Hope you liked the NBA this past season.

Because you're not going to see a huge change next year.

Oh sure, Tracy Murray and Kareem Rush are going to become the next in a long line of players who suddenly think they are uber-talented because they earn a ring simply by virtue of riding on the same airplane as Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

	Donyell Marshall, right, won't create the stir like Chris Webber did last year.

And New York Knicks fans are going to lament something marginally different: Why Antonio McDyess misses all those games due to injury, kind of like very similar to the same way Marcus Camby mysteriously missed all those games due to injury.

Otherwise, in a summer where the list of free agents is as deep as a Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson conversation -- and where Sam Waksal has more money to throw around than most teams -- there is not going to be a great deal of player movement. And that ultimately means there's not going to be a great deal of team movement in the standings.

Which is, in my mind, a bummer.

I understand that the NBA is about the games. But something I find equally -- and in some cases more -- entertaining is watching player movements in the offseason. Trade speculation. Player recruitment. Who spots whom in which city and why they are there.

I have a friend in Portland who was taking a flight to Nowheresville through Philadelphia, and on his flight was none other than Rasheed Wallace. Wearing a Sixers jersey.

Being the cub reporter he is, he immediately phoned. After telling me that Rasheed had already yelled at two of the flight attendants and gotten a technical foul even BEFORE they boarded the plane, then insulted a passenger he thought was a teammate, my friend speculated that Rasheed had been traded to the Sixers. I informed him Rasheed was from Philadelphia, and was probably going back to, as Rasheed said just before the All-Star break when he was left off the team, "party all night long."

I called United Airlines just to confirm that, but they made me take my shoes off, so I gave up.

In any case, that is what's great about NBA summers full of players generally moving from team to team, seeking, well, we don't know what, but we do know it's not about the money. I think it's usually about family. This summer, though, is very different. This summer is about preparing for the luxury tax that probably never is going to kick in.

Remember when you were little, and your mother was always saying, "You have to wait an hour after you eat before you can go back into the pool because you might get cramps." Never, not once, did I or any of my friends, or any of their friends, EVER get cramps from eating and then swimming. But that didn't stop our mothers from saying it. (Mostly because I think they were all over in the corner trying to suck down another Gin fizz before they had to watch us again.) That's what this luxury tax is. One big cramp that is never going to happen, but it won't stop our mothers -- i.e., NBA owners -- from using it as an excuse not to pay players.

Besides, there are only three teams out there that are going to have money. The Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls.

The Pistons need a point guard, and so they are probably going to throw some coin at Jeff McInnis or Travis Best or maybe Chauncey Billups.

The Clippers are so concerned about the free agencies of Michael Olowokandi, Lamar Odom and Elton Brand -- and are so deep at virtually every position now that they drafted Chris Wilcox and Melvin Ely -- that free agency is the last thing on their minds. And the Bulls, well, we have no idea what Krausy is doing, so we won't venture a guess. But even if more teams did have money, there aren't that many players out there to pursue.

	That's what this luxury tax is. One big cramp that is never going to happen, but it won't stop our mothers -- i.e., NBA owners -- from using it as an excuse not to pay players.

There are some names, of course. Mike Bibby in Sacramento, and after his wonderful conference finals performance, you would think he would be courted by all the teams in the league, and maybe even by Maybyner "Nene" Hilario's team in Brazil, Vasco da Gama. (Mostly I just wanted to write "Maybyner Nene Hilario" and "Vasco da Gama" because I think they sound cool.)

But there is a term that you are going to need to know this summer, and it is "restricted free agent." It kind of has the same connotation as the term "chain gang." You think you are getting out of prison, but you're really not.

If you are a restricted free agent, it means your team has the right to match any other offer from any other team. In the case of Bibby, the Kings could sit there all summer, wait for a team to make an offer to him and then say, "OK, we will pay you one dollar more." Case closed. Every team in the league knows this, and so they are not even going to go through the trouble of making an offer.

Same deal with Olowokandi, Raef LaFrentz, Keon Clark, Bonzi Wells, Ricky Davis, Rasho Nesterovic, Michael Redd and Matt Harpring.

So, you know who is out there? Rashard Lewis.

It's funny, because while this guy can play, and while he is one day going to be very, very good, I would venture a guess that most fans in most NBA cities have no idea who he is. By the way, he plays for Seattle, and his game is similar to that of Tim Thomas. And yet, Lewis has asked for a seven-year contract for $102 million. I asked an NBA scout one day if he thought Lewis was worth it. Would he pay him? His answer: "No, he's not worth it. But in this league, you can't let your talent get away. You have to pay him."

So Lewis will sit there for a month, waiting for teams to call his agent and woo him the same way Jason Kidd and Tim Duncan are going to be pooh-poohed next summer. And then he is going to realize that no offers are forthcoming, and the Sonics are going to say, "Listen, we love you, the rest of the league loves you, but we can only afford to offer you $75 million." And then Lewis is going to have to change his tax bracket by $27 million.

Oh, you may see other smaller signings, like a Donyell Marshall or a Devean George or a Rodney Rogers. But nothing that is going to sway the strengths of either of the conferences.

And then, after a summer of relative inactivity, I say: Lakers in four.

Frank Hughes, who covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.