Free Agency with Other Teams

[TheFuture]

It seems Milos going to the clippers. They won't be an easy out with milos, Beverley, Lou, Gallo, Blake, DJ, rivers. Damn our luck, we push our chips in and everyone in the West somehow gets better or remains competitive as well..

There are only three teams to actually count out - Lakers, Suns, Kings. Whereas there are only about 4 teams in the East who are any good. It's amazing.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

It seems Milos going to the clippers. They won't be an easy out with milos, Beverley, Lou, Gallo, Blake, DJ, rivers. Damn our luck, we push our chips in and everyone in the West somehow gets better or remains competitive as well..

There are only three teams to actually count out - Lakers, Suns, Kings. Whereas there are only about 4 teams in the East who are any good. It's amazing.

That's a halfway decent backcourt for a team that just lost CP3. Beverley, Milos, Lou, Rivers.

I've got a new rebuilding plan. Convince Silver to let us move to the East!

[TheFuture]

Wouldn't that be nice! I'm sure Memphis would have dibs on that scenario though!

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wouldn't that be nice! I'm sure Memphis would have dibs on that scenario though!

Part of Minnesota is east of the Mississippi!

[TheFuture]

Wouldn't that be nice! I'm sure Memphis would have dibs on that scenario though!

Part of Minnesota is east of the Mississippi!

You make a convincing argument. Now write up the petition and tell me where to sign!

I am really intrigued by how Silver and Co. feel about this disparity of talent that everyone has said for 20 years will eventually even out. It seems it got about halfway in the last 5+ years only to completely bottom out again. There really is nothing they can viably change.

I did see one idea that made sense for controlling a teams best player and that was to incorporate a franchise tag like the NFL. It seems the NBA tried their own form of this with the super max, but that seems to have backfired as it scared away the majority of those teams because it takes up even MORE cap space. Which further increases the difficulty of surrounding that great player with supporting talent. Whereas a franchise tag could take the average of say the top 10 guys at the same position. Maybe limit it to being used on the same player for only two or three years, one year at a time.

[AbeVigodaLive]

"Everybody is so afraid of LeBron James, they're willingly moving to the West to battle 10 of the league's top 12 teams and one of the greatest teams in NBA history instead."

- ESPN

[TheFuture]

"Everybody is so afraid of LeBron James, they're willingly moving to the West to battle 10 of the league's top 12 teams and one of the greatest teams in NBA history instead."

- ESPN

Yeah, this narrative ended last year with the signing of Durant. Time to come up with some new mindless banter ESPN!

The celtics wouldn't beat the Rockets or Spurs in the playoffs last year. Yet they hit the ECF and took a game without IT. Throw Houston, the Spurs, new OKC over East and they likely go to 7 with the Cavs.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wouldn't that be nice! I'm sure Memphis would have dibs on that scenario though!

Part of Minnesota is east of the Mississippi!

You make a convincing argument. Now write up the petition and tell me where to sign!

I am really intrigued by how Silver and Co. feel about this disparity of talent that everyone has said for 20 years will eventually even out. It seems it got about halfway in the last 5+ years only to completely bottom out again. There really is nothing they can viably change.

I did see one idea that made sense for controlling a teams best player and that was to incorporate a franchise tag like the NFL. It seems the NBA tried their own form of this with the super max, but that seems to have backfired as it scared away the majority of those teams because it takes up even MORE cap space. Which further increases the difficulty of surrounding that great player with supporting talent. Whereas a franchise tag could take the average of say the top 10 guys at the same position. Maybe limit it to being used on the same player for only two or three years, one year at a time.

I don't like franchise tags, and the players union would never go for it anyway. You could maybe add 6th year to one contract per team or something like that to help keep those stars in one particular place. Giving the best players more money doesn't help because it just keeps teams from building well around them. Giving the top players an extra year of security might work a little better.

It's a problem, but I do think it will even out eventually. There really isn't an easy solution other than starting to tweak the seeding in the playoffs, although that's a bold move.

The real question is why? Why did so many teams in the east get so bad while so many teams in the West have been consistently good? I think a part of it is a lot of teams in the East have turned over their coaching staffs, rosters, and front offices so often, and they have regularly made a bunch of dumb decisions. All of those things have undermined the stability of those teams and as a result, players don't want to play there. A couple teams, the Celtics, the Heat, Toronto, and now maybe the Pistons have started to build some consistency, and of course wherever LeBron is will attract people. I'm hoping Philly can actually live up to all of this hope, and Washington looks like it could be good if Otto Porter doesn't turn out to be a huge waste of money!

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The only East team to consistently bottom out and have their picks are the 76ers. Otherwise Brooklyn is really the only other one consistently around the bottom 5 to get good players in the draft and their picks have been shipped out for the foreseeable past and future. The rest of the conference just rollercoasters in the standings so they'll have a high pick one year and like the 10th pick the next. Meanwhile we had 3 straight numbers 1's thanks to the Love trade, 5 and 7 in addition to an extra 13 to get Zach. LA has been 3 straight 2's. PHX has had back to back 4's. Philly is the only team in the East who can match that many high picks. Otherwise NY had Porzingas, Milwaukee had Parker and Orlando has been bad, but never bad enough to get the best prospects. That's pretty much it for their top 5 picks. The East largely hasn't been good at drafting and their teams are never really all that close to contending to attract more big name FA's. That's gonna lead to conference imbalance. They're just too mediocre across the conference where the West is largely very good or very bad and the teams in purgatory have star players already like AD, Lillard, CJ, Cousins, etc. to potentially build around thus not needing a full rebuild.

[Monster]

Per Woj

"Andre Roberson has agreed to a new three-year, $30M deal with Oklahoma City, league sources tell ESPN."

It really is crazy how the market has changed this year. Last year he probably would have got something near 20 million. Bazz may have to settle for an exception dealnfoe a year at best. What a difference 12 or so months makes.