NBA Off-Season

Screw that, those guys don’t get everything they want. I’m usually pro-labor but when keep jerking people around, screw them.

Those decisions you cite were directed by those guys, not Marks. I highly doubt he said we need to fire Atkinson because Nash is a better coach. Nash was handpicked by KD because he really enjoyed Nash’s input when he was a Ws consultant. Marks also didn’t pick DeAndre over Allen, again that’s KD/Flat Earther.

 

Yeah, but Marks is still the GM. He didn't have to do any of that. If he didn't have to balls to stand up to his star players that's on him.

Supposedly LeBron, Wade and Bosh went to Pat Riley in Miami to tell him things weren't working and he needed to fire Spoelstra. Riley told them Spoelstra wasn't going anywhere and they should get their butts back on the practice court. If you let the players run things it's your failing, not theirs.

And you're right that the Nets don't have to send KD and Kyrie to their destination of choice, it's worth remembering that no one else is likely to make a serious bid for Kyrie and that players will be watching how they treat KD. Yes, they can trade KD to the Kings. The flip side is that no free agent worth signing will ever take your call after that. Players don't want to play for incompetent franchises, so the Nets have a decision to make. A good franchise finds a deal that both sides are happy with. A bad franchise dumps a historically great player into a bad situation.

 

Your 1st and 3rd paragraphs are contradictory. Do franchises stand up to their star players So that other free agents know they mean business or do they appease recalcitrant players so they attract other free agents?

 

The irony is that "incompetent" is often how these teams look after several seasons of allowing their best players to be de facto GMs. LeBron left total shitshows in Cleveland (2x) and Miami and appears to be well on his way to having the Lakers be a smoldering ruin as well. For all the bullshit, though, that guy played out the duration of his deals and delivered championships.

Harden in Houston and now KD in Brooklyn got everything they wanted and eventually looked around and thought, "Man, this place sucks...I'm never gonna win here."

Teams are in a tough spot of "pay now or pay later." If you don't let the stars run the show, they don't sign. If you allow them to run things, they won't like the result and demand a trade with years left on their deal.

 

When I see the numbers on some of these contracts - for players who had bad years - I totally get why they keep China out their mouth. I don't know what the exact percentage of total revenue it is, but I'm guessing it would be noticeable if it went away.

 

Yeah, but Burt Reynolds is no longer among us. Someone has to lead them.

 

Here comes the teardown:

 

Knicks gonna shoot their shot at locking in that perennial 3-4 seed and second-round exit.

 

Late to the game but who's his dad? And Gus if I remember right only did MSU local telecasts for 2 years -- '76-'77 (the year after he was fired) and '77-'78 before Erik O. Furseth became the analyst (Tim Staudt play by play) but I was really young then...

 

His dad was Pat Baldwin
Gus did MSU games for about 20 years
Furseth is the PA announcer
Staudt is still at Channel 10 in Jackson and he has a radio show
The quintessential big fish in a small pond

 

Staudt lived in our neighborhood. He still might for all I know -- I should ask my dad. I guess Gus was on the radio? Because he was only on the WJIM Channel 6 local telecasts for 2 years and eventually the local TV broadcasts went away with all the cable network coverage. But I swear Furseth was in the booth with Staudt in the 1979 national championship season and at least a couple of years after that (I do remember Erik O as the PA announcer at Spartan Stadium on Saturdays in the fall -- we used to go to every game. Our basketball "season tickets" at Jenison gave us 1/2 the home games). I've only been to a couple of MSU home basketball games since going off to Ann Arbor for college in '88 and none in the last 15 or 20 years and I almost never listened to Spartan games on the radio -- I don't even remember who the radio play by play guy was back then.

As a sad epilogue, I just googled Erik O. Furseth before posting -- he died at the end of February. He was 91. I had absolutely no idea he was that old -- I would have figured he was around my dad's age (mid-late 70s).

 

Hmm. Do the Knicks really have the pieces to get Mitchell? I know they really want him, but they'd better have a hell of a lot of picks because that roster is still kind of bleak.

By the way, a reminder as we see all of the trade rumors pop up: because of Mitchell's rookie contract extension he can't go to Brooklyn unless they move Simmons and he can't go to Miami unless they move Bam Adebayo.

EDIT: I was wrong about Miami. That would work because Bam's contract was with Miami and he didn't come in as a trade.