Again, I think what's making the future part of this discussion difficult is the present. Presently, contender teams have active contracts from the old CBA. That makes it look like those shenanigans are still possible, when they aren't. And with the economies stagnant, at best, the cap isn't going to go up and allow for big, fat contracts. So either the players screwed themselves out of big pay-days, or the owners screwed themselves from assembling the teams they need to win, with this new CBA.