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Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2016 11:05:00 GMT -5
We win.
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Post by Reed on Jul 4, 2016 11:08:30 GMT -5
Congratulations Golden State on Winning the 2017 NBA Finals. Well this has been a depressing 4th.
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Post by J-Roc on Jul 4, 2016 16:22:07 GMT -5
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Post by Reed on Jul 4, 2016 16:45:33 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2016 14:11:38 GMT -5
"30 teams, if managed well, could compete for a championship." - Adam Silver during the lockout of 2011.
With all the hot takes going on about Durant's decision I've decided to throw in my thoughts:
Durant chose the Warriors in order to evolve both as a man and as a player.
The Thunder have been a perennial powerhouse in the Western Conference for over 6 years. During that span they have 4 conference finals appearances, one finals appearance and an early exit in the playoffs. If it's been 6 years and you haven't done much better since the first time you went to the Finals can you blame him for wanting to try a different path to get to the promise land? Sure, they have had 50+ winning seasons during this whole run, but the offense never changed. Durant and Westbrook's play-style never changed and even with the changing of a coach who, in theory, should have instituted a new way to play the same problems arose. In fact, it may have gotten worse this season with the Thunder blowing the most fourth quarter leads. That shouldn't happen with a team that was "close" to getting to the Finals. I know that with the playoffs anything that happened during the season is moot (because if we took that into account then the Warriors would be champions) but those same underlying issues is what did them in by blowing their 3-1 series lead.
Chemistry
The very thing that keeps the Warriors together is something Durant has never had. Him and Russ, while electric on the floor, created problems internally. Sources say that Kevin has always had to take contested shots because Westbrook is such a demanding player that feels he needs to be the one to steer the ship...even though he has an MVP & scoring leader at his wing. The ball never really moved around like Durant wanted while he was in OKC. It's either "Russ brings it up and drives to the basket" or "Kevin brings it up and tries to drive it to the basket or take a contested shot outside". That's not how GS plays. The ball moves, guys are crossing all over the floor, getting the opponents confused because they are trying to stay on their man rather than seeing where the ball is at. No other team has been able to blend talent, chemistry & team-work as well as the Warriors. There will be the growing issues as with any player joining a new team, but in this case, I'm sure Durant will be saying it's worth it.
"The system is fucked"
When the lockout in 2011 happened, small-market owners demanded that the NBA make it an even playing field for them to be able to contest with big-market teams that were driving potential free agents to their neck of the woods. The draft, salary cap, bird rights, luxury tax, & rookie scale were all created to give small-market teams the firepower to be able to build a franchise and potentially a dynasty. But what they didn't take into account was a cavalcade of occurrences that arose: the salary cap rose to historic highs because of the $24 billion dollar TV deal the owners signed. Sure, the owners pushed for a hard salary cap that would have made teams spend only what they had and not more but took a luxury tax that would *in theory* enable them to give their stars higher paying contracts to stay with their teams. Problem is: if your team is not making strides to get better or if you're star is discontent and sees other teams making bigger strides you get what we had happened with Durant. Commissioner Adam Silver even coined the term "player-sharing" when teams were fearful of the luxury tax. For example (and it couldn't be a better one): When the Thunder traded James Harden to the Rockets, the term "player-sharing" was used because Harden was traded to another team instead of hoarding him in OKC and was being "shared" to Houston while Durant, Westbrook & Ibaka were starting to hit the prime of their careers, as was Harden. Or when LaMarcus Aldridge chose to go to San Antonio and Greg Monroe went to Milwaukee, the NBA can point to them and say "See? The system works!" But now, with the explosion of the salary cap (and it's gonna go up even more next year) no one is scared of the luxury tax since it's pretty much non-existent. So now a team like Golden State can offer max contracts to both Durant and Curry next year and could potentially have money to sign another huge superstar or a ton of solid role players. The lockout (which made the NBA lose over $480 million dollars) has failed on every attempt to stop a super-team from ever forming and giving small-market teams a chance to compete.
The League & owners has no one to blame but themselves with how everything is unfolding. How could they not see something like this happening just five years later? They knew a TV deal was coming and with that the cap would be raised significantly but yet did nothing to offer any kind of safeguards. Commissioner Silver tried to institute a "cap smoothing" idea that would give teams that money gradually instead of all at once but the players union outright rejected the idea.
The calm before the storm
The NBA & players union will be able to renegotiate next summer over the labor deals they agreed to in 2011 and I can guarantee a hard cap will be the most important aspect discussed. But when a hard cap is ever discussed, there is the high potential of a lockout happening. But you know what the scariest part of this whole situation? It's gonna get worse (or better if your team is lucky) with the salary cap rising to $110 million dollars.
$110 MILLION DOLLARS.
With a list of potential free agents such as Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward and others hitting the market, you better batten down the hatches because it's gonna get a lot worse for small-market teams before it gets any better.
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Post by AD on Jul 11, 2016 16:46:09 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2016 13:01:42 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2016 13:06:50 GMT -5
My favorite player of all time.
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Post by iMG on Aug 12, 2016 11:33:10 GMT -5
So how about that schedule release?
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Post by AD on Sept 23, 2016 17:27:48 GMT -5
My favorite player of all time (even before he was a Celtic). Nobody wore their heart on their sleeve quite like KG, and it was always a joy to watch.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2016 22:57:06 GMT -5
71 POINTS AT THE HALF FOR THE WARRIORS.
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Post by Reed on Oct 25, 2016 23:58:40 GMT -5
Definitely not how I expected for the Warriors season to start.
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