I don't like how rosters are so static and I think the league lost a lot of interesting player movement with the salary cap, so I came up with the really half-baked idea of having a "Cap Release Day", which is sort of like "Trade Deadline Day", except completely different.
Here's what I was thinking:
- During the off-season, the cap is artificially lowered by something like 10%. Teams would have to be under this lower cap by the same date leading into the season as they are now.
- During the early part of the season, this extra cap space would accrue just like normal since all the teams (assuming they follow the rules) are 10% under the real salary cap.
- Some time in mid November to early December, after 20-25 games, we'd have "Cap Release Day", where the salary cap instantly goes up to the real amount.
- GMs who think they have a shot at the Cup suddenly have a giant chunk of extra cash to work with and go crazy with picking up salary, completely screwing themselves for the next off-season.
Now, there are obviously a ton of problems with this idea, not the least of which is that approximately 100% of the players and 99% of the league executives would never, ever agree to something like it. I just love trade speculation and deadline day and all the media crap and analysis and guessing that comes with it. I hope in future CBAs there are provisions to allow for more freedom.