2018 NBA "Off"Season-Because It's Always On

[BBTV]

Here's a perfect example of why the NBA blows.  I couldn't care less about "super teams", it's crap like this that makes it impossible for me to care:

 

The Sixers traded for some guy named Wilson Chandler.  

• They didn't actually trade for him, they "absorbed" him.  They're not sending anything in return (miniscule cash "considerations") and are actually receiving a 2nd round pick, and the rights to swap future pick(s) with the guy.
• The Nuggets just wanted to dump his contract, regardless of their feelings for the player.  Not because they couldn't afford it, but they needed to do some bizarre calculus to keep someone else.
• Some writer wrote that he was "acquired with room" (whatever that means) which makes it so he can be flipped right away, so the Sixers could have done this strictly to have a tradable person making that much money.  WHAT THE EFFING F?  This is as bad as all the times Jamal Mashburn was traded even though he was retired.

How anyone can think this is the way a sports league should work is beyond me, and I'm pretty sure nobody here thinks it's a good system, because the only people who do think it's a good system are so stupid that they probably can't log into a computer or phone to even post here.  It's that godsdamned dumb.

 

[See Red]

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

Of course, the Warriors are always going to take it on the chin for this stuff more than anyone else because they've been unfairly made into the avatar of all tech-industry arrogance and opulence. You'd think Peter Thiel himself was coming off the bench to hear it from some people. But if Kevin Durant had exploited the loophole in service of LeBron James, it would have been perfectly acceptable, because the liberal sports media we all read worships LeBron James like a golden calf, even though a Durant-LeBron Cavaliers team would have been even more of a foregone conclusion than the Durant-Curry Warriors were.

 

You're saying if he had joined Kyrie, Love, and LeBron and played for the team that had just won the championship he wouldn't be criticized?  That's nonsense.

 

The criticism is that he played on a team that was on the same level as the Warriors but couldn't get over the hump largely because of his own failures and so he took the easy way out.  I don't think the criticism is particularly fair but it would have come had he tipped the balance of the league so far in any teams direction.

 

You're still just mad because Kevin Love was criticized for, as the second best player on the Cavaliers, playing below replacement player level during the playoffs, which we should all just be fine with I guess.

[dont care]

59 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Here's a perfect example of why the NBA blows.  I couldn't care less about "super teams", it's crap like this that makes it impossible for me to care:

 

The Sixers traded for some guy named Wilson Chandler.  

• They didn't actually trade for him, they "absorbed" him.  They're not sending anything in return (miniscule cash "considerations") and are actually receiving a 2nd round pick, and the rights to swap future pick(s) with the guy.
• The Nuggets just wanted to dump his contract, regardless of their feelings for the player.  Not because they couldn't afford it, but they needed to do some bizarre calculus to keep someone else.
• Some writer wrote that he was "acquired with room" (whatever that means) which makes it so he can be flipped right away, so the Sixers could have done this strictly to have a tradable person making that much money.  WHAT THE EFFING F?  This is as bad as all the times Jamal Mashburn was traded even though he was retired.

How anyone can think this is the way a sports league should work is beyond me, and I'm pretty sure nobody here thinks it's a good system, because the only people who do think it's a good system are so stupid that they probably can't log into a computer or phone to even post here.  It's that godsdamned dumb.

 

It saved the nuggets about 50 million dollars this year for not going over a certain tax bracket, and gave the 76er’s an asset to further trade. Nothing ground breaking there.

[Kaz]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Here's a perfect example of why the NBA blows.  I couldn't care less about "super teams", it's crap like this that makes it impossible for me to care:

 

The Sixers traded for some guy named Wilson Chandler.  

• They didn't actually trade for him, they "absorbed" him.  They're not sending anything in return (miniscule cash "considerations") and are actually receiving a 2nd round pick, and the rights to swap future pick(s) with the guy.
• The Nuggets just wanted to dump his contract, regardless of their feelings for the player.  Not because they couldn't afford it, but they needed to do some bizarre calculus to keep someone else.
• Some writer wrote that he was "acquired with room" (whatever that means) which makes it so he can be flipped right away, so the Sixers could have done this strictly to have a tradable person making that much money.  WHAT THE EFFING F?  This is as bad as all the times Jamal Mashburn was traded even though he was retired.

How anyone can think this is the way a sports league should work is beyond me, and I'm pretty sure nobody here thinks it's a good system, because the only people who do think it's a good system are so stupid that they probably can't log into a computer or phone to even post here.  It's that godsdamned dumb.

 

It seems weird, but no where near as bad as Chris Pronger and Marc Savard being shipped off to penny pinching teams so that they aren't below the salary floor.

 

Nuggets just don't want to pay a sizable luxury tax bill and the Sixers oblige for the small fee of a couple second rounders.

[The_Admiral]

9 minutes ago, See Red said:

You're saying if he had joined Kyrie, Love, and LeBron and played for the team that had just won the championship he wouldn't be criticized?  That's nonsense.

No, it would have been framed as heroic self-determination in the face of unfair (white) expectations of competitive balance, defying the demand to toil when he can have fun with his friends (LeBron James is everyone's friend, perhaps even mine once he sees my tweets). I know how these people think.

[Tracy Jordan]

1 hour ago, Crabcake47 said:

The Wizards sign Dwight Howard and Jeff Green to actually give them a half decent bench. A starting five of Dwight, Morris, Porter, Beal, and Wall could actually be pretty good... at getting knocked out in the first round again. 

 

Dwight Howard now only needs to sign with one more team (Miami) before he can complete the Southeast division sweep!

[who do you think]

3 hours ago, Lights Out said:

Thanks for proving my point. LeBron competed against the Celtics. He didn't go join them.

 

This is next-level delusion.

 

Let me tell you a secret: LeBron James won't want to be your fwiend just because you're carrying his water on some internet forum.

[BBTV]

40 minutes ago, dont care said:

It saved the nuggets about 50 million dollars this year for not going over a certain tax bracket, and gave the 76er’s an asset to further trade. Nothing ground breaking there.

 

The fact that you don't think that sounds absurd is the problem.  No fan should have to worry about "brackets", "assets", "absorption", "bird rights", etc.  It's just too much.  

 

 

I totally get salary caps and rules designed to ensure that labor gets treated / paid fairly, but this league is simply beyond any comprehension and really sucks the fun out of it for so many teams.  

 

I don't know too much about the NHL's cap, but I do know it's severely as well - IIRC the Flyers had to play some local kid in goal one night because they couldn't call someone up because of some cap-related penalty or something.

 

The NFL is about as complicated as is still reasonably understandable by most people.  There's obviously cuts that are made for reasons unrelated to skill, which sucks, and there's complicated rules concerning the "tag"s, and it's way heavily favorable for the stars vs the common players, but at least you can understand the gist of it in around 10 minutes of reading.

 

 

EDIT: of course the Brock Ossweiler situation kinda counters my argument a little bit re: NFL, but (at least so far) that's a one-time thing.  If trading for bad contracts becomes the norm in NFL, then add that to the list of crap.

[The_Admiral]

50 minutes ago, who do you think said:

Let me tell you a secret: LeBron James won't want to be your fwiend just because you're carrying his water on some internet forum.

 

You don't know that. Kevin Durant liked my tweets with four separate accounts.

[FiddySicks]

9 hours ago, who do you think said:

 

I'm completely serious, Warrior fan/newest member of the Cousins cheerleading squad.

 

KD, unlike Cousins, actually deserves his star billing, and his impact on the game extends well beyond what he can do with the ball in his hands.

 

 

It is 100% factual (if it's not, then refute it), and I agree that Speights did his job well for the Warriors.

 

 

Haha. It's always someone else's fault. The Bay Area in a nutshell.

 

Lol, how much have you actually watched Boogie play? I’m from Sacramento, and have seen PLENTY of him to know how good he is. The Dude could literally take over games despite being constantly surrounded by garbage. He’s a head case at times, sure. Absolutely. But even playing for the trash ass Kings for as long as he did, it was rare to see a game where there was better player out on the court for either team when he was playing. Speights made a bunch of great shots for the Warriors in 2015, but you’re nuts if you want to really downgrade Cousins to his level.

 

But keep telling yourself that he’s a jumped up Mo Buckets

[habsfan1]

[rams80]

14 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

The Warriors are about to have the same issues Chicago had. Bench players that want starters pay will get it from other teams and after the starting 5 or 6 they'll have a big drop in class. Green will probably be gone after this year depending on what offers he gets elsewhere. 

 

1.  That's next year's problem.

2.  Which of Iguodala and Livingston would command starter money for a contender?

[KittSmith_95]

@BringBackTheVet Chandler not a horrible player. He can play both SG & SF, when he gives a  he's arguably a plus defender & yeah, his cap hit is a little steep given he had a bad year last year. But who knows? He could thrive in Philly. 

[Wings]

35 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

People can see the sun again. Wait: There's no sunshine in Cleveland when he's gone. 

[See Red]

1 hour ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

Lol, how much have you actually watched Boogie play? I’m from Sacramento, and have seen PLENTY of him to know how good he is. The Dude could literally take over games despite being constantly surrounded by garbage. He’s a head case at times, sure. Absolutely. But even playing for the trash ass Kings for as long as he did, it was rare to see a game where there was better player out on the court for either team when he was playing. Speights made a bunch of great shots for the Warriors in 2015, but you’re nuts if you want to really downgrade Cousins to his level.

 

But keep telling yourself that he’s a jumped up Mo Buckets

 

While who do you think is an obnoxious know-it-all who isn't half as smart as he believes he is, I don't know that he's wrong on what Boogie's going to bring to the table for the Warriors.  Calling Boogie "useless" is clearly asinine, but he is still coming off of a torn achilles and will have to make significant changes to the way he has played just to fit Golden State's system.  That he's a head case and we don't really know how he's going to respond to decreased usage or possibly not being on the court in high leverage situations doesn't make things any better.

 

Also, will he be on the court in high leverage situations?  He's going to be a liability on defense, he's a turnover machine, and he'll slow down the Warriors pace.

[Digby]

5 hours ago, the admiral said:

 

It's the union's fault, which is a hard pill to swallow for liberal outlets that want to be relentlessly pro-player. The refusal to distribute the new revenue across several years of salary caps is what allowed the Warriors to scoop up Durant, but nobody could countenance the thought of giving the hated (((owners))), and let's not pretend that subtext has never existed, any deal that would take immediate money away from the players. But you can't sign a new TV contract every year, so nobody else got a chance to get their own Durant.

 

Of course, the Warriors are always going to take it on the chin for this stuff more than anyone else because they've been unfairly made into the avatar of all tech-industry arrogance and opulence. You'd think Peter Thiel himself was coming off the bench to hear it from some people. But if Kevin Durant had exploited the loophole in service of LeBron James, it would have been perfectly acceptable, because the liberal sports media we all read worships LeBron James like a golden calf, even though a Durant-LeBron Cavaliers team would have been even more of a foregone conclusion than the Durant-Curry Warriors were.

I don’t mean to concern you but Deadspin had a post about this very thing today.

 

There was also a Burneko joint about how the ideal GSW lineup will almost never play but it was probably just a lot of Capital Letters.

[dfwabel]

1 hour ago, rams80 said:

 

1.  That's next year's problem.

2.  Which of Iguodala and Livingston would command starter money for a contender?

Neither Livingston (33 after next season) nor Igdodala (to be 35) aren't getting Starters money next offseason, even with the cap increasing by $8-9M.

 

Plus Lacob and Guber seem comfortable paying the repeater tax since the Chase Center will booked solid with events, regardless of how many STH they retain from Oracle.

[Digby]

 

6 hours ago, verno said:

So, we have lived in the Atlanta area since 2011. My wife is a diehard Celtic fan, apparently she has no worries this fall! But l grew up in rural Missouri with no real NBA team, but l have latched onto the Hawks carefully.? Can anyone explain what this seemingly lost franchise is doing? 

 

Not to my knowledge, no.

[FiddySicks]

25 minutes ago, See Red said:

 

While who do you think is an obnoxious know-it-all who isn't half as smart as he believes he is, I don't know that he's wrong on what Boogie's going to bring to the table for the Warriors.  Calling Boogie "useless" is clearly asinine, but he is still coming off of a torn achilles and will have to make significant changes to the way he has played just to fit Golden State's system.  That he's a head case and we don't really know how he's going to respond to decreased usage or possibly not being on the court in high leverage situations doesn't make things any better.

 

Also, will he be on the court in high leverage situations?  He's going to be a liability on defense, he's a turnover machine, and he'll slow down the Warriors pace.

 

All of this is perfectly valid. I, for one, feel that some of these issues are and have been a bit overblown for various different reasons, but the criticisms and concerns are all still valid. I just think that it’s such a uniquely small risk for the Warriors, and the potential upside is so high that it makes any potential risk totally worth it. The injury is worse than expected and he doesn’t play a game? No problem. He got to rehab in a world class facility at little cost to the Warriors. He acts like a nutcase? Not to worry! Ship his ass off to Timbuktu and eat the little remaining in costs. He’s healthy and he’s not being a crazy ass but he just doesn’t quite fit with what your doing? Trade him for assets! 

 

And to think, they’re doing all of this in a time when teams like the Trailblazers are paying a guy like Evan Turner more than $70 million. How do divides like that even happen in today’s NBA? 

[See Red]

17 minutes ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

All of this is perfectly valid. I, for one, feel that some of these issues are and have been a bit overblown for various different reasons, but the criticisms and concerns are all still valid. I just think that it’s such a uniquely small risk for the Warriors, and the potential upside is so high that it makes any potential risk totally worth it. The injury is worse than expected and he doesn’t play a game? No problem. He got to rehab in a world class facility at little cost to the Warriors. He acts like a nutcase? Not to worry! Ship his ass off to Timbuktu and eat the little remaining in costs. He’s healthy and he’s not being a crazy ass but he just doesn’t quite fit with what your doing? Trade him for assets! 

 

And to think, they’re doing all of this in a time when teams like the Trailblazers are paying a guy like Evan Turner more than $70 million. How do divides like that even happen in today’s NBA? 

 

Can't disagree with any of this. They're in a place where they can handle the risk without issue if it doesn't work out.