If I've got FA dollars to spend, and you don't, how does it help that you can offer $4.5 while I can offer $6, or $8, for the guy you took the time and effort to draft.
That was never the goal of the rule. The only reason the rule was put into place is because we can't offer multi-year MLE deals, and this put it on par with the NBA, which we were based off of. It is still possible to obtain bird years, as others have stated, it'll just cost a little.
Have we ever had a player go from second round pick to superstar worthy of a max contract after 2 seasons? I've seen it happen, but it usually takes 5-6 years of good TC's, not 2.
If we simply make it an option without the necessity to purchase an extension, the first 2 picks in the second round which you can then get bird years on are infinitely more valuable than the end of the first round, with their 4 year guaranteed contracts.
I think it's a nice tradeoff. With 1st round picks you get earlier drafting position and bird years when they're done. With second round picks you don't get the inherent risk of 4 year guaranteed deals, but you also run the risk if the guy you drafted becomes a superstar in 2 years and garners more than the MLE (unless you have cap space, or unless you purchase an extension). Something that adds more strategy and decision making is never a bad thing, IMO.
$300 is more than enough to deter me. Without the option of writing articles for cash, money is at a real premium if you aren't a playoff team with a couple award winners.
Two points:
1) You don't have to make the decision on the extension right away. You can make it literally days before someone becomes a free agent. If you have a guy who you think will garner a max contract offer in FA, $300 is chump change to ensure you can offer him a max contract the following FA period
2) Money is not based on award winners, and really isn't based off of playoff appearances (except for when you didn't make one last year). You're primarily rewarded for attendance and improvement from previous years. If you haven't seen:
http://forums.ssbabasketball.com/index.php?topic=4360.0Completed (and approved) trade .................... $10
Posting a Depth Chart.............................. $10
Posting "all 12" depth charts........................ $100 *1
Full Attendance in Offseason....................... $100
Improving by 5 wins from last year................. $50
Improving by 10 wins from last year................ $75
Improving by 15+ wins from last year............... $100
Improving the most from last year.................. $100
Making the playoffs (when you didn't last year).... $50
So it's not a case of the rich getting richer. In fact, for a team that wins 60 games, it's virtually impossible for them to get any of the improvement/playoff awards.
You can get a total of $320 just by posting all dc's and making all check-ins.