I don't have a problem with them meeting either. If by chance they do make a super team, they were either.... - fail and this sort of thing won't happen again. - succeed and Stern will make sure to change the rules so it won't happen again. - Stern will either bribe the officials or something to make sure they don't succeed. But honestly if this group does win the championship it will be looked upon as 'cheating'. There'll be an astrick in the record book in the mind of the fans. Though a slightly different case, I see this as very similar to when Malone and Payton signed on with the Lakers. It did not work, but everyone viewed the attempt with a little contempt. Malone and Payton would have looked like they sold out to get a championship. The same will happen for these guys. It would be really cool if these guys got together and thought about how they could make the league better by spreading themselves out on big market teams that are on the cusp of being good. Really, the three teams that if revitalized could have the biggest impact on the league as a whole would be NY, Philly, and Chicago. James to NY Bosh to Chicago Wade to Philly Amare and Johnson to Miami. That would be good for the league.
I don't like Blackistone. He is sort of like Solomon and Blinebury, a sour, negative writer. The article is poorly argued too. That said, somehow I have little respect for players who try to ride each other's coattail to win, instead of taking whatever is dealt them like a man and compete. I am with TheFreak. They are not selfish. They are just soft. It's like one big guy saying to another big guy, "hey it's so damn tiring fighting each other, so let's join together and beat up the little guys." I said it some time ago in another thread. What they are doing is like in a pick up game, the best 3 players say, "We are a team, and the rest of you guys can team up whatever way you want." It takes all the fun away because you know they don't really care about playing a competitive game.
What's wrong with "selfish"? I mean, Daryl Morey isn't trying to sign Bosh for altruistic reasons, is he?
I don't understand why they would make this public. I mean, can't they talk about this in private, rather than say "to everyone who cares about the NBA: we're holding a FA summit." That's just asking for controversy.
I wouldn't put too much stock in any of this. Anyone remember when Baron Davis and Elton Brand talked about making the Clippers a legit contender? How bout when Carlos Boozer and Lebron were going to start a dynasty in Cleveland? I'm sure there will be some basic discussions of where players seriously want to go - Amare won't bother negotiating with Miami if Wade is set on leaving for instance, but outside of that I can promise you that when the dust settles there will be at least a couple of surprises between these players and agents and someone will be left in the dust....maybe that dust is being the only star in Miami or NJ - who knows. Ultimately, none of them can trust each other due to their own personal best interests - no matter how many fishing trips they take together in the off season, or how they share an agent, etc. I'll even take it a step further and say that I'm not 100% convinced ANY of these so called "max" offer FAs can truly want to play together. If your a "max" type guy - why would you want to share the billing with another guy? Who get's the keys to the team and top billing with endorsements? That's why the Pierce/Allen/KG partnership is so remarkable and honestly, you would be hard pressed to find 3 "stars" who could coexist as easily as them. Some guys have the personality for it(like the veteran version of KG), but I can't see Wade(for instance) taking anything less than the alpha dog role when playing with another wing and I'm not sure let's say Joe Johnson could live with that. It's a little easier when pairing a big with a guard type but the net result is the same - who get's the credit if two of these stars are added to a team and they succeed? If they fail? I'm not saying it won't happen, but I don't think ultimately it will work out for whatever team signs two max FAs.
Why is it lame? Look, this is the NBA, not some type of war where people will actually live or die. Why is meeting with a guy you want to play with wrong? What, they don't have a say where they want to play? Should NBA limit the superstars to just 1 per team so everyone has one? If they all decide to go to one team then kudos to them, they decided to take a paycut to have a better stronger team. I don't think it will happen though, $$$$ is the bottom line. At the end of the day though, it's really their choice, and criticizing them for doing what they want to do is kinda' silly to me. It's the whole point of being an FA after all.
They used to be friends. I remember a big story recently about Magic saying some bad things about Thomas in a new book and Isiah was surprised and upset.
This thread proves that people will look for reasons to not like players. Any reason. I don't like player X, thus when he does ANYTHING, I will go "HA! See! I told you he was a selfish jerk!" In what world is it wrong for someone to work hard to improve their situation in life? Isn't that the American dream? And no, I'm not talking about Dusty Rhodes. I can't imagine a situation in life where someone wouldn't want to take the opportunity to work with the best in their field. Should we bash a group of great young doctors, all of whom have met each other through professional gatherings, for leaving their respective hospitals and forming a new clinic? Lawyers a new firm? Why are basketball players any different? These guys have worked insanely hard to get where they are. Johnson, Amare, Wade, Bosh, LeBron, are all unrestricted free agents. They have earned the contractual right to explore their options with other teams. If one of these guys were injured at the end of the season, do you think their current teams would have been begging them to stay in their city? Would those teams have rewarded their faithful employees with a max contract for their previous loyalty? HELL NO. Phoenix was trying their damnedest to ship Amare out of town prior to their magical run to the conference finals. Now, after playing at the top of the game for several years, these guys are actually, *gasp*, thinking about making a move that would IMPROVE THEIR CAREER? SAY IT AIN'T SO! How dare these selfish bums want to explore all of their options. People were bashing Joe Johnson when he opted to take more money and move to Atlanta from Phoenix. He was committing career suicide for a few more million. Wow, look where "selfish" has gotten Joe Johnson. He was able to go to Atlanta, have quite a bit of team success, turn himself into an all star, make more money than in Phoenix, and now he's got the opportunity for yet another big contract! But wait, he could have been selfless, stayed in Phoenix, been third or fourth banana, go through the Shaq fiasco, make less money, and probably be in a situation where he's going to make less money on his upcoming contract! What an idiot for going to Atlanta! Sports fans seem to be living in bizarro world when it comes to criticizing the actions of others. In what world should we criticize people for the following: Making a well reasoned career decision Attempting to make as much money as possible, without taking advantage of others or breaking any rules Increasing their chance for professional success Surrounding themselves with like minded professionals that are also extremely driven Very little of the criticism of this group has any basis in rational thought.
Players making decisions to better their chance at a championship? I don't see anything wrong with that. It's much better than the alternative of not caring about winning.
its a power move but so wat? players never have any power and when they do have some they should put it to use bcuz the front office is gona do wats in the best interest for them so the player should too, its not selfish or a bad thing.. but i do hope Bosh doesnt b a follower in this deal he should attend the meeting but come here to Houston
If somehow three out of four of these guys ended up on the same and Lebron is one of them it isn't going to help his legacy. Seven years in the league, zero Championships is going to overshadow him winning five or six by surrounding himself with two of the ten best players in the league who are all in their prime. He'll be looked at as the guy who had to "buy" Championships although I'm not sure he cares.
It's not collusion when none of them are being held to a team, they are all free agents and have no strings to other teams.
The media is making way too big a deal out of all this. They're going to talk with other players about their free agency. I'm sure it happens all the time. Calling it a "summit" probably makes it sound a lot different than it will be. Sure, they hold more power than FAs usually do. But, they don't have the power to suspend the CBA, so what does it matter? No team has the cap-space to sign more than 2 of these guys. Maybe, if everything plays out just right, a team could sign-and-trade their way to getting 3 of these guys on the same team. But, to do that, they'd have to trade away the rest of their assets, and the 3 superstars will have to share the court with minimum wage scrubs -- and share the ball with each other. A super-team is not possible. (Besides, if you're someone like Bosh or JJ (who think they are stars), do you want to be the 3rd option behind James and Wade? If you're a team that has James and Wade, do you want to pay someone like Bosh or JJ max money to be a 3rd option?) This whole summit deal generally, and this article in particular, is much ado about nothing.
I know, its so stupid, no way these guys end up all together because they all want their big money secondly, when was did it become wrong to want to be a champion
I'm very confused. It's ok for a star to tell management to get him some help, or for management to assemble the best team that they can, or for free agents (like Artest) to go to a contender for the low low......but somehow it's bad for a bunch of free agents to decide that they want to play together? In all of the situations, a player or team is looking for more help to win a title. I don't recall a dude saying I want to try to win with crap help. But if the players decide to do this on their own then ti's bad?
