The Cavs' problem was they used their cap space as best they could to surround LeBron with players to win, and they got saddled with a poor cap position and players like an over the hill Ben Wallace. Why not mention the Celtics, who got three perennial all stars, trading for two of them and not giving up much?
No doubt, some NBA players would rather live in Miami. OTOH, that advantage never amounted to anything until they drafted Wade. What if Detroit and Denver hadn't passed on Wade on draft day? We wouldn't be having this conversation. Nik also raises a good point. If teams could designate one "franchise player" - and pay them whatever they wanted - LBJ would still be a Cav. That is why I don't buy the argument that "competitive balance" is part of the owners' agenda. There are plenty of things they could do to further that goal...but since none of them would immediately increase profit margins, they aren't even on the table!
I was hoping with a new CBA teams would be able to get out of some of the burden of a horrible contract. Giving NBA players a contract isn't a perfect science, you just don't know for certain what that player will provide, at the time Roy was given his contract he looked like he could be a perennial all-star and now he is a bench role player. When Nash was let go by the Mavs they thought he would regress but he became the league MVP. The current environment where teams are stuck with long term deals no matter the performance level of the player can kill a franchise. There needs to be some relief available, no not complete relief but maybe getting out of half the contract. Conversely guys like Derrick Rose who are the league MVP should not be locked into a tiny contract for half a decade when they are worth 20x that amount. I’m very sad the owners didn’t hold ground on this issue, overpaid long term huge guaranteed contracts is my biggest gripe with the NBA. It sucks having guys like Miles, Raef, Theo Ratliff, Roy, Rashard Lewis, Gilbert Arenas, stuck on your team when the franchise, fans, and player himself all hate the situation.
Is it LeBron's fault? That might be the stupidest question I've heard in a long time. Where was the outrage when Shaq went to the Lakers? Or Hill and McGrady to the Magic? Dirty little secret: the Miami Heat last year were the best thing that happened to the league in years. The ONLY people that got hurt were the people of Cleveland. You know, like the people of Milwaukee when Kareem left, the people of Charlotte when Kobe Bryant refused to play there, even the people of Sacramento when Brian Grant chose Portland. Parity is NOT actually good for a league like the NBA. As has been pointed out ad nauseam, the most parity the league had possibly ever was in the 70s, and while the people of Portland and Seattle think well of those times, by the end of the seventies the final was on tape delay and audiences were dwindling. Look at the English Premier League: does any team that isn't Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, or (now, thanks to a billionaire foreign owner) Man City stand a chance? No, never have. Yet it's more popular than ever.
No need to vilify LBJ. The previous CBA allowed him to do what he did. He simply took advantage of it.
But it was the way he took advantage of it that set the tone for what the NBA has become . . . it's all about the players and not about organizations. Lebron schedules a prime time event to tell all NBA fans around US, on live national TV, that this is all about him and he is screwing the people of Cleveland. In spite of everything the Cavs did for Lebron, in spite of him being the local superstar hero of the community, he wakes up and "feels like Miami is place." I think every small market team felt the pain on that one. So sure all Lebron did was take advantage of the CBA . . . but that is what is wrong with the CBA. And maybe he shouldn't be villified, but the way he took advantage of the CBA, he should be the face of why the system needs changing.
Announcer: Lebron, how many months do you think the Lockout will last? Lebron: Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7....
Y'know, if I'd lived my whole life in industrial Ohio, I think I'd be pretty tempted to take a job in a different state. And if I was working for Target at the time, and I decided to go work for Sears, and some Target boss got all mad that I didn't love Target as much as I should - I'd laugh in his face. LeBron didn't grow up a Cavs fan, remember? Yes it was classless. But on the flipside, the Cavs got a shitload out of LeBron. They got gifted the greatest player of a generation and he did, after all, re-sign his first contract with them. He dragged a sorry-ass team, whose second-best player was Mo Fucking Williams to the FINALS. They should sit back and realize that they were damn lucky to get what they got and quit their whining. I don't think you realize how restrictive the system already is. Maybe if there was no draft, then it might be reasonable to restrict free agency, because players would get to pick their teams in the first place. But think about it: he got drafted. Every team in the country wanted him, but instead of him having his pick, he has to go the the fucking Cavs, who (of course) are TERRIBLE at the time. This doesn't happen in any non-American sport!
How dare the NBA have a restrictive system while dishing out guaranteed contact for up to six years . . . poor players having to live in a city like Cleveland or Minny for 9 months a yr while making tens of millions of dollars. The humanity of it all. These players should be able to play where they want when they want. Damn these plantation owners taking advantage of these naive players. I don't know how restrictive NBA is compared to other sports. The NFL can make a player stay with one franchise for his career, how oppressive is that (I would never want that no matter how many tens of millions they pay me). NHL, now there is an ideal model for players right? and I really don't know much about sports outside the US but I read an article about Donovan and how if a team owns your rights and they can send you to play for different clubs in different leagues . . . in different countires (is that true?). But really, to me, it doesn't matter how restrictive the NBA . . . I just want a system where small market teams can compete. Maybe that is impossible , or unfair, and I doubt the end result of all this will achieve the goal I am hoping for, but one can always hope. I suppose the system I have in mind could suck for the players, but I'm really not feeling all that bad for people making millions of dollars to play basketball. Yes they may have to live in a Salt Lake City, a Portland, a Cleveland, a Minnesota . . . but I'm guessing they are getting paid decent money to live there. They aren't slaves, and one thing you can bet on, if there is a CBA, the players will be there taking advatage of it . . . in a classless way to boot.
Soccer is crazy: England’s Premier League banned third-party ownership of players after Carlos Tevez’s 2007 move to Manchester United from West Ham was held up in a dispute because Media Sports Investment Group Inc. and Just Sports Inc. owned part of the Argentine striker’s transfer rights. Sella di Monteluce, son of the Count and Countess Sella di Monteluce, bought a share in the rights of at least four South American players through his contacts with Kentaro and other player agencies, Wynne said, without identifying them. Sella di Monteluce, who is based in London, wasn’t immediately available for comment, Wynne said. Soccer ruling body FIFA’s policy is that investment in soccer players is only illegitimate if it influences transfers. Investors get around that in Brazil by maintaining they are passive investors in players, according to Law, the Arsenal adviser. I can buy tranfer rights of soccer players?
Don't worry: the era of robot players will be ushered in by this strike, and until they gain full consciousness and autonomy in the robo uprising of 2039, it will be a golden age for the NBA.
LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and Carmello, all on the sideline. They ruined the NBA, then they ruined the Ducks title chances. I hate those guys.
The Cavs' other problem was they were confused, and they thought LeBron James was Michael Jordan instead of LeBron James.
