This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The cracks began showing before the agreement was even approved.

Chris Paul to the Lakers. Dwight Howard to the Nets. Nene pursued by many.

Premier All-NBA talent and potential All-Stars fleeing small and mid-size markets for the allure of future riches in larger cities. Teams in Los Angeles and New York attempting to purchase or trade for what once belonged to proud fanbases in New Orleans, Orlando and Denver.

A bitter and at times brutal 161-day NBA lockout that stretched from July 1 to Thursday afternoon was supposed to change so much about a league that had watched the accumulation of all-world starpower erase competitive balance, starting with Boston's Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in 2007. Miami Thrice followed, as did Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire joining forces for the Knicks. Even the Jazz felt the heat, abruptly trading Deron Williams last February rather be held hostage by his ever-increasing power.

Two days after the 2011 lockout ended, little appears to have been altered. The song remains the same — only the words have changed.

"I'll speak for the Jazz and say that the resolution to the lockout — the current CBA — is a long way from where we wanted to be when we set out," Utah CEO Greg Miller said. "But it's a lot better for the Jazz than it was at the end of the last CBA. We're better off from a competitive standpoint; we're better off from a financial standpoint. Even though we pulled up short of what we originally wanted, I'm happy with the outcome."

Short-term loss

Owners won the revenue war, evening out the split of basketball-related income from a 57-43 percent divide favoring players to a more palatable 50-50 take. Increased revenue sharing should also aid small-market franchises. But the most-contested battle — the issue that stings everyone from season-ticket holders to league executives — was lost. Players have earned their freedom, and they're entitled to embrace it. But since many new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) system issues were tweaked instead of being significantly changed, the tide is still expected to move toward the largest cities.

Some say it's inevitable. Money matters, but athletes ultimately want to compete and win, and they'll do whatever it takes to achieve both. Others say owners failed, entering the lockout with teeth bared, only to suddenly end the work stoppage for an old-fashioned money grab. Yet sports labor analysts and salary cap experts say the NBA's uneven new-world order simply comes down to the heart of what composes a CBA: compromise.

"Everything's a compromise," said Larry Coon, an ESPN.com contributor and author of NBA Salary Cap FAQ. "You have the compromise between the league and the players. You also have the compromise between the small-market teams and the big-market teams.

"The small-market teams want the revenue sharing, they want the level playing field, they want to keep the players. The big-market teams, they're the payers in the revenue-sharing system and they're the destination for the [stars]. … What we ended up with was a compromise between all those constituents. And the system's not perfect, but you're not going to legislate your way to a perfectly level playing field."

Why? Because there simply aren't enough Kobe Bryants, Kevin Durants and LeBron Jameses to go around.

"There are how many franchise-level players in the league: 15?" Coon said. "There are fewer of those players than there are teams. As players gain enough tenure to earn the freedom of movement, they're going to tend to move to the big-market teams, and that's not going to change by legislation. The new CBA improves that, but it's obviously not going to fix it completely."

Long-term vision

To win the revenue split and completely fix the system, owners had to be willing to miss the entire 2011-12 season, in the process alienating fans and restraining the league's recent popular resurgence. With national showcase Christmas Day contests and a compressed 66-game schedule within reach, the NBA averted the threat of its only lost season in its 65-year history in the hope that tweaks and minor changes will be enough to keep franchises such as Sacramento, Utah, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Charlotte within striking distance of a few Goliaths.

Tom Penn, ESPN NBA analyst and former executive for Portland and Memphis, said the new CBA basically involves the same structure as the previous one. The most dramatic change occurs in the luxury tax —set at $70 million this season — with any teams above the restriction paying fines that rise on an incremental basis. The increased penalties kick in after 2012-13, when a franchise will be billed an extra $3.25 for every dollar it's above the tax in the $15 million to $20 million range. Thus, a $20 million tax overage would result in a $65 million collectors' fee.

The idea: force small-market teams to spend more via an increased "floor" on the cap — set at 85 percent of $58 million this season — but discourage free-spenders from disregarding the tax and overpaying at will.

"What has [changed] has gotten more complicated and a little more convoluted because taxpayers now get treated differently," Penn said. "There's [also] the opportunity to take advantage of amnesty anytime or waive and stretch your mistakes — all those dynamics make it a lot more complicated to sort of anticipate what a team wants to do or intends to do, and there's a lot more flexibility."

Increased options aside, teams such as the Jazz will still be required to maximize young drafted talent, make intelligent long-term additions through free-agent signings and trades, and avoid obvious financial pitfalls, such as the six-year, $86 million maximum contract extension ex-Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko received in 2004.

Staying competitive during the new CBA will always be a balance for Utah. If Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Enes Kanter or Alec Burks evolve into annual All-Stars, the Jazz will have a slightly better chance of keeping them in uniform through the latter part of the decade. Nothing is guaranteed, though. And the only significant initial dividend for Utah is an increased financial buffer for one of the Larry H. Miller Group's many businesses.

"From the perspective of a small-market franchise, I feel better about our ability to compete with the larger markets. ... I think I'll just leave it at that," Miller said.