Everyone Important Goes To New York Or Los Angeles
So let’s take a quick break from football because I think what has gone down in the NBA this free agency has been pretty interesting.
The NBA had two massive questions going into the free agency season. Where would KD go, and where would Kawhi Leonard go? If you listened to a large portion of the media and a large contingent of fans, it would have been the Knicks and Lakers. Because BIG MARKETS. PRESTIGE. HISTORY. MARKETING OPPORTUNITY. Bigger markets have always created a discrepancy in sports. An ideal sports world would have Jacksonville be as popular a destination as Miami. But things don’t work that way, and if the NFL has irritating market bias, the NBA is twice as bad. It’s frustrating when two franchises that have been terrible for years can basically scream “yeah but it’s us” and grab big names anyway because…it is them. They do hold that sway. You can be above average in NY and you’ll be an overrated star while someone can slave away in Charlotte and get no love.
That’s what makes this offseason’s developments so interesting. New York and Los Angeles got the super teams they wants. But not on the franchises everyone expected. Instead of the Giants, they picked the Jets. The two little brothers of the big market areas have now become the super teams. The Lakers got ignored for the Clippers, a second fiddle team that until recently had never even been relevant. The Knicks got completely ignored, losing out on even more in exchange for the Jets of the NBA, the Nets. The Nets are now a future super team with Kyrie and KD (can’t wait for this drama bomb) and the Clippers get possibly the best player in the league with Kawhi, who managed to steal Paul George from OKC with him. The two “other” teams in New York and LA are now the teams to watch.
The Lakers obviously didn’t completely lose out. They got Anthony Davis, Boogie, and they still have LeBron, but they traded away their entire young core for AD and are still a front office catastrophe. The Knicks got completely clowned. If they hadn’t managed to snag RJ in the draft (which was still a letdown considering so many simply assumed Zion was going there because NEW YORK) they’d be in even worse shape. Kyrie and KD spurned them for their neighborhood bro. They didn’t get Zion or AD. Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker, and Klay Thompson all went elseware. Kawhi wasn’t ever really on the table. The biggest name they got was Julius Randle, who casual fans might not even instantly recognize. Knicks fans have to wait till next year until they can claim New York supremacy in hope again. I guess there is also a chance they get Russell Westbrook now that OKC is in freefall after PG bailed.
Why doesn’t football really have this issue to nearly this extent? If you had to pick between the Jets or Giants, completely ignoring current team situations and only considering market value, you’d pretty much always go for the Giants. It would be more valuable to your brand to be on the more historical franchise. No one would ever sign with Tennessee or Jacksonville or the Chargers. But in the NFL it feels like even the top free agents mostly just follow the money. There is some market bias of course but not to the NBA’s extent. Why do you think the NBA is so much worse about it?
I think the NBA is “worse” about it because star players are more valuable in basketball than in football, so being a star in a big market gets you paid more in the NBA from endorsements and whatnot.
Market bias hasn’t really shown up in the NBA lately from what I’ve seen, though. It’s been more about players wanting to create winning situations for themselves. The Lakers and Knicks have been linked to star free agents damn near every year since like 2012, but they were always passed on for better teams. Being in big markets helped the Clippers and Nets get their guys, but I don’t think they would have gotten Kawhi/PG and KD/Kyrie respectively if their front offices didn’t have the good reputations that they earned.
Also you have media trying to pressure players into joining the Lakers and Knicks.
Market bias is still largely a myth pushed by media guys, considering the New York Knicks are bad and have been the worst team by win-loss record in the past twenty years. There’s also the fact that Kawhi Leonard was raised in Southern California and LeBron wanted to be with his family there (and do Hollywood stuff, whatever).
Money is less of a factor for NBA superstars who can make more from endorsements and random business ventures. Most NFL players, even the elite ones, are comparably viewed as more expendable due to shorter careers, higher injury risks, more players on a team, a shittier owner situation, etc. They deserve better, but are not going to get it. They have to follow the money.
It’s a combination of the max co tract and the luxury tax. In the nfl, a smaller market team can be the highest bidder for a star and bring them to town. In the nba, they can only go to the max, which is shared by many other franchises making the same offer, allowing the player to choose where they play, generally always the bigger market team. The luxury tax is also BS, because it’s a way for the richer franchises to get richer and not have to lose prime players to lower teams. It reduces parity. In the nfl, if you have a star at WR, and pay him as such, generally you have to construct your roster contracts around that massive contract, otherwise, you can’t pay him and he’ll leave.
That, in a nutshell, would fix the nba for parity. No max contract (in terms of $$. Years should still have a max). And there needs to be a hard cap.
FUCK THE YANKEES
that is all. thank you
I agree with this sentiment
Well fuck you too, the feeling is mutual.
always relevant
well done
I like the stylized drawings of Kawhi and Durant.
I like the nice touch of 7 on Durant.
I always hated how much power the superstars had in the NBA. It’s way too easy for them to all band together and make a team which leaves more than 75% of the rest of the league irrelevant.
Yeah there have been some suspicions about LeBron. This comes to mind.
“elseware”
damn i cant believe i missed that
its the software niche dedicated to ultimatums
Shooty Hoops? What about the Quest to defeat the Money Gods?
Doesn’t hold a candle to baseball players, they’re money titans!
Finally, someone else noticed the trend in the NYC B-team names.
The Nets ownership noticed it in the late 60’s too, they specifically chose the name “Nets” when the franchise moved from New Jersey (where they had been the “Americans”) to Long Island because it rhymed with fellow Long Island teams the Jets and the Mets.
A World Team Tennis squad mimicked this as well, calling themselves the New York Sets in the mid-70s.
Good to see Stan Van Gundy keeping his hand in after leaving Detroit.
The Hierarchy of Los Angeles Basketball:
1) Lakers
2) UCLA Basketball
3) Sparks
4) USC Basketball
5) Westchester Comets
6) All Drew League Teams
7) YMCA Junior Lakers
8) The pickup teams at Venice Beach
9) Clippers
Clippers > Lakers now
Generally speaking, I could care less about basketball. I found myself mildly interested in the Finals, and genuinely glad the Raptors won. But mostly still didn’t care. Then free agency this year came around and boom! There were a lot of really interesting moves made. I actually was wondering last week if you were gonna test the waters with an NBA related comic (since they are linked to the money-verse). Also, I’m all for the New York Wets being a thing in the NHL.
Nets GOAT
That’s all