Cap and Lebron Rant
 

We all wait on pins and needles (note: I’m tuning in at about 5 minutes before it ends) to learn where our self-appointed NBA King and future recipient of the Karl Malone award (for the best player to never get a ring) will spend his next several winters and springs. We discuss around our water-coolers where the ego will land, and all agree at how appalling it is that someone not named Favre has to hold the world hostage wondering what he’s going to do with his career.

The situation, however, illustrates to me what a ridiculous mess the NBA’s sham of a salary cap has become. It was never a true cap, but it has evolved into something I don’t believe it’s creators envisioned. When it was born, only the true best of the best – perhaps 3-4 people per season – were given “max deals”. As it grew, and as the sport became more successful, the top range did not keep pace with the total growth. Teams began using the cap to overpay their own best guy to keep him from moving. And this is something the league wanted, thus promoting continuity. Then was born the dreaded sign-and-trade… a nonsensical method of a player being so selfish and greedy that he insists on making “Staying with my team” money while still moving to a new club AND forcing his new club to get rid of some talent just so that player can get the extra cash. Ridiculous. So not only are you eating up more than your fair share of your new team’s cap – they’ve gotten worse by obtaining you during “free” agency. OK….

But now it’s worse. Now, with the true value of a player, as based on a percentage of the total team cap, far exceeding the maximum a team is allowed to offer, we have the absurd situation of the VERY best player potentially making exactly the same amount as that team’s THIRD best player. Instead of promoting parity like the NFL and NHL caps attempt to do, the NBA cap denies it. The point (supposedly) of the salary cap was to force some level of evenness on the relative talents of the league. If you want the best guy, you’ve got to pay him what he’s worth, so consequently the guys around him will be a little less valuable. The teams with slightly less valuable guys at that position have slightly more to fill other positions – as long as you’re not horribly unlucky, horribly incompetent, or named the Lions, you have a chance to compete every year.

Not so in the NBA. There is no premium paid for the supposed King of the league. Sign him, and it’s just like you signed the 45th best guy as far as the cap goes. In fact, play your cards right and you can sign 3 of these max guys, use 2 loopholes in the rules to get a couple of decent starters around them, and another loophole to let you go over the cap to fill the rest of your roster. It’s no longer about parity – it’s about which cities are the most fun to live in. Until this is fixed, even the most savvy GM’s in Houston, Dallas, Portland, the entire Midwest will never have a real chance to compete against the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, and in a real world the Knicks (see above regarding horribly incompetent).

Isn't the cap in all sports a complicated mess of numbers and procedures that do not make sense to all of us that are not in that league?

Peace

As Bill Simmons said in an article today, the Heat are going to be terrible even if they get Bosh and Lebron to go with Wade. The other nine guys on their roster will be awful.

Lebron should go to Chicago, but I bet he stays in Cleveland.

That would be different than Cleveland?

He is not coming to Chicago either. Boozer has done little in the post season and is not as good as Bosh. Rose is great, but has not much of the experience and scoring ability as Wade. I think the other parts are marginal at best on Chicago and I am not sure why everyone thinks Noah is going to be some superstar. He had one decent playoff and his team did not win.

It also appears guys are already lining up to play with Lebron in Miami if that is where he goes.

Peace

Yawn.

Agreed!
 

I'm glad i had ball games last nit and didn't have to subject myself to any of it! Blech!

Should review the NBE thread.......

Ya' know, if everyone stopped going to their games and watching them on TV, they'd all be out of a job.

I think it's the TV money.

My impression is unless you're one of the "haves" (LA, Miami, Boston) you should be ok, but I see allot of "have not" teams/struggling for revenue as many "fans" are priced right out of the arena.

I also see it as being very cyclic too depending on many factors - i.e. when the Wizards were good, the fans were there, then not so much. Now that John Wall is here......well, we'll wait and see. And, if your team is NOT good and your opponent doesn't have a "superstar" draw, why go?

The money train has to end sometime doesn't it?

Of course, we've been saying that for yrs too..... :rolleyes:

Was watching the White Sox game on WGN on cable this afternoon and one fan had a sign that said "Konerko is our LeBron". :D

Rev. Jesse Jackson: Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert put LeBron James in danger - ESPN

Here comes Jesse to play his race card and try to wedge himself into the spotlight. This guy is an embarrassment. His comments are inflammatory and irresponsible.

BTW I don't agree with the very childish and disrespectful attitude exhibited by Dan Gilbert in his comments about Lebron James after his departure, but those comments aren't what Jesse wants to make them out to be.

Here's somebody who agrees with you....

Jesse Jackson way off base on LeBron James - NBA News - FOX Sports on MSN

Actually Nevada and JR, that response is in many ways accurate and not new. The reactions to LeBron leaving really makes you wonder when a free agent leaves and you act as if he was obligated or owed you something. That is business.

BTW, there is a book that talks about the very same issue called, Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden. The book was published in 2006 and talks about the treatment of athletes who are Black from the admiration to the criticism.

This was not a new idea. And I love it when people say "You played the race card" when people make observations about people's behavior and decide what that means whether it is Dan Gilbert to Mel Gibson. This was a similar conversation I have already had with several Black people that saw Gilbert's comments in the same way. Jackson did not play a card, Jackson made a common observation.

Peace

Yawn.

I feel the same way when you used to talk about baseball in a OT thread.

Peace