News from June 21. The NBA and the Players Association reached an agreement on a new 6 year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The old agreement expires June 30. The players and the owners still have to vote on the agreement for final approval before the deal becomes official and then the lawyers have to iron out all the legal paperwork, which will take a while. The final CBA is not expected to be signed until at least July 22, assuming the players and owners vote for approval. As such, the usual July moratorium on free agent signings has been extended to July 22 or if the new CBA is not signed by then the moratorium end date will be when the CBA is signed. The moratorium stipulates that teams can negotiate with free agents from July 1 onward, but can not actually sign free agents until the moratorium date. Teams will be allowed to sign rookies and participate in the summer leagues, even while the CBA is unsigned. Some publicized points of the new agreement include: - The players are guaranteed at least 57% of the revenue [was 48.01%], and that number will increase with revenue growth - The (soft) salary cap for teams will increase to 51% [was 48.04%] - The luxury tax for teams is 61% [was 63.3%] - The escrow tax for players (all or part of the tax goes to the league if the revenue to the players exceeds a certain percent, else the tax goes back to the players) is 10% for the 1st year of the new CBA, 9% for years 2-5, and 8% for the 6th year [was 10%] - Salary cap exceptions remain unchanged (ie, $1 million exception, mid-level exception, trade exception) - All teams will carry at least 14 players [was 12] [I believe the maximum is still 15 players, but haven't seen mention of it] - the active roster does remain at 12 players; they will no longer be referring to the non-active list as the injured list - Players re-signing with their former team can be re-signed to a maximum 6 year contract [was 7] with a maximum 10.5% salary increase for each season [was 12.5%] - Players signing with a new team can be signed to a maximum 5 year contract [was 6] with a maximum 8% salary increase for each season [was 10%] - 1st round draft picks can be signed to a 2 year guaranteed contract [was 3] [more details will be included in the CBA, I'm not sure how teams can sign 2005 1st round draft picks before the new CBA is signed as in the old CBA the 1st round draft picks' contracts were specifically spelled out in the CBA] - US players have to be at least 19 years old (in the calendar year of the draft) and have his high school graduation class be at least one year prior for declaring for early entry for the NBA draft [was 18 years old with no high school class graduation restriction] - International players have to be at least 19 years old (in the calendar year of the draft) for declaring for early entry for the NBA draft [was 18 years old] - Teams can send players with less than 2 years NBA experience to the NBDL for development [new rule, I believe the NBA team still pays the player] - Changing the trade restrictions to make trading players easier, including matching salaries being within 125% plus $100,000 of each other [was 115%] - Players suffering career ending injuries only continue to count against the team's salary cap for 1 year [was 2] - Suspensions longer than 12 games that were handed out by the commissioner for on-court misconduct are subject to arbitration [was no arbitration for any length] - Players will be subject to 4 random drug tests during the season [was 1 during pre-season only (with some variants for rookies and players previously punished under the league's anti-drug program)] - Players found to be using steroids will be suspended for 10 games for their 1st offense [was 5], 25 games for the 2nd offense [was 10], and 1 year for their 3rd offense [was 15] Det 95, SA 86 at SA Tayshaun Prince (Det) had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Rasheed Wallace (Det) had 16 points and 3 blocks. Chauncey Billups (Det) had 21 points including 5-9 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Richard Hamilton (Det) had 23 points and 5 rebounds. Tim Duncan (SA) had 21 points including 5-10 FT and 15 rebounds including 5 offensive. Tony Parker (SA) had 15 points and 5 assists. Manu Ginobili (SA) had 21 points and 10 rebounds. The series is tied 3-3. Playoff Standings 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Finals (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) (Best of 7) 1 Pho (4) ___ 8 Mem (0) |_ 1 Phoenix (4) _____ _ 4 Dallas (2) | 4 Dal (4) ___| |_ 1 Phoenix (1) _ 5 Hou (3) _ 2 San Antonio (4) | | | 2 SA (4) ____ | | 7 Den (1) |_ 2 San Antonio (4) _| | _ 3 Seattle (2) | 3 Sea (4) ___| | 6 Sac (1) |_ 2 San Antonio (3) _ 2 Detroit (3) | 1 Mia (4) ___ | 8 NJ (0) |_ 1 Miami (4) __ | _ 5 Washington (0) | | 4 Chi (2) ___| | | 5 Was (4) |_ 1 Miami (3) _____| _ 2 Detroit (4) 2 Det (4) ___ | 7 Phi (1) |_ 2 Detroit (4) _____| _ 6 Indiana (2) 3 Bos (3) ___| 6 Ind (4) NBA Finals (Central times) Thursday, June 23 Game 7: Detroit at San Antonio 8:00 pm ABC