with the problems of salary cap. Imagine the bind the Yankees would have been in with Pavano and Giambi who they over paid. At least in the NBA the Knicks are forced to get out of this jam using good NBA GM skills and not buying their way out. Without the cap in the NFL the Packers wouldn't exist, the Cowboys would have a Yankee like team. That would be a joke. The NBA has the inforce these rules to keep the league competitive otherwise we will have a muck of crap like baseball. Ask yourself this question, will the following team in baseball make the playoffs in the next 4 years -Royals- Reds - Pirates -Nationals. Seems like a flawed system only guarenteed to make the rich richer. Basketball is not set up like that and if it means instilling harsh penalties then it needs to be done.
