Nuggets, Knicks make trade that brings neither closer to a title

In fairness to Garnett, Mizzou, he gave the Timberwolves a good long shot before he asked out. If they'd been an Eastern Conference team back then, might've made a Finals or Two. And of course, Duncan has never left San Antonio. There has also been a long history of teams dumping superstars (Dr. J by the Nets, Wilt Chamberlain by several teams, Moses Malone by about a dozen teams) for either personality or financial issues. So it works both ways.

 

Unfortunately, in the NBA supremely skilled but supremely modest applies to two players: Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant.

 

If the Joe Smith fiasco doesn't happen, he might still be in Minneapolis.

I'd love it if the NBA could have a franchise player, like the NFL.

 

It's coming, Mizzou. Soon.

 

I hope so. I think the league would benefit from it.

Stern was brilliant with the rookie salary cap. Letting a team franchise one player would be another good move if Stern cares about parity.

 

There's no need for a "franchise" tag.

Full disclosure, I used to be a union side labor lawyer and one lawyers I've always admired is Marvin Miller, so I believe that player free agency is an essential part of sports and something that should be a basic right in any professional sport, let alone any business.

Think about the 'Melo and Lebron situations. In each, they overcame huge odds to earn the right (or get to the cusp) of free agency. The team that drafted them got seven years under first a rookie wage scale, then an extension to convince them they were in the best place they could be. They failed. The reality is very few players make it to free agency; they are gone after 4.

The scenario that the NFL Players need to address is what if every QB becomes franchised? Pretty soon, every contract for a QB will be locked in based on a formula and there will no longer be any free agent market to set the "top 5 yearly salaries." If the owners wanted to really play hardball, each QB would be on a year to year franchise tag and making the same. That's the downside of the franchise tag.

 

It's never been a problem in the NFL because there are only a few teams that are willing to pay their quarterback the average of the top five QB salaries in the NFL. In fact, I don't think it's used on quarterbacks very often at all. I know Vick and Peyton Manning are tagged right now, but I can't think of a single QB who played under the franchise tag for an entire season, unless Drew Brees did it his last season in San Diego.

 

So those players all magically appeared on those teams?

Lakers traded for Kobe on draft day, a risky move at the time.
Lakers signed Shaq via free agency. Later flipped him for parts that became Lamar Odom and eventually, Pau Gasol.
Lakers drafted Derek Fisher. Want to downplay his importance to five title teams?
Lakers got Rick Fox as a free agent.
Lakers also drafted Andrew Bynum.
OK, Gasol was a steal.

Celtics drafted a third of their "Big Three" in Pierce.
Celtics also had to make a big move to trade for Ray Allen.
OK, Garnett was a steal.
Celtics have also made some very shrewd moves for their bench. Ditto the Lakers.

Did Detroit draft 2004 Finals MVP Chauncey Billups? Did it draft Rasheed Wallace? Was Wallace a free agent? Being as how those were probably the two most important pieces to their title, it's worth asking.

 

The Lakers deserve all the credit in the world for getting Kobe. I'm not sure I would call the trade risky, but nobody had any idea he would be as good as he's been.

Part of the problem in the NBA is so often the top free agents only want to go to a handful of teams. That's how Shaq wound up in LA. That's how LeBron wound up in Miami. That's how Stoudemire wound up in NYC.

That's not anybody's fault and that's not implying that anyone has done anything wrong, but you're not going to get parity in a league where the bulk of the elite free agents are only interested in going to one of about six teams.

 

In a way, the NBA is a microcosm of society. A lot of people would love to live in those big cities.

If they can afford it. New York is one of those places where people don't care if they can afford it, of course. That whole stupid Alicia Keys "There's nothing you can't do! These lights will inspire you!"

(Cue the chorus of people espousing the virtues of living in smaller markets)

 

Once the owners achieve the self-destructive feat of removing the Larry Bird exemption, this trend will only increase. If you can't pay a free agent more money, the only things you can pay him are more victories and more ancillary income due to media exposure.
I don't know why Anthony was so hot to leave Denver. Seemed to me like his chances of winning were one hell of a lot better than they are in New York, let alone with the Nets. But he did, and fact is the CBA prevents the Nuggets from offering the traditional incentive for a valued executive talent -- much more dough.

 

Bingo. How many times have people answered the question "Why would [insert athlete here] sign with [insert team here]?" with "Cause it's [insert great city here]!!!" A lot.

Miami or Cleveland? Hmmm....lemme think about it. For 0.0000348367 seconds.
New York or Phoenix? Tougher call than Miami/Cleveland, but not by much.
Denver or New York? Same.