The Players are taking over the League. Is it bad.

[KG Living Legend]

 Danny traded for old man Ray Allen, Ave Garnett.

 Lebron started this mess and it's getting ugly fast. We may benefit now with Hayward. The Durant move made me sick.

 This had been the worst playoffs I've ever seen. The best series by far was the Celtics vs wizards.

 Good news is the Celtics are in line to be the next Superteam. Even still this is getting out of hand.

 Should the League do something to level the field at least a little more than this.

[mahcus smaht]

Im not sure.

The league handled the cap jump really horribly. Thats the reason Golden State exists.

I dont think there is any reason to make any huge changes. They just need to adjust for that next time such a jump comes up.

[LilRip]

It was the stupid cap jump that messed up the balance.

[JSD]

Celtics screwed with amnesty clause
Then screwed with cap hike.


Essentially penalized for being good with the cap the last 10 years

[Androslav]

It is all good to me.
What is wrong with having a historic team (perhaps even a dynasty) every once in a while, a decade or two apart.
They drafted their core, developed them and outsmarted the others, I give them props.
Cap spike itself was not the issue, it was Steph's MVP 10 mil per salary that made this possible if you can recall. Also, remember that we got big Al cause of the spike.

And what in the 1st place is wrong with players being - the league?
Is anyone missing a 60-year-old lawyer to be the face of the league?
I'd rather have the players have that role.
I don't watch games because of the lawyers.
I want to see ubermensch perform.

Please explain this collective whine to me.

The better the competition, the sweeter the championship!

[tazzmaniac]

Im not sure.

The league handled the cap jump really horribly. Thats the reason Golden State exists.

I dont think there is any reason to make any huge changes. They just need to adjust for that next time such a jump comes up.

The league wanted the cap jumps spread out over a few years to avoid the huge spikes.  The players wouldn't agree to that. 

[spikelovetheCelts]

KD wanted to show Lebron how to make. A super team. I am glad Bird has three rings and I want Lebron to have the same. I like to watch GSW. I may grow tired of it in time.

[celticsclay]

It is all good to me.
What is wrong with having a historic team (perhaps even a dynasty) every once in a while, a decade or two apart.
They drafted their core, developed them and outsmarted the others, I give them props.
Cap spike itself was not the issue, it was Steph's MVP 10 mil per salary that made this possible if you can recall. Also, remember that we got big Al cause of the spike.

And what in the 1st place is wrong with players being - the league?
Is anyone missing a 60-year-old lawyer to be the face of the league?
I'd rather have the players have that role.
I don't watch games because of the lawyers.
I want to see ubermensch perform.

Please explain this collective whine to me.

The better the competition, the sweeter the championship!

There will be the least playoff games since at least 2003 this series.
The league loses money when this happens and the salary cap could go down over a million dollars from the playoffs alone for next season
When there are 7 of the best 20-25 plays in the league on two teams it leaves a lot of teams with no marketable players and attendance and local tv ratings goes down over the long term (there were dramatic reductions in some markets this year, even in areas where the teams were similar).
It is a particularly bad time for the league to have poor basketball and few marketable players on many franchises because all sports are experiencing issues with declining viewership due to an increase in available entertainment options like apple tv, youtube tv, netflix, amazon and hulu that continue to provide high quality on demand viewing that can be streamed anywhere.

I would also leave you with this, if the Warriors and Cavs are playing again for the 4th time in a row next year, do you really think that will be compelling?

 This is less fact based and more anecdotal, but a lot of my friends throughout the country are casual fans of the NBA (and not celtics fans). They are already a lot less into this finals and playoffs this season and some of them don't even watch it. We also had a poll here that had really tepid interest in this series. Some people get into it, but most people don't want to see the same teams go at it every year. Silver hasn't said there is a problem yet, but has talked a lot about competitive balance issues.

[KGs Knee]

Players taking over the league?

I'm not sure what you mean by that, bit if you mean player are choosing to play where they want to play when they become free agents, that's how it should work.

I'm not seeing anything here worth complaining about.

[CELTICSofBOSTON]

Celtics screwed with amnesty clause
Then screwed with cap hike.


Essentially penalized for being good with the cap the last 10 years

How did the amnesty clause screw us? I'm just curious. I kinda forgot how it worked.

[wdleehi]

I don't blame the player alone. 


It is the entire deal that wasn't set up to handle giant cap jumps and players taking less money. 

[KG Living Legend]

It is all good to me.
What is wrong with having a historic team (perhaps even a dynasty) every once in a while, a decade or two apart.
They drafted their core, developed them and outsmarted the others, I give them props.
Cap spike itself was not the issue, it was Steph's MVP 10 mil per salary that made this possible if you can recall. Also, remember that we got big Al cause of the spike.

And what in the 1st place is wrong with players being - the league?
Is anyone missing a 60-year-old lawyer to be the face of the league?
I'd rather have the players have that role.
I don't watch games because of the lawyers.
I want to see ubermensch perform.

Please explain this collective whine to me.

The better the competition, the sweeter the championship!

There will be the least playoff games since at least 2003 this series.
The league loses money when this happens and the salary cap could go down over a million dollars from the playoffs alone for next season
When there are 7 of the best 20-25 plays in the league on two teams it leaves a lot of teams with no marketable players and attendance and local tv ratings goes down over the long term (there were dramatic reductions in some markets this year, even in areas where the teams were similar).
It is a particularly bad time for the league to have poor basketball and few marketable players on many franchises because all sports are experiencing issues with declining viewership due to an increase in available entertainment options like apple tv, youtube tv, netflix, amazon and hulu that continue to provide high quality on demand viewing that can be streamed anywhere.

I would also leave you with this, if the Warriors and Cavs are playing again for the 4th time in a row next year, do you really think that will be compelling?

 This is less fact based and more anecdotal, but a lot of my friends throughout the country are casual fans of the NBA (and not celtics fans). They are already a lot less into this finals and playoffs this season and some of them don't even watch it. We also had a poll here that had really tepid interest in this series. Some people get into it, but most people don't want to see the same teams go at it every year. Silver hasn't said there is a problem yet, but has talked a lot about competitive balance issues.

 TP CC. Fantastic post. Spot on.

[bdm860]

I would also leave you with this, if the Warriors and Cavs are playing again for the 4th time in a row next year, do you really think that will be compelling?

 This is less fact based and more anecdotal, but a lot of my friends throughout the country are casual fans of the NBA (and not celtics fans). They are already a lot less into this finals and playoffs this season and some of them don't even watch it. We also had a poll here that had really tepid interest in this series. Some people get into it, but most people don't want to see the same teams go at it every year. Silver hasn't said there is a problem yet, but has talked a lot about competitive balance issues.

Well the Finals ratings are currently at a 20 year high, so it seems like most people do actually want to see this.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2017/06/11/2017-nba-finals-ratings-continue-to-set-20-year-highs/#48af16311377

The first two games of the 2017 NBA Finals put up the highest television ratings since Michael Jordan was winning his last title with the Chicago Bulls back in 1998.

Game 3 in Cleveland then topped each of the first two games and is among the highest-rated games of the modern era.

In fact, it was the second-highest rated Game 3 in NBA Finals history. That dates all the way back to 1991. We are talking the first of Chicago's six titles under Jordan, which came against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Needless to say, any thought given to the idea that a third straight Finals between the Cavaliers and Warriors would lack interest can be thrown completely out the window.

ESPN's Darren Rovell reported on Saturday that the first four games of the Finals represent the highest ratings in the NBA since that Bulls-Jazz series with an average viewership of nearly 19.4 million.

[celticsclay]

I would also leave you with this, if the Warriors and Cavs are playing again for the 4th time in a row next year, do you really think that will be compelling?

 This is less fact based and more anecdotal, but a lot of my friends throughout the country are casual fans of the NBA (and not celtics fans). They are already a lot less into this finals and playoffs this season and some of them don't even watch it. We also had a poll here that had really tepid interest in this series. Some people get into it, but most people don't want to see the same teams go at it every year. Silver hasn't said there is a problem yet, but has talked a lot about competitive balance issues.

Well the Finals ratings are currently at a 20 year high, so it seems like most people do actually want to see this.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2017/06/11/2017-nba-finals-ratings-continue-to-set-20-year-highs/#48af16311377

The first two games of the 2017 NBA Finals put up the highest television ratings since Michael Jordan was winning his last title with the Chicago Bulls back in 1998.

Game 3 in Cleveland then topped each of the first two games and is among the highest-rated games of the modern era.

In fact, it was the second-highest rated Game 3 in NBA Finals history. That dates all the way back to 1991. We are talking the first of Chicago's six titles under Jordan, which came against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Needless to say, any thought given to the idea that a third straight Finals between the Cavaliers and Warriors would lack interest can be thrown completely out the window.

ESPN's Darren Rovell reported on Saturday that the first four games of the Finals represent the highest ratings in the NBA since that Bulls-Jazz series with an average viewership of nearly 19.4 million.

I will be the first to admit I am a bit surprised how well game 4 did. I do believe game 1 and 2 were slightly worse than last year and there may have been some extra intrigue in seeing the warriors attempt to finish a perfect postseason. That being said now people are probably into the series.

However, even if I am completely wrong and people love this matchup and want to see it every year. It doesn't address all the other things I pointed out. The rest of the playoffs have really really sucked. The league is losing money on it. The salary cap is going down on it.
The playoffs started in April. I don't think anyone wants to see 6-7 weeks of completely boring and noncompetitive basketball for one intriguing matchup (to say nothing of a 6 month long season completely lacking meaning and intrigue). Are you suggesting that you do?

[Donoghus]

It'll work itself out once the workings of the last CBA phases out. 

I think a lot of the worries itself are much ado about nothing.