Bill Simmons and Scott Van Pelt were talking on the radio after the trade deadline and both of them said that all of the "cap driven" moves are bad for fan interest because fans don't know and don't want to think about the cap/luxury tax implications of the moves, they just want to watch basketball. Basically, their point is that thinking about a team's personnel moves distracts from a fan's enjoyment. Do you agree? Maybe is just geeks like myself (and maybe Bimathug and others), but I kind of find it interesting following the Rockets moves in light of the various salary/FA/draft/tax implications. Do you think it really alienates the NBA fans? I don't think it hurts, say, the New England Patriots, though they make cap-related moves every season.
Odds are fans on the internet like capology. I don't think this poll is representative of the fan base as a whole.
Personally I think it's interesting, but not enough for me to spend any of my own time researching it when I have more important things to do. It's the kind of thing where I just let other people figure it out for me.
I never really got into capology stuff until relatively recently (like, the last few years). It adds an extra dimension to the decision making process, and frankly it goes over my head a lot of the time. I'd like things to be more simple and for decisions to be just a matter of which players fit the best together. That part is much more interesting to me.
I agree. While I'm not a "geek," and certainly no capologist, I think the whole business is a trip. Think about it. Morey pulled off this gigantic deal at the last possible moment, and almost overlooked in the astonishment around here (and among many fans around the country) was that he also managed to squeeze under the luxury tax, saving Les millions of dollars. It was an amazing performance by Morey, one I'm still shaking my head over. Yeah, the cap, the LT, they're a huge part of the game today and becoming more important, not less. We're incredibly lucky that we have a wizard who knows this stuff like the back of his hand, just as we're lucky to have a handful of capalogists who really know what they're talking about, and if they don't know it, they figure it out. I'm just glad they are willing to explain (over and over again!) the ins and outs of it to fans like me.
Anything with numbers... there's so many numbers to play with in basketball. Capology is lower on the scale, but still fun
I love the salary cap aspect of it all and to see how some GMs destroy their teams and others, Like Morey, create a great infrastructure. I can wait for the hard cap to come into place and it becomes less about money rather more about brains much like the NFL.
i like it because I like to think I could do the job. Clearly I don't have the resources, but I'd like to say that if it was my full-time job, I could do it. And if I want to say something like that, I certainly need to understand all the different ways value is perceived in the NBA market.. and one way is salary.
most likely the hardcore fans like the number crunching. idk if that's the majority but nba numbers are pretty confusing but they are fun when factoring in trades and what not.
Yes, with caveat: It is fun when used properly. If you're a Phoenix Suns fan and your team sells its first rounder every year so they won't have to pay a rookie, I doubt you find capology so fun.
I don't think it's bad for fan interest. I know lots of fans who don't fully understand the the salary cap, luxury tax, matching salries or the value of expiring contracts, but most of them want to. I know a fraction of what some of the knowledgeable posters in this area do on those subjects, but I have people asking me all the time to explain some cap aspects to them when discussing free agency and trades. I would say not understanding these things (or at least trying to understand them) would be bad for fan interest. If you simply think trading quantity for quality is all you need to do to make a trade, then I think most fans will be disappointed in the moves their team makes, and it will feel like they are always giving up too much or getting too little in return. I would argue that is what's bad for fan interest.
