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

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I know it couldn't work. The players would never agree to that and likely the players would jsut go to Euroleague or something. But it jsut seems that is what would make RCF happy. My personal preference (if you care) would be to have a combination of the NHL's, NBA's nd NFL's salary cap structures. I like the hard cap in the NHL, I like the non guaranteed in the NFL and I like the RFA's in the NBA. You hard cap the teams and make every contract the exact same starting (let's just say 500k) with performance based pay increasers so that teams are not stuck with Eddy Curry or Zach Randolph type of deals. So let's just say that player A signs with the Cavs and puts up a stat line of 10(points)/10(boards)/3(ast)/2(blk)/1(stl), his contract is 500k plus his performance incentives (that would be the same for the entire league) and we'll say those stats get him 6 million. Player B is on the Cavs and is a 30/8/8/1/1 guy and he gets 500k plus the performance incentives say 14 million.

If that makes sense to you like it does to me, that is what I would like to see. And if a guy isn't playing the way you expected you can cut him because the contracts are non guaranteed. It makes every year a contract year. Oh well I am dreaming I guess as there has always been bad contracts and there always will be.

Is that you, LeBron?
 
I strongly doubt that the Lakers are scared to death of this eventuality. All of this Dwight Howard talk at the moment, is just that, talk. There continues to be an existential problem with the Clipper organization. The Owner, Donald Sterling. Very few top players want to hitch their wagons to him for a lot of reasons. They lucked out with Griffin, but you watch Sterling do as he has always done. He gets young players, allows them to develop, raises their market values, and then he tries to keep just one piece, and in this case it will be Griffin, and he will cash in on the other surrounding talent. Griffin will find himself, as other talented players before him, a monster player with no help. Add to it that Sterling is the most racist owner in basketball, and voilà you have problems keeping talent, and not to mention the sort of long-term strategy necessary to create a true competitive window.
 
Basketball players want to give opponents high fives and a slap on the ass.


wally agrees... not that there is anything wrong with that

wally.jpg
 
I know it couldn't work. The players would never agree to that and likely the players would jsut go to Euroleague or something. But it jsut seems that is what would make RCF happy. My personal preference (if you care) would be to have a combination of the NHL's, NBA's nd NFL's salary cap structures. I like the hard cap in the NHL, I like the non guaranteed in the NFL and I like the RFA's in the NBA. You hard cap the teams and make every contract the exact same starting (let's just say 500k) with performance based pay increasers so that teams are not stuck with Eddy Curry or Zach Randolph type of deals. So let's just say that player A signs with the Cavs and puts up a stat line of 10(points)/10(boards)/3(ast)/2(blk)/1(stl), his contract is 500k plus his performance incentives (that would be the same for the entire league) and we'll say those stats get him 6 million. Player B is on the Cavs and is a 30/8/8/1/1 guy and he gets 500k plus the performance incentives say 14 million.

If that makes sense to you like it does to me, that is what I would like to see. And if a guy isn't playing the way you expected you can cut him because the contracts are non guaranteed. It makes every year a contract year. Oh well I am dreaming I guess as there has always been bad contracts and there always will be.
Performance based contracts basically encourage selfishness though. Teammates would be overly competitive about getting a rebound, for example. Or making sure they get their points. And how would you factor defense into the incentives? And would the incentive "steps" be equal?

The problem is that this gives GMs way too much power. . . part of being an NBA General Manager is being able to evaluate a player and make the right offer. If a GM offers Rudy Gay the max contract because they expect him to put up 25/5/5 on 45%+ shooting, that's their own doing. . .


there are too many awful GMs in the league to be giving them the ability to always just snap their mistakes away. They have to "suffer" from their mistakes as well.
This too.

It's hilarious that owners proposed shorter contracts and partially-guaranteed contracts. Apparently according to them under the new CBA the GM job should require little skill and have little risk. I guess people should only be punished for mistakes outside of basketball but all mistakes made within the league should have a convenient exit strategy that minimizes damages. That sounds just fantastic.

Fortunately the chances of that actually becoming a reality are small. At least I hope so.
 
Really though, there's only one team with more than 1 superstar and that's Miami. . . New York would have two top tier All-Stars in Melo and Amar'e and the Thunder are shaping two of them in Westbrook and Durant. That's it, though. . .


and to be honest, I would rather see teams building to be able to compete against Miami than every single city with a superstar/all-star but with no chance of ever challenging the Heat. . . it's well known amongst fans and players that you can't win it all alone unless you're Hakeem and it's 1994. If a player wants to win a title he should know he'll need another star next to him.


As long as players play out their contracts, I don't see what the problem is. Management should also be held accountable. Should superstars also have to put up with crappy management and futile attempts at making the team better?

This is all hypothetical. I'm not complaining about what is currently the NBA landscape. It isn't great, but it isn't awful. In 10 years, if things go this way with stars teaming up, yes, it could be awful and then I might be bitching about the present situation. Right now it's more of seeing warning signs and not wanting the league down that path.

Look at your comment about management being held accountable. What, if management can't field a team with 3 superstars on it, they should be held accountable and the star on that team should move to a team that CAN field a super squad? I don't know. Video game-ish is a good way to describe it, props PIP.
 
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).

Open land? Is that opposed to having closed land? I don't even know what that means. I lived there for two years. I lived in Austin for two years as well. Those two cities are about a 40 minute drive apart. Houston is about 2 1/2 hours from SA. What open land are you talking about?

This thread is stupid. For one thing, we know damn well any new agreement is going to address this James situation and other situations that may come about. I'm not concerned. If the management of teams makes good decisions, any team can win in the NBA.
 
This is all hypothetical. I'm not complaining about what is currently the NBA landscape. It isn't great, but it isn't awful. In 10 years, if things go this way with stars teaming up, yes, it could be awful and then I might be bitching about the present situation. Right now it's more of seeing warning signs and not wanting the league down that path.

Look at your comment about management being held accountable. What, if management can't field a team with 3 superstars on it, they should be held accountable and the star on that team should move to a team that CAN field a super squad? I don't know. Video game-ish is a good way to describe it, props PIP.


There isn't currently any team in the league with 3 superstars and there isn't going to be any team in the league with 3 superstars for at least 5 years. . . I'm not talking about a GM not being able to get two stud players and fail, I'm talking about GMs not doing much at all. Look at the teams AI, TMAC, CP3, hell even Minnesota KG.


but management should definitely see some repercussions if they continue to overpay for okay players and continue to draft busts. . . I don't think Melo should stay in Denver just because they drafted him, and if I were him I'd pair with up Amar'e too. . . who wouldn't? He can't win it all on his own and neither can Amar'e, at least together they'll be able to get past the 1st round. That Knicks team won't be even close to a "super squad". Hell, the Heat aren't a super squad. . . they might be in a year or two but depending on how the new CBA works out they might end up stuck with 2 superstars, Bosh, maybe 2 good rotational players, and a bunch of over the hill vets.



I also don't see any "warning signs". . . it happened once. . .
 
There isn't currently any team in the league with 3 superstars and there isn't going to be any team in the league with 3 superstars for at least 5 years. . . I'm not talking about a GM not being able to get two stud players and fail, I'm talking about GMs not doing much at all. Look at the teams AI, TMAC, CP3, hell even Minnesota KG.


but management should definitely see some repercussions if they continue to overpay for okay players and continue to draft busts. . . I don't think Melo should stay in Denver just because they drafted him, and if I were him I'd pair with up Amar'e too. . . who wouldn't? He can't win it all on his own and neither can Amar'e, at least together they'll be able to get past the 1st round. That Knicks team won't be even close to a "super squad". Hell, the Heat aren't a super squad. . . they might be in a year or two but depending on how the new CBA works out they might end up stuck with 2 superstars, Bosh, maybe 2 good rotational players, and a bunch of over the hill vets.



I also don't see any "warning signs". . . it happened once. . .

Um, it happened once, and now you have Melo wanted to team with Amare in New York, and Howard wanting to pick and choose what team he goes to (allegedly- this is Adrian Wojnarowski, after all) which just so happens to also include that New York team, or maybe LA where two stars currently reside.

I don't see how this is so farfetched to you...?

I see that you underestimate teams like the Heat. That team will dominate for the next 6 years. And they will get better every year through crafty moves. Hell, they might be good enough to win it all this year. Just wait until they find their footing and make some moves. They are a super team, no doubt.
 
Um, it happened once, and now you have Melo wanted to team with Amare in New York, and Howard wanting to pick and choose what team he goes to (allegedly- this is Adrian Wojnarowski, after all) which just so happens to also include that New York team, or maybe LA where two stars currently reside.

I don't see how this is so farfetched to you...?

I see that you underestimate teams like the Heat. That team will dominate for the next 6 years. And they will get better every year through crafty moves. Hell, they might be good enough to win it all this year. Just wait until they find their footing and make some moves. They are a super team, no doubt.


I don't consider Amar'e and Melo as guys creating super teams. Two upper tier all-stars that wouldn't be able to win a title as the man playing together is far from a super team. . .


Howard hasn't said anything about going to LA or NY and addressed it twice already. Even so, you'd think he would want to pick and choose what team to go to. . . isn't that what the FA is all about? Unless he joins the Thunder, there will be no other team in the league with a superstar that'll be able to acquire him. Maybe the Clippers, but I'm sure Sterling will fuck that one up.


And I'm not underestimating the Heat. I don't think they're a super squad because to me, a super squad is a team that steamrolls through opposition. . . based on their winning percentage they'll finish the season with around 60 wins. I did say that they could turn into one in a year or two if the CBA keeps the MLE and all, but it might change in a way that could thwart Pat Riley's plans. . .


But, back to the Melo/Ama're situation. . . I don't think it's any different than Carter joining JKidd, TMac joining Yao, Grant Hill joining TMac, Divac joining Webber, Arenas joining Stackhouse, etc. . .


I think the main difference now is that not only is the timing a bit iffy (because of the LeBron fiasco), but also because the internet has turned bloggers into insiders, insiders into reputable sources, and actual sources into the voice of god. Rumors get overblown, player's mothers turn into joints that get passed around every night, and etc. Not sure if you understand where I'm going with this but my main point is that what Melo's doing isn't new, neither is what CP3 wanted (he basically pulled a Kobe), but because of how big the internet is today, these things become *huge news*. 10 years ago, you didn't have broussard "tweeting" "howard jst sang ny on my mind - is he a lck 2 join meloamre?? #nawwww" and similar crap like that.


All I see here is one huge outlier in Miami and the Amar'e/Melo situation happening right after it. I'd say it's more of a coincidence/bad timing than trend.
 
Open land? Is that opposed to having closed land? I don't even know what that means. I lived there for two years. I lived in Austin for two years as well. Those two cities are about a 40 minute drive apart. Houston is about 2 1/2 hours from SA. What open land are you talking about?

This thread is stupid. For one thing, we know damn well any new agreement is going to address this James situation and other situations that may come about. I'm not concerned. If the management of teams makes good decisions, any team can win in the NBA.

Despite San Antonio having about a million more people than Cleveland, their metropolitan populations are about the same, with Cleveland's being slightly larger.
 
I don't consider Amar'e and Melo as guys creating super teams. Two upper tier all-stars that wouldn't be able to win a title as the man playing together is far from a super team. . .


Howard hasn't said anything about going to LA or NY and addressed it twice already. Even so, you'd think he would want to pick and choose what team to go to. . . isn't that what the FA is all about? Unless he joins the Thunder, there will be no other team in the league with a superstar that'll be able to acquire him. Maybe the Clippers, but I'm sure Sterling will fuck that one up.


And I'm not underestimating the Heat. I don't think they're a super squad because to me, a super squad is a team that steamrolls through opposition. . . based on their winning percentage they'll finish the season with around 60 wins. I did say that they could turn into one in a year or two if the CBA keeps the MLE and all, but it might change in a way that could thwart Pat Riley's plans. . .


But, back to the Melo/Ama're situation. . . I don't think it's any different than Carter joining JKidd, TMac joining Yao, Grant Hill joining TMac, Divac joining Webber, Arenas joining Stackhouse, etc. . .


I think the main difference now is that not only is the timing a bit iffy (because of the LeBron fiasco), but also because the internet has turned bloggers into insiders, insiders into reputable sources, and actual sources into the voice of god. Rumors get overblown, player's mothers turn into joints that get passed around every night, and etc. Not sure if you understand where I'm going with this but my main point is that what Melo's doing isn't new, neither is what CP3 wanted (he basically pulled a Kobe), but because of how big the internet is today, these things become *huge news*. 10 years ago, you didn't have broussard "tweeting" "howard jst sang ny on my mind - is he a lck 2 join meloamre?? #nawwww" and similar crap like that.


All I see here is one huge outlier in Miami and the Amar'e/Melo situation happening right after it. I'd say it's more of a coincidence/bad timing than trend.

Hope you are right. We will see. All we have at this point is speculation on how it will all turn out. For your sake, hope Dwight isn't just giving the company line.
 
Hope you are right. We will see. All we have at this point is speculation on how it will all turn out. For your sake, hope Dwight isn't just giving the company line.

Went through TMac demanding a trade and had to be told as a kid Shaq was "gone" from Orlando, I can handle it :chuckles:
 
Too many teams in the NBA

May need to downsize

20 competitive teams would be more entertaining than what we have now
 
If all these primadonna's keep going to the same teams then we may as well contract the league to about 10 so those teams don't have to wait a whole 7 years to get their three stars.
 

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