The nba buyouts are ruining the game, gaming the hard cap

You are basing this on the fact someone just paid 98% of his contract because he has been half assing it or just decides he wants to go. This isn't even like forcing a trade, one team had to cough up almost the entire salary for him.

 

How? Their contract is guaranteed it aint an amnesty.

 

There is no problem with the buyout market in the past but this year in particular has seen the rise of players who dog it so they get bought out or traded. When VC did it back in the day he became a Pariah of Toronto, but now the Rockets gave Harden a standing ovation and a tribute. So that told players times have changed as long as you gave it an honest try in orevious years you can dog it in your final year to appear washed so you get bought out.

Its a fool proof plan (just as what Id expect from somebody as smart at gaming the system as Harden) cuz nobody but you will know if you are dogging it or not. As long as you still show up teams cant fine you cuz they cant penalize you for sucking. You can be a cancer in the locker room teaching rookies bad **** so the team will decide buying you out is oreferable to keeping you. So you can get paid AND still sign with a contender. Just another loop hole created by guaranteed contracts. I've never been a fan of guaranteed cobtracts, it should only be guaranteed in cases of injury not guaranteed disregarding performance but whatever.

I dunno if something will be done but if I'm a GM I will stop seeing expiring contracts like a big asset after this season.

 

I think his frustrations stem from that it is not the Average Joe.

A former Allstar joining a star studded cast.

The league has many stars that have failed to be the No 1 option or have failed to coming close to a championship.

It looks like one sided power play from the outside.

Makes it even more enticing to root for the 'Underdog'.

 

If Harden didn’t dog it he wouldn’t have gotten traded. Why knock him for that? He tried to get out the nice way initially.

 

There's nothing wrong with the buyout market. Just because more past-their-prime stars are being bought out this year compared to previous years doesn't mean that process/system is broken.

Those small market teams knew what they were doing when they traded for the Blake Griffins or Andre Drummonds of the world. They were either making a last ditch attempt to save their jobs (SVG) by making the playoffs (Detroit) or they acquired a player in hopes to turn him into draft picks but failed (Cleveland) to do so. The former could have been prevented if Detroit had more common sense to hire an actual GM than to give both GM and coaching roles to one person. The latter could have been prevented if Cleveland wasn't well....stupid. Hell, they even have the next buyout candidate riding pine right now in Kevin Love for next season. A competent front office would have saved those teams and its owners the perceived headache of paying a player to go away.

Now if you're talking about competitive imbalance, I guess you could be mad about that but there's always going to be a cry of competitive imbalance if you're a fan of a small market team that pinned all of your hopes on Rudy Gay getting to Durant levels.

 

Maybe you can penalize buy out teams by giving the other teams home court advantage in the playoffs as a way to equalize things.

 

huh? You want to change the entire rule structure to punish a different team?

 

If he wanted the flexibility of leaving the team, he should have signed a shorter contract.

This is true for both the team and the player. They are stuck with each other when they sign a long contract. That's what contracts are for, no? Buyout and dogging are ways to throw the concept of contract out the window. They all want BOTH security AND flexibility. A classic case of having the cake and eating it.

 

I would be more angry if these buyout players are actually good. Instead they are so washed up that they are basically just a name attached to a min level player.

The Nets didn't significantly improve their championship chances with Griffin or LMA. They are just bodies to throw out there and maybe some leadership in the lockeroom.

 

While I didn't like what Harden did to make his exit from Houston you have to admit that when he signed that extension in 2017 there was, at the time, no reason to believe this franchise would have gone down the craphole as fast as it did. We tend to think of "you signed a contract, honor it!" in terms of our own agreement with our employer and, sure, from that perspective it makes total sense. However, a professional athlete's shelf life (whether it be the talent/skill he loses past his prime thereby impacting the longevity of his career, or his window of opportunity to compete at the highest levels because these are professional/elite athletes who compete with one another as a job) is different than our own careers. I can be a consultant until I'm in my 50s but Harden's career will probably be done before he turns 40.

Basically a contract should be honored by the player in terms of fulfilling the duration of said contract but I believe his employer should also honor the contract by putting together the best team possible in order to compete. Harden, for the most part, held up his end of the contract extension when he signed it in 2017 based on his performance. The Rockets (or, more specifically, Tilman) really haven't held up their end.

As for why Harden signed such a long extension, well financial security was probably the primary reason but I'm sure his love for this city and this team was very high on that list too at the time. Let's put it this way--if Les never sold the team, would Harden still be a Rocket? I'm leaning heavily to "Yes".

 

exactly. They were the favorites even before they joined. And that's still with primarily Harden running the show without KD/Kyrie. How many times have we heard oh these guys are done and are barely even serviceable at this point. The 2nd they chose the nets, it suddenly became man they're stacked!

 

Exactly this. While LMA and Griffin could be great role players it's not like Milwaukee bought out Giannis this season only to see him join the Lakers. Things will still have to break right for these teams to win it all. Brooklyn, for all of its current and former all stars, is still missing Durant and Irving comes and goes whenever he pleases. If Durant's injury is more serious than reported and he is out the rest of the year then it's basically up to Harden and Irving to lead the way, which while still good isn't exactly a shoo-in to reach the Finals.

 

when it benefits the Rockets, there’s no crying and whining to be found...matter of fact, it’s nothing but hope that the bought out player comes here...so yeah, definitely inconsistent

keep that same energy

 

That's exactly what I am say. Signing a long term contract has its risk. Nobody knows what will happen in two years, let alone four. But if you want the security of guaranteed money for four years, you take the risk of maybe the team will go another direction and you are stuck.

As much as I hate it, I don't think the team has the obligation to put together a good team around you. I am pretty sure it's not in the contract. Of course on the flip side, the player doesn't have the obligation to play well in a guaranteed contract either. So that goes back to the evil of guaranteed contracts. Money guaranteed upfront without obligation in the future.

 

Griffin and Aldridge to Brooklyn make almost zero difference to that team's ceiling once they're (esp Durant) healthy. At best, they provide a bit of injury insurance, but even then, they're just not very useful players anymore to teams that hope to contend. Just big names on paper to hype up fans, and/or pity signings to get them an empty ring.

The Nets, if healthy, were already all but guaranteed the ring this year. At least as close as a team can be to a lock.

 

Washed Josh Smith definitely helped us in 2015's playoffs. These players might not raise the ceiling of the team. But they do solidify the depth. We all know that depth and experience are very important in a long playoffs run.

 

Like I said before, someone has had to settle for half this list of non factors

 

I stopped watching after Riggate. Game 7 Rockets Warriors. Just don't be too invested in it.