What is the more honorable way of acquiring stars?

I've always liked the big trades that bring in talent; at least both teams get some form of benefit.

I would say the draft is probably the 'good' way of doing it, but these past few lottery winners have been a bit controversial, and the result of this year's.

Honestly, I think if the Heat hadn't made a big ******* deal about them getting together, throwing a party and promising 8 championships in a row, they probably wouldn't be as criticized as they do. Just rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, me included. FA is a natural way to acquire talent; the most attractive locations like L.A., NY and Miami will get the best talent, however.

As far as the Finals match-up this year...
The haters were wrong in the semi-finals and ECF last year regarding the Heat, and were right when it counted most, in the NBA finals.
This year, the haters were wrong in the semi-finals and the ECF.
Does that mean we'll be right in the Finals this year?

 

What is this, Japan?

 

Actually it is. . . .
Goto any gym/court
And you watch the same guys play game after game
then when your game comes up . . they try to dog you into getting their boys
[who just lost the last two games but they convinced the next guy to put them on their team]
and
when you don';t . . .the sandbag you

The taking less money was just a good investment
remember. . they planned to not win just 1. . or 2. . but 3. . but 4 . but 5 . . .
championship.
The figured they get that money back in investments
and then when their time came get mega paid by their bird rights. . . .
so . . .
let's not act like they pulled a barkley and took a million to get a snottie to houston . . . . .


Rocket River

 

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

People are not going to like what the Big 3 did (sort of like what Payton and Malone did for the Lakers back in 2003) . . . yet all the stars involved more or less took a paycut.

On the other hand, a star/their agent will get bashed for trying to suck a team's blood dry with exorbitant contract. Sometimes, a star may even get bashed for only wanting to play on bad teams to be a star attraction (ex. Stephon Marbury wanted out of Minnesota, because he wanted to be the main guy ... Channeling a little bit of Shaq vs. Kobe here, or etc)

For some reason, people do not mind criticizing players, but rarely go after GMs or owners who show much more compounded avarice than say the average player.


All is fair in love and war. There's no code of honor in this kind of business.

 

One more thing . . .. I think it was collusion . . which is what makes it dishonorable
The GM Pat Riley has a history of such underhanded dealing
the last time . . Stern stopped it . . . this time he didn't

Rocket River
. . .

 

Honor in the nba will only get you in the middle of the pack.

 

there's quite a difference between leaving a team when it wants to rebuild and you're at the end of your career so your championship is over (e.g. see Ray Allen and well, what OKC are today) and leaving a team as you enter your prime.

 

I'm guessing that has never happened, anywhere in the history of sports.

 

nice guys finish with the 14th pick

 

Pippen definitely fits, but I think Barkley/Clyde were a bit different. In both cases (esp in Barkley's), the Rockets gave up real assets to get those players. It wasn't like a S&T where the team is basically held up at gunpoint and just trades for what they can get. Both of those were trades that where Phoenix and Portland got real players and the Rockets took real risks. Certainly with Barkley, there were lots of people that thought Phoenix came out really well at the time.

That said, I don't have a problem with either model. The advantage to the OKC model is you get to build the chemistry while players are younger and you save money. The Miami model gets more proven players at their peaks, but learning to play together and surrounding them with competent role players is more difficult.

 

To me.....

Its not about honor.

Its not about what the team did.

Its about what the players did and the way they did it.

"The decision" wtf???? Dont somebody tell me this happens all over the sports scene or even elsewhere in the nba.

The players decided to do the "superfriends" thing. And while I am sure Pat Riley nodded vigorously, its the fact that the players orchestrated who and where that bothers me.

I dont want to hear that "we took a pay cut" cr*p. 16M instead 18M? Wow! Hope they are spending there food stamps unfrivolously.

As far as honor goes, having a league where every team has a chance at least would fair, if not honorable. As long as players decide things, there are maybe 6-7 cities that have this chance, and the rest of the teams are just Washington Generals clones.

 

Pippen was traded to us, not an UFA, Reinsdorf/Krause decided with Jackson, Jordan (and let Rodman go), that it was time to blow it up and rebuild, just as he'd let Grant go when Jordan retired the first time, they did get the #1 draft pick the following year, pity the draft sucked.

 

quoted for truth

 

Pippen was a sign & trade where we basically gave Chicago a scrub (Roy Rogers) and a 2nd round pick. They did it just so Pippen could make more money.

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/011999/LS0468.shtml

 

Exactly what made Bron, Wade or Bosh rivals?

 

Technically, the OP is wrong. One can't tank for "stars."

One can tank for draft picks that might turn out to be stars though.

Tanking is just bad, as 1) there is no guarantee of the #1 pick and 2) no current stars will want to come to your team because your record sucks.

 

So Barkley doesn't count, having left his team both at the beginning (Philly) and towards the end (Phx) of his prime? And obviously Hakeem who demanded a trade at age 29 or so doesn't count.

Get over it; your distinction is utterly full of sh-t. Off the top of my head, the roster of players who moved teams in their prime, in addition to the aforementioned, includes Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Malone.......I'll stop there.

...effectively your mythical notion of honor thus collapses on itself. Enough.

Does it actually matter what was given up? Both, apparently with some loss of "honor", brokered their way out of town prior to the deal with H-town as an approved destination - apparently a huge honor neg point move....

 

Nothing wrong with tanking for your star no matter what Jeff Van Gundy tells you.

And anyone can tank! Not everyone can attract stars to play in their city.

NBA should consider contraction. There will never be parity, no matter what Mr. Stern tries to sell you.

 

I guess it depends on the approach people are taking. I think one of the reasons the OKC-model is more "accepted" than the Miami model is that it feels like the team had to pay for their success. They had to suck for several years to acquire their talent, and those years were not fun for fans. So fans got "rewarded" for that.

With Miami, I think people feel that the team sort of skipped that building process and didn't really have to suffer, and that's what rubs people the wrong way - that they just "bought" being good. Same sort of issue people have with the Yankees in MLB at times. So from that perspective, I think actually paying for the talent you acquire is different than just having it handed to you or getting it without cost.

But I think they are all legit routes to success. And unlike MLB, there is a penalty in the NBA for acquiring talent the way Miami did.