Carmelo Anthony and the 5 Deals That Killed the NBA

I can't lie, I love clichés.  One of my very favorites without a doubt is the old saying, "hindsight is 20/20."  There is no phrase that rings more true.

The expression comes to mind when thinking about the current NBA labor dispute.  Both owners and players are entrenched in legal and verbal warfare.  Unfortunately, there is no clear end in sight. 

What has led us to this situation?

Throughout sports history, there have been thousands of deals struck.  Some were great, some were awful.  There were some, however, that truly shaped the way we view sports today. 

Like precedent set in Supreme Court rulings, there are some pivotal decisions that have led us to the predicament we find ourselves in today.  Let us explore the five most influential.

Curt Flood Trade of 1969

Ironically, perhaps the most pivotal personnel move in NBA history was completed in another league over 30 years ago.

Curtis Charles Flood was a standout center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in the mid to late 1960's.  Flood was an fantastic defensive outfielder, earning seven Gold Gloves and was a key cog in St. Louis' two championship teams in 1964 and 1967.

Flood's greatest contribution, however, came off the field of play.  In 1969, Curt Flood was included in a six-player trade between the Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies.  The trade infuriated Flood, citing a poorly maintained stadium, lack of significant talent and an unfavorable racial climate as the main reasons he was adverse to a move to the City of Brotherly Love. 

Up to that point, all of professional sports operated under the "Reserve Clause."  The clause basically stated the the rights of any player belonged to the team that drafted them. Under the clause, the only way a player could move to another team was through a trade.  The player had no right to refuse.

Flood's assertion was that it was unfair to bind a player's entire playing career to a team's whim and ultimately filed suit against then-MLB commissioner, Bowie Kuhn.

Flood ended up losing his suit in Supreme Court, but the fallout of the case was a significant paradigm shift not only in Major League Baseball, but to all professional sports and is a key element in the present NBA labor dispute. 

Following the Supreme Court decision, MLB instituted the "10/5 Rule" of "Curt Flood Rule", allowing players to become free agents after 10 seasons of service.  The Flood case stands as the birthplace of modern-day free agency. 

It was the first instance in which a player attempted to dictate the course of his career and all following owner-player agreements have been influenced by the Flood vs. Kuhn case.   

Larry Bird Re-Signs in 1985 as a "Qualifying Free Agent"

In 1984, Celtic legend Larry Joe Bird was at the top of his game.  Bird completed a stellar season in which the 6'9" forward averaged over 28 points, 10 rebounds and nearly 7 assists, led his Boston teammates to an NBA Finals bid and took home his third league MVP.

As incredible as those numbers are, they were par for the course for the self-proclaimed "Hick From French Lick."   The true landmark came in the off-season when it was time to re-sign the future Hall of Famer.

The League was operating under its first salary cap since 1947, where the cap was set at $55,000.  The new cap was set at $3.6 million, but was conceived as a "soft cap" with exceptions that allowed teams to exceed the set number when signing players that met certain criteria.  The exceptions were created to allow teams to retain key players.

One of those exceptions allowed a player with three seasons served to become a "qualifying free agent," gaining the right to re-sign with their original team while crossing the cap threshold.  The first player this clause was ever used on was the aforementioned "Larry Legend." Bird signed with Boston for an astounding $1.8 million and that clause is commonly referred to as "The Bird Clause" to this day.

As simple as it seemed at the time, no one could have predicted how the clause could have been manipulated into what it is today.  Teams have overused the rule, crippling their flexibility under the cap. 

Players retain their "Bird rights' when traded, so they have motivation to force trades late in their contract so they can take advantage and re-sign with a more desirable club.  This clause, along with other cap exceptions, are in large part responsible for the bloated contracts on many NBA teams.

Shaq Goes West

He goes by many names.  Shaq.  The Diesel.  The Big Shaqtus.  The list goes on and on, but Shaquille O'Neal's defection to Tinseltown was a pivotal moment in NBA history and still has major ramifications on the League today.

Before there was Dwight Howard, there was Shaq.  Despite an injury plagued season, there was no brighter star than O'Neal in 1996.  Full of personality, the 7'1', 300-lbs-plus big man was entrenched among the elite of the NBA. 

In his four seasons with the Orlando Magic, Shaq had won Rookie of the Year, was a three time All-NBA selection, won a scoring title and guided a team to the NBA Finals.  He had been joined by another young star, Anfernee Hardaway, and the two were seen as the dynamic duo that could take the torch and be League's next great tandem.

The feeling was, however, the 23 year-old giant had grown too big for Orlando and longed for the bright lights of Los Angeles.  After being swept by a Jordan-led Bulls team, O'Neal left the Magic and signed a seven-year, $121 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers ending his time in central Florida.

O'Neal was not the first player to leave a team as a free agent, but his departure was seen as something different.  Shaq cited many reasons for leaving the Magic, but the overall sense was that a market change would elevate him to a different level.  The Orlando Magic was a quality team with great young stars and a record of success, but at 23 years old, there were other factors that were in play.

The Shaq move put many players on notice on how important large markets really were.  Magic, Bird and Michael had all landed in major markets by chance.  O'Neal went to an expansion franchise that he literally put on the map and decided it could not handle his stardom.  In hindsight, it was a true paradigm shift.  

Allan Houston Re-Signs with the Knicks in 2001

It is so ironic that one of the most infamous contracts in NBA history was signed by one of the League's all-time good guys. 

Allan Houston came to the New York Knicks in 1996 and immediately took over as the starting shooting guard, wresting the position from fan favorite John Starks.  A coach's son, Houston's game was as fundamentally sound as they came.  

Houston took over primary scoring duties when Patrick Ewing went down with a career-threatening wrist injury in 1997-98 season and was an All-Star in 2000 and 2001. 

His buzzer-beater against their hated rival, the Miami Heat in 1999 still stands as one of the greatest moments in Knicks history and his outstanding play was a huge factor in the Knicks making the NBA Finals during that magical playoff run.

The 18.5 career scoring average, the 40 percent career three-point mark, the All-Star appearances...all of these accomplishments, however, are overshadowed by two prominent numbers. 

Seven years, $100 million.

In 2001, the New York Knicks caused a major stir by inking the 6'6" shooting guard to a max deal.  While everyone acknowledged Houston's obvious talents, very few saw how he could live up to such a lucrative contract.  Houston responded with his two best seasons, but was often criticized for hamstringing the Knicks financially. 

The scrutiny only intensified after Houston sustained a knee injury in 2003 that ultimately proved to be career-ending.  This Knicks had no way to eliminate the huge cap hit the Houston deal had on the payroll, infuriating and frustrating New York fans.  The deal had a compound effect, as each dollar over the cap threshold was taxed 100 percent.

During the previous CBA negotiations, the league created the Amnesty clause, allowing a team to buy out one contract at full value with no luxury tax ramifications.  The clause was referred to as the "Allan Houston" rule.  Ironically enough, the rule was not used to relieve the Knicks of the dreaded contract, but instead used on Jerome Williams' deal.

The Houston deal served as a clear example how one bad deal can compromise a franchise for years.  There is a major initiative for teams to have some kind of out for these damaging contracts.  The Amnesty clause has become a major topic of discussion during this labor dispute and a modified version figures to be a fixture in the next CBA. 

The "Melo Drama" of 2011

In the past few seasons, there have been many instances where players attempted to take control of their destinations.  None, however, played out as dramatically as Carmelo Anthony in 2010.

There were signs that Carmelo Anthony, the young scorer who had spent seven seasons with the Denver Nuggets, was contemplating a move to a new city.  Through back channels, Melo had expressed his desire to move to the east coast.

He refused to re-sign with the club despite a max offer more lucrative than any other club could provide.  And, of course, there was the infamous wedding toast.

Carmelo continued to put up All-NBA numbers in 2011.  25.5 points per game along with nearly eight rebounds is nothing to sneeze at.  His team, while not as competitive as two seasons ago when the Nuggets made an appearance in the Western Conference Finals, was still a force in the western conference.  No one could question his effort.

What really created a stir was the ability of "Team Carmelo" to manipulate teams into trading him.  The system is set where if you truly want to move to a different team through free agency, you theoretically would have to take a significant loss in salary. 

Carmelo's handlers were able to create a situation in which he could force a trade and retain his "Bird rights." It was essentially a double dip.  He was able to move on with no compromise.

There is no doubt the Miami Heat situation angered many owners and it was clear evidence the player had taken more control over player movement than ever before.  The "Melo Drama," however, proved to be the proverbial straw the broke the camel's back.