***2021-2022 NBA Season Thread***

[SkinInsite]

My team is a dumpster fire, might as well watch the Warriors curb stomp the rest of the league.

 

 

Oh and watch Lebron murder one of his knuckle head team on the court.

[StillUnknown]

14 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

I think people are mad that the Warriors actually have a great front office and it exposes how bad hte rest of these front offices are.

 

Thats the only thing because there is no reason to be mad at them helping their team. Be mad that the players didn't want to smooth the cap - which ironically is why the Warriors got Durant and Cousins. In a regular market, they obviously don't get Durant and this year is the opposite of 2016. Many teams do not have cap space and cannot afford to splash that much risky investments.

 

If you want to get mad, get mad that your team's front office is terrible and has no vision. (like Grunfeld and the Wizards, or whatever the hell the Bucks are doing that will eventually cost them Giannis, etc)

 

the Warriors are an alternate reality version of the Wizards. So many of their players could have very easily ended up on the Wizards if Grunfeld had anything resembling vision or intelligence

[Going Commando]

7 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

IIRC, can't teams go above the cap to retain their players? 

 

Sometimes.  It depends on the player's acquisition/trade status, years of service on his last contract or contracts, and the size and type of the new contract they seek, etc.  There are a bunch of different cap exceptions and they have a variety of conditions.

4 minutes ago, SkinInsite said:

My team is a dumpster fire, might as well watch the Warriors curb stomp the rest of the league.

 

 

Oh and watch Lebron murder one of his knuckle head team on the court.

 

This sentiment right here is a major problem for the NBA.  A fundamental problem.  It's the beginning of the death of interest.

[Bozo the kKklown]

2 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

 

the Warriors are an alternate reality version of the Wizards. So many of their players could have very easily ended up on the Wizards if Grunfeld had anything resembling vision or intelligence

I am not mad at the Warriors for kicking everyone ass on and off the court.

 

I am mad that people are upset that they are doing it and ignoring the why. Why is down to teams not being ran well.

[StillUnknown]

3 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

I am not mad at the Warriors for kicking everyone ass on and off the court.

 

I am mad that people are upset that they are doing it and ignoring the why. Why is down to teams not being ran well.

 

if they were my squad i'd be trolling left and right

 

they are doing what every single team, in every single sport, wants their ownership and management to do

 

 

I'm a little different though, I don't watch the NBA necessarily to watch great games, thats a bonus for me. Outside of the team I root for, I watch games to see great talents do great things

Edited July 3, 2018 by StillUnknown

[The Evil Genius]

The irony being that building a team through FA is damn hard (we Skins fans should know that all too well) in any sport. But to get mad at a team that does it well consistently AND drafts exceptionally well too is just absurd.

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by The Evil Genius

[Going Commando]

2 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

they are doing what every single team, in every single sport, wants their ownership and management to do

 

The NBA is the only sport where you can pull this off.  Because it's broken.

[The Evil Genius]

1 minute ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

The NBA is the only sport where you can pull this off.  Because it's broken.

 

Or maybe because also it's a sport largely dominated by superstars. What's the equivalent to LeBron in the NFL, NBA, and NHL? 

 

Maybe Brady?

[StillUnknown]

1 minute ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

The NBA is the only sport where you can pull this off.  Because it's broken.

 

i don't disagree that its broken.

 

I just can't get mad that another team is breaking it. If it were the Wizards i'd be laughing and celebrating titles until it was fixed

[Spaceman Spiff]

1 minute ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

I am not mad at the Warriors for kicking everyone ass on and off the court.

 

I am mad that people are upset that they are doing it and ignoring the why. Why is down to teams not being ran well.

 

You are right about this, they are just better than everyone else.  Drafting Steph, Klay, Draymond.  There is some luck involved there, but you've gotta be good, first.  Gotta navigate the cap, gotta make everyone fit.  They are run better than any other team, no doubt.

 

The thing that gives me hope is that GSW wasn't a great destination 10 years ago, no one wanted to play there.  Sure the Bay Area is a great place to be but Golden State has never been a prime destination.  Maybe the Wiz can get there someday.

[RonArtest15]

1 minute ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

The NBA is the only sport where you can pull this off.  Because it's broken.

 

How is it broken?  Cousins too a WAY below-the-market deal to sign there. 

 

Obviously, this is an extreme, but what was stopping Lebron from signing for the MLE here in DC?  He could have done it....

 

If the team(s) can afford these contracts, then so be it. 

 

Cousins is going to heal 100%, play on a cheap deal, then bounce after the year to sign a HUGE contract. 

[StillUnknown]

1 minute ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

You are right about this, they are just better than everyone else.  Drafting Steph, Klay, Draymond.  There is some luck involved there, but you've gotta be good, first.  Gotta navigate the cap, gotta make everyone fit.  They are run better than any other team, no doubt.

 

The thing that gives me hope is that GSW wasn't a great destination 10 years ago, no one wanted to play there.  Sure the Bay Area is a great place to be but Golden State has never been a prime destination.  Maybe the Wiz can get there someday.

 

they also had the foresight to move on from a decent coach in Jackson to Kerr. Kerr was an obvious upgrade in X's & O's, but he manages the ego's better than most would

Edited July 3, 2018 by StillUnknown

[Spaceman Spiff]

2 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

 

they also had the foresight to move on from a decent coach in Jackson to Kerr

 

Very true.  

[The Evil Genius]

Kerr gets little credit but as a Pops disciple and a winner as a player, his guidance and basketball IQ really can't be measured. I can't imagine the direction the Dubs would have taken if Larry Ellison had bought them instead of Joe Lacob.

 

That said, the idea that their fanbase didn't exist before this era is 100% wrong (I've read that said before about the Dubs fans). The Bay Area has been dying for a really good team since the Run TMC days and they constantly packed the Oracle (or whatever it was called then) even in the crappy years. I know because I married one. ?

Edited July 3, 2018 by The Evil Genius

[Bozo the kKklown]

8 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

You are right about this, they are just better than everyone else.  Drafting Steph, Klay, Draymond.  There is some luck involved there, but you've gotta be good, first.  Gotta navigate the cap, gotta make everyone fit.  They are run better than any other team, no doubt.

 

The thing that gives me hope is that GSW wasn't a great destination 10 years ago, no one wanted to play there.  Sure the Bay Area is a great place to be but Golden State has never been a prime destination.  Maybe the Wiz can get there someday.

Only when Ted sells the team. He has no vision.

[Spaceman Spiff]

35 minutes ago, justice98 said:

 

But why do they hold it in higher esteem is my question.  What I'm trying to drill down to is what specifically makes one better than the other. 

 

That was exactly my point from yesterday that superteams have been a part of the fabric of the NBA.  They've always been there, they never went away, it's just the last 5-10 years that it's become outrageous to people.

 

It's Red Auerbach vs. the Banana Boat.  It's the stodgy old GM with a cigar in his mouth wheeling and dealing and making trades and identifying talent vs. basketball players going on vacation together and hatching plans on how to play together (even though this is debatable).  It's proper roster building in an old school style vs the perception of the rich getting richer by spending big in free agency, something no one likes to see no matter the sport.    

[PeterMP]

The big thing that GSW did right was make the right gamble on Curry and his ankles.  What allowed everything else to happen was the 4 year $44 million dollar extension he signed the year before his rookie contract ended.

 

Blake Griffin, drafted the same  year, signed a 5 year $95 million extension.  If Curry is in a situation to do the same thing, the Warriors aren't in a position to acquire Iggudola and Bogut.

 

If they make the wrong decision on Curry and his ankles and don't extend him until he can prove he's healthy, they lose him or have to pay him a lot more and they aren't where they are now.

 

If his ankles fail and he flops, they've got a 4 year $44 million dollar contract on their cap and are probably looking to rebuild again.

 

(The Bulls got a similar deal for Pippen early in his career because of his back, which then gave them flexibility with the cap to do things later. that other teams couldn't do.  If you sign the player with an injury that could really be career threatening or limiting and it works out, you look really good.  When it doesn't, though, you look really bad.)

Edited July 3, 2018 by PeterMP

[Going Commando]

8 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

I just can't get mad that another team is breaking it. If it were the Wizards i'd be laughing and celebrating titles until it was fixed

 

Me too.  I'm not mad at the Warriors for benefiting from the broken system.  Hell, I'm not even made at Durant any more for breaking the competitive balance of the league because I realize it's not up to the players to self-police and protect the competitive balance of the league.  I'm not mad that people are behaving according to the incentive structures that the league has put in place for them.

 

I'm mad that the NBA's system of player acquisition and its CBA suck.  Those are the reasons why there is no competitive balance.  The league needs a hard cap and it will never be competitive until it has one.  There is no getting around it.  We've tried every exception and penalty and financial incentive possible to promote stability and diffuse competition with a soft cap and the situation has only gotten worse.  The next move has to be a hard cap.  But the owners and players simply aren't interested in creating actual competition.  The players and owners make a lot of money from the soft cap.  The owners view their product as a side show and believe that the reason people watch it is to see star players.  They would rather have star player showcases than actual competition.

 

But if the fans stop watching, then maybe they'll start caring about competition.

17 minutes ago, RonArtest15 said:

How is it broken? 

 

There is only one team capable of winning the championship.  There has been only one team the last two years.  And it will probably continue like this for a while.

 

Even the ****ing English Premier League is way more competitive than this.

 

The NBA is a farce.  A Harlem Globetrotters exhibition.

[Bozo the kKklown]

6 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

The league needs a hard cap and it will never be competitive until it has one.  There is no getting around it. 

Cleveland had LeBron for 7 years and failed to build a great team around him.

 

Milwaukee has Giannis right now and are failing to build a great team around him.

 

There are too many bad front offices in the NBA. Its that simple.

 

You draft a superstar talent, you have 7-8 years to get a title out of htem under your terms. Its no the NBA's fault that these teams are not ran well.

[Spaceman Spiff]

6 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

Only when Ted sells the team. He has no vision.

 

Not sure, his hockey team just won a Cup.  But he is keeping Ernie around way past his due date so there's that.  

[Going Commando]

5 minutes ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

There are too many bad front offices in the NBA. Its that simple.

 

You think every other front office except Golden State's is bad?  You think the problem with the NBA is that there isn't enough executive talent to go around?  Or even to be distributed beyond one single team?

 

Or perhaps it could be the much more likely and straightforward explanation that the league has a serious problem with its diffusion of player talent.  Five great players can come together and create an unbeatable team.  So how do you stop this from happening?  Hard cap.  A hard cap diffuses talent throughout the league.  It would make it so that Giannis and a bunch of role players can realistically compete for a championship.

Edited July 3, 2018 by stevemcqueen1

[RonArtest15]

12 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

Me too.  I'm not mad at the Warriors for benefiting from the broken system.  Hell, I'm not even made at Durant any more for breaking the competitive balance of the league because I realize it's not up to the players to self-police and protect the competitive balance of the league.  I'm not mad that people are behaving according to the incentive structures that the league has put in place for them.

 

I'm mad that the NBA's system of player acquisition and its CBA suck.  Those are the reasons why there is no competitive balance.  The league needs a hard cap and it will never be competitive until it has one.  There is no getting around it.  We've tried every exception and penalty and financial incentive possible to promote stability and diffuse competition with a soft cap and the situation has only gotten worse.  The next move has to be a hard cap.  But the owners and players simply aren't interested in creating actual competition.  The players and owners make a lot of money from the soft cap.  The owners view their product as a side show and believe that the reason people watch it is to see star players.  They would rather have star player showcases than actual competition.

 

But if the fans stop watching, then maybe they'll start caring about competition.

 

There is only one team capable of winning the championship.  There has been only one team the last two years.  And it will probably continue like this for a while.

 

Even the ****ing English Premier League is way more competitive than this.

 

The NBA is a farce.  A Harlem Globetrotters exhibition.

 

Houston Rockets were right there, man.  Healthy CP3 changes EVERYTHING this past playoffs. 

 

Going forward is a different story.  But let's not pretend like GS wasn't on the ropes. 

 

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Just now, RonArtest15 said:

 

Houston Rockets were right there, man.  Healthy CP3 changes EVERYTHING this past playoffs. 

 

Going forward is a different story.  But let's not pretend like GS wasn't on the ropes. 

 

 

 

That is going to be one of the greatest what if stories in sports history.

[Going Commando]

1 minute ago, RonArtest15 said:

Houston Rockets were right there, man.  Healthy CP3 changes EVERYTHING this past playoffs. 

 

Going forward is a different story.  But let's not pretend like GS wasn't on the ropes. 

 

 

This is what exasperates me.  The NBA pollyannas are clinging to this false hope that the Rockets could have actually beaten Golden State based on hypotheticals even though they got their asses whipped in that series.  Ignoring the fact that a two team league is still a farce, I might add.

[The Evil Genius]

9 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

You think every other front office except Golden State's is bad?  You think the problem with the NBA is that there isn't enough executive talent to go around?  Or even to be distributed beyond one single team?

 

Or perhaps it could be the much more likely and straightforward explanation that the league has a serious problem with its diffusion of player talent.  Five great players can come together and create an unbeatable team.  So how do you stop this from happening?  Hard cap.  A hard cap diffuses talent throughout the league.  It would make it so that Giannis and a bunch of role players can realistically compete for a championship.

 

Would the hard cap prevent Boogie or others (like Draymond and Klay and somewhat KD) from taking a major payroll deduction to go to a winning team? Would it also prevent teams that draft exceptionally well from keeping all of their superstars? 

Edited July 3, 2018 by The Evil Genius