tfarks

Just sticking up for his client makes him seem like a more personable agent? I got your back type of thing?

That's too bad. Cause he should move to 3b. Not like Reyes is a world beater at SS either.

No Phillips or McNeill? Damn, I wouldn't be surprised if it was windy again too.

I thought Butler getting to the title game was cool. And the best teams do win. I just want to see more teams given that opportunity to be there. The problem isn't the best teams win, it's that it's the same teams. Although admittedly we have gotten more 1-time winners lately and that's good to see. Except when the Heat win the next 3. I've read it both ways on the finances. And I can't be for sure. There's a lot of hidden money trails out there. But not every owner can get a taxpayer-financed stadium. Simon has lost money continually having to pay for his own venue, and currently the long-term lease on Conseco has him losing money and having him by the balls if he tries to move the team. Why would he vote for status quo? He built a competitive team, built another one, got unlucky with the brawl, and is now building up another competitive team. But it took him losing money since then and counting. If Stern wants a franchise in Indianapolis, and certain other cities, he needs to fix it. And that's one of the reasons such a hard stance was taken against the players. It's also not feasible to say just get an owner in there who can. Because the same restrictions and limitations would be there for him too. Such as a cash-strapped city who can't afford to add 50 million in taxes for a stadium, but depend on the team for revenue. It's just the way the economy is in a lot of places right now. In a positive scenario, the NBA can get more money to these teams and keep their league in all these cities. Keep or gain fans, instead of lose them.

Okay that's a lot for the morning. Yes Memphis sucked even with their star player too. In terms of Williams, that's whats I remember reading. Williams became unhappy about Sloan. Utah kept everything under wraps the best they could then their franchise player was traded. You really think he had nothing to do with either part of that? Seems like a stretch to me. Disgruntled star players spur roster changes, always have always will. Do I know it for sure? Absolutely not. It's possible his bewilderment was legit and he wanted to stay. I think Utah preemptively traded him because they thought he wouldn't re-sign there after their long time coach leaving and a decline in team's play. Doesn't really matter though it was 1 example out of many. Yes, draft picks are able to be signed and I'm fine with that. Same with resigning one's own players. If they're keeping the soft cap structure. Which it seemed like they were keeping, just with changes. Star players don't have to make insultingly low pay, but if you want to have 3 of them together then they need to make considerably less than they normally would. Would help keep stars from congregating on 1 team and still getting near max deals. Yes OKC does have more room. But they did it in a smart way. The Lakers being able to go over 30 million from the cap just seems too easy. No, that's not true of other leagues. That's what would make it cool. It has zero chance of being implemented, but it could hypothetically work, and well. 3-4 teams comment means that every year when the playoffs start, the top 3-4 teams are heavily favored because the bottom half of the playoff bracket has little chance. When a 3 seed like Dallas wins it all that's an upset. It will be fun watching the Heat make it year after year to some. Not so much for others. Last 2 years if that's what you wanna work with had the Lakers/Heat/Celtics/Mavs. When's the last time a low seed won the playoffs? Denver was there, New York was there, Portland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Indiana. All had no chance. All that meant is when it comes playoff time in the NBA it's never between 16 teams. It's usually between 3-4. Maybe even 4-6. A lot of people don't seem to mind this, that's cool. I thought what Memphis did was more interesting than just hoping the Heat would lose. 6 different champs is nice. But name me one small-market owner that looks at that and says ooh, fun. Glad I'm losing money and maybe getting bounced out of the 1st round of the playoffs on a good year.

Are you sure those soft cap exceptions were around then? Can't make things perfectly fair. But you should attempt when also dealing with the economics. The playoffs don't have to be between 3-4 teams while the others momentarily get in the way. The easiest way to fix things is the super league. Don't dick around with it. And every team would have a chance to win every year.

The soft cap is garbage. The owners gave up too many concessions to the players and that's why they're in this mess now. They had to go too far back in the other direction and the players had to pull out the last card they had left.

Memphis got to the playoffs single-handedly because of Gasol. Seems like a guy that should be traded and not kept as the franchise player. And the rumors I read said Williams asked for Utah to trade him. The organization kept it unofficial just like they downplayed any role he might have had in forcing Sloan's exit. If Utah had a happy Williams they would have never traded him. He wanted out. Teams over the salary cap can already resign their own players and sign their draft picks. Plus more I don't feel like getting into. No, they should not be allowed to add yet another player as it just gives the advantage to the teams who can pay the most in luxury tax. Why is it a good idea to keep handing out MLE's to teams like the Heat so they can keep ballooning their payroll to build around their big 3. How does this make the league worse while being more fair? Why should the Heat get to sign a player with no repercussions every year from now on? Just because the Knicks didn't know how to win being 70 million over the cap doesn't mean it should be an option to the few teams who can afford it. How is that fair to a smart team like OKC who knows how to actually handle the cap? Yet has to face the Lakers who Kobe in Colorado it? I don't buy the argument the league can't be made more fair and be the worse for wear.

But, again, until the Celtics a few years ago where are these teams buying rings with money? And it's not like those teams have a clear advantage when it comes to being able to spend money; this isn't a Yankees-type situation. I'm not saying everything is on the same level, but come on, we're not looking at a huge baseball-like disparity. Hell, the Heat can't even fill of their seats. Plus a lot of those decisions simply stem from the desire of players to play for a big market team. How are they supposed to regulate that? Well the Lakers were able to take Pau Gasol from Memphis. Did that not put them over the luxury tax, at least down the line? Cuban won in Dallas with resources many teams couldn't dream of. I'm not saying they should be penalized for being smart franchises with lots of money and attractive destinations. But some of these other teams need to be thrown a bone or they might as well be contracted. What's the point of having a team in Memphis, get a superstar in the draft, only to trade him away cause he would have left anyway. Didn't we all just witness Carmelo Anthony bully his way out of Denver into New York? Deron Williams telling Utah he wouldn't come back. There's the obvious rift between players and owners. But there's also the divide between owners. They have to regulate the desires of the players by giving the small market teams more leverage. Somehow. They shouldn't be shoehorned into dealing with the Lakers because their one of the few teams who can take on another $40 million to their payroll.

They could start by not paying TJ Ford 8.5M/Y The only reason they had Ford at that price was because they had to trade Jermaine O'Neal after he got hurt for the 12th time. You're gonna equate spending 60 million less than the Lakers with making a solid trade that netted you Roy Hibbert for an aging ex-star? Are you including luxury tax payments in your numbers? The link I'm at has Indiana paying just over 30M less than the Lakers last year. It also has them with a payroll nearly 20M above the Bulls and 10M above the Heat. How can those small market teams possibly compete with the big bully Pacers able to buy away top stars like Mike Dunleavy Jr? Yes I'm counting luxury tax. Simon can't afford to pay 60 more million dollars when his stands are 40% occupied and he doesn't have a gigantic tv deal.

Wasn't one of the popular arguments about that stretch of time tied to star players staying with their own teams? Dominique never teamed up with Jordan. Isiah Thomas didn't go play with Olajuwon. And yeah, those are extreme examples. I mean Dirk won sticking with his team. But there were multiple articles alluding to the fact when the Heat coalesced with stars from 2 struggling franchises. Changing the CBA to be more competitive doesn't stop these big market teams from winning. It just increases the chances of some variety.

It seems like a decent point when it kind of debunks the idea you're presenting that 30 years ago/Stern ushered in some kind of imbalanced era that's unfair to almost everyone except a small group of teams. The NBA has been dominated by a small group of teams since it started. I'm not arguing that the financial landscape hasn't changed, but it seems like you're going about the wrong way of pointing that out by pointing out that only 9 teams have won the title in the last 20 years when only 15 have won it in the last 60. The league that early on was a different dynamic. Less teams, less overall talent available. The NBA expanded, became more popular. The same teams gathered up most of the talent. It just repeated itself. No, it wasn't Stern ushering it in, but he never fought against it. Why was there such a large conspiracy about the Knicks getting Ewing? Besides a lot of people being dumb. Big player goes to big city. It's how it has to be. That's cool for a lot of people. Not so much for a certain group of owners.

They could start by not paying TJ Ford 8.5M/Y The only reason they had Ford at that price was because they had to trade Jermaine O'Neal after he got hurt for the 12th time. You're gonna equate spending 60 million less than the Lakers with making a solid trade that netted you Roy Hibbert for an aging ex-star?

Pop quiz: Who has made the most worthless comment in the past 1 page? You're not witty. Why did you only go back 30 years? Because a trend started. One that Stern had a lot to with. Wait, what? The trend of a relatively small group of teams winning the title didn't start then. It was arguably there from the very beginning. Again, we've only had 15 different teams win the title since 1950. How many eras can you go back though? What does Red Auerbach got to do with anything? I got crap for going back 30. But at least with Stern you have some kind of gauge. He was the big proponent behind the big stars in big cities idea.

Indubitably. But that's why I said it's not about every team getting to win. Especially in a sport where 1 person can be so dominant. But how do the Pacers compete with the Lakers spending twice as much? It's like racing Usain Bolt and giving him a head start.

Pop quiz: Who has made the most worthless comment in the past 1 page? You're not witty. Why did you only go back 30 years? Because a trend started. One that Stern had a lot to with.

Yeah they do. It's interesting to see them be competitive with Pitt and Baltimore. Instead of just stepped over year after year. I'd venture a guess that a lot of people give a [expletive]. Divisional races between more than 2 teams is unpopular? Looks good for the NFC North, and that Detroit team no one cared about for 15 years. And no one's trying to turn the NBA into the NFL. I think the owners made that clear with multiple concessions to the players. Like no salary cap. It's called closing the gap with a few borrowed ideas.

Pop quiz: Who has made the most worthless comment in the past 1 page? You're not witty.

Duh. NBA should be a 12 team super league. I've said this.

Who cares about New Orleans and Charlotte??? Amirite?

What was the quote from the NHL union rep...It's not a relationship...it's their league.

Yup. And the absurdly rich have to share with the less absurdly rich.

Yeah that's gotta hurt.

Strict salary cap, draft pick compensation, franchise player tags? Anything to give the small market teams more leverage for when their stars want to bolt to the beach.

Oh they should have re-signed Bosh then.