Problem Solving > Getting the NBA to join MLB and NFL to a place of parity

[Bankingitbig]

I think not having a cap smoothing last year was a big detriment to the league. Silver knew this and tried to have the cap smoothed, but couldn't get the NBAPA onboard. If there wasn't such a large spike in the cap, then you likely wouldn't have GSW with Durant. You would be looking at great parity in the West with GSW, OKC, HOU, SA, LAC and even UTA all as potential contenders. Sure, the East would still be dominated by CLE, but that's more because the teams in the East just aren't where they need to be right now competitively (compared to CLE and the top tier in the West).

I am not a fan of players ring chasing and joining forces like LeBron and Bosh did with Wade in MIA. But they were only able to win 2 rings together out of 4 years. It isn't like they were super dominant. Perhaps not having max salaries would prevent this, but I definitely think there should still be a salary cap as I don't want to see a situation similar to baseball where the Yankees can just outbid everyone.

[AHF]

On 5/28/2017 at 6:52 PM, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Cleveland and Golden State, and specifically Lebron and Durant, owe no one an apology.  They took matters into their own hands and altered their NBA destiny.  Their respective teams couldn't build a winner around them, so they joined forces with others. 

They don't have to apologize to anyone but they aren't immune to people calling them out, either.  Like you say, they "couldn't build a winner" without manipulating the system and pairing up with other MVP candidates.  (I would say they actually did build winners but couldn't build championship teams.)

When you ask questions about a player's legacy that has to come into the picture.  MJ or Lebron?  One couldn't do it organically so he manipulated the system twice to stack the cards in his favor while the other suffered through the hard years and did it without a ring chaser like Durant or Bosh jumping on board.  It should be an asterisk on their resumes but since that only comes into play in questions about the greatest players or teams of all time then why should they care?  Lebron still looks better with 6 rings than he would with say 2 if he had stuck with Cleveland.  (I think he would have eventually gotten there had he just stuck with it rather than playing superfriends in Miami.)

[AHF]

1 hour ago, Bankingitbig said:

Perhaps not having max salaries would prevent this, but I definitely think there should still be a salary cap as I don't want to see a situation similar to baseball where the Yankees can just outbid everyone.

You can still have both.  No cap on individual salaries but caps on team salaries.  That solves the super friends problem and prevents the Yankees situation which I agree would be terrible for a league with markets like Memphis, OKC and Milwaukee.

[sturt]

On 5/30/2017 at 8:16 AM, Bankingitbig said:

If there wasn't such a large spike in the cap, then you likely wouldn't have GSW with Durant. You would be looking at great parity in the West with GSW, OKC, HOU, SA, LAC and even UTA all as potential contenders. Sure, the East would still be dominated by CLE, but that's more because the teams in the East just aren't where they need to be right now competitively (compared to CLE and the top tier in the West).

So, you're suggesting this is a one-off, and it might be, though on balance, in any given year, a spike remains possible if not plausible.

What we know is, this is now the 3rd instance of a player successfully manipulating the system in a blatant ring-chasing scheme. Two of those Involved LeBron, but now his behavior has spawned license for another elite player to unabashedly follow suit. Knowing human inclination is to say, "if he could do it, why can't i?," I look for more of this, not less of it if left unchecked until the next CBA negotiations about 6 years from now... (count 'em... that's 2017-2018, then 2018-2019, then 2019-2020, then 2020-2021, then 2021-2022, and finally 2022-2023.) But it's another one of those where I'd like to be wrong.

Again, though, I think what GSW did in building their team up until this season is "the right way." That's what we want teams to aspire to do. No shortcuts by unscrupulous ring-chasing manipulators, but just developing your roster the way for all but recent NBA history that teams have done that.

If, instead, we as fans accept that and by implication we choose to buy what Adam Silver is selling (see below), count me among those who will continue to lose interest in this league in an exponential way. Silver is like a really bad magician here, putting on a good face and acting like he can say some magic words, distract with one hand what's going on in the other, and expect that the trick fools anyone.
 

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/05/31/adam-silver-doesnt-see-cavalierswarriors-as-bad-for-nbas-competitive-balance/

 

I disliked Stern a lot because of how bad officiating got during his tenure, without any seeming legitimate response until at the very end of it.

Silver, for different reasons, and notably a wider variety of reasons, is asserting himself as equally worthy of disregard.

[AHF]

Agree with you, Sturt.  As long as there are maximum salaries for the best players, there will continue to be artificial "superfriend" moves to try to make the path to a ring easier.  Those players are paid so much less than their fair market value that it gives their team a massive advantage in terms of value per $ spent and gives them a ton more flexibility in terms of building their roster.  Stack a couple superstars on sub-market contracts and that just adds up to an even bigger edge.

[sturt]

On 5/27/2017 at 5:28 PM, sturt said:

So... okay, having made the case as effectively as I know how that we could do something about this situation by the leveraged minutes solution...

Let's fast forward to 2023, the next time we're likely to hear about negotiations for a new NBA CBA getting cranked up... a long time from now, and too long imo to just twiddle thumbs and endure this Groundhog Day Association monstrosity...

I'm thinking the elimination of max contracts makes sense, but I would modify that to say each franchise gets the benefit of one uncapped contract in any given season... which, then, would seem to effectively offer an especially strong deterrent to the funny business ring-chasing crap.

(Took a bit of a detour about a page ago, but just before, I'd I'd said this about that.)

[sturt]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/06/02/adam-silver-a-certain-amount-of-player-resting-is-just-inevitable-but-league-seeks-reduction/

 

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....