Tag Archives: The Decision

December 3, 2011 · 1:20 pm

The Star problem

I decided that instead of doing a sports roundup for today I’d address a pretty major relevant topic this morning in a ranting format.  ESPN’s TrueHoop blog which has become mandatory daily reading for me,  has an article up written by Henry Abbot, who I began reading daily thanks to his excellent lockout coverage and most of all his common sense perspective, in which the title and point is that stars act like stars because they are…wait for it, STARS.

The Chris Paul furor on twitter/radio/national landscape has been unbelievable.  I admit I’m a Knick fan first and foremost.  I admit also that barring Imam Shumpert is the second coming of Isiah Thomas*, the Knicks don’t have anything remotely resembling an enticing package to trade to New Orleans for Chris Paul.
*= Where by I would argue then that the Knicks shouldn’t trade for CP3 and should focus on who I believe SHOULD be their primary target and that’s Dwight Howard. 

Ok, I get all that.  But why all the hatred?  The entire twitterverse has been raging over on beat the Knicks down testosterone as if the competition hasn’t been doing that for years.  Its these same know it all critics that confidently pointed out that the Knicks didn’t have enough to trade for Carmelo Anthony* and well we all know how that turned out.  I’m not saying they are wrong here.  I’m just alarmed at how angry these fans/”objective journalists” get when they talk about the Knicks having no shot at getting Chris Paul.
*= Which I STILL think was a mistake because now we’re here.   

Aside from the no-assets argument, they say that Chris Paul would NEVER leave money on the table, a reported $26 million if he doesn’t sign with a team that owns his Bird rights.  But this was all a reaction to a Yahoo Sports report that his agent, Leon Rose who also represents Carmelo Anthony for CAA, notified New Orleans management including GM Dell Demps that he would not sign an extension in season and requested a trade to the K nicks.  Suddenly groans were being bellowed and sarcastic (and actually funny) remarks were being made that Melo had orchestrated this whole thing and that all the leverage that the owners talked about taking back had just been virtually erased with one fail swoop from a superstar’s agent.

What?  The owners didn’t destroy their leverage, they worked on getting more of it with this new CBA.  The whole point of this was to gain competitive balance which is a hypothetical fantasy land filled with fairies and gnomes.  That place only exists in the minds of those who read numbers and conjure up arguments to support that case.  Competitive balance is the understanding that a system is in place that allows EVERY TEAM To fairly compete in an economic landscape.  But our society in general doesn’t have that so why should sports be any different?  If we relate NBA teams to everyday status roles, the Knicks and the Lakers are the rich kids while the Hornets are the orphans and Oklahoma City is the middle class.  New York and LA will always hold major advantages over other places because they can.  They have the most financial opportunity.  They have the most wealth and its not even close.  If its a competition why should New York and LA forego their advantages because everyone is throwing a hissy fit?

But now, Chris Paul is the latest superstar diva trying to screw over a small market team with his grandiose dreams of making it in a big city.  So, if I have this straight he SHOULDN’T leave money on the table to go and play for a team that employs one of his best friends but he’s also a scumbag because of how he’s deserting a small market?  Huh?  Come again?

Make up your minds.  He’s either a greedy person and stays with the Hornets currently owned and operated by all 29 franchises.  Or he’s not greedy and is destroying the NBA by creating a superstar alliance of his own in New York.  There’s a good/bad side to everything I guess.

Somewhere, signals got crossed and this became a moral argument.  It began with Lebron and ended last year with Carmelo and begins anew with Chris Paul.  And its a wonder why they are such close friends.  Suddenly superstars were beholden to teams and supposed to stay in their lanes.  No one would’ve had a problem with Lebron staying in Cleveland.  I’m not absolving him from how he announced it and I agree that it didn’t help his public image.  But he did something even greater than all that albeit in spectacularly stupid and insensitive fashion.  He let the NBA and his fellow superstars know that THEY, and not the powers that be that run their teams or the CBA have the power.  If you are willing to give up a little in terms of compensation from your teams, you can dictate the terms.  That’s real power and that’s real forward thinking.

We were all kind of blind to the situation when it happened but I get it now and moreso when Carmelo asked for a trade.  His intent to go to the Knicks was known and it became front page news in Denver and New York when it leaked that his destination of choice was New York.  He had roots there and wanted to play under the bright lights of a big city.  He was exercising his God-given right to do what he pleased and you want to know why the Nuggets listened?  Because he’s a superstar.  Because he holds weight and if he says he wants to go somewhere he will find a way to get that done regardless of whether it makes sense.  Its that kind of power that makes Kim Kardashian continue to have her show picked up by E!  Its their talent and ability to draw that gives coked up former Hollywood heavyweights the ability to continue making million dollar deals.  No matter what, you can’t ignore talent and can’t tell talent what to do if they know they have the leverage.  And players have always had the leverage and always died to exercise that leverage and no one of Lebron’s stature had done anything close to what he did when he made the Decision.

But the NBA and namely David Stern has been creating this beast slowly but surely over the last 30 years.  The NBA moreso than any other league is star driven.  You don’t come to see the Lakers, you come to see Kobe play.  You don’t come to see the Heat, you come with your Lebron Haterade filled signs and come to see Lebron and D-Wade.  Stars run this league and rightfully so.  Would you pay the high ticket prices to come see Eddy Curry?  No.  You’d ask the Knicks to pay you to see that garbage.  Stern has enabled players to become the superstars and earn the high priced endorsement deals outside of basketball and has given them unseemly amounts of leverage.  It was a calculated risk that worked in the 90’s and its working today in albeit a different form.

The problems ratifying a new CBA this year was linked to Lebron’s Decision from last year for the following reasons: small markets were complaining that this new precedent and formation of super teams would make it impossible for them to convince their star players to stay.  But let’s study the real facts here.  Lebron was drafted by Cleveland in 2003.  Took it to the Finals in 2007.   Got them the number one seed twice in the East.  Gave them seven transcendent seasons and it became a problem that he was leaving.  Seven seasons of dominant basketball, no title, no sign of cap space to sign an extra piece and yet this was Lebron’s problem?  Dirk Nowitzki proved this season that if you surround your superstar with enough good talent you will win.  Lebron’s late game heroics aside, the Cavs only came close ONCE.  Did Lebron quit the last two seasons in Cleveland during inopportune times and did he shrink during the Finals again last year?  Yes.  But the fact remains he does not get the lions share of the blame for him wanting to explore his options.

But it became an even bigger issue when Carmelo Anthony, another 2003 product and close Lebron ally, told Denver management that he wanted to be traded.  The Nuggets as a team have never preached defense during their time and only ONCE did they find a team capable of escaping the first round of the playoffs and yet the blame was laid on Melo’s lap because that’s the gift and curse of the superstars.  In their failures they are given the blame and during their best times they are given the credit.  But for seven seasons with no change in sight suddenly Melo was wrong in wanting a scene change to somewhere he’d rather be.  And now CP3 is asking for virtually the same thing.

I don’t get the villainry angle that is slowly emerging.  Why are they wrong for wanting to do what they want?  Would you be blamed for wanting to better your situation?  Wouldn’t you find it odd that people criticize you for wanting a job at a bigger company?  Are you supposed to be at the same company you were at from the time you entered the workforce forever?

Stars sustain this game no matter how you want to look at it or love it.  The Knicks will always have the advantage of being from New York.  Their failures like the Heat will be displayed on billboards for all to see.  This country loves its underdogs yet it doesn’t remember that they are the big dogs.  They are the world’s bullies.  In much the same way, the NBA’s small market teams like to see itself as underdogs in this situation when they were the bullies that almost torpedoed the season and wound up costing the fans, vendors, local businesses 16 games worth of experience and revenue respectively.

The point is, this whole argument against a player wanting to exercise his lawful right to explore his options is beyond hypocritical.  If you want to criticize someone, do it because Chris Paul is poisoning his team.  He isn’t.  He’s working out with his teammates and trying to keep a level head.  Don’t heap this all on his head and make him the face of this new NBA where players still have the leverage and proclaim it to be a bad thing.

He’s either greedy and a loyalist for staying with the Hornets and taking the biggest contract possible OR he’s another spoiled rotten superstar who gave up the largest possible contract to play for considerably less but be where he wanted to be.  So he’s damned if he does and damned if he don’t.

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July 26, 2010 · 8:50 pm

Getting Knick’d off at all this waiting

Minutes after Lebron announced that he was “taking his talents to South Beach”, I turned around and resumed the Happy Hour I was in the middle of.

I care deeply about sports and care would be an apt word to describe me and my fan dom. I take losses personally and sulk. I still haven’t gotten over Game 7 of the NLCS of 2006. I still haven’t gotten over ball 4 in Game 7 of the NLCS in 1999. Hell, I can’t get over the image of Nate Robinson jumping up and down with Paul Pierce during the playoffs like they’ve been boys for years.

But Lebron choosing to go for Miami wasn’t a loss. July 8th was like every morning you check the lotto results and hope and pray to God that your numbers hit. If it doesn’t, guess what? Life goes on. Not to gass up Lebron any more but if he had chosen New York, let’s be real it wouldve been like hitting the lottery.*
*= of course the other side of it is Cleveland. It hit the lottery in 2003, literally, got Lebron and in 7 years they flushed away the money and were left with nothing and was left really bitter about it.

But New York moved on. Or did it?

Almost 3 weeks later the Knicks find themselves in the same will he or won’t he game that they were playing for the last two years, and surprise surprise it appears Lebron James has his hands over this one.

Chris Paul, is NOT a free agent. He has exactly zero leverage to demand anything of his team. But in reality, the situation is not that simple. Sports stars sell tickets. Owners are at the whim of sports stars and thus to protect their money maker they cater to the wishes and wants of any sports star like changing flight schedules and preferential treatment that others don’t get. Seats for family members, and jobs for friends within the team. Just a few of the perks.

But when a star player becomes disgruntled for whatever reason and demands to be traded it not only hurts the owner from a business sense, it hurts him from a personal sense, thus you have nutjobs like Dan Gilbert writing “I hate you” notes.

I suppose, taking notes from his good friend Lebron Chris Paul plans on making trade demands when he, his new agent (Chris Rose, who also reps Lebron), Hornets new GM Dell Demps, and new coach Monty Williams sit down to go over the plan for the Hornets as they try and convince Paul that they are committed to bringing a title to N’awlins.

Star players can demand these sit downs with ownership because its viewed as a sign of good faith because let’s face it, no player wants to spend their peak years playing on borderline good to bad teams.

But Paul has listed the Knicks as a possible landing spot if he demands a trade and the Knicks could match up trade wise with the Hornets if they were so inclined.

I say no.

I say if anyone in this city has any pride they should say no. I know that trading for him would make the Knicks a much better team but think about the message it sends throughout the league. If Paul wants to come here in two years, then let him but the precedent Lebron has set is unsettling for a few reasons:

1. STOP THE AAU-ization of athletes- It gives free rein for superstar athletes to up and leave teams high and dry. Fan bases and whole communities become connected with these guys and teams that let these players call the shots within the organization set themselves up.
The biggest thing AAU did for these guys was give them the shady runner/agent feel from an even younger age than football players. These traveling camps pick the best kids from inner cities then these coaches pocket the money and influence a kid to whatever high school and college pay them the most.

These “mentors” stay with the player throughout, and become who teams talk to in order to get to the star player. That’s why even earlier on, being the lackey is a far more lucrative business than player.

The players are from a young age given preferential treatment which of course allows them to think that the rules don’t apply to them. At no point in their lives, until they mess it up off the field, do they ever have to lift a finger for them. They have an entourage to do everything.

Next time you wonder who this guy thinks he is, when he asks for a trade with two years left on a guaranteed scale with absolutely no leverage except being a star player, remember what I just told you. These guys are spoiled beyond belief and no amount of “reason” can convince them of any other way.

So I suppose it makes sense that Lebron, the king spoiled athlete/brat is advising him to do what “is best for him and his family.”

2. SUPERTEAMS may be enjoyable. But only for the 4 or 5 fanbases lucky enough to have one. I have no problem with the way Oklahoma City is built through the draft or how San Antonio was built. I do however have a problem with the league being just a few really powerful teams and everyone else being mediocre to poor teams. Its just not fair and even if the dream scenario were to happen in NY of a Melo, Amare, and CP3 union.
Its clear that these guys are much smarter business wise than generations before them. They are trying to follow the Jordan plan to be wealthy and not just rich.
Only the elite guys have the opportunity to do that and they are taking advantage of that. And Lebron and his friends are leading the charge.

3. Stop the US vs THEM argument- and by them I mean management and leadership. Riles may have coaxed the threesome to South Beach but I think Lebron’s grand scheme goes further than that. His boys want a piece of the pie and are using Lebron’s status to get there. Thus, if management doesn’t give them what they want they can seek out new ones that will and don’t think it will just stop at basketball. IF Paul’s group can get him out of New Orleans plenty other sports stars will view them as miracle workers and they can market themselves as such. Owners and players have long been at odds and while I wholistically disagree with Jesse Jackson’s assertion that Dan Gilbert has a “slaveowner’s mentality” that’s really what it comes down to for them. The ownership are the enemy and its going to take players teaming up on THEIR terms to bring back leverage to them. It is a players league after all. Here’s the problem to all this: The players and the owners are heading towards a lockout. Owners will remember this kind of player collusion much like the NFL’s players will remember the suspected owner collusion in doling out rookie contracts. No one forgets a thing in these matters and when it comes time to resolve issues at a bargaining table all the ugliness will come out and it won’t help that ownership sees more power shifting to players as they see a bigger cut of the profit pie.

Those reasons may or may not have convinced you, but let me explain my side to you in another light.

When I agreed to meet my friends for happy hour and watch “the Decision” I did so realizing that I would most likely be disappointed, but the bright side was that cheap drinks and a rooftop would ease my pain.

It didn’t. It sucked. I really thought the Knicks were getting set to cash in the lottery ticket and for the first time I saw the city’s collective wind being sucked out. Everyone went back to their respective conversations but we kept looking at the screen with disappointment and all you kept thinking was “is this guy serious?”

For the last two years we had waited patiently and sat through bad basketball. We had waited for this moment and we were all in from jump street about the plan of action. We could take the losing if in the end it meant a bigger reward. We laid two stink bomb years and even put our pride to the side and cheered Lebron despite the fact that he was wearing a different team’s uniform.

We were rewarded with Chris Broussard’s constant Miami theory and Stephen A Smith’s rant about Miami. We were given a phony hour long special and a lousy explanation. We were duped into believing that we had a shot when we never did and we paid by sacrificing two years of sucky basketball just to not hear our name called when time came for it to be called.

Frankly Mr. Paul, and all other free agents, I have a message: New York is not a city full of suckers. We’re not going to sit and wait for things to happen. We aren’t going to be drawn in and read into twitter posts or sit through Chris Broussard’s “source reports.”.

I like our team. I like Felton and I LOVE that we got Anthony Randolph for nothing. If a free agent wants to grab enough balls to come here, that’s cool. We’d love to have you but if not, that’s fine. I’m done waiting for the next generation of superstar athlete baiting us into another few seasons of losing.

I’m not blaming the free agents, its not their fault that we let Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas make foolish trades to have us tied up for years. But the way things are going, Knicks fans are continuously left waiting on a lottery ticket to be handed to them and frankly I’m done waiting. Its time to make with what we got.

So if I have to trade away my entire team for Chris Paul, thanks, but no thanks.

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July 13, 2010 · 11:01 pm

New York and the NBA after “The Decision”

New Yorkers are incredibly resillient.  That much I’m sure of.  So recovering from the mess that was Lebron took only a few hours.  We’re a city that moves so quick that tourists complain about our rudeness.

We’re not walking fast, you’re just walking slow.

So no wonder that yesterdays press conference to announce 4 new players to the Knicks roster was met more with answers of what was to come than what wasn’t.

Allan Houston, the Knicks GM-in-training, knows about defeating the Miami Heat.  He lives on in New Yorkers hearts for his teardrop shot to shock the Heat during the 99 season. A season where an 8th seed like them beat a 1 seed like the Heat, a scenario that the Knicks could find themselves in this season.

Projected records so far have the Knicks winning between 38-42 games which would be, at best, a 12 game turnaround.  Its entirely possible that the Knicks could be the surprise team if you buy into all the doomsday theories of the Knicks going back to irrelevance now that Le-Bum spurned New York’s advances.  If we had anything over the past two years, it was hope that Lebron was on his way like a knight in shining armor to save the day.

But that prince turned into a frog instead.  He became Hollywood Hogan and went AWOL on the good guy list.  Now he’s the villain universally.

My question is..was that…a good thing?  Hear me out Knick fans.  Maybe I’m just sipping from the kool aid a bit too much but I’m thinking pretty clear, I promise.

My points are all purely circumstantial so I have nothing to stand behind but a hunch.  What if Chris Paul’s reported announcement of his own big 3 wasn’t all talk?

If you haven’t read the newest rumor to drive Knick fans crazy, here it is.  Marc Berman, the Knicks beatwriter for the New York Post, said that in a speech during friend Carmello Anthony’s wedding, which James was also in attendance for, said he, Melo, and Amare would form their own Big 3 in New York to challenge the one in South Beach.

How much truth lies in that statement remains in question.  Remember Knick fans, Lebron started flirting with coming to New York two years ago too.  So let’s hold our horses and not get set up again.

Ok, so let’s start imagining a scenario I’ve been thinking about since this newstory leaked.  What if this Big 3 forming in Miami sparked an idea in the minds of all free agents to be that the only way to assure yourself of greatness is to be teamed with a really good squad and form your own super team?  What if guys like Chris Paul and Deron Williams (both free agents in 2012) want a championship badly enough that they would let statistics be damned and join forces to make it happen?

It makes sense now that the discussion on the superstars are changing.  If stars no longer care about competing against each other then expect more super teams to come together.

So now the only relevant topic left is to scout potential landing spots for that kind of star power and all signs point to New York being the last glamour spot left in the NBA for stars to really shine on a huge stage.  The Knicks and Nets can basically play up the image part of being a champion in New York now that its become clear what this generations stars are after.  Its not about individual glory.

Which brings us to David Stern’s comments regarding Lebron’s exit strategy.  He said his decision making was poor and he wished he had informed Dan Gilbert, the crazy owner of the Cavs, sooner than he had about him leaving as opposed to a nationally televised audience.  The interesting part is how Stern views this shift.  Its bigger than you think.

Stern’s marketing made his stars huge.  In the early 80’s basketballs ratings were so poor that the Finals were shown on tape delay on CBS.  Magic and Bird brought the NBA back with their rivalry and MJ took it to a whole other level.  Basketballs popularity skyrocketed with MJ’s emergence.  The marketing job they did on Jordan and helping take his accomplishments and multiply its importance was and remains why we view Jordan the way we do.  Stern always had a star to build around.  Like the sun to the rest of the planets orbiting around it.

Its why when Jordan left, the discussion was where the NBA would find its next Jordan.  How could you follow that act up?  It took years and years before fans were able to accept that there was no next Jordan.  Remember Harold Miner? T-Mac? Vince Carter?*  All good players but never nearly as great as we as fans thought they’d be.
*= I especially hate Vince Carter because I was almost positive he was the next best thing.  He came from Jordan’s alma mater, North Carolina, and he had all the easy athleticism that made Jordan so enjoyable to watch even though he was beating my franchise down.  But his injuries never seemed genuine and he quit on the franchise that invested in him.  I just had very little respect for a man who I felt was wasting his talent and not using it which is why I suppose this Lebron “Decision” irks me too.

If championships are the only category to worship then Russell is the champ.  If its scoring ability its Kareem.  But because of his flair and the commercials and the aura he built with the marketing dollars, we all ceded that it was Jordan.  I believe Jordan was the greatest because you just knew when you were watching him that you were going to be treated.  A singular talent like him shined brightest on the bright stage as if he did it without a supporting cast, as if there was no Pippen.

Need a more contemporary example?  Everyone that watched the Finals know that Gasol outplayed Kobe in game 7, but Kobe, with a 6/24 shooting performance won the series MVP.  Why?  Because Kobe is the biggest star.  Kobe basically had to show up in order to win the MVP.

The NBA is a star’s business and Stern was a master in pushing his sports top athletes.  He understood that and he made it profitable.  So when he sees Lebron make a business decision personal to join friends in search of championships, he’s seeing his biggest meal ticket ruin what could be millions more in branding and other things.

Now Stern has to sell the team to fans as opposed to two separate entities.  He can’t just market Lebron by himself.  He has to market him with Wade.  Wade and Lebron are close enough to assume sporting headlines in matchups against each other.  Remember the NBA on NBC ads? “Jordan and the Bulls vs Ewing and the Knicks.” Who but the Lakers can match in star power?

Stern’s anguish was evident during the press conference.  He looked like he went to happy hour a few hours prior to the presser.  He looked tired and stressed like he’d been on multiple conference calls to sort out the mess that he knew he was in.  Imagine having crafted your business one way and now having to change it even slightly not because of your customer base but because of your employees.

Stern doesn’t have his heir apparent to Kobe.  It could be Wade but he had Lebron fitted for that crown.  Now its up in the air and Stern has to wonder what it means for the future of his stumbling league if stars are leaving smaller market teams to join together and form super teams then Stern will have an even bigger problem.

Guys talking about joining together publically?  The biggest star in the game coming out of this with more trash flying at him than Hulk Hogan when he made the heel turnV  Stern now has a PR and business problem at hand.

But Stern’s loss may end up being New York’s gain.  What if the summer of 2010 ended up shifting the thinking among young stars.  If a guy like Lebron cedes he can’t lead a team by himself then everyone may begin feeling the same and by the time your done in a few years you have 5 or 6 really really good teams and a bunch of bad ones.  Its natural to assume that the NBA will be in trouble and Stern should be worried about how this summer has gone but you think Miami Heat fans are worried about the state of the NBA?  Well if it benefits New York then neither should we.  New York is resillient, we will get through the hate.

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