Michael Jordan in Favor of Hard Salary Cap, Revenue Sharing

The NBA has forbidden team owners and front-office staff from talking about labor issues during the lockout. Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, seems to have not gotten the memo. From the Herald Sun: “Jordan, majority owner and operations boss for the Charlotte Bobcats, is banned from elaborating on the rift between owners and players that threatens to destroy the upcoming season. But he insists small-market teams, such as the Bobcats and [Andrew] Bogut’s Bucks, will never be able to compete while the system allows clubs such as the Miami Heat to effectively pounce on free agents with blank cheques. ‘The model we’ve been operating under is broken. We have 22 or 23 teams losing money, (so) I think we have gotta come to some kind of understanding in this partnership that we have to realign,’ Jordan said. ‘I can’t say so much … but I know the owners are not going to move off what we feel is very necessary for us to get a deal in place where we can co-exist as partners. We need a lot of financial support throughout the league as well as revenue sharing to keep this business afloat. We have stars like Bogut who are entitled to certain type of demands. But for us to be profitable in small markets, we have to be able to win ballgames and build a better basketball team.’ Jordan said small-market teams would benefit greatly from a ‘hard’ salary cap, and it would allow clubs such as Milwaukee to plan a future on key players including the Australian centre.”