ESPN ticker

[ducks]

Just said Adam is concerned Durant joined Gs and wants to make changes in collective bargaining to maintain league competive balance

[raybies]

good. big three is enough imo now players need big 4s cmon

[offset formation]

Not sure how you could legally disallow it though unless it was based in anti-monopoly laws that discouraged competition. But someone could easily sue a prospective CBA that prevented a free agent from signing where they wanted.

I like the idea in principle though just to keep the league competitive.

[Brian Windhorst]

Whatever. If no team can beat them straight up then let them have it. It will be the most meaningless title probably in the history of American sports.

[Spurs 4 The Win]

Just said Adam is concerned Durant joined Gs and wants to make changes in collective bargaining to maintain league competive balance

Hopefully this means the refs will be out to dick GS this year

[eDizzle20]

Just said Adam is concerned Durant joined Gs and wants to make changes in collective bargaining to maintain league competive balance
Yep. Get ready for another lock out at the end of the next CBA. I would love it if the NBA imposed a hard cap like the NFL.

[vander]

Yep. Get ready for another lock out at the end of the next CBA. I would love it if the NBA imposed a hard cap like the NFL.

Lux tax seems to be working out just fine, small market teams are doing great. the problem is the max contract and the superstar, If there was a much higher limit on what star players could get paid, these super teams wouldn't happen.

[daslicer]

I think tbh eventually these guys will stop creating super teams. I think this will stop due to the media culture changing the way they value guys winning championships. The media screwed up in the past about not being honest on how to rate guys who won and didn't win championships. The best example of this is how they overrated Kobe big time when he won championships without being truthful about him having a stacked team. Lebron got a lot of hate by the media during the late '00s for not being able to win in Cleveland despite having a shitty roster while Kobe got all the praise. I think this is what ultimately influenced Lebron to create the Super Team in Miami in the sense he felt that all he had do was win and he would get all the credit. Durant I'm sure believes the same thing that if he win titles nobody is going to care that he won with stacked teams. I predict over the next 10-20 years due to the influence of social media will cause the media to shift and be truthful on how much credit these guys really deserve for winning championships. This in return will make it more unpopular for these guys to do it knowing they are not going to get full credit for winning with a loaded team.

[rasuo214]

Blame whoever decided it was a good idea to have this massive cap increase instead of a gradual one. If it was gradual the Warriors would have had to pay Klay and Draymond more to stick around and probably wouldn't have had the cap space needed for Durant.

[Spurtacular]

I think tbh eventually these guys will stop creating super teams. I think this will stop due to the media culture changing the way they value guys winning championships. The media screwed up in

Stopped reading about there. You have guys often low on self esteem and high on money and fame who are fine with the super teams. And since when is the media anyone's saving grace? No. Just bad analysis.

[will_spurs]

I predict over the next 10-20 years due to the influence of social media will cause the media to shift and be truthful on how much credit these guys really deserve for winning championships. This in return will make it more unpopular for these guys to do it knowing they are not going to get full credit for winning with a loaded team.

I don't know, it seems players have always been disrepected (and their achievements minimized) for not winning a championship, e.g. Barkley, Malone, Stockton.

Guys like Malone or KG will always be footnotes in history compared to Duncan because they never won a ring in their prime. All the players understand winning a ring is extremely important for their legacy.

[daslicer]

Stopped reading about there. You have guys often low on self esteem and high on money and fame who are fine with the super teams. And since when is the media anyone's saving grace? No. Just bad analysis.

They have the low self esteem because they believe that have to win to get the approval of others and that's why they join the super teams. These guys care too much what the media thinks about them. Best example is how Durant for years has complained about media criticism of him and his lack of success in OKC. Durant got tired of the criticism and believes if he wins a title it will go away regardless of how he wins the championship hence him picking GS. The media controls how most of these guys think very few can think independently and society over time influences changes within the media. I don't think Durant is going to get respect on social media and from people outside of Cali if he wins and this in return will slowly cause the media to shift their views on how to value guys winning championships. It won't be an overnight change but it will happen over time.

[daslicer]

I don't know, it seems players have always been disrepected (and their achievements minimized) for not winning a championship, e.g. Barkley, Malone, Stockton.

Guys like Malone or KG will always be footnotes in history compared to Duncan because they never won a ring in their prime. All the players understand winning a ring is extremely important for their legacy.

I definitely agree winning championships is important but it's how you value them. I doubt Malone or KG would have been able to make a case of being better than Tim even if they had gone the super team route in their primes and won a few rings because they probably would have had a Scottie Pippen type of role on those teams and not the role of Alpha.

[CGD]

Just the leverage the owners needed

[GSH]

Well make a new rule, Adam. That way there won't be any new super-teams to compete with them.

So what's he going to do? Only one max salary per team? Two? Yeah, that will go over big with the Union. A point system, to measure how good players are, and regulate the distribution of talent? Good luck with that. Or are they going to try and keep franchise players from having as much mobility? A plantation system.

Never thought I'd miss Stern this much.

[Mr. Body]

Well make a new rule, Adam. That way there won't be any new super-teams to compete with them.

So what's he going to do? Only one max salary per team? Two? Yeah, that will go over big with the Union. A point system, to measure how good players are, and regulate the distribution of talent? Good luck with that. Or are they going to try and keep franchise players from having as much mobility? A plantation system.

Never thought I'd miss Stern this much.

Stern would have loved this, except it's Golden State and not the Lakers.

[Obstructed_View]

The current competitive balance sucks. Why would you make a move NOW to maintain it? The horse is already out of that gate, tbh.

[hsxvvd]

I definitely agree winning championships is important but it's how you value them. I doubt Malone or KG would have been able to make a case of being better than Tim even if they had gone the super team route in their primes and won a few rings because they probably would have had a Scottie Pippen type of role on those teams and not the role of Alpha.

The whole footnote in history thing is overstated. Malone is history and whilst his name keeps coming up in this sort of conversation... it simply implies he was a superstar worthy of a title. I'd rather be remembered for that, than an also ran on a stacked team.

[Spurs9]

:cry Stern wouldn't have let this happen :cry

[Nathan89]

good. big three is enough imo now players need big 4s cmon

Them fucks already had a big 3 that fit perfectly together and team stacked with role players. Somehow they still choked away the ring. Now they'll just overwhelm the competition which is bad for the league.

[jsandiego]

Them fucks already had a big 3 that fit perfectly together and team stacked with role players. Somehow they still choked away the ring. Now they'll just overwhelm the competition which is bad for the league.
It was a league game, Smokey...

[itzsoweezee]

The easiest way to fix this, get rid of max contacts. That would definitely spread the superstars around the league.

[Spurtacular]

They have the low self esteem because they believe that have to win to get the approval of others and that's why they join the super teams. These guys care too much what the media thinks about them. Best example is how Durant for years has complained about media criticism of him and his lack of success in OKC. Durant got tired of the criticism and believes if he wins a title it will go away regardless of how he wins the championship hence him picking GS. The media controls how most of these guys think very few can think independently and society over time influences changes within the media. I don't think Durant is going to get respect on social media and from people outside of Cali if he wins and this in return will slowly cause the media to shift their views on how to value guys winning championships. It won't be an overnight change but it will happen over time.

The praise will drown out the criticism like in the case of LBJ.

[daslicer]

The praise will drown out the criticism like in the case of LBJ.

It actually didn't drown out the criticism when it came to LBJ. Part of the reason he left Miami and came back to Cleveland was that he was tired of people hating him.

[Gibbz]

Stern was Joffrey and Silver is Tommen.

[TampaDude]

Stern was Joffrey and Silver is Tommen.

They're both dead. Next.

[Chinook]

Not sure how you could legally disallow it though unless it was based in anti-monopoly laws that discouraged competition. But someone could easily sue a prospective CBA that prevented a free agent from signing where they wanted.

I like the idea in principle though just to keep the league competitive.

It's not that hard. Just make huge-ass cap holds for free agents. If Curry has a max hold, then the Warriors have to choose between KD and any semblance of depth. Sure, that doesn't stop guys from taking less to make room, but most players don't want to do that anyway. Increasing the max and the roster charges would also accomplish this.

Let's say for example that the new CBA has 40-percent maxes (for the highest level with 35 and 30 for the next ones), max-salary holds for All-Stars and $1 Million roster charges. Well, the Warriors already have $36 Million against a $108 Million. Durant's hold would be for about $40 Million, while Curry's is for $35 Million. Well that puts GS at $111 Million. Then you add in eight charges and get up to $119 Million. So now, the team is bloated against the cap with only the MLE and LLE.

Now you say to yourself: Well, GS can now sign Durant and Curry, and the MLE and LLE are more than they had this year. They'll be fine. They actually won't be. Durant is a non-Bird FA. So the team can only give him 120 percent of his contract this year. The max GS could offer him is like $32 Million. They'd normally be able to renounce him and use cap space ... but they don't actually have it. With Durant renounced and the roster charge, GS has $80 Million committed against the cap, leaving only $28 Million for KD.

And now you're saying to yourself: Well Durant can just opt in and get even more money with his early Bird rights in 2018. But no. Durant's max actually drops in 2018, as the cap is about six percent lower. So inking a four-year deal in GS would see him lose millions. So he'd have to sign a one-and-one again and really keep the team in limbo for about four years total, still losing money in the process.

[SpursforSix]

It's not that hard. Just make huge-ass cap holds for free agents. If Curry has a max hold, then the Warriors have to choose between KD and any semblance of depth. Sure, that doesn't stop guys from taking less to make room, but most players don't want to do that anyway. Increasing the max and the roster charges would also accomplish this.

Let's say for example that the new CBA has 40-percent maxes (for the highest level with 35 and 30 for the next ones), max-salary holds for All-Stars and $1 Million roster charges. Well, the Warriors already have $36 Million against a $108 Million. Durant's hold would be for about $40 Million, while Curry's is for $35 Million. Well that puts GS at $111 Million. Then you add in eight charges and get up to $119 Million. So now, the team is bloated against the cap with only the MLE and LLE.

Now you say to yourself: Well, GS can now sign Durant and Curry, and the MLE and LLE are more than they had this year. They'll be fine. They actually won't be. Durant is a non-Bird FA. So the team can only give him 120 percent of his contract this year. The max GS could offer him is like $32 Million. They'd normally be able to renounce him and use cap space ... but they don't actually have it. With Durant renounced and the roster charge, GS has $80 Million committed against the cap, leaving only $28 Million for KD.

And now you're saying to yourself: Well Durant can just opt in and get even more money with his early Bird rights in 2018. But no. Durant's max actually drops in 2018, as the cap is about six percent lower. So inking a four-year deal in GS would see him lose millions. So he'd have to sign a one-and-one again and really keep the team in limbo for about four years total, still losing money in the process.

But at a certain point, I don't know if the true superstars will considering it losing money. With already incredible salaries and endorsements, the incremental $10,000,000 per year (or whatever) might not make much difference to them.

[Tully365]

I don't know, it seems players have always been disrepected (and their achievements minimized) for not winning a championship, e.g. Barkley, Malone, Stockton.

Guys like Malone or KG will always be footnotes in history compared to Duncan because they never won a ring in their prime. All the players understand winning a ring is extremely important for their legacy.

I agree-- so many critics seem to consistently go to ring counting when evaluating a career but at the same time faulting a player for seeking out better teammates... that makes no sense to me. When LeBron was with Cleveland the first time, he had no other top tier players on his team, but he had to face a Celtics team with three legitimate stars, a young talented PG, a few talented defensive specialists, and some good role players. It sounds pretty unreasonable to me to argue he should "tough it out" with a hugely inferior team rather than try to find other talent that could match up with Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo, Tony Allen, James Posey, Leon Powe, etc...

[Chinook]

But at a certain point, I don't know if the true superstars will considering it losing money. With already incredible salaries and endorsements, the incremental $10,000,000 per year (or whatever) might not make much difference to them.

Honestly, if I were an NBA player, I'd totally be like Green and just stay with the team I liked for a decent contract. I just don't get the point in trying to get every last dollar. Quality of the workplace should factor in too. But I'm not a star athlete, with the mentality to get there. So I have no idea how that would affect me.

[coachmac87]

Honestly, if I were an NBA player, I'd totally be like Green and just stay with the team I liked for a decent contract. I just don't get the point in trying to get every last dollar. Quality of the workplace should factor in too. But I'm not a star athlete, with the mentality to get there. So I have no idea how that would affect me.

$$$ all comes down to lifestyles and how many groupies you got lol. Somebody with a chill no spotlight like Duncan probably doesn't care so much. Then you got a guy like Melo who's dating a celebrity where I'm sure the lifestyle is x10.

[Spurtacular]

It actually didn't drown out the criticism when it came to LBJ. Part of the reason he left Miami and came back to Cleveland was that he was tired of people hating him.

No, that's the spin. The truth is Miami was on a downhill and Cleveland was stronger with a younger star and willing to give LBJ more power w/o Riley.

[ducks]

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/adam-silver-on-super-teams-dont-think-its-good-for-the-league-164617773.html?nhp=1

here is an article about it