NBA Championship Teams: What teams had an "unfair" advantage?

Unless they somehow cheated in bringing him in, what’s unfair about it? The Rockets just won 65 games and are desperately trying to sign the best player in the game. Is that unfair to the other 28 teams?

 

There is no unfair advantage, you always have 5 players playing versus 5 players.

 

As an attorney, I often find myself needing to explain to my clients that I am in the legal business and not the fairness business. One should not confuse what is legal for what is fair - in my experience one usually has nothing to do with the other.

 

2016-2018 Golden State: 73 win team and previous NBA champion adding Durant.
2010-2014 Miami: Getting Lebron and Bosh in an already weakened Eastern Conference.
2007-08: Boston grabs KG and Ray Allen. Gasol goes to the Lakers (I know people mention Marc Gasol, but he wasn't playing in the NBA yet)
2003-04: Los Angeles signs Payton and Malone, to a team that had just came off of a 3-pete championship, a year before.
kinda unfair, but kinda not -- 1996-97: Los Angeles Lakers sign Shaquille O'Neal and get the 13th pick in draft (Kobe Bryant - you guys can read the story about Arn Tellam and their desires to be only with the Lakers).
1982-83: Philadelphia trades for Moses Malone-offer sheet intially (who they originally signed to an offer sheet, was matched by Houston, but new ownership did not want pay him that much.


Dumb teams:August 5, 1976: Traded by the New Orleans Jazz (as a 1979 1st round draft pick) with a 1977 1st round draft pick (Kenny Carr), a 1978 1st round draft pick (Freeman Williams) and a 1980 2nd round draft pick (Sam Worthen) to the Los Angeles Lakers for a 1977 2nd round draft pick (Essie Hollis) and a 1978 1st round draft pick (Jack Givens). This exchange was arranged as compensation for Utah signing veteran free agent Gail Goodrich on 1976-07-19 == Magic Johnson --- February 15, 1980: Traded by the Cleveland Cavaliers (as a 1982 1st round draft pick) with Butch Lee to the Los Angeles Lakers for Don Ford and a 1980 1st round draft pick (Chad Kinch).= = James Worthy

 

What is unfair about clearing out caproom and getting a free agent? Don't we accept already that the best free agents should want to go to good or great teams? And that that the best front offices find ways to acquire the best talent? What did Golden State do that was unfair or unreasonable? Or Durant?

Every team knew when Durant would be available and had the opportunity to clear cap space and make a pitch to him. GS had the most appealing option and Durant took it.

Do we have some kind of unwritten rules of fairness that great teams shouldn't try to get better? Or that great players can't go to great teams? Is it wrong for the Rockets - the team with the best record in the league and, in many people's opinions here, already the best team in the league - to go after Lebron because it would be unfair?

 

I wouldn't call it unfair, but there has never been a team who went out and put themselves at this much of an advantage - EVER

What Durant did is unprecedented. And pretty much null and voided the rest of the league in the process.

The basics of any sport is competitiveness and what we have now is a "team" that has no competition.

Who the hell wants to see a team rollerskate its way into the finals every year?? That's just not entertaining

I don't think that has happened in any other sport, and yes there is an unwritten rule, you don't go join up with the team that just knocked you out if the conference finals or finals - THAT'S SOME PU**Y S***T!!!

Wilt didn't do it
Dr. J didn't do it
Isiah didn''t do it
MJ didn't do it
Dream didn't do it
Dirk didn't do it

hell even LeBron didn't do it!!

 

Lebron joined a 50 win wade and bosh

Kd joined a 73 win curry klay green ai who already had 1 chip

2 superstars, 2 allstars, 1 former superstar

Vs

Rockets no chip only 1 supertar no all star

 

I wish the league didn't pick an ******* lead ref for Game 7.

Ranks up there with what they did to Yao @dallas and Lakers/Kings

 

I'm not sure I would call it unfair but just very bad luck for the rest of the league that the one anomalous year the cap jumped from the huge TV deal coincided with Durant's free agency. Warriors had to do minimal work to sign him..the salaries they gave up were minuscule. This "all-time" team couldn't get it done..then Durant fell into their lap. It's like a billionaire winning a lottery.

 

80s Lakers and Celtics was some bullshit. Winning championships every year and still had #1 draft picks.

 

while i won't blame management for going after durant after their finals humiliation, that's the second biggest thing (after durant actually being willing to join a 73 win team) about this whole thing, is that they didn't have to work to clear cap room. basically every single team in the league had a free max contract to hand out that year (i think cleveland was about the only one who didn't and that was the only team durant wouldn't have gone to anyway). that's what made it so unlike everything else.

the word "unfair" has no meaning in this context b/c every team would do anything to beat the others, it's just that there has always been a trade off between talent and cap room. except for one year. the year golden state needed it. a great player like durant usually has to decide between a team that has somewhat gutted itself to get max cap room or stay with his own team. but this time golden state didn't have to make any tough decisions like getting rid of draymond or klay and just basically had to trade andrew bogut (it's not like they had a pristine cap, they were paying iggy $12M to come off the bench and bogut even more to be almost unplayable in road games). and even that was affected by the cap spike. usually trading terrible contracts requires giving up something. but in a league where everyone had max cap room to absorb any contract necessary, it took nothing.

now why any team would trade for bogut to help someone else build a dynasty for anything less than a king's ransom is beyond me (wasn't it dallas?). how every GM isn't sitting there thinking "i'm not gonna be the one" seems crazy. at least not for scraps. "ooooh, i got a first round pick that probably won't do anything for me and i gave another team a dynasty. wait, that seems stupid."

i think the warriors existing is what makes this palatable to the outside world. just like the warriors didn't get much flak for KD, i don't think the rockets would get much flak if they got lebron even in a non-"KD on the warriors" world, but i think lebron would get pretty well torn up (and for good reason) for joining such a good team if there wasn't the current juggernaut. i mean part of me just wants to run it back with the warriors with everyone healthy and not add a mercenary (even though i kind of think we were just as close to losing 4-1 as winning 4-3 and probably need lebron). winning is always good, but sometimes you still want the narrative.

 

That team, with the highest payroll in NBA history only matched by the 1 other team.

Led by the player who many young fans believe to be the greatest to ever play the game, surrounded by his hand picked players including an all time great 3pt shooter, a center with a contract he is believed to be a cheater, a player so dedicated some say he is still preparing for game 5. Plus former MVP, a former scoring champion, a young talent that averaged 29pt per in the previous year, a media picked top 100 player of all time who once put up 30 pts and 30 reb in a single game, a former NBA champion who acts tough and keeps bench warm like no other. This team was such bullshit.

 

if you throw in the modern brooklyn trade, it's absurd how many times the lakers and celtics have made trades for picks several years down the road and those somehow became the #1 or #2 pick in the draft. i mean it's one thing for the picks to turn into nice top 5 or top 10 picks, but teams that are tanking their hearts out struggle to get the #1 or #2 pick and these guys are just tripping and falling into them. the '83 lakers having the #1 pick and '86 celtics having the #2 pick should just be statistically impossible. it's better to be lucky than good i guess.

 

First, it was super cheap and weird how Boston was able to draft Larry Bird while he was still in school(#6 overall). He was drafted in 78 and played another year at Indiana State and then was a rookie in 79. Then parish(a #8 overall) was traded to Boston along with a 1st round pick for 2 1st round picks. That 1st round pick turned into McHale with the #3 pick(Boston lost in the ECF with a rookie Bird leading into that draft and added Parish and McHale). Won the championship that next season. Won in 86 and got the #2 pick Len Bias. Reggie Lewis was a good draft choice though while Boston was still good(59 wins and injuries).

Lakers got Kareem for a bunch of garbage journeymen. As a 47 win team got Magic Johnson #1 overall. They won the Championship in 82(2nd in 3 years) and then drafted James Worthy #1 overall. Ridiculous. Lose in the Finals then draft Byron Scott #4 overall. That's UNFAIR. When you have two dominant franchises getting replenished with top 5 picks every other year. That's just not fair.

 

No team ever had that opportunity before.

That said, you should look at the history of sports. There are plenty of teams over the years in MLB, NFL, and NBA that ridiculous advantages in talent (and money) over other teams.

So you're suggesting the Rockets this year were not competitive and had no chance against the Warriors? Otherwise, it seems it took the league all of one year to assemble a team that's capable of challenging the Warriors.

 

Unfair is probably a poor choice of words. Lucky is more appropriate. So many things happened that led to the Warriors being in position to sign Durant. Don't forget that Curry was also in the middle of a ultra cheap (for his MVP production level) $44 million contract signed when he had annual ankle issues. He was like the 4th or 5th highest paid player on the team.

Also, had the NBAPA agreed to the cap smoothing, it would have made it harder, but not impossible, for them to sign Durant. They likely would have had to trade Iggy as well to clear up space. The players association not having the foresight to see how the cap spike would have only benefited the 2016 free agent class is rather insane to me.

 

Yup. Nothing could be more unfair than Lakers and Celtics in the 80's. They already had the SuperSTARS and then they still have high draft picks.

This would be like the Warriors winning championship and getting a #1 pick overall.

 

Sixers could have dominated the 80's too, but they traded for Roy Hinson and Cleveland drafted Brad Daughtery with that pick.

Moses went from Rockets to Sixers in his prime, to get that championship...everyone seems to forget though.

 

Some of these dynasty were built with trades that really worked out well:

1.) Celtics robbed the Warriors with the Parish and Mchale(Pick) for Just Barely Carroll
2.) Gail Goodrich to Jazz for pick that turned out to be Magic
3.) Cavs get Don Ford for Pick that turned out to be Worthy
4.) Bulls trade Olden Polynece for pick that turned out to be Pippen
5.) Divac for Kobe


6.) Nets trade 2nd round pick to the Warriors for Troy Murphy.

2nd round pick turned out to be Draymond Green and so a new Dynasty beigns