The 2016 Offseason thread

[DanH]

The hundreds of millions of dollars being spent will always be relevant to the public perception when owners try to force players or tax payers to give them money. Regardless of the CBA, that is reality. If you can't afford to own a team, sell it to someone else because the sympathy factor for billionaires in private jets is pretty darn low.

Sure. An uneducated perception.

I was attempting to address that perception here, where it was expressed and could be defined more accurately.

[Axel]

Sorry Ax, but I think extortion is a terrible word for that situation. Extortion is when your life and survival is threatened. Sports are a frivolous discretionary indulgence in entertainment to escape from reality. Hell yeah, I'd be upset if the Raps left Toronto, but if the alternative is taking money away from infrastructure and services that people REALLY need, then that's beyond a no-brainer. Any city or municipality that allows public funded arenas to happen, better have a rock solid business case (i.e jobs created, cash injected into the local economy, etc....) or they are acting extremely irresponsibly.

Extortion isn't solely limited to life and death survival. A city's identity and finances are largely tied to sports franchises; fans, who are also voters, are heavily invested emotionally and owners play on that as leverage against the politicians for financial gain.

And now come everyone has forgotten how to spell my name all of a sudden? Is 4 letters really too long?

[Axel]

Sure. An uneducated perception.

I was attempting to address that perception here, where it was expressed and could be defined more accurately.

Just because you disagree with it doesn't make it uneducated. The owners are playing by the rules they help set within their own little market economy; those rules aren't don't fully justify everything for the public.

[DanH]

Just because you disagree with it doesn't make it uneducated. The owners are playing by the rules they help set within their own little market economy; those rules aren't don't fully justify everything for the public.

I'm not arguing for the public and never have (though absolutely if the public thinks high salaries are proof of dishonesty in negotiations/PR then they are uneducated in this regard). Slaw posted a view on the relationship between owners complaining about money in CBA negotiations and the players receiving comically large amounts of money the following season, I addressed that comment directly.

[Bendit]

Just capitalism.

Good. A recognition.

[Axel]

Good. A recognition.

Except that I don't think that NBA owners are operating in a capitalism environment. The name of the game isn't to maximize owner profits and see who makes the most money; it's about the overall collective finding a way to financially operate allowing the best players to play the best sport for the fans to see. The league shouldn't be worried about owner profits in the least, so capitalism is irrelevant.

[DanH]

Except that I don't think that NBA owners are operating in a capitalism environment. The name of the game isn't to maximize owner profits and see who makes the most money; it's about the overall collective finding a way to financially operate allowing the best players to play the best sport for the fans to see. The league shouldn't be worried about owner profits in the least, so capitalism is irrelevant.

The league is owned by the team owners, so... Yeah, the league is incredibly worried about owner profits.

[Letter N]

NBA should just embrace this and go to a Euro soccer style.

2 tiers, 20 teams in division 1, 10 in division 2. End of every year bottom 2 in D1 get relegated to D2 and top 2 in D2 get promoted to D1.
Have a similar tournament to the FA cup where they all get to participate and have the top 6 teams compete in their own playoffs for actual World Champion status, and the 6 below them for something else, like in Europa.

Add in revenue sharing so everyone gets money and call it a day.

At least then 90% of the teams wouldn't feel like cannon fodder for the top 4 or 5 every year.

[Chr1s1anL]

Seem like we've taken step forward offensively and a step backwards on defense this off season.

[michaelm_]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles...ely-to-celtics

If this happens...bye bye to being division champs, and another team in the east getting better.


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[DanH]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles...ely-to-celtics

If this happens...bye bye to being division champs, and another team in the east getting better.


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I think it makes the race for 2nd in the East interesting, but I wouldn't count us out. BOS would have to lose a few good pieces to land him, and last season Durant and Westbrook landed fewer wins than we did. The West is harder, but Durant is way better than Horford, too.

[McRealistic]

[QUOTE=michaelm_;674141][url]http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2651708

I like the idea of Westbrook in East. It is about time for Lebron to have a serious competition in East before making his way to NBA finals. Almost in all the years in his career, he managed to just slide to NBA finals without anyone seriously challenging him.

[McRealistic]

I think it makes the race for 2nd in the East interesting, but I wouldn't count us out. BOS would have to lose a few good pieces to land him, and last season Durant and Westbrook landed fewer wins than we did. The West is harder, but Durant is way better than Horford, too.

That would be interesting to see ... They have ton of picks and young talent and they might be able to keep their Key pieces in this transaction.

[Letter N]

[QUOTE=McRealistic;674144]

[url]http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2651708

I like the idea of Westbrook in East. It is about time for Lebron to have a serious competition in East before making his way to NBA finals. Almost in all the years in his career, he managed to just slide to NBA finals without anyone seriously challenging him.

ummmm...

[Apollo]

Except that I don't think that NBA owners are operating in a capitalism environment. The name of the game isn't to maximize owner profits and see who makes the most money; it's about the overall collective finding a way to financially operate allowing the best players to play the best sport for the fans to see. The league shouldn't be worried about owner profits in the least, so capitalism is irrelevant.

An NBA franchise checks off every box needed to be considered capitalism. An NBA franchise really isn't that much different than any other franchise. It is capitalism and one of a capitalists primary concerns is profit. Without profit there is no incentive for the franchisee to take on all the financial risk involved with owning a franchise.