2014 NBA draft/off-season thread

I just wonder how much having a franchise player might help.

Melo would be in Denver.
LeBron would have stayed in Cleveland the whole time.
Bosh would be in Toronto.
Paul would be in New Orleans.
Love would have to stay in Minneapolis.

I think it would make the league a lot more competitive by spreading out the talent more than it is now.

The league probably doesn't want that though.

 

Why would the players agree to this?

 

I think you would have to pay them significantly more than what the current max deals are to ease the burden of having to stay in the same city.

If the league/owners care about parity, they might push for this. It works for the NFL.

 

No sports union (association) should strive to be like the NFL.

I don't think in a sport like basketball you can ever get true parity. I think there is more parity now than there has been in the past. Look at the strength of the Western conference from 1-10.

 

Well, I completely agree on the NFLPA. But since the NBA players aren't likely to give up guaranteed money, they would still be much better off than the NFL guys are.

 

If you want to maintain stability, you can sign current players to a "super-max" contract of say 20% over the max. But they lose the 20% if they are traded (and therefore obviously have a no-trade).

 

"Franchising" a player would have to be significantly over the max deal for it to work. You would want it to be something that only a handful of teams would do. I don't think it would happen very often, but I think it would change the way players would treat their situations. In a league where the addition or subtraction of one player can make or break a team, if it was something like, "If OKC wants to keep Durant and he won't sign a contract, they can franchise him at $30 mil a year. It would have to be something teams would reserve for the truly elite players. You put some other restrictions on it so you can't do it every year.

It wouldn't eliminate players moving around, but it would restrict it. So often these days you see a player emerge as a top player on a team that isn't a typical contender and almost immediately it becomes a waiting game until that player leaves via free agency or forces the team to trade him for something that doesn't resemble fair value in return because the team has almost no leverage.

Minnesota may be one of the rare teams that might actually get a decent amount in return for Love. Think the Timberwolves got a fair trade for Garnett? Think the Nuggets got enough back for Carmelo?

 

Paul George taken off on stretcher with leg injury so serious that they're cancelling the rest of this Team USA Showcase.

Being called an "obvious fracture" by announcer, so I'm guessing a compound fracture. Players were holding towels to block the camera shot.

 

I keep watching it and it keeps gettin worse.
http://www.gfycat.com/ObviousInnocentAurochs

 

I watched it once, can't imagine it getting worse.

 

Ouch. Joe Theismann says that's messed up.