1) There's no salary cap in regular jobs, so you being paid more doesn't directly affect what others can earn and the quality that can be placed around you. 2) The market didn't deem Turner worthy of his contract. Only Portland did. His agent was even shocked by the offer.
1) every company has a salary cap, it's called an "operating budget." 2) a market of one is still a market. If you want to blame someone, blame Olshey for being a wastrel and making a panic signing. Turner's basically the same guy he was before he got paid, so Olshey got exactly what he paid for. But fuck this inane idea, that guys who have a very small window to earn, should take paycuts to protect billionaires' bottom lines.
He became a post up player later in his career. He basically played power forward on offense, SG on defense. The Triangle thrives on a strong post player who can pass as well as score. Think Shaq in LA, too. FWIW, the Bulls played Pippen at PG on offense and SF on defense (though he sometimes guarded PGs like Gary Payton). Rodman used to play at the 3pt line a LOT and somehow managed to be a beast on the offensive glass (defensive boards, too). This freed up what you would call the PG spot with specialists like Ron Harper (defensive specialist, but who was an offensive star prior), Steve Kerr (3pt shooter), Rory Sparrow (3pt shooter), and several other 3pt specialists. Against Utah, Rodman guarded Mark Eaton and Longley guarded Karl Malone. Back to the subject, though. Jordan was a high flying dunker when he came into the league. If you watch any of the later Finals games, you'll see him playing on the blocks and the Bulls going to him there over and over again. It was really tough for opponents. If they put a PF on him, he would go outside and kill him with his great outside shooting. Teams guarded him with SGs or SFs and he simply posted them up and scored almost at will.
Apples and oranges. Regular companies can spend as much as they have available. What they pay one person doesn't affect what they can pay another person, as long as they have sufficient funds.
Phil brought in the Triangle and Jordan learned to trust his teammates as could seen by 11 apg in the 1991 Finals. And that's when he started winning titles.
We determined that we'd need to offer that much to get his attention in competitive market. Free agents don't want to play here so we have to get their attention with money.
His assist numbers didn’t really change at any point in his career. The rings came mainly because his supporting cast got better, specifically Pippen, who turned into an all star in Jackson’s system. But really the only thing that held Jordan back from winning a ring earlier were the Pistons.
Jordan's assists in the Finals were better than what he had been doing. He won once he trusted John Paxson.
I don’t know why I’m going to continue this stupid debate but ok; Jordan’s three best passing averages in the playoffs came during and BEFORE that season. So your argument that he fundamentally changed who he was in 1991 doesn’t make any sense.
We could have gotten his attention with half that much money. He couldn't get on the plane fast enough to get here before we changed our minds.
"This even extends to the Blazers’ nine-game win streak. With Turner on the floor in this streak, the Blazers are +7.2, which is terrific. However, with him on the bench, in more minutes, they are +14.1. In other words, even when things are going great for the Blazers … they’d be going even better without Turner."