Nash Watch: L.A. bound (#1009)

[Pill]

The first thing that gets mentioned after this Nash deal is that its now a better fit for D. Howard in LA.

They might as well contract the league to like 8 teams because most of the big time players in this league only want to play for these teams exclusively.

The rest of the teams get to fight and overpay for B-Tier players while the aforementioned teams sign the biggest stars for cheaper than anyone else because they want to win a championship. The raps are in an even worse position due to being in a totally different country with high taxes. These super teams can endlessly reload through free agency and demanded trades while the rest of the league gambles on unproven talent through the draft. But you better not draft anyone good because he is going to want to go join his buddies in a few years and win championship #389439043 for the Lakers or whoever the hot team is at the moment. Its kinda depressing.

If the "Decision" was for those 3 guys to go to Cleveland I would have been on board with that. Not to Miami that won a title a few years back. I actually love that CP3 is trying to get people to play for the clippers. They have been a horrible team for so long. They are due for some success.

All it takes is 1 star to get people to come to his city and bring about a change in perception. That is what I was hoping Nash would do for us here. We are an awesome basketball market with passionate fans who love the team. I remember going to a playoff game years back and the energy level in the ACC was crazy. It was just as loud and passionate as those OKC crowds. Its a shame that he decided to do exactly what is wrong with this league and join the Lakers.

[torch19]

The first thing that gets mentioned after this Nash deal is that its now a better fit for D. Howard in LA.

They might as well contract the league to like 8 teams because most of the big time players in this league only want to play for these teams exclusively.

The rest of the teams get to fight and overpay for B-Tier players while the aforementioned teams sign the biggest stars for cheaper than anyone else because they want to win a championship. The raps are in an even worse position due to being in a totally different country with high taxes. These super teams can endlessly reload through free agency and demanded trades while the rest of the league gambles on unproven talent through the draft. But you better not draft anyone good because he is going to want to go join his buddies in a few years and win championship #389439043 for the Lakers or whoever the hot team is at the moment. Its kinda depressing.

If the "Decision" was for those 3 guys to go to Cleveland I would have been on board with that. Not to Miami that won a title a few years back. I actually love that CP3 is trying to get people to play for the clippers. They have been a horrible team for so long. They are due for some success.

All it takes is 1 star to get people to come to his city and bring about a change in perception. That is what I was hoping Nash would do for us here. We are an awesome basketball market with passionate fans who love the team. I remember going to a playoff game years back and the energy level in the ACC was crazy. It was just as loud and passionate as those OKC crowds. Its a shame that he decided to do exactly what is wrong with this league and join the Lakers.

Yup. I agree. It takes 1 star -- 1 star in order to gain credibility in the eyes of their peers. Amare boldly went to New York after years of irrelevance. Surprisingly enough, Melo wanted to come after.

We need some luck man. Seriously. We need someone to step up and say "I think Toronto is a great market because I will be relevant in 2 countries because of my status as a star." Either that, or luck the f*** out in the draft & land an instant ticket seller.

I thought it was going to be Steve Nash. I guess I was wrong. Although I can't fault the guy, he wants to go after a championship not that far away from his kids, as a Raptor sports fan, I hope the L.A. experiment & what I think they will do next (DWIGHT) blow up in their faces.

[stretch]

I'll admit to being a Bill Simmons fan. Here's his take on the events that transpired with Nash's signing with the Lakers and Fields with the Raptors:

For my single favorite moment of the month: Toronto going all out for Steve Nash, even giving Landry Fields a $19 million poison-pill contract in a desperate attempt to block New York's rumored Steve Nash trade … only the Lakers snared Nash and poor Toronto was stuck with Fields,6 leading to a hilarious scenario when the Raptors immediately tried to amnesty Fields's deal even as he was signing it. (Just kidding. I made that up.)

You know what the whole thing reminded me of? The Larry Sanders roast (one of the greatest TV episodes of all time7), when Artie had to book an obscure comedian named Kip Addotta to get Jerry Seinfeld at the roast, only Seinfeld canceled at the last minute, leading to Addotta droning on at the roast as Larry fake-laughed in pure misery. Eventually, he leaned over to Artie for the following exchange:

Larry: "Who the f-ck is that?"
Artie: "That's Kip Addotta."
Larry: "Who's that?"
Larry's agent: "He's the guy we had to get to get Seinfeld."
Larry: "Where's Seinfeld?"
Larry's agent: "The bastard canceled an hour ago."

Basically, Toronto's summer was the Larry Sanders roast, Steve Nash was Jerry Seinfeld, and Landry Fields was Kip Addotta. The good news for Toronto: They salvaged things (a little) by acquiring Lowry, and everyone loves last year's no. 1 pick (Jonas Valanciunas, a stud by all accounts). We don't need to get rid of basketball in Canada just yet.

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