Joseph McCarthy is Not a Fan of Josh Childress Right Now

So yesterday I was writing a post (that never came to be, due to some time issues) about how Carl Landry was absolutely-positively-guaransheed going to stay with the Rockets and how most of the other restricted free agents were simply using European clubs as bargaining chips.

One of two things happened: I either severely miscalculated or I was exactly right.

The list of those being investigated by the Un-American Activities Committee grows exponentially by the day, and we can only hope that the NBA doesn’t devolve into some sort of two-class wasteland with no middle ground in which Chris Paul battles Smush Parker for eternity. And not only that: European teams aren’t just taking good players. They’re taking interesting ones. Carl Landy was a sensation, Josh Childress has always been a sphere-headed revelation, the machine is the machine, and Delonte West is more of a character than we ever could’ve imagined. Why can’t you take Telfair?! (What seems bizarre to me is that what Vujacic wants from the Lakers seems entirely reasonable.)

It’s pretty evident that losing teams to other continents was not something that owners around the league (or the CBA) are prepared to grapple with,. I’m all for some of these players lighting up Europe and making the big bucks in the process, and it’s already been said that it can only be good for the game in the grand scheme of things. The thing that I fear the most as this whole situation has developed is the death of reasonability.

I doubt very much that Delonte West sits down and thinks about how his decisions might affect the landscape of the NBA in the present and future. Frankly, he shouldn’t have to, because he’s not all that important to the course of the league (sorry, bud). Restricted free agency is engineered to favor the franchise, but what if this whole fiasco jacks up the price of every decent RFA out there to the point of a universal salary cap hell? Josh Childress is a really good player, but can a franchise afford to pay him over $10 million a year under the NBA cap? Probably not, especially considering that he may not even start. Likewise, can the Cavaliers afford to pay Delonte West $5 million a year (after already locking up Boobie, mind you) while trying to thin out the roster and create a franchise attractive enough to keep LeBron’s fancy? Well, they might have to. West proved to be a valuable player this year and is a better distributor than any other supposed point guard on the roster. What other option does Cleveland really have at this point?

[I think that entire paragraph was comprised of questions, and I’m not sure I answered any of them.]

And that’s the problem – restricted free agency now blows. Now, every team will have to overpay to get a restricted free agent, including the player’s current team. In order to prevent the player from fleeing for greener continents, they’ll have to put an offer on the table that’s comparable to whatever offer the player is receiving from overseas. And let me tell you now, it’s not going to end well. This is clearly a problem with the current CBA that needs to be resolved before it gets too out of hand…supposing that doesn’t happen this summer. Losing a player like Luol Deng, Andris Biedrins, or Andre Iguodala (who are all facing problems in extension negotiations with their current teams) could decimate a team, and it puts the NBA at a major disadvantage when the competition isn’t fighting the CBA and cap restrictions.

Owners, general managers, and coaches throughout the league just let out a collective “Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.”