I'd say Portland's not the hardest place to attract free agents, but it's probably in the bottom third of places most NBA players would choose to come. Places that are harder? Cleveland, Toronto, Sacramento, Detroit, Minnesota, Indiana, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Golden State, NJ Nets, Washington, Philadelphia, Utah and Denver (the last two look even worse than normal due to their current disarray). Equal footing? LA Clippers (bad history, but decent team in a great city with the league's newest "superstar"), Houston and Phoenix (bigger and warmer cities, but both teams seem to be on downward trajectory). Better? Everyone else, including Oklahoma City (ouch! because of Durant). As the trade deadline approaches, and the Blazers consider whether to work trades to improve or get cap room to attract free agents, I think it's important to look at how the Blazers measure up against other NBA cities, in the event management goes the "attract free agents" route. Thoughts?
Are you talking purely on team makeup, or the literal city and what it has to offer, or a combination? Because I do not agree with some of the places that you said are harder to draw than us. Hedo ditched us for Toronto, as a prime example.
It seems that you should distinguish between the city and the franchise. Portland's willingness to spend and to have first-class facilities can go a long way. And I'm not 100% any free agents are lining up to join OKC just yet. We'll see. Ed O.
If I am a young black athlete, Portland is probably not high on my list of places to go. High income tax, lack of nightlife compared to large cities, Not very diverse as far as race, weather during the season is absolutely miserable.
I was attempting to rank the "destinations" by both the cities' attributes, and the teams'. Portland's owner and record help; the small market, etc., hurt. Hedo-to-Toronto is an outlier, if you ask me. In general, free agents would prefer Portland, IMHO.
Depends on the person. A star player like Lebron James with a big ego isn't going to want to go to Portland or Milwaukee or Toronto due to the lack of exposure. Weather seems to be a big issue as well. We've seen that older players that aren't concerned about things like night life or great weather but about playing on a competitive team, guys like Pippen and Camby enjoy playing here. Money talks and a lot of players could care less if the contract is huge. In general there's only a small handful of teams that have an advantage in signing free agents based on the cities' quality of life, national exposure, entertainment, weather, fan base and team history. LA Lakers, NY, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, Houston, and Dallas. Everyone else is on equal footing IMO.
In 2009, 82% of NBA players were black, which by my math would make the majority of FA's in the NBA year to year black as well. As for what race isn't represented well in Portland, it is the African American race. Portland is EXTREMELY white, and if you have ever lived in most any other part of the country (minus the NE) you would agree with me. In 2009, Portland's population was 73% white, and the black poulation was 4th at only 6%. I am not saying that is good or bad, just a reason I believe Portland might have a harder time attracting NBA players. So stop with your bullshit race card.
Portland is probably the third least likely destination for a free agent. Salt Lake City and the T'Wolves are probably worse. It has to do with taxes, the cities nightlife, the size of the market, the endorsement opportunities, the makeup of the city itself and the ownership/management not being nearly as good these days as it was in the late 90's. They have started pinching pennies to some degree and I imagine free agents may very well hold the KP clusterfuck against the team. Besides all that, Free Agents just tend not to come here. Remember Trenton Hassle?
Weather is not a big factor. Chicago and Cleveland have awful winter weather. When they won, they drew. The Clippers play in warm (big, diverse) LA. They don't draw. Neither do the Warriors. More settled players with families like Portland, look how many from elsewhere decided to settle in the area (Terry Porter, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, Brian Grant, Chris Dudley, Maurice Lucas) and while there may be high income tax they pay no sales tax on their luxury purchases. I think it comes down to winning.
We aren't talking about fans, we are talking about FA's. As for the players you mentioned, not one of them chose to come to Portland initially. Wait, maybe Dudley did. Which would be funny considering my earlier statement about young black men not wanting to come to Portland
One thing I would like to see addressed in the new CBA is the equalization of salary cap numbers in terms of taxes. Miami and Orlando not only have an advantage because of their nice weather, but there's no income tax in Florida. Consequently, the Province of Ontario's overall taxes are significantly higher than anywhere else in the States. Hell, Vince Carter moved to NEW JERSEY and saved money on his tax bill, what McGrady and Bosh saved going to the Magic and the Heat simply couldn't be matched under the CBA by Toronto.
I have to wonder, are taxes such an issue, or just a convenient excuse? I honestly don't know. But you know, something about a guy with a $100 million contract plus endorsements plus tax free charitable foundations pissing and whining about paying income tax just does not sit well with me. I pay my damn taxes on a hell of a lot less and I have no tax shelters or deductions (except a few hundred in charitable donations).
I don't know for sure because I don't make anywhere near what NBA players do, but when I moved from Portland to Houston I made an extra $650.00 per month on my checks because there is no state income tax here. I am sure they all have ridiculously good financial advisors that find all kinds of loopholes though.
If it is about the state tax, that is a good thing because then it is all about money for the player . . . and if there is one thing this small mrk team has, it's money. Just like with Matthews, Blazers will make that state tax basically a non factor because PA will shell more than other teams even factoring in the state tax. If it is about the area and state of Oregon . . . well we just have to hope the player "gets it" when it comes to the northwest.
That works great for players like Matthews, but when teams like the Knicks, Lakers, Bulls, Florida teams and Texas teams are all out for a max player, or a max player only wants to play for them, it hurts Portland. Melo is a prime example. he only wants to play for the big lights in NY. Portland could easily pay him just as much, and put a just as competitive if not more team on the floor.
Not to mention that a player makes money off of local endorsements. The best we can seem to do is offer "Good Feet" and "Honeybucket" spots. A player in LA, the Tri-State area or Chicago can make a lot more money because their profile is higher and the ad budgets are bigger.
In a winter league with a largely urban and black, pool of players I'd say warm weather low taxes and having entertainment options is probably at the top of the list for most free agents. Thus any of the cities in Texas or Florida top the list, while certain franchises in large cities with strong traditions (Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Bulls, etc.) probably come in right behind. Just look at where the big names defected to this past off-season and it becomes pretty clear that players want to get paid, they want to be comfortable and they want to win -- usually in that order. Portland isn't as lousy a destination as OKC, Cleveland, New Jersey, Minnesota, Sacramento or some other cold-dreary small market teams with lousy traditions, but they're probably in the bottom third of the league in terms of being a desirable landing spot.
