Popular opinion alert: Kings didn’t get great haul back for DeMarcus Cousins
Good on the Pelicans to win a trade, but more and more are seeing one of the NBA’s biggest problems
I hate that the NBA had to send a memo asking teams to stop being mean to one another on Twitter. But it’s also very funny. NBA fans are spoiled and I’m happy about it. The product is exciting on a night-to-night basis. Fans are free to share clips and highlights across social media. Players and coaches are free to speak out with grace free of constraint. Stick to sports? Not in the NBA.
The league asking teams trolling one another on Twitter to chill isn’t a real problem. NFL players can still get fined and/or penalized for taking off their helmet, wearing fun cleats or dancing during dead time after they do a good thing that results in points being scored for their team.
But the NBA does have one problem that sticks out like SpongeBob’s driving toe: Decision makers make bad decisions as all humans do. But the ill effects of some of those decisions linger beyond those tenures and affect the future of the league on a larger scale.
This topic matters more now than ever. Why should Mike Conley’s name appear in all the hot takes and listicles saying his contract is bad because it will hold the title of ‘NBA’s largest contract’ for all of one year? As Steph Curry, LeBron James and others on top of the league hit free agency, their contracts will dwarf his and the argument will disappear.
Take a few minutes to survey each team around the league once again. Know what pops out to me first? Not the inevitable Cavs-Warriors rematch. Decision makers in Chicago, Detroit, Charlotte, New York, Philly, Orlando, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Denver, Sacramento, Portland, New Orleans, Minnesota and Phoenix are on the hot seat!
Add or take a few teams here or there as you see things. Half the decision makers in the league are some degree of trouble! And yes, that’s the way it should be. All 30 ownership and management groups should feel some constant pressure to win and improve with regularity.
But some of those franchises are in much worse shape than others without much hope to cling to. Orlando doesn’t have any semblance of a vision. Hats off to Bryan Colangelo while we’re here, because he is literally stuck in the same struggle that cost Sam Hinkie his job. Denver, Sacramento, Portland, New Orleans, Dallas and Minnesota are I) within 3.5 games of each other for one playoff spot that they all would like and II) in need of additional top end talent to send them higher up the standings in future years.
Some of these franchises are far more stable and level-headed than others. There is reason to trust Dallas to quickly add talent to its roster over the next 2–3 years, even if Dirk retires sooner rather than later. On the other hand, Orlando and the Knicks and the Hornets are really hurting for different reasons. But all feel that need to rack up a few playoff appearances in a row.
Teams in this panic will throw as much money as they can muster at guys they perceive to be the most talented available. Bad contracts will always happen. But this sudden influx of money won’t totally balance itself out for another 4–5 years.
Right now, we have Stephen Curry and Solomon Hill making a similar amount of money per year. There will be a profound ripple effect when the old money contracts expire and must become new money contracts. Paying fringe starters and 7th men $12–17 million per year will bite teams in the ass.
Based upon early reports, this new CBA won’t come with an amnesty. No free cop out this time. Yet, teams making these poor decisions with their money will hurt comparable players down the line.
Evan Turner is a good basketball player. But even he admitted he was blown away by what Portland gave him! 8 years from now, a player coming off a nice season in a role similar to Turner’s with the Celtics could get lowballed by teams citing Turner’s contract.
That Turner contract isn’t such a massive eye sore to me because I think he stinks. He isn’t a very good fit with their roster and Portland still needs to find a rock solid big to move forward with, a task that will require a near miracle given their books and apparent need to make the playoffs. Players like Turner are complementary or final pieces. The Blazers short-circuited their ability to first add to their core.
We’re seeing an extreme of teams dishing out bad contracts with all the centers out there nearly freezing the trade market. There is so much money being spent on reserve centers that good players like Brook Lopez can’t fetch Brooklyn a reasonable return!
There’s a laundry list of guys at this point: Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca, Greg Monroe, John Henson, Ian Mahinmi, Bismack Biyombo, Joakim Noah, Miles Plumlee, Al Jefferson, Timofey Mozgov, Gorgui Dieng, Cody Zeller.
Then there are the guys being reasonably paid but tough to move: Nikola Vucevic, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Aron Baynes, Boban Marjanovic, Jonas Valanciunas, Derrick Favors, Brandan Wright, Enes Kanter, Kenneth Faried, Kosta Kofous, Andrew Bogut, Darrell Arthur, Cole Aldrich, Tyson Chandler.
There are two mega, mega conversations to have here. One on small ball and the likelihood that the league will be paying fewer big men a year or two or three from now. Two: We will never not have overbearing/meddling/short-sighted owners and these management teams are often casualties of these characteristics of their bosses. The second scares me, whereas the first is simply a result of better basketball being played.
Bill Simmons often talks about his term ‘Sports Czar’. This issue is why the Sports Czar is needed most in the NBA. Stop worrying about super teams and stop being angry that Tristan Thompson or Steven Adams are reasonably paid.
Let’s bring this all back to the Kings. You saw those two lists of bigs. Had more GMs had the restraint to not pay those guys for so many years, their teams may have had a better chance at jumping in on the Boogie talks.
This sudden rebuild of the Sacramento Kings post-Boogie is a perfect case study. Vivek Ranadive somehow was granted full decision making power by fellow members of the ownership group. And the team’s GM, although he hasn’t truly been empowered to have a final say on significant things, isn’t exactly a well-versed, experienced guy to challenge him behind closed doors.
How does Sacramento spend its money these next 2–3 summers and what will become of their upcoming draft selections? Will Orlando decide that they aren’t happy with recent draft picks and clean house, allowing somebody else to start over around Aaron Gordon? What in the world will Portland do after suddenly realizing that they aren’t happy with how they spent their money in Summer Sixteen? And is there anything we can do but pray for teams like the Bulls and Knicks who are at the mercy of old heads with their heels dug all the way in? I sure hope so.
Photos via SLAM, USA Today
