Has this years ridiculous Free Agency made anyone else kind of sick of the NBA?

Fans react negatively against big free agency deals because they can see the auction process happening. Increased price without increased value tends to create feelings of jealousy, but that's just what happens in capitalism.

I wouldn't say it's a pro-owner / anti-player thing. Fans react the same way against owners whenever the auctioning becomes public, e.g. when owners try to hold cities hostage for stadium deals. Owners are just much better at keeping their dealings closed to the public. There's a ton of dollars to be negotiated in owner / city tax considerations, but fans don't get upset because they can't see it happening.

 

I have no problem with superstars getting big deals but when you see scrubs like Solomon Hill or other role players getting paid big time, it waters down the league and lowers the overall quality.

Superstars are pretty much going to produce on the court what they do because they are superstars.

OTOH scrubs and role players typically hustle and play extra hard to try and stay in the NBA and play for that next decent contract.

But when you see money thrown around at them at this level for doing nothing, there is no incentive for these guys to play hard. They have it set and are very secure.

Overall, I "plan" to become a casual NBA fan this season. I have totally lost hope in our truly mediocre, triple chinned egotistical GM Mauri who has run this team to the ground. His delusional PR statements no longer work. I plan to spend $0 at Toyota Center this season on tickets.

 

This is what many dont understand. When a role player made $5-7 million a year, he still made good money but he also had to earn it. It was in his best interest to make sure he stayed competitive and proved he was worth that, if not more. If he ended up making 75m-100m over a 20 year career, he did well.

Now a role player can get a 150M contract for 5 years from a desperate team. THere simply is too much money and not enough talent.

Carmelo Anthony is a great example of a player who chases money over winning.(yes, I know he's not a role player). At the end of the day, money trumps wins.... from both players and owners (see: Les Alexander).

 

Stupidest post ever.

The money would go to the owners if not the players, the players are the product, they are the ones that break bones, go through surgery, etc.

Think of it like this Your work makes 100 million more dollars a year, and u are sick that u r work is giving u a raise? Shut the hell up

 

The NBA is the product. Instead of giving scrubs $150m, owners could lower ticket prices to where real fans could afford them and fill up their stadium.

Owners like Les doesn't give a **** about that. Why fill up a stadium here when you can draft every chinese player and make millions in residuals in china?

 

I'd like to see them get rid of individual max like the NFL. There would be so much more parity.

 

Players will say they are living destitute during cba negotiations

 

Are u telling me you'd rather the owners keep the money?

 

I honestly don't understand how someone else getting paid can actually make you angry. How does this affect your life in any way?

 

Oscar Robertson never made more than $250,000 in a season..... that's like $1.5 million or so in today's dollars.

 

It's not about the amount of money, it's the quality of player that's getting the maximum. Conley is pretty good but not a top 30 type guy in any other era.

 

Cable cutters making networks scramble for premium live content. All sports will see similar ridiculous bumps.

I feel the same as op though. Not sure if we had a great home grown team would help. They might turn Parsons and disgust the hell outta me.

 

Great! More money to invest! Invest it wisely this time

 

Uh, we do pay them.

 

Money has ALWAYS been more important than competition - that's true of all professional sports. Not only is it true, but it's necessary - otherwise, no one would ever sign with crappy teams and they could never get better.

 

You guys were already ok with a scrub getting paid millions a year for putting a ball through a hoop (or not in some cases).

What is this arbitrary line you have in your mind that suddenly made bouncing a ball for ridiculous amounts of money for even more ridiculous amounts not ok?

 

That math doesn't make sense at all. A minor increase in ticket sales (if at all depending on the optimal price to sell out every night) is peanuts to the new tv revenue deals.

By the way, I'm pretty sure teams are already charging their optimal supply/demand price for profitability or they'd be stupid if they didn't already figure it out by now.

 

You mean Santa isn't real? But I thought Harden is here because he's been a lifelong Rockets fan like me!

You'll always get freeloaders in any system, but the competition for getting even better contracts and longer careers will always be there. They don't call them contract years for nothing. And once they're on the court...well plenty of players don't get to this level without being ultra competitive.