The 2016 Offseason thread

[Sinbad]

It protects the teams and the customers. It's a mechanism that helps protect the business. You're not talking about real life here, you're talking about grown men who probably never had a hard days work in their life getting paid millions to play a game. If that's so tough then they could go work with the people paying for the tickets and all the merchandise and taste the real world.

They don't have regular jobs like us, so they don't work hard to hone their craft and put themselves in position to reap the financial benefits? Ridiculous sentiment. Stop whining and campaigning for the NBA to take away the individual right of players to choose where they want to work/live/play-- which wasn't always the case. The Players and NBAPA had to fight for the right to even have free agency. Now you want to heavily restrict it because you don't like how the unique circumstances of this year's market allowed Durant to head to Golden State? Pathetic.

[Barolt]

People focus on the Thunder being small market, and forget the numerous bad decisions and blown draft picks the franchise has had since Durant got there. Forget that he's been fantastic for the team and city for years, and focus instead on the fact that he made the choice to leave 9 years into his career, in what happens to be the first time he's had the choice of where he plays in his career.

[Apollo]

People said the same thing when the Heatles got together. Guess what? People watched.

Good thing I didn't call for a boycott then.

[lewro]

I always bring it back to simple employer/employee relationships when such discussions happen. Forget the money, forget the fame, imagine if your employer FORBID YOU from leaving your job even after your contract with them was done. It's madness that any place allows such a thing.

Most of those jobs are not in the public eye, nor are their contracts and financial impact anywhere near the same level. It's not a simple analogy.
It's standard practice in many industries to sign a non-compete clause for a certain amount of time. Likewise code of conduct agreements that don't allow for "free will" as some have suggested here.
They shouldn't be forbidden but there is a case for restructuring and fans/businesses have a right to be upset.

[slamdunk23]

People focus on the Thunder being small market, and forget the numerous bad decisions and blown draft picks the franchise has had since Durant got there. Forget that he's been fantastic for the team and city for years, and focus instead on the fact that he made the choice to leave 9 years into his career, in what happens to be the first time he's had the choice of where he plays in his career.

I don't care about Durant leaving OKC. The messed up part is him joining the greatest regular season of all-time.

[Barolt]

Good thing I didn't call for a boycott then.

But it's not bad for the league! In fact, historically super teams are good for their sports.

The only thing we love more than supporting our own sports teams is hating someone else's.

[Apollo]

Irrelevant.

We're also talking about billionaires who are handing out millions to these men to play a game.

Just as in another industry a billionaire is handing out millions to employees to type code, or to design buildings or to write reviews for mobile apps, it's all still employees and employers, all working as hard as necessary to make a living. Just because the dollar figure gets high doesn't mean they lose the rights that everyone else should have.

This is one of the problems with sports, we see the millionaire athlete and their contracts thrown in our faces day in and day out that we start sympathizing with the billionaire owners who are usually way worse human beings and more likely to screw us all over at the drop of a hat. Last thing they need is more power.

Well shit then Letter N, enjoy one of the few pro sports in North America where you can honestly say your team doesn't have a prayer of ever winning shit. Pony up the money and enjoy that mediocre offering. Savor it. Meanwhile the NFL kicks the living shit out of the NBA with 16 game seasons and four round single game playoffs.

[Barolt]

Well shit then Letter N, enjoy one of the few pro sports in North America where you can honestly say your team doesn't have a prayer of ever winning shit. Pony up the money and enjoy that mediocre offering. Savor it. Meanwhile the NFL kicks the living shit out of the NBA with 16 game seasons and four round single game playoffs.

Huh.

It's too bad a small town sports franchise doesn't have 5 titles in the last 20 years then, right? Or is San Antonio suddenly a big market in your eyes?

Run your team right, you can get there.

[MixxAOR]

1. Even the "bad" players who hang on for a couple seasons make more during that time then most of us will ever make in our lifetimes.
2. They're all insured and if they get hurt they still get paid a lot of money.

It's still not ok to tell them what to do. You want franchises to decide where they can live and work? While at the same time trade them, waive them as they please? WTF

[DanH]

If they do scale back his rights they'd be using the ""non-bird" bird rights I think. That entitles him to 120% of his previous salary so he'd be making 27.5M next year. If they do that, can he still sign the full 5 year max next offseason using full bird rights?

Yes, he would have his full bird rights next summer.

[Barolt]

I don't care about Durant leaving OKC. The messed up part is him joining the greatest regular season of all-time.

So you're ok with his right to choose, as long as he doesn't choose to do what you don't want him to do?

[Apollo]

Huh.

It's too bad a small town sports franchise doesn't have 5 titles in the last 20 years then, right? Or is San Antonio suddenly a big market in your eyes?

Run your team right, you can get there.

An outlier in the NBA, a common place occurrence in the NFL. Your point is weak, doesn't hold up.

[rocwell]

[Apollo]

It's still not ok to tell them what to do. You want franchises to decide where they can live and work? While at the same time trade them, waive them as they please? WTF

Sure it is. We spend our whole lives being told what to do in some shape or form except most of use aren't getting paid millions to play something we enjoying doing for free.

[Barolt]

An outlier in the NBA, a common place occurrence in the NFL. Your point is weak, doesn't hold up.

Huh?

Teams that made the playoffs this year: Indiana, Charlotte, Atlanta, San Antonio, Cleveland, Portland, Oklahoma City, Memphis.

Teams that missed the playoffs: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets.

Clearly, small markets stand no chance against larger markets.

This is about the fact that a player made a choice people don't like, and that means you don't really support his right to choose.

Supporting someone's rights is never about what they do when you agree with them, it's about what they do when you disagree.