It's not so much about the players whining or small market teams being screwed. It's about the fact that these superstar players, along with the agents who are often their puppet masters, have begun to control aspects of the game that are supposed to be the domain of owners, GMs, and coaches. This is the biggest issue in this lockout and most of the demands by the owners seem designed to directly or indirectly counter this.
See, the scariest thing about last year's Decision was not that Miami put together a superteam, but that LeBron put together a superteam. The owners perhaps don't want to come out and say this outright for fear of further infuriating the players, but this is a major driving force behind their actions. What LeBron and co. did, and Carmelo and Paul are trying to do, isn't good for anyone. It's not good for most teams that their GMs and coaches are being undermined by players who are plotting their own exits, nor is it actually good for teams like the Heat or the Knicks.
Lost in all the hoopla over the Decision was the possibility that it was not exactly what the Heat brass wanted. The addition of Bosh made little sense to many people, and for a good reason. For the money they're paying him, they could have gotten two players who would help them out much more. For 15 million, one can have both Paul Millsap and Raymond Felton in this league. Not saying those players were available to Miami to sign or trade for, but it's an example of talent available at 7-8 million a year. The Heat had no choice though, because the Superfriends offered themselves up as a package. LeBron would have likely not taken his talents to South Beach if the Heat politely passed on Bosh. The Heat had to either take what was offered or deal with the fallout of a situation where they refused Bosh and LeBron. You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. This is why Micky Arison has been talking trash on Twitter. If the league institute a hard cap or severely limit loopholes such as the MLE, he's basically screwed. The current Heat team is too flawed to expect them to consistently make the Finals, and if his room to maneuver is cut out from under him, he's going to be stuck with a good but not great team of three superstars in their early 30s who are taking up most of the available salary together.
