New rules and an (effectively) hard salary cap have changed the face of pro basketball. Gone are the days of players jumping out of contracts, virtually guaranteed to make more with a new deal. Teams willing to pay huge salaries that throw them over the cap are nearly extinct. What's left is a new set of classes for NBA players, sort of like medieval Europe. While this revolution of sorts is good for the game, there have been some teams and players who have been slow to adjust. Let's take a look at the pecking order on rosters around the land.

The first class are royalty, superstars. These are the guys that teams are built around, the ones that make championships possible. Think Shaq, Iverson, C-Webb, Vinsanity. GM's know and expect to pay top dollar for these players, and any team that hopes to seriously contend should probably have at least two (sorry Wolves fans.) Two of these guys can eat of roughly half of your cap room, but they put you deep into the playoffs.

The second group consists of other starters and major contributors. These guys are kind of like nobles, they play major minutes and the right one or two can make the difference on a good team. They might not be on SportsCenter every day, but they can hit an open shot, play D and occasionally come up big. These players are in the four-to-five million per year range. Scott Pollard and Anthony Mason come to mind. 

Then you have your role players (serfs and peasants) filling out your roster. Now, before you go and start feeling bad for them, remember that they'll still make more than you and I ever will by playing hoops. That being said, these aren't the guys that normally get the credit (or blame) for a teams success, or lack thereof. They play when the team is up or down big, or when somebody needs a foul or a breather. A lot of these folks are making the league minimum, some a bit more. 

Now that this system has been unofficially accepted and implemented into the league, the only problem is that some teams and players can't seem to get with the program. Among the top offenders: 

Players who think they're worth more than they are: Erick Strickland, David Robinson, Olden Polynice. Players who play like scrubs, but have contracts like kings: Vin Baker, Shawn Kemp and half the Knicks roster. Players who don't fit very well into any class: Jimmy Jackson and Juwan Howard. And finally, teams that can't seem to tell the difference between the players, either: Knicks, Blazers and Sonics.

Other quick thoughts from the nosebleeds…. Is there any better non-starting point guard than Travis Best? Never could understand why this guy isn't at the helm for some team.