Now that is some radical thinking to stop tanking in the NBA. No idea if it would work, bug interesting idea.
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/86940/the-nbas-possible-solution-for-tanking-good-bye-to-the-lottery-hello-to-the-wheel#footer-nav
The collusion between high level NCAA talent, agents, GM's would be fun to watch.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on December 23, 2013, 07:31:31 PM
Now that is some radical thinking to stop tanking in the NBA. No idea if it would work, bug interesting idea.
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/86940/the-nbas-possible-solution-for-tanking-good-bye-to-the-lottery-hello-to-the-wheel#footer-nav
Jamie
Do you really believe the NBA is clean and fair??? It's a cabal. People complain about the lack of parity in baseball but look at the NBA since 1980. What a joke. Unless you live in one of 4-5 cities you aren't going to celebrate a championship.
Quote from: keefe on December 23, 2013, 09:01:52 PM
Jamie
Do you really believe the NBA is clean and fair??? It's a cabal. People complain about the lack of parity in baseball but look at the NBA since 1980. What a joke. Unless you live in one of 4-5 cities you aren't going to celebrate a championship.
Which makes sense...until you realize that San Antonio is one of those cities.
The problem with the NBA is inherent to the sport. You need great talent to win a championship since there are only 5 guys on the floor at a time.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on December 23, 2013, 10:03:07 PM
Which makes sense...until you realize that San Antonio is one of those cities.
The problem with the NBA is inherent to the sport. You need great talent to win a championship since there are only 5 guys on the floor at a time.
I'll grant you that the fewer numbers of basketball tends to allow dominance by the most gifted. But from a franchise standpoint, it is ridiculous how so few teams have been competitive. Only 26% of NBA teams have been champion in the past 30 years versus more than 60% of MLB teams in the same period. Additionally, many of the MLB winners have been from "small" markets.
I am far from a conspiracy theorist but I just don't believe David Stern was the most ethical Commish. The man put marketing buzz well before fairness and competitiveness.
The NBA was non competitive long before David Stern.
Too many teams.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on December 23, 2013, 10:54:36 PM
The NBA was non competitive long before David Stern.
Too many teams.
Not enough for Vander Blue!
I don't know if I would argue it the way you have. Basketball is a sport where one or two dominant players can lead to a championship. It is that heavily weighted with their talents and abilities. In baseball, football, hockey, etc, one or two guys alone doesn't mean you are going to win the title, let alone even make the playoffs.
So the next question is, where do the most talented players go in the NBA? The ones that can lead a team to a title? That's the key. Was Miami or Dallas a champion before Wade got there and later LeBron? Dirk for Dallas? San Antonio before their team? Let's not forget LeBron took little Cleveland to the title. How was Chicago before Michael? Or let's argue the reverse, how many titles have the New York Knicks won in the last 30 years...the biggest market in this country, shouldn't they be winning or playing for more titles?
Don't get me wrong, I have major issues with the NBA on many fronts including style of play (though it has improved), to tanking, to the lottery, to too many teams, some unsavory characters, etc. Putting all that aside, to me it is a star league and you need stars to win in the NBA. The teams with the stars, win. Historically that has been the Lakers, Celtics and a few others where the star players have wanted to play. Part of that is free agency, part of that was before a true salary cap, etc.
My guess is over the next decade you are going to see more and more other teams win the title because of the cap restrictions now in play....the cap is much harder now that what it used to be and eventually that means more parity and harder to put super teams together unless they are willing to make some financial sacrifices.
The only shot the NBA had at parity was giving players unlimited max contracts and a hard cap like football. No team would have multiple MVP candidates and lebron would take up the whole payroll. Instead, owners sold out for a higher share of the profits instead of making fundamental cap changes.