2016 NBA Offseason thread

[dfwabel]

FWIW, I never knew that the NBA granted Durant the 30% "Rose Provision" when the new CBA was signed and it was the catalyst of the Harden trade. Thanks TrueHoop and Windhorst.

 

http://m.newsok.com/article/3633200

 

And the NBA later refunded the Thunder.

http://m.newsok.com/article/3863784

 

The repeater tax is the NBA version of the hard cap.

[2001mark]

[worcat]

This sort of proves that even if a small market is able to acquire top prospects/faces of franchises, it's up to those players to stay and try to grow the sport in that market instead of leaving for big markets. Cleveland is an exception to this conversation because if LBJ weren't from Akron, they would be one of the small markets that is suffering as well (You'd have to think Kyrie wouldn't have resigned and hit the market). The NBA has about 10 big markets, 10-15 middle markets and 5 markets that are going to really struggle for the next decade.

[FiddySicks]

Dubs also just signed Zaza Pachulia to replace Bogut. That's actually a really good value for what he's getting paid (1 year $2.9 Million).

[DarkJourney]

So it's pretty much Los Angeles and Mid(We invented sports)west fans that are pissed about Durant. Life goes on. 

[FinsUp1214]

Should we really be that surprised that people are pissed off, though? I mean really. 

 

I guess LA fans have their own reasons, but especially small market fans? As one, yeah it makes perfect sense to be pissed. I'm pissed. It's fine and dandy if you're a Warrior fan or even a big market fan in general. It's like Christmas if you are one, and good for you. But you know what deals like these tell a small market fan? It tells you no matter what, in this day and age in the NBA, you're running out of shots. You can get a franchise player - that's at least possible - but there will always be brighter lights he'll run to eventually and you've got to prepare to let go they day you get him it seems. Once upon a time, the Stocktons and Malones of the league would stay in a small market for nearly 20 years and you could count on that. That day is rapidly closing, if it hasn't already. It appeared the likes of Durant was going to prove that wrong, but well, here we are. And you could point out the Spurs - and really, I've always appreciated the Spurs for being a bit of an exception in this - but Duncan is just about to ride off into the sunset and who's to say Kahwi doesn't eventually pack up and leave? Things can change over time. Last week it seemed like Durant would stay. We just never know anymore. 

 

So if you're a small market fan in today's NBA, guess what? Unless you pull off a Hail Mary of a miracle somehow, your hopes for keeping a franchise player seem to be as good as on thin ice. Of course you can hope for the best - I do - but nothing sucks more as a small market fan then having to wonder nearly every time Gordon Hayward (or insert your own small-market star here) touches the ball, "well, how long before he bolts and we start this over with someone else again?"

 

[OnWis97]

It is quite a blow to small market fans.  The OKC run is over.  They may very well become the Timberwolves now.

 

Speaking of the T-Wolves, everyone thinks they are in a good situation,but they're not.  Many franchises would be with this collection of players, but we'll see what happens when some of their guys become free agents.  So this move by Durant kinda hits home.  I'm not outraged but a bit disillusioned...this the nature of a sport in which one or two players can make such a big difference, market matters for marketability (go figure), and impatience leads players to try to get rings now.

 

52 minutes ago, FinsUp1214 said:

 

 

So if you're a small market fan in today's NBA, guess what? Unless you pull off a Hail Mary of a miracle somehow, your hopes for keeping a franchise player seem to be as good as on thin ice. Of course you can hope for the best - I do - but nothing sucks more as a small market fan then having to wonder nearly every time Gordon Hayward (or insert your own small-market star here) touches the ball, "well, how long before he bolts and we start this over with someone else again?"

 

Lightning in a bottle. OKC had it.  They need a perfect storm of draft choices, smart moves, luck, and loyalty.  That last one just left the building.  

 

I agree with @Lights Out; this bothers me far more than LeBron's Decision.  I have long-since forgiven LeBron for the self-promoting way he left.  But he left a team that was never going to win a title.  He left to a good, but not-quite-there team (along with Bosh, so superteaming was a factor I did not love).  But Durant left a team that was so very close to going to the finals.  Any neutral fan should like the story line of whether they can get past the GSW next season.  That would be compelling.  Forget market size; this is just two good teams that should be in the early phases of a terrific rivalry.  And not only does he leave but he leaves for the 73-win team that beat him.  Not saying "not one, not two..." does not make this better.  

I have never had a beef with Durant.  He seems like a good guy.  So I still don't hate him.  If this choice was right for him than so be it.  But it's bad for the sport.  Far worse, in my opinion, than LeBron ditching a no-win situation.  Durant coulda done the one-year option and they could have had one more chance to take out OKC and redeem themselves for this past season.  It would have been interesting and fun.  And if GSW sweeps them out and it's time to sign a long-term deal; then I don't blame him for doing whatever he can to get a ring.  It's too bad he could not wait.

 

And while there is some outrage on this board and in general, it's about 1/100th of the LeBron outrage.  And while LeBron did bring some of that on himself with the way he went about The Decision, I can't help but think part of it is that the Jordan and Kobe fanboys don't view this as a threat to the all-time ranking like they did with LeBron.*

 

*It's no longer a threat since he only came out of Miami with two and it's looking like he may end up with three.  Ring-counting being the only factor most people use, he'll never touch Jordan or even Kobe; but at the time, I think a lot of us feared that James was right about "...not six, not seven..." and that really bothered people (rightly so). 

[CS85]

16 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

It is quite a blow to small market fans.  The OKC run is over.  They may very well become the Timberwolves now.

 

Speaking of the T-Wolves, everyone thinks they are in a good situation,but they're not.  Many franchises would be with this collection of players, but we'll see what happens when some of their guys have their careers cut short because Thibs plays their stars 40 minutes a game every game.

 

[OnWis97]

5 minutes ago, CS85 said:

It is quite a blow to small market fans.  The OKC run is over.  They may very well become the Timberwolves now.

 

Speaking of the T-Wolves, everyone thinks they are in a good situation,but they're not.  Many franchises would be with this collection of players, but we'll see what happens when some of their guys have their careers cut short because Thibs plays their stars 40 minutes a game every game

LOL.

 

That does concern me.  He's obviously a capable coach, but if the team actually does become a contender, will they be worn out by the time the playoffs come around?  

[pmoehrin]

8 hours ago, DarkJourney said:

So it's pretty much Los Angeles and Mid(We invented sports)west fans that are pissed about Durant. Life goes on. 

 

People in OKC are mad that their franchise player is gone and fans in LA are mad because the Warriors just made it virtually impossible for the Clippers or Lakers to ever catch up to them for at least the next three years.

 

I don't blame OKC fans for being upset. Their team went from being NBA title contenders to dog crap overnight. What fan base is going to take that well? Tell me. Sure maybe behind Westbrook they can still make it as a six or seven seed, but any realistic chance they had at winning an NBA title in the near future just left town. Durant leaving is a potential franchise killer and not just in terms of wins and loses.

 

The Twitter stuff I just roll my eyes at. Kevin Durant said this how many years ago, and your point being what? He's a bad person? He shouldn't have left OKC because of how good they were to him? He's a hypocrite? How about you're just upset that he's gone and you're just simply looking for any reason you can to justify your anger further. If Kevin Durant came back tomorrow I'm sure virtually all would be forgiven, just like it was in Cleveland with LeBron so what does that tell you about what fans really care about? Wins and losses or the human qualities of the players on the court?

 

Makes for great sports talk. Its a nice narrative for PO'd fans to buy into, but its all BS. If you want to know why Kevin Durant left, ask Kevin Durant. Only problem with that is he's probably not going to tell you, so the mind is free to wonder why.

 

The bigger issue I feel is that the NBA needs to figure out what they want to CBA to actually do. If one of the goal is to maintain competitive balance between the big and small market teams, I would say its failing in that regard and its getting worse. If the goal of player salaries is to be an accurate representation of their talents, I would say its failed in that regard especially with the players at the top of the talent curve. One of the main reasons Golden State was able to land Kevin Durant is because guys like Steph Curry and Draymond Green are being grossly underpaid relative to what their cap values actually should be. So now you have a situation where not only are superstar players beginning to cluster around a handful of teams, there may be no other way to win a title. The Thunder game planned for long term success with their franchise through the draft as well you possibly could have. All Pat Riley essentially did was save up enough cap space to go after LeBron James and Chris Bosh and keep Dwayne Wade. A seven year old could have come up with that strategy, but guess which one yielded two NBA titles and which one yielded zero? This is what I mean when I say doing well or even great in the draft just gets so you far in today's game, because come up with a draft strategy that can counter a team who has a grossly underpaid LeBron James on the roster in a salary cap league.

[Lights Out]

I've never been a Thibs fan. He's one of Doc Rivers' cronies, after all. Having watched in horror as Doc has systematically destroyed my team, I'd advise any up-and-coming team to avoid anyone related to Doc like the plague, lest you end up like the Clippers. The Wolves should have hired a younger, hungrier coach like David Fizdale or Kenny Atkinson.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

I honestly don't see OKC winning more than 42 games this year. It's honestly a one-man team. Their next best player is Oladipo and then there's a massive drop off. The division winner won't win more than 45. It's between Utah, Portland, OKC and -due to the extreme parity- even Minnesota.

[Cujo]

D-Wade is pist at the Heat (subliminal tweets about no loyalty, etc.) and has cancelled meetings with all teams -- except the Cavaliers.

 

Sure! Why not?

 

This league, man...

[Cujo]

Dirk says no to Golden State. To remain a Maverick for life. Loyalty actually DOES exist.

 

 

[CS85]

4 minutes ago, Cujo said:

D-Wade is pist at the Heat (subliminal tweets about no loyalty, etc.) and has cancelled meetings with all teams -- except the Cavaliers.

 

Sure! Why not?

 

This league, man...

 

Let's just have two teams.  I can't wait until the NBA totally blows it's whole crap up with another lockout.  The players get 0 power, there's no more max contracts, and we end the era of the super team.  Enough.  

[DarkJourney]

There is no doubt if Durant had stayed with OKC they would have been a contender but there are no guarantees in sports. We can't assume they would've won a championship. I do feel sorry for the small market teams in the league but rarely do they win the championship. Since 1980 you could say that only 2 small market teams have won a championship. Cleveland and San Antonio. 

[Cujo]

Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards

 

If your favorite team appears on this list, why are you even watching?

 

If your favorite team is NOT on this list, you were probably a Lakers or Heat fan five years ago.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

You know David Stern wouldn't have allowed KD in Golden State. (and that would have have bull :censored: too)

[OnWis97]

25 minutes ago, Cujo said:

D-Wade is pist at the Heat (subliminal tweets about no loyalty, etc.) and has cancelled meetings with all teams -- except the Cavaliers.

 

Sure! Why not?

 

This league, man...

If that happens, then LeBron becomes public enemy #1 again because LeBron.  

 

I think it would be awesome to see D-Wade go wherever (Knicks, Milwuakee, retire) and LeBron's Cavs vs. GSW in next season's finals.  If the Cavs could pull that one off, LeBron would enter the GOAT discussion.  

 

LeBron, you have three rings.  You got one for (lowers voice like Sideshow Bob imitating Hapablap) The 'Land.  Use your GMing "skills" to keep your friend away.  Do it the hard way and be America's sweetheart next year.  I'd love to see it.  If D-Wade joins, then we're just waiting on two superteams. Not that D-Wade joining the Cavs is as big as KD joining who he can't beat, but the whole thing would feel video-gamey.

 

As an aside, the only thing worse than the idea of building superteams is the thought that part of the rationale could be for Nike to take some of the shine off of Curry's UA deal.  In general, I don't have a huge problem with players having endorsements, but once they start having this direct of an impact, I think there's a problem; not that there's much that can be done given the size of these contracts.  But if Durant did this, even in small part, for Nike, that kinda makes me feel ill.

[Lights Out]

15 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

You know David Stern wouldn't have allowed KD in Golden State. (and that would have have bull too)

Stern couldn't do a damn thing, and wouldn't even if he could. At most, we'd have to see his ugly mug contort itself into a :censored:-eating grin as he tells us about his dream of a Warriors vs. Warriors Finals.

 

As far as the whole Wade thing goes, I don't get the outrage here. Wade's glory days have long since passed him by. It's not like the Cavs would be adding 2006 Wade. LeBron will still be "doing it the hard way" with or without him. Screw what the haters say, even this year's Finals didn't shut those losers up. They've already spun Durant's decision as somehow being LeBron's fault anyway, so he can't win in their eyes.