then you missed the nation's poll where only seattle and miami where cheering for the the heat. =) another way to deal with the superdivas is to get make it a tournament instead of a series.
Considering Dallas was on the table as a possible destination you may want to rethink your hypothesis. Players today want to play with other stars. If we had stars players would want to come here, just like the days when we landed Barkley, Pippen, McGrady, Francis. Most players would choose OKC over Houston, do you think OKC is a nicer city than Houston?
"Let's cut right to the chase and make Miami vs Los Angeles Lakers a best of 82 series. No need to wait til June " ~ Frank Isola
I wouldn't be so quick. The Lakers have a weak bench. If the starters get injured they'll be in trouble. Maybe the Rockets can send them Kevin Martin for a 2025 1st round pick. Get 'er done Morey!
The problem is that the league and the CBA are trying to promote competitive balance through economic incentives and disincentives. Basically, the current CBA incentives are: 1. An economic incentive to the player to remain with his original team via bird rights and max contract offer time and money limitations. 2. An economic disincentive for teams to dramatically exceed the soft cap via the luxury tax. The problem is that the economic incentives and disincentives are not great enough to dissuade the most highly compensated players and the most profitable franchises from ignoring them to achieve competitive balance. The obvious way to correct this is a systemic change to the CBA, e.g. hard cap and shorter term contracts with implicitly less guaranteed money. However, it is unlikely that the parties will easily agree to such a system any time soon. There is a simple change that could be made that is cash neutral to the players and provides competitive as well as economic incentives against superteam formation. Reverse the max contract offer thresholds for teams that exceed cap. Basically, if you are exceeding the cap to resign your own free agent, you can only offer 4 years, but any team under the cap can offer your player the full 5 @ max. This give the play an economic incentive to sign with an under cap team, but more importantly it creates a competitive incentive for major market teams to stay under the cap. Additionally, it would amplify the challenges associated with signing multiple max players.
The problem is 1. When has this come into play? No team has let a superstar walk for nothing? Never! So it is really not a disincentive it is NEVER USED. They should make a poisen pill for the team covetting the player Players can walk . . . no skin off their teeth but IF you pick them up it will cost you a draft pick or something unprotected Rocket River
OK, so kill *all* sign and trade deals along with reversing that max rule for teams over the cap. Does that get everything lined up against over the cap teams trying to sign multiple max players? I thought about draft picks, but you can never make a willing taxpayer give up enough to care. By definition, these superteams have 1st round picks so low that they are less valuable than 2nds.
I think 1. You have to limit player recruitment. I think player recruitment is like team tampering . .. it is the same thing. Needs a high level of punishment. During free agency fine. . but during the year or Olympics. 2. Teams cultivate and build some of these talents. Invest in them. i.e. Dwight. They should allow him to leave but I think the team pilferring him should give something back no matter whether it is sign n trade or if the guy just leaves. I wonder if they could do something like 1st 28 picks goto the lotto teams 1-14 then 1-14 again Then the other teams and then the second round as normal 1st and 14th would that make New Orleans better faster? problem is it hurts the teams that barely made the playoffs. Rocket River
The only way I can think of to send a message is to STOP SUPPORTING THE NBA IN ANY MANNER. No merchandise purchases. No ticket purchases. No league pass purchase. When enough people do this, you will get their attention. Until then, and while the money keeps flowing to them....why would they change?
Hows this for a player recruitment penalty? 1) Ineligble to participate in the post season if caught in the year of the infraction or 2) Retroactive forfeit of all playoff victories during the post season of the offence, plus a "tax" equal to the offending teams playoff ticket revenues for the year of the offense, paid to the team who held the contract of the recruited player if discovered after the end of the season during which the problem occurred. That should about even it out. I like two tier draft idea. How about limiting that 14-28 pick group to teams under the cap or out of the tax? Even given the rule, I think it is hard to keep the agents from talking informally with management, which is probably the level where this stuff happens. Maybe a permanent lifetime ban for any agent caught brokering illegal recruitment. I think the problem is fixable in ways that are revenue neutral to the players. but I don't have much hope for the league fixing this. I don't think Stern values competitive balance.
I was thinking. Maybe 1-14 then reverse it 14-1 So the 14th person gets the 14th and the 15th I think the issue is GMs seem not to be able to help themselves At every turn .. they give in. I am very PRO PLAYER to optimize their earnings but I think teams should be able to get return on their investment [look at the Utah v Boozer issue] Perhaps a version of the Poisen Pill for Max Contracts. Rocket River Rocket River
Lol, reminded me of that South Park episode where they are trying to lose in baseball because they hate it, and both teams are competing to lose.
Some front offices just get it done. Others don't. There was a time when the Rockets were in that first category. Go hard or go home. Excuses abound but the truth is the Lakers play in the same league with the same rules as the Rockets and everyone else. Instead of whining like jilted school girls and hoping for the demise of other teams, we should start demanding more from our front office than the hollow promises and self-defeating mediocrity they have delivered of late.
