Brandon wrote:
In general, I think teams like the Spurs and Pacers have proven this playoffs that a solid TEAM, built of good-to-great players who put the team first, can be quite successful. The Heat are the exception to the rule. The Spurs have 3 great players who were once considered superstars, but they're in the twilight of their careers and the team has been fuelled as much by their younger role players (ie: Leonard, Green, Neal, Splitter, etc...).
1st bold - I think your player evaulation is way off, if you honestly believe a league with 450 roster spots is comprised of 30 superstars and 420 minimum-wage players. There are several tiers of skilled and role players in that massive gray area between superstar and min-wage; the league-wide talent pool is not nearly that black & white
2nd bold - a team managed that way, offering only minimum contracts or 3-year superstar contracts, will never be able to attract or keep talented players, due to supply & demand; players will get bigger and/or longer offers from any of the other 29 teams. A team-building strategy like that is useless, since no team exists in a bubble
3rd bold - for a team taking the "suck & luck" infinite rebuilding strategy to the max, the idea of letting talented (but not superstar) young players coming off their rookie contracts walk for nothing, as a result of not matching RFA offer sheets, is the worst type of asset management possible. That sort of team should never allow a player to leave for nothing; every player should be traded (or S&T) for draft picks, to increase the chances of getting lucky in each draft.
4th bold - a team managed like that, in perpetual 'tank' mode, with absolutely no loyalty to their players, will completely turn off fans, players, coaches, agents, etc... to the point that no good player (let alone one of those 30 superstars) will ever sign or re-sign with the team. Just getting lucky and drafting a superstar talent player (or players, if lightning strikes more than once) is not enough to guarantee success; you need to surround those superstars with good-to-great players, solid veteran role players, have a team culture/mentality of hard work and winning, develop solid on-court chemistry and have unwavering fan support... there's no way a team managed like that would ever have any of those intangibles. That superstar talent would go to waste, until the first chance they have to leave town.
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