the NBA is a joke - Dwight Howard wants to leave for New York or L.A.

[Chris]

What is it about basketball that brings out these fucking primadonnas? We don't see anything like this in MLB or the NFL I feel like, Am I wrong?

 

[Birdy89]

with that said, there's no way in hell that he goes to LA

The Lakers are scared to death actually from what I read that Howard would sign with the Clippers. Laugh if you may, but Blake Griffin is totally turning around people's perception of the franchise as they are a hot ticket in LA right now.

Kaman comes off the books that summer, and they will have money to spend for a guy like Dwight. Griffin, Howard and Eric Gordon would be a hell of a core and you get to still play in L.A.

Blake Griffin is a franchise changing talent. The Clippers are in a good spot cap wise and if they find a way to play this right they have as bright a future as any team out there right now.

 

[ButterMPancakes]

The Lakers are scared to death actually from what I read that Howard would sign with the Clippers. Laugh if you may, but Blake Griffin is totally turning around people's perception of the franchise as they are a hot ticket in LA right now.

Kaman comes off the books that summer, and they will have money to spend for a guy like Dwight. Griffin, Howard and Eric Gordon would be a hell of a core and you get to still play in L.A.

Blake Griffin is a franchise changing talent. The Clippers are in a good spot cap wise and if they find a way to play this right they have as bright a future as any team out there right now.

I guess I should've said Lakers. . . completely forgot the Clippers existed :chuckles:





oh yeah, and these are just "rumors", by the way. . . Dwight has never said any of it. . . good old Wojo

 

[ken kaniff]

Too many teams in NBA

Some may need to go

 

[Tizzle]

So he's going to leave Westbrook?

Personally I think Westbrook would be the one to leave when his contract is up. He's a stud and alot of teams will be offering him alot of money.

 

[ButterMPancakes]

Personally I think Westbrook would be the one to leave when his contract is up. He's a stud and alot of teams will be offering him alot of money.

RFA

 

[Kevalier]

Geez. Stop being so damn pessimistic and bitter. Everybody in the NBA isn't LeBron.

Unfortunately, there are much more stars in the NBA similar to LeBron than Durant. I think most people need to understand that guys like Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant are a very rare species in today's Association.

 

[Nom]

Huh? Miami "reeled in the biggest names" because they already had one and they had the cap space for the others. What is wrong with that? They structured their team in a way that would give them the most possible cap space in the off-season, and then got their star to convince other stars to join him there. The Miami trio coming together has nearly everything to do with the talent of the team.

Most small market teams don't have the cap space to even sign superstars. How many teams had enough cap space to sign a superstar last off-season? What about when you remove ones with shitty front offices (LAC, MIN) that could dissuade a player from going there? Exactly how many were left? Not many.

And the ones that could provide the best opportunities won out. Miami was able to squeeze three stars into their roster. New York was able to nab one while setting themselves up to have enough space to add another next off-season. Atlanta could offer JJ the most money and also a good, but not contending young team. Chicago could offer two very good young players along with some supplemental players.

I think it's funny that you say it has nothing to do with the talent on the team when all the stars went to situations that put them in position to contend (except Amare will be contending next year and not this one).

So you are saying that the NBA system is fine because it rewards teams that purposely tank for multiple years (MIA and NY)? Who wants to watch a league based around sucking and clearing cap space?

This Melo, Bron, Amar'e, Wade, Howard, CP3 generation is not fun for the NBA. I hope we get more Durant and Rose types - although I've heard Love talking about leaving and Blake Griffin has been sticking up for LeBron - so it is unlikely.

 

[Kevalier]

Huh? Miami "reeled in the biggest names" because they already had one and they had the cap space for the others. What is wrong with that? They structured their team in a way that would give them the most possible cap space in the off-season, and then got their star to convince other stars to join him there. The Miami trio coming together has nearly everything to do with the talent of the team.

Most small market teams don't have the cap space to even sign superstars. How many teams had enough cap space to sign a superstar last off-season? What about when you remove ones with shitty front offices (LAC, MIN) that could dissuade a player from going there? Exactly how many were left? Not many.

And the ones that could provide the best opportunities won out. Miami was able to squeeze three stars into their roster. New York was able to nab one while setting themselves up to have enough space to add another next off-season. Atlanta could offer JJ the most money and also a good, but not contending young team. Chicago could offer two very good young players along with some supplemental players.

I think it's funny that you say it has nothing to do with the talent on the team when all the stars went to situations that put them in position to contend (except Amare will be contending next year and not this one).

I think you're being a little naive here. The reason why Miami and New York gutted their teams for cap space is because they play in cities that are desirable destinations for free agents, so they knew that they could recruit a few stars. Smaller market teams like Cleveland or Minnesota for instance, don't try to clear as much cap room as possible because any free agent that can play nearly anywhere they want isn't going to come to either town. The NBA is as much about lifestyle and partying as it is about winning on the court.

 

[Spectre]

Huh? Miami "reeled in the biggest names" because they already had one and they had the cap space for the others. What is wrong with that? They structured their team in a way that would give them the most possible cap space in the off-season, and then got their star to convince other stars to join him there. The Miami trio coming together has nearly everything to do with the talent of the team.

Most small market teams don't have the cap space to even sign superstars. How many teams had enough cap space to sign a superstar last off-season? What about when you remove ones with shitty front offices (LAC, MIN) that could dissuade a player from going there? Exactly how many were left? Not many.

And the ones that could provide the best opportunities won out. Miami was able to squeeze three stars into their roster. New York was able to nab one while setting themselves up to have enough space to add another next off-season. Atlanta could offer JJ the most money and also a good, but not contending young team. Chicago could offer two very good young players along with some supplemental players.

I think it's funny that you say it has nothing to do with the talent on the team when all the stars went to situations that put them in position to contend (except Amare will be contending next year and not this one).

So let's say that this past off-season, the Cavs are set up exactly the same as Miami... enough cap space to bring in both Wade and Bosh and still provide a quality supporting cast. Are you honestly suggesting that the Cavs would be on equal footing to bring in DWade and Bosh as the Heat would be to bring in LeBron and Bosh? That's absurd.

That's what I'm saying... two of the teams that improved the most this off-season (Miami and New York) did it by simply unloading assets for nothing and clearing cap space. The option to improve by that method isn't available to every team in the league. You're not going to see a team like Minnesota or Milwaukee bring in Amare and have Melo begging to be sent their way with a roster of mostly garbage. It's only an option for cities attractive to players... they're the only ones who are able to put in franchise pieces through FA.

It's bad enough that the only way for teams like the Cavs to build is through the draft but to lose whoever they get through the draft to these cities regardless of whether or not they build a contender for their player is just crap. That's a competitive imbalance and something I hope gets fixed with this next CBA, both for my own sanity and the sake of the league.

 

[KI4MVP]

It was never in the middle. The NBA has always been largely dominated by major market teams. Half of the titles shave been won by either Boston or L.A. Throw in 6 more for Chicago and then the ones for Philly and Houston, and you've got a handful of titles to split up between the small market teams.

Phills1 is right, small market teams will and do win championships. Hell, look at the best team in the league this year, San Antonio. It doesn't happen very often, but it HAS happened.

I said somewhere in the middle. While it's true that the major market teams have won quite a few championships, there have also been long runs in small markets, like San Antonio and Houston. Contrast this with baseball where small market teams have a very hard time sustaining success. Football has quite clearly done the best job of letting small market teams compete.

The troubling thing with basketball is the players are now circumventing the measures that were put in place to help teams retain their players. Extensions and the extra year and higher raises Bird rights provide were supposed to help teams retain players. Instead players are leaving and still getting their extensions and 6th year by forcing trades and sign and trades.

LeBron and Bosh left, yet both got the same 6th year Wade got.
Carmelo is using his right to sign an extension to force a trade to his team of choice.

It's a real problem that will damage the league.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

I'm sick of people labeling San Antonio as a small market team. The city is the 7th largest in the US.

 

[Triumph36]

So you are saying that the NBA system is fine because it rewards teams that purposely tank for multiple years (MIA and NY)? Who wants to watch a league based around sucking and clearing cap space?

This Melo, Bron, Amar'e, Wade, Howard, CP3 generation is not fun for the NBA. I hope we get more Durant and Rose types - although I've heard Love talking about leaving and Blake Griffin has been sticking up for LeBron - so it is unlikely.

Lol, the Heat didn't tank. They were the #5 seed in two consecutive years. Structuring your team in such a way that would allow you to sign multiple free agents does not mean they are tanking. The Knicks tanked to an extent, but lets not pretend like they were the worst team in the league year after year. If that were the case, it'd be different. Anyway, in the post you quoted I was moreso talking about Miami because he claimed they were "swimming in mediocrity" which is just not true.

I think you're being a little naive here. The reason why Miami and New York gutted their teams for cap space is because they play in cities that are desirable destinations for free agents, so they knew that they could recruit a few stars. Smaller market teams like Cleveland or Minnesota for instance, don't try to clear as much cap room as possible because any free agent that can play nearly anywhere they want isn't going to come to either town. The NBA is as much about lifestyle and partying as it is about winning on the court.

Market =! partying & lifestyle. Miami is a small market, just like Cleveland and Minn.

Clearing cap space and banking on free agency is risky no matter where you play. Is it more risky for a team like Cleveland? Yes. But the NBA can't exactly put some sort of rule in the CBA that prevents teams from clearing cap space. Still, even "big market" teams that cleared cap space lost out on stars (LAC & NJN).

If the roles were reversed and Cleveland had cleared the cap space, do you think LBJ/Wade/Bosh would pass on the opportunity to team up and use "lol Cleveland" as their reason why they passed? I don't think they'd be able to pass on such a special opportunity no matter how unappealing the city is.

On the same topic, it's kind of funny how everyone is outraged by this but if Cleveland were one of the "attractive cities" or the Cavs had just signed 3 stars, it wouldn't be a problem at all.

 

[KI4MVP]

The problem with the NBA is that it's all about the city and has little/nothing to do with the talent of the team. These guys rarely even consider small market teams with talent but they're always looking to upgrade cities. It irks the hell out of me that lesser cities are held to a standard of "win a championship in X timeframe or you deserve to lose your star" but teams like the Heat and Knicks can swim in mediocrity (or in the Knicks case, feces) and there's not a peep from anyone when they reel in the biggest names.

The league needs to do something to create some kind of competitive balance over the long haul. Players shouldn't be trapped in a bad situation forever but at the same time, teams in small cities shouldn't be trapped in a "win a title in 5 years or I'm leaving and you're getting jack shit in return" scenario. This new CBA needs to fix that or the NFL is going to continue to gain ground on the NBA until enough people stop caring for them to take notice.

Gain ground? The NFL is far, far more popular than the NBA. The super bowl had a 47.9 rating and was the most watched TV show ever. By comparison, game 7 of last year's NBA finals had a rating of 18.2.

 

[KI4MVP]

I'm sick of people labeling San Antonio as a small market team. The city is the 7th largest in the US.

it's the #37 TV market in the country. Cleveland/Akron is #17.

http://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets

San Antonio itself may have a large population, but there really is nothing around it but open land (I went there for the finals in 07).