This is cap. Players have always used the options available at the time to get in better situations. Wilt threatened to leave basketball to get traded to LA. Oscar Robertson utilized his no-trade clause to get himself to Milwaukee. Magic only left school early to play with Kareem. Moses Malone used restricted FA to get to Philly. Magic and Bird had former MVPs and star players willing to come there and take bench roles. Aguirre to Detroit (Magic was recruiting him too). Drexler to us. Rodman to Chicago. Kobe forcing his way to LA. Malone and Payton to LA. KG waiving his NTC to get to Boston. Etc Teams acquire players by draft, trades and free agency. All three methods are organic, and players have been using each to pick where they go for the longest. Ain’t ish new… Sticking it out in a horrible situation is dumb. Beyond DUMB. Players fought for free agency for a reason. It’s idiotic to keep relying on incompetent management when you can change your situation yourself. I don’t see how anyone can challenge that. Do you stay in garbage situations when you can leave for a better one in your career, or just leave for a better opportunity in general?
Almost all of those situations are past prime players or 30+ exiting prime/declining after spending their careers trying to drive their own bus. I applaud thst and welcome those moves. Have already said lebron would have my respect if he stuck it out in Cleveland and then joined the Lakers for some easy team ups. Its only dumb because you know he would have never won. I guess Hakeem was dumb to stick it out with such a bad organization that wasted his prime. B2b. You're still avoiding the very different situation of today's players teaming up starting right in the middle of their physical primes in their mid 20s. It is NOT the same. What these guys have done led by Bron/Wade/Bosh has cheated the system and unspoken rule of competition. I'll give you anyone who wants to play for the Lakers. That's a cheat organization that almost guarantees a championship for any star, but Wilt got his ring in Philly with barely any help and being criticized forever about losing to Boston and their 5 or 6 HOFers. Kareem won as the alpha and champ at a young age with an aging fat Oscar before asking for his trade to LA. Had 2 all stars in LA. Couldn't do anything until Magic made him a champ again and kept him relevant. Kareem has been overrated recently because the only way to prop up lebron was to prop up Kareem knowing he was passing him in total points. LeNarrative. Kobe demanded LA or Boston. That was cheap and an easy road vs Charlotte or teams ahead that would have wanted him but were put off by the threats to play in Europe. At least he made that decision with no super stars already in LA or Boston. Shaq came after the draft/kobe. An 18 year old Kobe had no part in that decision. Shaq was in his prime from day 1. The only reason they won 3 is because Shaqs competition all retired. Thats why Hakeem is still better in my eyes. Oscar joining a phenom rookie Kareem after Oscar was a stat padding loser his whole career is like Westbrook or Harden at their current age joining Wembenyama and winning a ring. Birds team was relatively the same as the really bad team that drafted him. Still the biggest turnaround in NBA history by just adding a rookie bird iirc. Magic joined Kareem and other already all stars. Like I said. Lakers is a cheap path. Magics career parallels well with LeBron. Both played with tons of star help against the weakest each conference has ever been but get the pass because they were alpha and #1s. Lebron 10 trips in 2 decades. Magic 9 trips in a decade. 5 rings to 4. Magics 2nd best player for about 3 of his rings was a lebron at his current age while the old lebron has a dominant pf in his prime. All the former all stars/mvp? Walton and Mcadoo? They were all way past prime. You trash names like Shaq and Wade and Drose and Dwight and Wallace and Allen and the experience they brought because of their ages but count what? Broken down 10% Pistol Pete with rookie Bird? 40% broken down Walton after years of not even being able to walk? Moses at 27 joining a 30 year old Doc, both who couldn't get it done was the only close example. Moses was the better and more effective player. The #1. The mvp and fmvp. Doc was supposed to be the original Jordan, but doc couldn't get it done in a big man's league and they say Michael only won bc it was a big man's league. LeNarrative.
actually it is Bron who changed a golden rule, All Trades/Moves Subject to Franchises' Interests , a rule which had been followed by generations of players. the rule was like 'all players are products, nobody makes no differences, always awaited franchise's final decisions where they're heading to (next destination)', i think Bron basically said NO to it, broke the rule, and won kinda 'partner' privilege for nba players, especially those top 5-7 active star players, these players got the right to ask their franchises for (when n where) being traded to. no doubt, the only exception is final call regarding 'when should a player retire', it ain't up to players themselves, it depends on their dynamic market (trade) value, so when will Bron retire? only when he no longer got the power to manipulate the market, no longer can recruit any super stars to his stardom flagship.
I get that, but at the same time Chuck dictated where he could go. He wanted out of Philly before leading them in to the playoffs as a top 2 MVP candidate. Finally got his wish and picked the Suns. The Suns were a lower tier playoff team for the past few years led by the very underrated basically lower tier All Star in KJ, but they didn't have the star power. Chuck was 29, and turned them in to a Finals team while winning MVP. This is admirable and acceptable because Chuck was the buss driver. If LeBron was 29 again(no Heat move) and he's a free agent this summer and goes to the Kings after giving damn near his entire 20's to the Cavs-i would applaud and respect however many rings he'd win with Fox and Co. That's closer to what Chuck did. Star Players have always had the power to choose where to go. Hell, a high school Kobe had that power. Steve Francis refused to go to Canada. Bucks won a championship with Kareem(lew), and Kareem wanted to go somewhere where he would deal with less racism and more blacks if you believe that. I think he just wanted to be in the spotlight of LA because they could have easily sent him to his hometown Knicks or Nets, but Kareem wanted LA. Yes, Lebron took all that and turned player empowerment to a ridiculous level that now franchises are screwed if a player is unhappy. 1+1 contracts to leave for greener pastures whenever they want or even just smack dab in the middle of their brand new max contract. The real golden and unspoken rule was a competitive one that i still say LeBron broke and led the initial team up that broke it. He caved under the pressure of not being able to win and carved out the path of least resistance for his legacy. It's cheap. It's not GOATed. Not to me and not to many others. He showed players it's okay to not have patience and trust in your organization-to bail for easy roads as many times as you want after just a few years of being a professional and in your primes. In my eyes, it's cheating. He's a cheater of the beautiful game.
100% yea, that's my point...maybe he learned something from his big bro, Jay-Z "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." -Jay-Z. Based on that, Bron went on board different labels, even became a partner of that label, and earned his share from, THAT's totally different from those 60s-90s HOFs who could choose where to go, but end of the day they went nowhere, still employees, not major shareholders.
I legitimately believe Jokic if he wins a few rings has the chance to go down as a top 5 player ever. He is out of this universe great
He's something else. So far, Davis has not had any effect on him. It would be a shame if Jokic gets screwed over to give some old dude another cheap chip.
The scary thing is Jokic hasn’t even reached his prime yet. He is only 24. He will own this league for the next 10 years as his game has zero reliance on athleticism.
