Free Agency 2018

[Russ Smith]

The league needs a franchise player tag system. Then each team can at least keep a star player.

It would resolve ALL of this mess.

It wouldn't even have solved THIS one signing because NO wouldn't have franchised Cousins if they had to pay him that much coming off an injury. Unless your franchise tag worked very differently from how the NFL one works.

It's been said before but the Warriors have had very specific circumstances to do this. Curry was on a cheap deal because of his ankle. Draymond was a 2nd round pick, the cap exploded giving them more room to sign Durant. They hit it big on 3 draft picks, Curry, Thompson and Draymond. Everyone says they already had 3 all stars, they drafted all 3 of them, and did so without tanking on purpose.

They were actually considering trading Curry because of his ankle problems but didn't. They turned down proposals to trade Klay for Kevin Love before Cleveland got him. They had a combination of very good scouting and player development, and some timing and luck, to get where they are. And then Cousins fell into their laps because he was injured and nobody wanted to offer him very much money. I'm still surprised they went after him given his personality issues, but none of this is a rule issue.

I see all this in a sense as karma for them losing Rick Barry, twice, over money, and losing Parish, and McHale because Franklin Mieuli didn't want to pay Parish big money and his newly promoted coach now GM Al Attles convinced him the best move was to trade him. They had the 3rd pick and were going to take McHale but instead they traded for JBC and Rickey Brown and destroyed the franchise, because Mieuli wanted to save money.

I watched them lose Barry twice over money, lose Bernard King over money, then lose Michael Ray Richardson over money. I watched them lose Gus Williams over money.

 

[taz02]

franchise tag is the only way you can prevent the super teams moving forward. Something needs to be done to restore balance to the league.

Having said that, the suns are still in a great position. If Ayton is a true superstar, with Booker and max money to spend next year we should be in great shape.

I think its going to be great beating the Lebron led lakers and knocking off GS.

 

[taz02]

The league sure has changed. I miss the days when players were somewhat loyal to their home town and had the competitive desire to beat the hell out of the other guy instead of getting together to make it easy.

Its why for me personally, MJ will always be better than Lebron. MJ would have never have joined Hakeem and Barkley he was too focused on beating them.

If you had the number 1 pick and had to choose between Lebron and MJ knowing what we know now who would you pick? MJ who transformed his team into a dynasty or Lebron transformed his team into a door mat.

The league has to implement a franchise tag

 

[Finito]

The league sure has changed. I miss the days when players were somewhat loyal to their home town and had the competitive desire to beat the hell out of the other guy instead of getting together to make it easy.

Its why for me personally, MJ will always be better than Lebron. MJ would have never have joined Hakeem and Barkley he was too focused on beating them.

If you had the number 1 pick and had to choose between Lebron and MJ knowing what we know now who would you pick? MJ who transformed his team into a dynasty or Lebron transformed his team into a door mat.

The league has to implement a franchise tag

But Barkley and Hakeem teamed up along with Pippen

This has been going on for a long time.

Hell the 80s seen what the Lakers and Celtics dominate the NBA, the 90s the Bulls and Rockets won 8 out of 10 rings.

The NBA has never been balanced that's a myth

 

[SirStefan32]

That's a little bit different. OLD Barkley and Pippen joined Hakeem, old Payton and Malone joined Shaq and Kobe, etc.

I do agree with the rest of your post though.

 

[Covert Rain]

That's a little bit different. OLD Barkley and Pippen joined Hakeem, old Payton and Malone joined Shaq and Kobe, etc.

I do agree with the rest of your post though.

True but the attempt was made thinking those players had something in the tank. If those teams felt that there was zero chance they wouldn't have done it. Results may not have panned out but LeBron didn't invent the super team and neither did Golden State.

Having said that, I thought the league was supposed to crack down on these types of moves (a la Chris Paul). However, the NBA's balls are deflated. It's time for a new cap rules with the exception of re-signing your own free agents you should not be able to go over the salary cap any longer.

 

[Mainstreet]

Here is the Suns reasoning on signing Ariza and their lack of active pursuit of a PG.

Apparently the Suns felt the pickings were slim for a free agent PG and addressed other needs. I still wish the Suns had not made a quick decision to sign Ariza even if they risked losing him. I think there were some deals to be made with all the signings by other teams.

Phoenix paid a premium price by giving Ariza $15 million and forgoing most of its cap space, but it was necessary, from a Suns perspective, for two reasons.

First, Ariza wanted a high-dollar deal if he was going to settle for a one-year contract. Second, Phoenix looked at the point guards on the free-agent market and reasoned that it was a thin crop, particularly because it expected Toronto to keep Fred Van Vleet - and Boston’s Marcus Smart wanted at least $14 million on a multi-year deal.

The Suns determined – time will tell if it was the right move – that it was better to sign Ariza for one year and then have $38 million available when his contract, along with those of Tyson Chandler and Jared Dudley, comes off the books next summer. Phoenix hasn’t ruled out the possibility of re-signing Ariza, though.

Phoenix is still in the market for a point guard. It could try to use Milwaukee’s No. 1 pick next season as bait or deal from its depth at the forward position.

by Scott Bordow

https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...za-deal-mikal-bridges-devin-booker/751335002/

 

[Ronin]

Ariza just turned 33. I did not know that.
It feels like he has been in the NBA for a long time.

 

[JCSunsfan]

It wouldn't even have solved THIS one signing because NO wouldn't have franchised Cousins if they had to pay him that much coming off an injury. Unless your franchise tag worked very differently from how the NFL one works.

It's been said before but the Warriors have had very specific circumstances to do this. Curry was on a cheap deal because of his ankle. Draymond was a 2nd round pick, the cap exploded giving them more room to sign Durant. They hit it big on 3 draft picks, Curry, Thompson and Draymond. Everyone says they already had 3 all stars, they drafted all 3 of them, and did so without tanking on purpose.

They were actually considering trading Curry because of his ankle problems but didn't. They turned down proposals to trade Klay for Kevin Love before Cleveland got him. They had a combination of very good scouting and player development, and some timing and luck, to get where they are. And then Cousins fell into their laps because he was injured and nobody wanted to offer him very much money. I'm still surprised they went after him given his personality issues, but none of this is a rule issue.

I see all this in a sense as karma for them losing Rick Barry, twice, over money, and losing Parish, and McHale because Franklin Mieuli didn't want to pay Parish big money and his newly promoted coach now GM Al Attles convinced him the best move was to trade him. They had the 3rd pick and were going to take McHale but instead they traded for JBC and Rickey Brown and destroyed the franchise, because Mieuli wanted to save money.

I watched them lose Barry twice over money, lose Bernard King over money, then lose Michael Ray Richardson over money. I watched them lose Gus Williams over money.

The franchise tag would work because teams would figure out how to make it work. Every team would be able to keep one star player. Being a franchised player would end up being a badge of honor and could change the culture of changing teams. It is also easier to attract free agents when you have a star player on your team so there would be less tendency for free agents to congregate with one particular team. It would make a huge difference.

 

[Phrazbit]

The franchise tag would work because teams would figure out how to make it work. Every team would be able to keep one star player. Being a franchised player would end up being a badge of honor and could change the culture of changing teams. It is also easier to attract free agents when you have a star player on your team so there would be less tendency for free agents to congregate with one particular team. It would make a huge difference.

Just get rid of max salaries...

The franchise tag, like the reserve clause was in baseball... very unAmerican.

 

[taz02]

Wasn't Barkley traded after he was on the decline?

Whats happening now is that superstars in their prime are working together to create super teams circumventing the normal process of building teams fans can really get behind. Without some intervention this will continue to happen with the leagues best players leaving most teams with no hope of competing.

The franchise tag would fix this problem and allow average teams to also compete. Lebron and KD would have both been tagged

 

[taz02]

UnAmerican?

 

[Phrazbit]

UnAmerican?

Yes, holding employees in one place on perpetual one year contracts. It's garbage.

Just... get... rid... of... max... salaries. It's only there to save owners from their own stupidity.

 

[Russ Smith]

Wasn't Barkley traded after he was on the decline?

Whats happening now is that superstars in their prime are working together to create super teams circumventing the normal process of building teams fans can really get behind. Without some intervention this will continue to happen with the leagues best players leaving most teams with no hope of competing.

The franchise tag would fix this problem and allow average teams to also compete. Lebron and KD would have both been tagged

This is a function of LeBron doing what he does FWIW. People forget how much leverage he has in the league.

One interesting rumor to watch out for, LeBron will officially sign with the Lakers on Friday, he apparently nearly backed out last night after his attempt to get Cousins didn't happen. But don't be surprised if Anthony Davis is a Laker by this weekend. Apparently the Lakers have decided to go all in on him and then try and get Kawhi as a free agent after this season.

 

[Phrazbit]

This is a function of LeBron doing what he does FWIW. People forget how much leverage he has in the league.

One interesting rumor to watch out for, LeBron will officially sign with the Lakers on Friday, he apparently nearly backed out last night after his attempt to get Cousins didn't happen. But don't be surprised if Anthony Davis is a Laker by this weekend. Apparently the Lakers have decided to go all in on him and then try and get Kawhi as a free agent after this season.

They don't have the ammo for Davis.

 

[Mainstreet]

This is a function of LeBron doing what he does FWIW. People forget how much leverage he has in the league.

One interesting rumor to watch out for, LeBron will officially sign with the Lakers on Friday, he apparently nearly backed out last night after his attempt to get Cousins didn't happen. But don't be surprised if Anthony Davis is a Laker by this weekend. Apparently the Lakers have decided to go all in on him and then try and get Kawhi as a free agent after this season.

If something like this should happen the Commissioner needs to step in and stop it. Do a lockout if necessary.

 

[Phrazbit]

They have no chance at Davis. He's locked in for 3 years, nothing like the Leonard situation. Lakers don't have near the ammo for him and if NO did become open to moving him half the league could outbid LA.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Yes, holding employees in one place on perpetual one year contracts. It's garbage.

Just... get... rid... of... max... salaries. It's only there to save owners from their own stupidity.

You blame max salaries, I blame the super max. The super max has been used by agents to create the illusion that superstars deserve it so pretty good players must deserve the max (or close to it). But I agree, the franchise tag and any attempt to limit free agency are not the answer.

 

[AzStevenCal]

They have no chance at Davis. He's locked in for 3 years, nothing like the Leonard situation. Lakers don't have near the ammo for him and if NO did become open to moving him half the league could outbid LA.

Apparently Davis recruited Randle to New Orleans so yeah, I don't see it happening.

 

[taz02]

Yes, holding employees in one place on perpetual one year contracts. It's garbage.

Just... get... rid... of... max... salaries. It's only there to save owners from their own stupidity.

Players are contractors not employees. If they were employees you could fire them at any time and not have to pay them.

Non-compete and single source contracts are common place.

 

[AzStevenCal]

If something like this should happen the Commissioner needs to step in and stop it. Do a lockout if necessary.

Not until the money dries up. If their TV partners encourage something drastic like this, I could see it happening. But I can't see ESPN or TNT supporting the idea.

 

[Finito]

This is a function of LeBron doing what he does FWIW. People forget how much leverage he has in the league.

One interesting rumor to watch out for, LeBron will officially sign with the Lakers on Friday, he apparently nearly backed out last night after his attempt to get Cousins didn't happen. But don't be surprised if Anthony Davis is a Laker by this weekend. Apparently the Lakers have decided to go all in on him and then try and get Kawhi as a free agent after this season.

Why would NO trade Davis he likes it there. Even if they did open the door for Davis a team like Celtics would go all in

 

[Mainstreet]

Why would NO trade Davis he likes it there. Even if they did open the door for Davis a team like Celtics would go all in

It's almost playground basketball stuff with the leaders of select teams picking and choosing from the best players around the NBA.

 

[Phrazbit]

You blame max salaries, I blame the super max. The super max has been used by agents to create the illusion that superstars deserve it so pretty good players must deserve the max (or close to it). But I agree, the franchise tag and any attempt to limit free agency are not the answer.

Either one. It artificially deflated the contracts of actual superstars and allows pseudo stars to get wildly overpaid.

No max contracts and guys like LeBron and Durant would be on 7-8 year deals for nearly 40 mil per year, contracts so big and far reaching, teams could only carry one. And guys like Derozan, Beal and... yeah, Booker, would be on 3-4 year 15 mil deals.

 

[Phrazbit]

Players are contractors not employees. If they were employees you could fire them at any time and not have to pay them.

Non-compete and single source contracts are common place.

Yeah, and non compete and single source contracts are signed on the open market... not after getting drafted and perpetually franchised.