Do fans want a system where free agency doesn't exist?

Fans refuse to look at this the way they look at their own careers. If you have a job, you're free to consider offers to move up & onward elsewhere. But not them?

If I got drafted by an armpit city, I'm not all of a sudden going to want to spend my entire career there. If I want to win a championship and I've got a stingy owner, I'm going to want to go somewhere that spends cash to win.

 

Ask Cleveland fans.

 

Fans generally don't get guaranteed contracts in their jobs either. The employer can fire them, or they can quit - that's not how the NBA is set up. In exchange for getting guaranteed contracts, people expect the players to be committed to their teams while under contract. When you have Dwight Howard secretly meeting with other teams, and Chris Paul working behind the scenes to get traded, fans rightfully conclude that the players are not committed to the teams that are paying them.

 

The league has changed and that's all there is to it. At least Hakeem went to the University of Houston and then turned around and won two championships in the city he went to college. How many other cities can say that?!

But how did this happen?! Really?

 

Too much whining.

Just about every team has had a chance with a superstar.

Even Cleveland had LeBron for what, 8 years? Maybe if they had traded for Amare he'd still be there.

Even freaking OKC has Durant!

 

I fully agree with that and the NBA needed to find a way to squash it with the CBA but didn't.

Maybe they really do need to just make Bird Rights exclusive for resigning with a team you've been with for at least 3 years.

That is the spirit of its origin.

 

The answer to all the bs is simple - hardcap! Large markets can always overspend cause theyt can afford to pay the penalty, so they can assemble allstar teams, so there will never be parity....
and its the players fault! The players dont want a hardcap because they arent concerned with the longterm prosperity of the NBA - just their paycheck today!

 

Please tell me how a hardcap alone would have prevented the Miami Heat or New York Knicks from getting their stars. I'll be waiting.

 

Are you serious? Both those teams are over the cap... If you have a hardcap then if you sign multiple stars - you can only afford scrubs to play with them... Then u end up with a Matt maloney at pg and no rings despite the superstars...

 

Half the teams in the league are over the salary cap. The Knicks and Heat didn't outspend anyone to get their stars - the Heat are at 65 million, the Knicks are at 60 million. We were at 75 million last year, the Lakers are at 90 million, and the Magic are currently at 75 million.

 

It's a simple concept... works for the NFL... U can stay with the SB team or you can get paid more to go to a team with more caproom.... there are exceptions, but more often than not, money talks...

 

I actually dont care because we dont get anyone under the current system as it is now. Heck no players make it to free agency anymore because they demand trades the year before if they are superstars. So whats the use anyways?

 

The 2003-2005 draft classes are soft no heart, and thats why they want to team up with these other stars and do movies and crap. Basically they want to be just NBA stars. They want to be icons. And in the process of all that them and ESPN are macking a mockery of the NBA free agency. Besides a lot of them are probably getting scared cuz there windows are closing in.

It also does not help that the system in place enables the players to get pverpaid and manipulate their way to thei most desired spots. I know Baseball has a system that provides you dont lose your players too early. Eventually you might but not because of city location or friends, always money.

Hopefully all this madness will stop soon, with the new stars coming up. I hope the Rockets can get one of those stars through the draft or free agency.

 

Agreed. Look, fans need to get over the fact that there are at most only 10 franchise-changing players in this league and not everybody can get one.

The team drafts those guys (Lebron/Paul/Melo), and they play for them for 5+ years to finish out their contracts. They are NOT obligated to stay if they don't want to. They are/will become free agents, and it is their choice in where they want to go.

I mean, we do the same things. If we had job freedom to choose where we want to work anywhere in this country, wouldn't we choose the best place to work at? This isn't slavery here people.

If the small market teams want to have their own star players, they need to draft well, and then surround that star draft pick with good players (ala a KD, or a Tim Duncan, or a Brandon Roy before he got injured).

FYI, the Knicks/Celts/Bulls were terrible for YEARS on end before they turned it around. Overspending doesn't mean jack, if you don't spend it wisely.

Small market teams like OKC/SA/Portland (if not for their injuries) draft wisely, spend smartly, and are constantly competitive. OKC is arguably the best team in the West now, and all they have done is draft/spend wisely.

Furthermore, there was NEVER parity in this league, or any league for the most part. EVERY YEAR, you can always name most of the teams who will make the playoffs in every league, except for 1 or 2 here and there.

 

I agree with that - I would love that set up for Bird rights.

 

My friend kjayp nailed it, hardcap solves much of the FA problems. It should have been as big an obstacle as the BMI, sadly now the owners realize the importance.

 

I don't know if I am the only one. I want a league where franchise players stick around for the franchise, where rosters are relatively stable, where teams build through the draft and develop their own young players, rather than snatch other teams' developed players.

Yes, I am a fan and I want that. I don't have a good answer in how to achieve that in a practical way.

If your question is a not-so-cleverly disguised "Is is fair to the players?" then I don't want to answer because that horse has been kicked so many times already during the lockout.