It BS. Especially when owners like McPeake get players like Stiff etc reduced by a single point to be allowed to signed them.

Stiff was a rotational player for the Tigers, Martin is pretty much training fodder and/or 12th man material.

Chuck Harmison is a joke and an embarrassment to the League. I now firmly believe that he is basically McPeake's puppet. He needs to be shown the door.

Ok, this is an ABSOLUTE joke. Chuck Harmison should be fired forthwith.

The comparison between Luke Martin and Ere is spot on, as no one, no matter what their birth defect or relative level of retardation, can believe for a second that the Tigers can be within the salary cap, yet the great Chuck has decided to make an example over ONE PATHETIC POINTS CAP POINT to prevent an AUSTRALIAN kid from finding a team. This is a complete farce. Isaac's point is right about guys like Martin, Sutton, (Tovey was lucky). And not for nothing, but given that the NBL, under CHUCK'S WATCH, has just lost it's number one team in Sydney, you'd think that maybe turning the other cheek for the city's other team to allow LUKE MARTIN to sign might have been advisable.

Chuck's reference to the speed limit is fine, but what he has done is effectively fine someone for driving 61 in a 60 zone, while admitting that he can't catch the guy who is driving 100!

Yeah, that's my idea of "parity"!

UTTERLY USELESS!!!

Yeah Chuck, you must resign, good player in a different era. Times have changed and the NBL MUST change with it, otherwise it will die. Common sense in situations like the Luke Martin one must come to ahead!

So based on this, I guess the NBL will be rejecting Ebi's deal with the Tigers first thing monday morning, right?

Oh wait, the NBL's a piece of horse shit ... I almost forgot!

The NBL has managed to reach an even lower point than it already was at (is that even possible - they must be 3000 feet underground by now!). The Points Cap needs reworking and it'd be nice if Chuck pulled his head out of his arse, but I guess that'd be like asking the Crows to win yesterday.

Mutley's spot on with his speeding analogy.
It's OUR league, and to have a Yank like Harmison cut a local lad out of a game, but allow imports(who could earn their money anywhere in the world) in, really sucks.
One would love to be a fly on the wall when Harmison & McPeake were having lunch together.

there should be some sort of lee-way atleast based on the fact that 3 teams have folded in the last few months leaving around 30 players, many of them very good without a team.

Sack yaself chuck!!!!!!

man, this sucks and i hope an over haul of management does happen after decisions like this.
Luke Martin is a decent point guard but is only really going to be a back up point guard, rating him at a 4, which the spirit can fit in would not be un realistic, and as far as salary cap goes id say the Spirit would have the cheapest roster in the league and they are only even offering him the minimum salary, its not like they are trying to bring in a star or even a Luke Kendall on 4 points.
Come on NBL let Martin drop one point and sign with the Spirit, they need all the help they can get and he is a local, isnt there a rule that 30 days prior from the season players can get there points reduced by 1 to get a gig anyway??
I agree if the tigers can have Ebi, Mackinnon and Grizzard how the hell can the Spirit not get Luke Martin!
Wouldnt the NBL be doing there best to get the best Australians to play in the league, Martin aint a game breaker but would be very handy, and wouldnt the NBL want the Spirit who are not stacked to be able to add in a talented player to help them out, and a LOCAL sydney player aswell, which would only help with the marketing and fans will be able to say look this guy grew up in Sydney and is here playing good NBL basketball in his home city! plus the fact he is a championship player with the kings couldnt hurt his profile and would help make him a asset to the Spirit and him being in the NBL.
I personnally think the NBL should be doing all they can to keep Martin, Kendall, Mottram, etc in the NBL and if that means they have to give each team one exemption to sign one of those guys, i think they should do it, in particular the Spirit and the Hawks who are not big budget teams, and especially with all the challenges the spirit are facing, on and off the court, you think NBL would give them a small hand, its not like they are trying for Bogut or an import which i would be against but hey if Martins willing to play for minimum wage on what is going to be one of the bottom teams, and is only 1 point over what they can sign you think they would allow it.
Can the Spirit sign him as a 'training' player for say $10,000 and have him fill in for injuries and play several games? a bit like the Blaze have done with Vanderjagt.

I think the NBL may also need a rule like the NBA that if you are over the cap you can sign guys on minimum salary still but nothing more, and if guys like Martin and Dench and Mottram will play a year on minimum salary let them!!
If the tigers start claiming Anstey is going to sign for minimum or recruit say Brad Newley on minimum, you know thats bull s#$@ so kick that out the door, but come on if Martin will play for the bottom side on minimum salary, give them an exemption and let him play! its only going to strengthen the league having guys like him involved.

He is not playing for minimum he is going to play for under that, I think that what chuck was talking about. Saying that I think it is crap, maybe chuck wants the Kings back next season

What a crock. Stopping Martin being re-rated by one point. It's not like he is an international player and the team has only two points left. How has Sydney used up all its points if Dragons/Tigers haven't?

How did Ere fit into the Tigers? The NBL didn't stop him. If the NBL did stop Ere they would be pushing a high profile player away from our shores. Do they really want to do this? The NBL are already in enough trouble.

The NBL do not want to stop people coming to the games so for this year they keep the high profile players and fit them in where they can. The Suttons/Martins are expendable.

So now the NBL piss off some of the Sydney locals. Just the area that they need to build up a presence in. What will these sort of decisions do to the re-vamped NBL I wonder??

Harmison speaking to Martin -

"He told me he has to enforce the rules to achieve parity in the league. A couple of days later I learned Ebi Ere, last year's runner-up MVP, had signed with the defending champions, the Melbourne Tigers."

PARITY - is there such a word in the NBL dictionary? If there is, Harmison should look it up and know that parity in the NBL went out the door when he took over the helm. Atleast in the past clubs were caught and penalised for breeching the salary cap. Today he turns a blind eye to it.

BS, that can't be the only issue because the NBL openly admitted that teams like the Tigers can renegotiate salaries to fit new contracts in under the cap.

Also, if the minimum issue was such a problem, the NBLPA would hardly take his side.

He's asking for a single point reduction and should be given a chance at that considering he's legitimately desperate for a gig.

I'm with everyone else who has called BS on this ruling. Can't add anything to the many excellent comments made so far, though.

In such a turbulent off season,surely the NBL needs to go out of it's way to accommodate players caught up in the Russian Roulette of club ownership!

Chuck you are making everyone want to do just that!