http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AufTE.IReV0GvE2Gzl2KqFW8vLYF?slug=ap-cuban-heat I'm pretty sure that there probably was some contact between the Heat and the players prior to July 1st, but then again, the whole system is stupid to begin with. I'd be surprised to see what the NBA comes out with if they choose to investigate, and any potential disciplinary action that results from that.
Maybe the Heat wearn't 100% clean in their ways, but what are they gonna do? Break up the big 3? I think not.
Cuban showing his jealousy again. Just like he did when Yao and T-Mac were dominating the MAVS with the pick n roll.
I posted this in another thread...this was written before the decision was made: http://blog.mises.org/12822/nba-star-explains-the-economics-of-collusion/ NBA Star Explains the Economics of Collusion May 27, 2010 by S.M. Oliva Miami Heat player Dwayne Wade becomes a free agent on July 1. So does LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks, and Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors. The four men are the cream of the 2010 NBA free agent crop. And according to Wade (via the Chicago Tribune), they plan to consult one another about their decisions on where to sign: Wade said he’s not sure when the top free agents will discuss their respective plans, though they have spoken informally in the past. “(Free agency) has been three years coming,” Wade said. “We’ve discussed it prematurely, at different times. (But) you don’t know what guys are thinking and where they’re going. I think we’ll all sit down, and before one of us makes a decision, all of us will have spoken to each other and (listened to the) thinking. “A lot of decisions (will be based on) what other players are willing to do and what other guys want to do. So it’s not just a ‘me’ situation here. We all have to look and see what each other is thinking.” There’s nothing remarkable about Wade’s statements — except that he’s admitting to a felony punishable by a $1 million fine and ten years imprisonment. That’s the “max contract” for price fixing these days. And what Wade describes is in fact an illegal price-fixing cartel. Scoff if you will, but if four firms in any industry meet to discuss what customers they plan to negotiate with, the Justice Department and the FBI will come barging in with guns blazing. Heck, as former Congressman Tom Campbell once told a House committee, if “three eye doctors in Elgin, Illinois” have lunch to discuss a proposed HMO contract, they’ll get a letter from the Federal Trade Commission advising them that said lunch violated the Sherman Act. Campbell was not exaggerating. The FTC has prosecuted over 18,000 physicians during the past decade for essentially doing what Dwayne Wade wants to do with his fellow All-Star players — sit down and discuss potential contract offers. Former Commissioner Thomas Leary explained that it was illegal for physicians to even discuss their contract situations with one another because, “Their prime focus is on using negotiations and contracts for the purpose of enhancing their bargaining power.” And that would be a bad thing in Antitrust World; sellers are never allowed to improve their bargaining power without the federal government’s consent. Most “price fixing” cartels are in fact little more then discussions. There are no contracts, as those would be unenforceable in government courts. An exchange of information — what contracts do you plan to bid on, what do prices do you expect to charge next year, etc. — can be mutually beneficial to “competing” firms without the need for more formal arrangements. As Wade said, “A lot of decisions (will be based on) what other players are willing to do and what other guys want to do … We all have to look and see what each other is thinking.” Again, there’s nothing controversial in Wade’s statement. But contrast it with a press release issued by the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division announcing a coerced guilty plea from an Iowa concrete executive, Kent Stewart: According to the charge, Stewart participated in a conspiracy in which he engaged in discussions concerning project bids for sales of ready-mix concrete in Iowa, submitted rigged bids at collusive and noncompetitive prices and accepted payment for sales of ready-mix concrete at collusive and noncompetitive prices. Now how would this differ from Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh having a discussion, agreeing they’ll all sign with the Chicago Bulls — or maybe Bosh agrees to sign with a Western Conference team so as not to compete directly against Wade and James in Chicago — and refusing to entertain offers from any other teams? This would be a case where the market participants (a) engaged in discussions concerning bids from NBA teams, (b) submitting rigged bids at “collusive and noncompetitive prices,” and ultimately (c) accepting contracts at said prices. And although price fixing is a per se antitrust violation — meaning it’s unnecessary to show there’s any monopoly or exercise of “market power,” as in a merger case — the antitrust violation is arguably worse in the basketball players’ case then in the Stewart case cited above. Stewart colluded on the sale of concrete in Iowa City; that’s not even interstate commerce. Collusion by three or four NBA All-Stars, however, can fundamentally alter the fortunes of several teams and cities, not to mention the league’s worldwide business. Obviously nobody expects the Justice Department to prosecute Wade or his fellow players for violating the Sherman Act. That goes against the “business model” of the Antitrust Division, which is to prey on individuals, like Kent Stewart, outside the public eye who won’t mount a defense. Prosecuting NBA players for collusion would bring unwelcome public and press scrutiny. Ideological consistency must yield to preserving the antitrust establishment’s position in the social structure. The benefit of Wade’s remarks is that they reiterate how commonplace “collusion” is within the marketplace — and how the two are compatible, despite over a century of antitrust propaganda to the contrary. Humans are not interchangeable widgets in a machine; they’re unique individuals with their own subjective preferences. Economic decisions are not made in a vacuum, or by mathematical formula, but within a series of social relationships. When Wade says, “We all have to look and see what each other is thinking,” he’s describing an essential act of economic calculation. This equally applies to “teams” of individuals, be they a basketball team or a business firm. If one firm chooses to share information with another about its possible business plans, that’s not a violation of anyone’s rights or destructive of marketplace competition — as opposed to the antitrust regulator who imprisons people for sharing information and demands individuals obey a rigid, illogical concept of “competition.”
and then there's this: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/How-the-Heat-became-NBAs-Dream-Team-98219514.html#ixzz0tU2572Bq Frantz: How the Heat became NBA’s 'Dream Team' By: Bob Frantz Special to The Examiner July 12, 2010 Sports fans in cities around the nation have rightly joined the jilted fans of Cleveland, Ohio, in excoriating two-time MVP LeBron James for the indescribable manner in which he stabbed the only professional franchise he had ever known, and every one of his fans, in the back on national television. James has been called heartless, callous, a traitor, a coward, a punk and a narcissist. There may come a time, in the near or distant future, to add another word to that list: felon. It is certainly not a crime for a free agent athlete to market himself to other franchises and then sign a contract in a different city than the one that drafted him. It’s not even a crime to sign a deal and leave your hometown. It certainly would be a crime, however, to intentionally tank a playoff series or two in order to bring to fruition a plan born of collusion with two other players also under contract with different NBA franchises. Reports out of Cleveland indicate that James originally concocted a scheme to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on an NBA “Dream Team” of sorts as far back as four years ago. The trio played together for Team USA at the World Championships in 2006 and became fast friends. Being part of the same draft class, their rookie contracts were up at the same time, and they each agreed to sign only three-year extensions with their current clubs, so they could all become unrestricted free agents in the same summer, allowing them to relocate to a single franchise. Now there was no way the three top free agents of 2010 were going to Canada, and there was even less chance they’d choose the cold winters and depressed economy of Cleveland. South Beach, however? Where 25-year-old multimillionaires get to hang with the societal and entertainment elite? A place where thong bikinis are considered proper business attire? Yes, that would do. Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, however, had no idea of this grand plan to bolt for the beach, so he set about the task of winning an NBA title in Cleveland. He spent way over the salary cap to acquire an offensive-minded point guard and a big man in the middle to battle Orlando’s Dwight Howard, and even added solid swingman Antawn Jamison at this year’s trade deadline. He knew that winning a title before James became a free agent would be his best shot at retaining the superstar. Apparently, so did James. Fans in Cleveland have been wondering for months what happened to James, when he mysteriously disappeared for large stretches of Games 4, 5 and 6 in the second round loss to the Celtics. At best, he looked lost; at worst, disinterested. A refusal to shoot. Unimaginable turnovers. A phantom elbow problem to explain it all away. Critics accused him of quitting on his team. Now they wonder if he flat-out threw the series, knowing he’d never have an excuse to leave town if he was defending an NBA crown. At this point, there is no evidence to conclusively prove that James fixed an NBA playoff series with his own performance, but Gilbert has enough money to hire the best investigators on the planet to find out. Is LeBron James a narcissist? Clearly. Is he a quitter? Probably. Is he a felon? Stay tuned. Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/sports/How-the-Heat-became-NBAs-Dream-Team-98219514.html#ixzz0tU2572Bq
I'll still contend that Cleveland would have been home to at least one of them (Wade/Bosh), if LeBron had won a title with the Cavaliers.
I am not an anti-trust lawyer. However, the "collusion" here doesn't seem to fit squarely with the rationale of the anti-trust law. Specifically, the typical anti-trust situation involves a few providers of goods or services getting together in order to increase the price of the goods or services they provide so they can increase the profirts earned by each of them. Here, each of the players could have earned the "max" salary without getting together. So they are not getting together so that teams will pay each of them more.
Personally, I'm convinced if Cleveland or Toronto were geographically located in South Florida and had a neighborhood like South Beach they would have joined there.
Nothing wrong with him doing that, they need to look into it.......to protect the balance of the league. DD
Pure sour grapes, going nowhere. The last thing I'd get upset about is player collusion. As long as they aren't being coached to do so by front offices, who cares. I'd rather be in a world where players sign because they want to be on the same team, rather than letting money be everything.
that's so true man..it really ain't fair even though they did it legally...but to take less $ n go to someone elses team to win is gay.I would have rather won it foy MY home town...n in some way,I'm glad we didn't get bosh.he's so dam fake man, talkin bout "wherever I go,I wanna be tha man" yea really fallowing your word goin to Miami to suck wades d**k n tryin to be tha man.he's fake man and they're still not gonna win crap!!!!
If Stern looks into it, he won't have to dig too deep, imo, to find that these guys decided LONG ago to play together somewhere this season. My guess is that there will some sort of addendum to the tampering rules to include players recruiting players going forward. Stern is easily the best commish of all the major sports and has been for some time now. He didnt get to that point by overlooking the obvious or brushing things under the rug.
doesn't just have to be about getting more money. if they agree not to consider some teams together...that's collusion affecting those teams. if they do it separately...no problem. it's when they make agreements on that sort of thing that it becomes collusion. obviously this arises more with respect to employers than employees. this is a unique situation. the meeting with Riley in November is certainly suspect and raises the stakes for all this discussion, i think...because that starts treading on tampering issues, as well. whether it's illegal or not...my guess is the new collective bargaining agreement will make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore...at least not as publicly as it happened here. Though the idea that the NBA is completely powerless in this thing is offbase: http://www.digitalsportsdaily.com/nba/news/2071-the-nba-where-collusion-happens.html “We have a rule that prohibits players from tampering with other players,” the N.B.A. spokesman Tim Frank said in a statement released in May. “With that said, we understand that players talk and interact with each other all the time and there’s no real way to regulate that. We therefore reserve discipline only for the most egregious player-tampering cases.”
This is funny because players get bashed all the damn time for choosing more money. "Oh there just greedy blah blah." I seriously don't see how you can bash somebody for taking less money to win.
Wade: Hey Heat I talked to these guys and they said if possibly we would all come here to play. Heat: Cool we were going to dump salary anyways because we suck. Wade: OK so I will take the rest of the year off and Pat can go scouting. Next year is going to suck.
