Is it all LeBron's fault?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Shooter, Nov 15, 2011.

  1. Shooter

    Shooter Unanimously Great

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    http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/dish/201111/south-floridas-eye-popping-economic-hoops-losses

    I find this a very compelling argument. The LeBron James-Chris Bosh move to Miami shook up the league like nothing ever has. It is the ultimate irony that LeBron James may have orchestrated himself right out of an entire season and made the fate of the player's association and every other player worse than it was before.
     
  2. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    If you want to blame Lebron then you might as well blame the AAU culture that created him and about 75% of the rest of the players in the league.

    Bottom line: Players are used to playing with their friends and being friends with opponents off the court and generally not being cut from the same cloth that gave us MJ, the Bad Boy Pistons, Bird, Magic et al. -- guys who wanted to rip each other's hearts out on the court and who would have balked at the idea of joining forces with guys they competed against.
     
  3. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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    Fuck these egotistical "stars". I hope the owners absolutely own these guys in court.
     
  4. super mecha

    super mecha Member

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    Its not lebrons fault that we gave him the ego
     
  5. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    I hope the owners win in court as well, but I'm not so sure that happens
     
  6. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    I hope the NBA goes under and a new league comes out of the ashes.
     
  7. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    A new league that is more competitive. Not a league run by the players, which is the only reason a new league would be formed
     
  8. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

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    I won't support such a league. Not that I'll be missed. OSU Beaver season tickets, here I come.
     
  9. The_Lillard_King

    The_Lillard_King Westside

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    If all this turns into a restructuring of the system, than thank you Lebron James?

    It is interesting to think that the whole "decision" played out this summer by Lebron could have had an impact on all this. If he picks Clevland, are owners as concerned about stars leaving for big market teams?

    "The decision" might have actually been huge on the NBA. But don't tell Lebron that, he might get a big ego over it.
     
  10. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    This lockout was looming long before the Superfriends joined forces in Miami. This isn't about stars heading for bigger markets (that's been happening since Jabbar) this is about money and the fact that some large market teams are making money hand over fist and others are barely staying afloat.

    If you guys want to find the real culprit look at the TV deals the Celtics, Lakers and Knicks enjoy. Those massive TV contracts contribute to the league-wide calculation of BRI, but only a couple of teams are actually benefitting from them. In a weird twist because those contracts raise the amount of BRI, they also indirectly raise the real amount of compensation the players are entitled to (raising the value of the MLE, max contracts etc.) but it doesn't mean 27 other teams are suddenly more capable of bearing the burden.

    Face it people, the way the NBA has been run for the past decade and a half is essentially broken financially and it's not really competitive between small market teams and large market teams. Certainly the players have a role in the failure of the system, but if you think this is mostly about player movement then you aren't paying attention.
     
  11. Shooter

    Shooter Unanimously Great

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    Perhaps, but the James-Bosh move to Miami may have so infuriated the other owners, especially the small-market ones, that they drew an even tougher line in the sand during negotiations, hence leading to the situation we have today.
     
  12. Draco

    Draco Well-Known Member

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    Does local TV contract revenue get included in BRI? There is a lot of income excluded from BRI, I thought this was a portion of it.

    What about the owners who own the local TV station? They can "sell" the contract for $5 and technically receive nearly zero BRI to share with players but the TV business they own on the side will make a fortune on advertising.


    Now overall I agree with your sentiment that these huge local TV deals give the big markets an unfair advantage and is a main contributor to the hard line owners stance on the lockout but I've just heard conflicting statements on BRI.
     
  13. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    Yes, teams' individual TV contracts get included into the league-wide revenue calculation. This is one of the reasons there is a split between small market owners and large market owners. The reason they have decided to get even more money from the players is because they can't seem to agree to a reasonable revenue sharing system.

    I can't remember who wrote on it last week (Simmons perhaps?) but the Lakers' one billion dollar TV deal was cited as one of the key issues driving this mess.
     
  14. The_Lillard_King

    The_Lillard_King Westside

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    And they should. Unless these small market owners just want to accept that no matter what they do, they will lose a superstar player, they need to stay firm on this (numbers probably aren't on their side).

    IMO, what keeps fans going to teams that aren't championship contenders or even the teams that have losing records, is that they have their one or two stars that on any given night can carry the team to victory. Take away these stars from medicore teams and you are taking aways the life blood of the fans.

    These players all want to go play with each other in big market cities. Great for them, sucks for the NBA. Case in point: Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavs
     
  15. oldmangrouch

    oldmangrouch persona non grata

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    Why did the "superfriends" idea work? It wasn't just the whim of the players.

    This whole situation required an incredible amount of guts on the part of the Heat. Some people around here are terrified at the idea of rebuilding. Well folks, Miami burned their team down to the foundation to make cap space to sign LBJ and Bosh...and then had to figure out how to put a roster around them.

    The playing field will never be level as long as some teams have more brains and bigger balls. Allen and the other hard-liners (most of whom have really mediocre teams - go figure) need to wake up.
     
  16. The_Lillard_King

    The_Lillard_King Westside

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    Problem is "superfriends" always have a short list of where they will go to save the day. So even if small market teams are willing to spend, players don't want to go there.

    The reasons some of us don't want to rebuild is it feel like we were just there (6 ugly years) with the only sign of hope being good/lucky draft picks. Even with PA's money, we couldn't get the superfriends here . . . maybe the wonder twins, but superman, aquaman, batman . . . forget about it.

    (But if rebuilding means bringing in Bosh and Lebron to join the Blazers, I'm all for rebuilding . . . well not Lebron, but you get the idea)
     
  17. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    LeBron and the Heat played by the rules. I have no beef about it.

    The CBA basically sucked because of a lot of horrible contracts that took years to get out of the system.

    Why on earth should RLEC have any value, and why should the team suffer a roster spot and cap hit over it?

    IMO, it should be up to the owners to insure those kinds of contracts or to eat the paychecks and move on.

    I mean, waive RLEC and pay a good player similar money under the cap. Gives us fans more value for the price of a ticket...
     
  18. oldmangrouch

    oldmangrouch persona non grata

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    :clap: Been saying this for years. If the owners cared about "competitive balance" (hint: they don't) they would make it EASIER for teams to shed deadwood and make roster moves.
     
  19. maxiep

    maxiep RIP Dr. Jack

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    It didn't likely infuriate them as much as it scared them shitless. I heard the value of the Cavs dropped nine figures after "The Decision". There but for the grace of God go I...
     
  20. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    The problem is that there was so little financial incentive to stay with Cleveland and not much financial disincentive for going to Miami to play with Wade. He walked away from maybe a 10% pay raise.

    If teams want to keep their true superstar players then teams need to be able to pay them what they are worth. In a free agent market where no max contracts existed (but a salary cap or prohibitive luxury tax) guys like Lebron and Kobe would make 40 to 50 million a year. So if the rules were set up to increase the gap between compensation for bird rights players (the guy you draft) versus street free agents and/or if teams were able to pay players what they are truly worth, there wouldn't be much incentive for walking away from the team that drafted them. You would end up with a more or less even distribution of star power around the league ... assuming you had a GM smart enough to draft such a player.

    Of course you're going to end up with some dumbass owner or GM overpaying a guy here or there, but overall you'd see a drastic change when faux franchise players like Andre Iguodala don't make 85-90% of the salary that a truly great player like Wade or Lebron makes.
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2011

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