Call your shot (NBA)

[low-key]

I been reading and hearing all the talking heads of sports, saying other sports need to do free agents like the NBA "what an exciting day" it was but I hate it, I just dont like player picking there buddy's to form a super team,,its like the inmates running the asylum.
On a side not the russle to Golden St move was a huge surpze , I admire GS for not just sitting still and looking for way to keep it gone. But I cant see Russle fitting in, although Kerr is a genus so I know he knows stuff Im not even thinking about. (this is for free, I played a game of basketball with Steve Kerr and Craig Ehlo 1990

 

[lisaviolet]

Pretty much no flexibility to sign free agents other than on NBA minimum contracts. Already over the cap. Kind of like the Warriors situation with Durant. If Leonard doesn't return, there's little chance of getting anyone close to that talent/price save a sign and trade deal. A team can go well over the salary cap to re-sign players with "Bird rights" but if they leave as free agents, there are serious limits to who they can sign as free agents.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/toronto-raptors/cap/
The Warriors basically gutted their reserves to bring in Durant, but they at least engineered a sign and trade. The Raptors last year had no free agents other than on minimum NBA salaries because they were over the salary cap. It's kind of system where a team can get ballooning salaries paid to returning players, but if they eventually leave as free agents, the system doesn't allow for an easy way to replace them.

Thank you. That's what I thought but I am totally ignorant about the ins and outs of it all.

 

[lisaviolet]

I been reading and hearing all the talking heads of sports, saying other sports need to do free agents like the NBA "what an exciting day" it was but I hate it, I just dont like player picking there buddy's to form a super team,,its like the inmates running the asylum.
On a side not the russle to Golden St move was a huge surpze , I admire GS for not just sitting still and looking for way to keep it gone. But I cant see Russle fitting in, although Kerr is a genus so I know he knows stuff Im not even thinking about. (this is for free, I played a game of basketball with Steve Kerr and Craig Ehlo 1990

Lucky you on the game!

As for super teams, not a fan either. But I do kind of enjoy the grand assumption of talent always equaling chemistry and teamwork. Because it totally fails at times. Let's just see on the Integrity twins over in Brooklyn.

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However low-key what is the difference between these men doing what is best for them, their lives, their family and working with people they enjoy and all of our choices in our workplace? We have that choice and freedom, if we can make it work somehow.

 

[lisaviolet]

And speaking of Kyrie -

Word is that the Knicks did not trust Irving's impact on the other players/organization alone for the year, with Durant's future unknown. A la last year in Boston. And I would suggest booking a surgery for a deviated septum - game seven? - instead of sitting on the bench with his teammates the year before could be added to that storybook.

And the Knicks apparently wanted Durant with another player. I guess that is how the Leonard/Durant rumours started.

Irving has not proven that he can lead anyone, or even cohabitate well. It is reminiscent of Tracy "I need to be the man. The man? This pressure sucks. I don't want to be the man" McGrady. It's a shame because Kyrie is a strong player.

So even though the owner seems wacky at the Garden, and right or wrong to care about that part of Irving ie. sacrifice it to sign Durant, I can't say that it isn't a concern to digest.

Good luck Brooklyn!

Durant is beyond talented but we shall see.

 

[bcla]

I been reading and hearing all the talking heads of sports, saying other sports need to do free agents like the NBA "what an exciting day" it was but I hate it, I just dont like player picking there buddy's to form a super team,,its like the inmates running the asylum.
On a side not the russle to Golden St move was a huge surpze , I admire GS for not just sitting still and looking for way to keep it gone. But I cant see Russle fitting in, although Kerr is a genus so I know he knows stuff Im not even thinking about. (this is for free, I played a game of basketball with Steve Kerr and Craig Ehlo 1990

Again, there are hints that Russell was just who the Warriors could get, and that he might eventually be moved for another player who fits better in the Warriors' system.

Still - I remember all sorts of oddball stuff. Don Nelson was the originator of the three-guard lineup, and the Death Lineup that Kerr employed (at the suggestion of the video coordinator Nick U'ren) was basically a three guard lineup with Draymond Green at center and a small forward (Harrison Barnes and then Durant).

Still - I think the thing that really drives all this is that basketball teams are so small, and basically one player can make more of a difference than in any other sport. The Warriors superteam was probably the most organic of any of the recent ones. They had to trade to get Iguodala, and that was a crazy one where they managed to unload several contract albatrosses. Bogut was a good piece early on, but he was hardly a star at that point. In 2015 and 2016 they had four starting players who never played for another NBA team. Durant was just the cherry on top for three years.

 

[bcla]

Thank you. That's what I thought but I am totally ignorant about the ins and outs of it all.

There are reporters who know all the details, but even they have a difficult time explaining it. The short answer is that once a team is built up with star players, they can use exceptions to keep them and to fill out the roster. The salary cap is not hard like with the NFL or NHL. For instance, the Sharks just lost Joe Pavelski because they had a hard time fitting him into their fixed salary budget after paying Erik Karlsson.

They call the biggest exception in the NBA salary cap “Bird rights” because they were created to allow teams to pay all their returning veteran players, where the rule was named after Larry Bird. There’s an exception for minimum salary players on the premise that teams can fill out a roster, but star players will want more than that. So they run into the soft salary cap at US$109 million, but can go over that with exceptions. At about $130 million a team reaches the luxury tax threshold when they have to pay a “tax” that will then be redistributed to teams that aren't paying into the luxury tax.

But in the end the system allows a team to pay well over the soft salary cap as long as they're willing to pay the tax. And the tax can be really punitive - as much as 4.75x salary over the cap depending which tier they're at. I heard that if the Warriors could have re-signed Durant and Thompson at the NBA max, they were looking at a total salary of about $180 million for next season and a total salary and luxury tax bill of around $300 million annually. And they were willing to pay it since they were already the most profitable team in the NBA and will be taking in over $200 million annually in non-NBA revenue with their new arena in San Francisco.

https://hoopshype.com/2018/10/11/nba-luxury-tax/

 

[low-key]

Lucky you on the game!

As for super teams, not a fan either. But I do kind of enjoy the grand assumption of talent always equaling chemistry and teamwork. Because it totally fails at times. Let's just see on the Integrity twins over in Brooklyn.

----------

However low-key what is the difference between these men doing what is best for them, their lives, their family and working with people they enjoy and all of our choices in our workplace? We have that choice and freedom, if we can make it work somehow.

The leauge sets the rules with the union, and if you dont like the rules you can play in another leauge. football shares the revenue and you could francihise a payer as to keep him, this is how you can get a dynasty in little Green Bay and little big city Pittsburgh. No thother sports has that , they set the odds for the big city to get the best payers. I think its not like doing whats best for yuor family,a team os more then a work place, the whole cty lives and breathe thru them, t cheapens the sport, in my oppion.

Still - I remember all sorts of oddball stuff. Don Nelson was the originator of the three-guard lineup, and the Death Lineup that Kerr employed (at the suggestion of the video coordinator Nick U'ren) was basically a three guard lineup with Draymond Green at center and a small forward (Harrison Barnes and then Durant).

yes Don Nelson (I think invented the 3 guard, unless he got it from someone that I dont know about. ) My guess as he got the ideal from the Boston teams he played for

 

[bcla]

The leauge sets the rules with the union, and if you dont like the rules you can play in another leauge. football shares the revenue and you could francihise a payer as to keep him, this is how you can get a dynasty in little Green Bay and little big city Pittsburgh. No thother sports has that , they set the odds for the big city to get the best payers. I think its not like doing whats best for yuor family,a team os more then a work place, the whole cty lives and breathe thru them, t cheapens the sport, in my oppion.

The NFL has a hard cap and also a salary floor, although the floor is actually a running year average and not an annual minimum spending requirement.

The NBA seems to be composed of two types of teams looking to move on to the next season - ones that will beover the salary cap and are doing everything they can to keep their star players from leaving as free agents, and teams that are under the cap and often shedding salary in an attempt to sign star multiple free agents.

Also - I looked it up and last season 25 of 30 NBA teams were over the salary cap. But expiring contracts, player buyouts, etc. allow teams to get under the cap to sign free agents.

 

[low-key]

The NFL has a hard cap and also a salary floor, although the floor is actually a running year average and not an annual minimum spending requirement.

The NBA seems to be composed of two types of teams looking to move on to the next season - ones that will beover the salary cap and are doing everything they can to keep their star players from leaving as free agents, and teams that are under the cap and often shedding salary in an attempt to sign star multiple free agents.

Also - I looked it up and last season 25 of 30 NBA teams were over the salary cap. But expiring contracts, player buyouts, etc. allow teams to get under the cap to sign free agents.

yes hard cap works great, and so does sharing revenue, and being able to keep your best players if you pay them. The NBA ( I love the game, but..) has set up a systems where the best payers agree to go to desired locations, thus giving super advantage to these teams. If you think the NFL and NBA system are comparable, then you do, I dont

 

[bcla]

yes hard cap works great, and so does sharing revenue, and being able to keep your best players if you pay them. The NBA ( I love the game, but..) has set up a systems where the best payers agree to go to desired locations, thus giving super advantage to these teams. If you think the NFL and NBA system are comparable, then you do, I dont

I don't think they're comparable. The NFL is different in that there are fewer trades, and most importantly contracts aren't guaranteed except for signing bonuses and that annual salaries are guaranteed at a certain point in the year if a player isn't waived. The other thing is the sheer silliness of saying that a player has been signed to 7 years and however much money, when those players can be waived.

What the NBA has is that a few players moving to one team can really make a difference. In the NFL, teams have 49 players and team have to hit on a lot of players to be successful.

The Warriors were actually pretty set if they could have kept Durant. But I don't think they were set up to be as consistently successful in a decade as these stars aged out.

 

[lisaviolet]

The leauge sets the rules with the union, and if you dont like the rules you can play in another leauge. football shares the revenue and you could francihise a payer as to keep him, this is how you can get a dynasty in little Green Bay and little big city Pittsburgh. No thother sports has that , they set the odds for the big city to get the best payers. I think its not like doing whats best for yuor family,a team os more then a work place, the whole cty lives and breathe thru them, t cheapens the sport, in my oppion.

I hear you and agree on a lot of your points/feelings about the league.

Toronto for example - and a few other teams due to location/size of city- has and will always be at a disadvantage. From simple things like "I want my ESPN" (which they can now get via YouTube) to "I hate going through customs" to the cold of course (no worse than Chicago, Minnesota or Boston). I clicked on an article about Kawhi and it was written by an accountant or lawyer talking about the Canadian Revenue Agency and property taxation laws in California and Texas. Lord.

And in general I am not a huge lover of the shuffle and being reminded that a player is in his last year of a contract - for any team in the league - when you feel like he just signed.

I honestly would like to see a minimum three year contract. But on the other side I struggle with players' freedom in their choices. Ie. I think there absolutely needed to be changes to give them more freedom for their professional and personal lives. And they did that. But did it go too far? I really don't know.

Not to mention there has been a generational flip re: instant gratification and loyalty. I find it really interesting to listen to Charles Barkley talk about his years ie. things that never went through his head on decision-making.

 

[lisaviolet]

yes hard cap works great, and so does sharing revenue, and being able to keep your best players if you pay them. The NBA ( I love the game, but..) has set up a systems where the best payers agree to go to desired locations, thus giving super advantage to these teams. If you think the NFL and NBA system are comparable, then you do, I dont

I don't think they're comparable. The NFL is different in that there are fewer trades, and most importantly contracts aren't guaranteed except for signing bonuses and that annual salaries are guaranteed at a certain point in the year if a player isn't waived. The other thing is the sheer silliness of saying that a player has been signed to 7 years and however much money, when those players can be waived.

What the NBA has is that a few players moving to one team can really make a difference. In the NFL, teams have 49 players and team have to hit on a lot of players to be successful.

The Warriors were actually pretty set if they could have kept Durant. But I don't think they were set up to be as consistently successful in a decade as these stars aged out.

Interesting read. Both sides.

 

[lisaviolet]

Kawhi - now I have no thoughts either way, giving more thought to his ways/personality.

Because this is how secretive and close to the chest the man is, a la who the heck would know --

One - no one knows, besides those in his life, if the mother of his child/children is his wife/girlfriend or fiance.

Two - There were rumours that she gave birth to a baby boy in Toronto, in March. But no one could verify it.

(EDIT: I could care less about any players' private life, just using these examples of how he is about things.)

That's him, so who could know now on all this?

I now think the baby wasn't just a rumour. Danny Green recently used the word "kids" instead of "child" in reference to Kawhi. And I just checked Wikipedia and it lists two children.

And I do wonder if Kawhi extended his decision to see who talks/give stories out, which he supposedly hates.

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I would be fine as a fan either way, truly.

 

[bcla]

Kawhi - now I have no thoughts either way, giving more thought to his ways/personality.

Because this is how secretive and close to the chest the man is, a la who the heck would know --

One - no one knows, besides those in his life, if the mother of his child/children is his wife/girlfriend or fiance.

Two - There were rumours that she gave birth to a baby boy in Toronto, in March. But no one could verify it.

That's him, so who could know now on all this?

I now think the baby wasn't just a rumour. Danny Green recently used the word "kids" instead of "child" in reference to Kawhi. And I just checked Wikipedia and it lists two children.

And I do wonder if Kawhi extended his decision to see who talks/give stories out, which he supposedly hates.

-------------

I would be fine either way, truly.

He's always been so hard to read because he barely gives interviews and shies away from any kind of publicity. He has been seen in public with his girlfriend and mother of his two kids.

I don't believe that he really cares about being in a particular place other than home, which is why he's considering the Lakers or Clippers. I don't get that he was in love with San Antonio, and probably not in love with Toronto. He's just not that kind of person. There's a certain segment of the fanbase that wants star players to fall in love with the area, but he's just not that.

 

[lisaviolet]

I don't believe that he really cares about being in a particular place other than home, which is why he's considering the Lakers or Clippers. I don't get that he was in love with San Antonio, and probably not in love with Toronto. He's just not that kind of person. There's a certain segment of the fanbase that wants star players to fall in love with the area, but he's just not that.

Totally agree.

--------'-'

And I don't care about their private lives, any of our players. Just trying to show how he keeps everything so private, which one has to admire.

In fact, part of me hopes he goes as I believe he could have more of a private life at home.

 

[bcla]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1147383197640134656

https://twitter.com/x/status/1147384677684191232

 

[lisaviolet]

Relieved.

Laughed - and part of me loved - that all the chatter had Clippers out of it or low percentage in the last few days. But it was most quiet there. I was wrong but I think it is the best choice for him with the Clippers. (Westbrook can't catch a break, eh?)

I bet people are calling up the Clippers season tickets department as we speak!

Two things -

I need Drake and his courtside boy toy to attach themselves to another city. He loves Houston - take him Texas.

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Danny Green - this is where tears come for me. Very sad.

Great get for the Lakers.

 

[lisaviolet]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1147383197640134656

https://twitter.com/x/status/1147384677684191232

Man I was up! But my mind was on my family (California - actually not far from Moreno Valley - Mr. Leonard's stomping ground).

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Also happy Kawhi signed a long term deal. Like seeing that for the league.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

Like @lisaviolet i think that i’m more sad to see Danny Green leaving. He brought not just his game to Toronto, but was solidly invested in the city and its youth groups.

Kawhi did what he was brought here to do. As it’s been stated he has a different connection to the cities he has played in, a quiet man just doing his job. He for the Raptors was undeniable- but he was a single year contract, a “hired gun” and we got what we paid for.

His having an amazing four year deal with the Clippers is great for him and i’m sure for his family - a win/win on those fronts.

Until next June, Toronto Raptors are the reigning NBA champions, we’ll take that and will savor the moments! And we will defend as we go, the hole is large.. but we didn’t win only because of two players. Teamwork won.

 

[lisaviolet]

Holy ****!

Just heard what Clippers gave to OKC. Well of course they had to give the absolute world to force a trade, but holy crap! And Paul George - man once again Westbrook can't win with integrity.

The picks plus Gilgeous-Alexander had a great rookie year.