My answer is the owners forced this CBA on the players, crying poor and claiming the teams lost $300M. The CBA is incredibly harsh to tax payers . I don't believe any $billionaire wants to have a sports franchise bleed him for a $billion in taxes over 5 years.
President & CEO of the Blazers Chris McGowan just changed his twitter handle from @BlazersChris to @ChrisDMcGowan . I wonder if his time with the Blazers will be soon coming to an end?
Now that I think about not only am I amazed we have any owner like Paul Allen, I'm amazed we have a basketball team. Sorry, I am a little cynical......
So.... You're not going to answer the question...? You do know that a billion dollars is a thousand millions right? They're not paying that much in taxes...
The Nets paid $90M in taxes as a non-repeater. The Cavaliers are set to break that record. Even more so if they get the TPE from the Blazers and use it. Repeater rates are significantly higher: $4M over the LT threshold and repeater, team pays $10M in tax. The Nets' payroll was about $100M with LT threshold at $71.6M and the tax was $90M. There's roughly 10s of $100M in a $billion for the tax alone. At repeater rate, it is conceivable that a payroll would create close to $200M tax. 5 years at that rate, $1B. I answered your question. Billionaire owners don't want to pay the tax, so they aren't going to spend over the LT like that for more than a year.
This long winded answer has absolutely nothing to do with my question. My question was if you were a billionaire and your toy was your basketball team, would you play with it? What does that have to do with luxury tax and payroll? I'm simply talking about player personnel decisions...
Also, using the Nets as a barometer for the way the league will act with regard to payroll is asinine. Prokhorov was a fool for putting that wack team together...
It has to do with spending your $billions on the team. Few owners interfere with the day to day operations of the team, like Cuban does. What can I tell you but what the $billionaires actually do?
We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I think most owners have lots of input on personnel decisions. The Buss family doesn't? Dolan doesn't? PA doesn't? Steve Ballmer doesn't? Jordan doesn't? Prokhorov doesn't? Dan Gilbert doesn't? Donald racist Sterling certainly did. Jerry Reinsdorf certainly had a hand in Thibs' firing. All of those plus Cuban are of the top of my head.. You know what the Billionaires actually do? Denny's rubbing elbows with Billionaires? Man I'm running in the wrong circles!
I think the owners get involved with the really big contract guys on occasion. I remember Reinsdorf went to California to sign Tyson Chandler to his first big contract. I don't think he had squat to do with Boozer or Ben Wallace or Gasol or much of anyone else. Reinsdorf rubber-stamped Thibs' firing. He is interviewed or quoted in the newspaper once every few years, unlike Cuban who's the exception. I know what the news reports the Billionaires do.
In fact, I can't find many basketball related stories about Peter Holt, owner of the Spurs. Most recent ones talk about how he's saving money or whatever due to the contracts that Duncan et al sign. Nothing about him interfering in day to day operations, though he did give Pops a 10 year $55M contract extension.
I don't believe that for one second. And just because there's no press about the owner doesn't mean they're not intimately involved. If I were Reinsdorf I would have to be sold on and convinced to fire Thibs.
I agree. No press or proof, but my gut feeling is that PA has had his hand in more than a few of our less-than-stellar deals.
You know what? I'm fine with whatever our billionaire owner wants to do with them save move them out of Portland. The Blazers to PA is like 2K15 to me.
He was all in on the Dmiles contract. I hated that move. But remember he was also on board with the Roy amnesty which helped us reboot after his injury.
A team owner has the right to be involved in important decisions; he is protecting a billion dollar investment that has a hundred million dollar a year payroll. I do not label an owner that asks questions a meddler. However, if the owner of a team does meddle too much; a good GM will eventually start looking for another job. A weak or bad GM will turn into a yes man for the owner. I get the impression Paul Allen does not like yes men. PA likes to challenge his GM with a lot of questions. He wants strong opinions and answers, with a clear explanation of all the options, not someone that only says yes. PA will approve or deny decisions based on how well the GM supports the answers to his questions. I am not saying PA has never meddled in the past. However, I believe he has learned better management techniques from past mistakes. He is a fast learner.
He had to choose between the bean counters running the team and Thibs who won with what talent a limited budget would pay for. The bean counters get him $60M+ in profits every year, they won.
Meddling bosses suck. They are activists who know what they want. Nonmeddling bosses usually don't know the technology of their own business because someone promoted them one level too many, the Peter Principle. So their subordinates don't work hard since no one can supervise them. Why are you meddling in this thread?
