Nba 2016-2017 Season! Let's Get It On!

[azraelmd]

May pagasa pa si lebron.....ayain na nya si wade na lumipat....

[MrSniper88]

f#&k! Akala ko sa spurs o new york pupunta si KD. Why KD? Ayaw nya pagpaguran magkaroon ng ring? Gusto nya easier route for a ring? I wish sana maKARLMALONE sya.

[EL_PY]

KD decided what the best for him.

Win championship and earn. Period.

We may dislike the methods of these players but at the end of the day, priorities matters.

Saka since two years lang yan, he will surely opt the 2nd year.

Lebron and KD can have max deals next year pag nag effect higher cap space.

[kind patron]

One way in which Durant can be effective on the Warriors is with the pick-and-roll. According to NBA.com's player-tracking data, Golden State averaged 1.08 points per possession with Marreese Speights as the roll man and 1.06 points with Festus Ezeli in the same role.

Now imagine Thompson or Stephen Curry coming off picks set by Durant. Either combination could be potentially deadly, especially on pick and pops when Durant floats out to the three-point line.

Durant's drives into the paint will inevitably leave shooters open on the outside, too. In that sense, Thompson should be a major beneficiary. Opposing defenses had a hard enough time covering Thompson over the last few years. Now, they'll have to worry about keeping a man on Durant at all times.

As intimidating as they seem on paper, the Warriors are bound to have an adjustment period as they accommodate Green, Durant, Thompson and Curry on the same court.

[Guiness]

the issue here is not KD leaving OKC. its KD signing with the Warriors. This is more of a coward's move. If he wanted to leave fine, he's entitled to that, but you leave for a situation where you compete with others to get a championship and EARN it through your own merit. He could have signed with a team like Miami, Boston, or even San Antonio or even if it was a longshot the Knicks and lead that team.

 

Not join an already established team who was 1 win away from winning a 2nd championship team. The WArriors can win a championship without Kevin Durant. That's how good they are as a team. Even if KD wins a championship with the Warriors. He won't earn that championship. It's a hand me championship because he was riding on the coattails of the WArriors and Steph Curry.

 

There's no parity in the league anymore by him doing this, i'm not gonna watch the NBA if all im going to see are 2-4 teams being the only legitimate contenders. Tha'ts f-u.cking boring, watching Golden State winning all the time. There's no more competition.

 

These are some of the reactions from ESPN regarding KD's decision to sign with the Warriors

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bp9kJucv44

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRhAFrtyZJs

 

From what they are saying Fans outside of Golden State will be booing Kevin Durant more than ever when they come to play in their arena. You will see words like Coward, Traitor, Sellout and other words describing how they view Kevin Durant. From What Colin Cowherd says, Durant will be the villain here kind of like what happened to Lebron when he came to Miami. I know Durant cares how people view him, i wonder how he will react to people booing him now because he's never been hated in his career. This will be quite an experience for him.

Edited July 5, 2016 by hahnz

[kind patron]

i love that reaction from the NBA from Bleacher Report's twitter account

[Guiness]

The Frank Caliendo impersonating Morgan Freeman's voice while reading KD's letter in the background while fans burn KD's jersey tweet?

 

yea it was good. Frank Caliendo is a talented impersonator. He impersonates a lot of sports personalities in basketball and mostly in American Football.

 

People from social media are brutal they're calling him a pu.ssy and a bi.tch for joining an already great team. Not going to a team that needed pieces to win a championship. Its kind of like Jollibee and Mcdonalds. I don't see Mcdonalds merging with Jollibee to form a super fast food, i see them competing against each other and that's why people are ticked off at what prompted Durant to make this asinine decision.

 

Pierce took to Twitter to talk about his opinion on the KD Decision

 

 

Pierce taking a shot at KD. what a surprise.

[Guiness]

Mavericks agree to trade for Andrew Bogut, will sign Harrison Barnes

The Dallas Mavericks will be adding a pair of Golden State Warriors -- forward Harrison Barnes and center Andrew Bogut -- in the wake of Kevin Durant's decision to sign with the Warriors, according to league sources.

 

The Warriors and Mavs have agreed to a trade that will send Bogut to Dallas, according to league sources. The Mavs also reached a verbal agreement on a four-year, $94 million maximum deal with Barnes.

Sources told ESPN that the Warriors will renounce their rights to Barnes as a restricted free agent with Durant heading to Golden State, meaning there will be no three-day waiting period while his previous team ponders whether to match the offer.

The Warriors needed to shed Bogut's $11 million salary to create cap space to sign Durant to a two-year, $54.3 million deal.

 

By adding Bogut, Dallas, which acquired center Zaza Pachulia from the Milwaukee Bucks in a similar salary dump last summer, would fill a need at starting center with a proven veteran on an expiring contract.

Barnes, 24, turned down a reported extension totaling $64 million before the 2015-16 season. He in turn had his best campaign as a pro, averaging 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 66 games.

 

A polarizing player because of his inconsistency, Barnes has been a key cog in the Warriors' back-to-back runs to the NBA Finals, particularly in their small-ball lineups.

Barnes thanked the Warriors and fans for his four years with Golden State.

"I've grown up in Oakland and thank everyone for all the love that was shown there from day one," he said on his Twitter feed. "You guys have been rockin with the team for decades before we got there so it was rewarding to bring a championship to the Bay."

 

Bogut, 31, suffered bone bruises to his proximal tibia and distal femur, two major bones in the leg, during Game 5 of the NBA Finals and missed the final two games of the series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bogut's injury did not require surgery.

[bakedzitiguy]

concede na ba ang season sa golden state?

[joveybbb]

New York will be a good team

[Guiness]

Dwyane Wade commits to Bulls, tells AP he's made 'the right choice'

Free agent Dwyane Wade has committed to joining the Chicago Bulls.

"This was not an easy decision, but I feel I have made the right choice," Wade said in a letter released to the Associated Press.

"He's home," one source close to Wade said of the Chicago native.

"Watching the Bulls growing up inspired me at an early age to pursue my dream of becoming a basketball player," Wade said in his letter. "My most treasured memories were watching my dad play basketball on the courts of Fermi Elementary School and developing my game at the Blue Island Recreation Center. I have never forgotten where I came from, and I am thankful to have an opportunity to play for the team that first fueled my love of the game."

 

Wade has agreed to a two-year deal worth $47 million, according to the AP. The Miami Heat, Wade's team for his entire 13-year career, had a two-year, $40 million offer on the table for him.

 

Extreme acrimony had been building between Wade and the Heat over the past week. Wade met with Heat owner Micky Arison in New York on Monday.

 

"Miami dared a very proud man to go home, and that man's best friend [LeBron James] just won a title by going home," a source very close to the process told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

 

Arison took to Twitter late Wednesday to thank Wade for his 13 years with the Heat.

 

After Wade and the Heat failed to reach an accord Monday, the Bulls picked up their intensity in attempting to trade players, sources said. Wade and the Bulls entered serious negotiations late Wednesday after he held free-agent meetings during the day with several teams, sources said. The Bulls had ramped up efforts to clear needed space to give Wade the multiyear deal he has been seeking.

A source told ESPN's Chris Broussard that Jimmy Butler had a phone conversation with Wade in which he recruited him. Wade and Butler, who are both Marquette products, are looking forward to playing together, according to the source.

 

Wade also considered Milwaukee because of the Marquette connection, the source told Broussard, but the Bucks couldn't get near Wade's asking price of 2 years, $50 million.

 

The Bulls had been gaining momentum on landing Wade and believed they had a trade partner willing to take on Jose Calderon to clear salary-cap space, sources told ESPN.com.

 

The Los Angeles Lakers have swooped in ahead of the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Calderon, according to league sources Thursday. Calderon and two future second-round picks are headed to Los Angeles in exchange for a player to be named later, the sources said.

Calderon seemingly was headed to the Nets, but sources say Chicago informed Calderon's representatives that they are trading him to L.A. instead.

 

The Bulls have also agreed to a trade that will send Mike Dunleavy to the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to sources.

James has long coveted Dunleavy as a teammate, a source said.

 

Calderon became a focus of trade talks because he is in the final year of a contract that pays him $7.7 million.

With the Bulls sending Calderon to the Lakers, according to sources, Chicago clears the way to create more than $20 million and beat the Heat's offer for Wade.

Shipping Dunleavy out removes the $4.8 million he was slated to earn this season.

 

The richest offer for Wade had been from the Denver Nuggets, who offered him $52 million over two years. Wade met with the Nuggets on Wednesday.

Wade has told friends if he ever left Miami, where he has played 13 seasons and won three titles, it would be to play for his hometown Bulls, sources said.

 

Information from ESPN's Chris Broussard was used in this report.

[direstraits94]

Tim Duncan has retired

[Guiness]

Adam Silver: Kevin Durant's decision to sign with the Warriors as a free agent is not "ideal from the league standpoint," adds, CBA needs change

 

LAS VEGAS -- NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed concern about the impact of Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors and indicated that changes are needed in the collective bargaining agreement to maintain the league's competitive balance.

"Just to be absolutely clear, I do not think that's ideal from the league standpoint," Silver said during a news conference after the league's annual board of governors meeting, referring to Durant's decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder to be part of a so-called super team with Golden State. "For me, part of it is designing a collective bargaining agreement that encourages the distribution of great players throughout the league. On the other hand, I absolutely respect a player's right to become a free agent and in this case for Kevin Durant to make a decision that he feels is best for him. I have no idea what's in his mind or heart in terms of how he went about making that decision. ...

"In a way, the good news is that we are in a collective bargaining cycle, so it gives everybody an opportunity -- owners and the union -- to sit down behind closed doors and take a fresh look at the system and see if there is a better way that we can do it. My belief is we can make it better."

 

The league's current CBA, negotiated during the 2011 lockout, runs through June 30, 2021. However, either side can opt out June 30, 2017, if it notifies the other party by Dec. 15.

 

Silver described the discussion regarding this year's free-agency cycle -- and specifically Durant's decision to join a Golden State team that already featured three young All-Stars and is coming off two consecutive Finals appearances -- as "robust" and "with various views" among the owners and team executives attending the board of governors meeting. Silver clearly stated that he believes it's in the league's best interests to make changes to the CBA regarding free agency.

"There are things and corrections we can make in the system," Silver said. "Of course, I'm not going to negotiate here with the union, but it requires two parties to make those changes. I think we've had very productive discussions with the union so far and we will continue to do so."

 

Silver mentioned that he did not "necessarily want to overreact to a particular situation," referring to Durant's decision. He added that part of the discussion in the board of governors meeting was about how much of what happened in free agency was an "anomaly," created in large part by the unprecedented spike of the salary cap.

 

Due to revenue from the NBA's new television agreement, the salary cap soared from $70 million last season to $94 million this summer, allowing the Warriors to create cap space to sign Durant to a max contract while maintaining their core of All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green as well as sixth man Andre Iguodala. The cap is projected to rise to $102 million next summer.

 

The NBA approached the players' union with a "smoothing" proposal that would have resulted in much more gradual increases to the salary cap -- and would have eliminated the Warriors as a realistic option for Durant in free agency -- but was rejected. Silver acknowledged that the league "did not model for such a large spike in the cap," enabling teams such as the Warriors to make moves that otherwise would not have been possible.

"We all knew all this money was going to come into the system and many of these things could have happened," Silver said. "The fact that it's now in front of us and we're looking at how the money is being paid out and we see a particular player move, yes, without suggesting I'm negotiating, there's no question that those are things that will be discussed in future meetings with the players' association."

 

A major emphasis during negotiations of the current CBA was to give every team, regardless of market size, an equal opportunity to compete for a championship. For example, the CBA allows a team that owns the Bird rights of a player to offer its free agent a five-year contract with 7.5 percent annual raises, with other suitors limited to offering four-year deals with 4.5 percent annual raises.

 

In the case of Durant, the Bird rights weren't a factor because it made sense for him to sign a short-term deal with the salary cap continuing to rise and him a year away from reaching 10 years of experience, making him eligible for the highest tier of a maximum contract. Durant signed a two-year, $54.3 million deal with the Warriors that includes a player option for the second season.

 

"My sense is some of the player movement we just saw isn't necessarily a function of market size," Silver said. "It's clearly a case of one particular player's desire to be in a situation with a group of players that all have already proven that they can win [a championship]. By the way, I don't mean to be so cryptic. In the case of Kevin Durant, I absolutely respect his decision, once he becomes a free agent, to make a choice that's available to him. In this particular case, he operated 100 percent within the way of the system, and the same with Golden State.

 

"Having said that, I do think to maintain those principles that I discussed in terms of creating a league in which every team has an opportunity to compete, we do need to re-examine some of the elements of our system so I'm not here next year or the year after that talking about anomalies."

 

Adam Silver Doesn't Think Superteams Are Good For NBA

 

Adam Silver was asked for his response to the Golden State Warriors creating a superteam by signing Kevin Durant this offseason.

The Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are widely expected to win their conferences again for the third straight season.

 

"I don't think it's good for the league," Silver said.

"I do think we need to reexamine some of the elements of our system," said Silver.

"There are certain things, corrections we can make to the system."

 

Silver was frequently quoted as saying the NBA's new Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2011 would create more competitive balance.

Edited July 13, 2016 by hahnz

[Guiness]

NBA Trade Rumors: Blake Griffin Could Join Celtics From Clippers In Three-Team Deal

Move over, Russell Westbrook. You’re not the only athlete rumored to be shipping up to Boston. Los Angeles Clippers All-Star big man Blake Griffin could be in green next season, if the latest Blake-to-Boston Celtics whispers are true. Here’s this, from RealGM’s Keith Smith.



We’re not going to sit here and give Smith a hard time for this report. Sources say what sources say. But moving Blake Griffin to acquire Rudy Gay doesn’t just sound like a terrible trade — it is one. The Clippers are title contenders — super team in Golden State notwithstanding — and unless they’re blowing things up (and even if they are), you can be sure that type of return is unrealistic. But, hey, it’s July. What else are we going to talk about?

Edited July 14, 2016 by hahnz

[smyts]

Hack a Shaq no more =(

[micro_player]

sana matuloy yang sa C's

[Guiness]

NBA teams appear to be preparing for a lockout. Here’s what they want changed.

By Tim Bontemps July 15 at 10:28 AM

LAS VEGAS – The NBA has arguably never been stronger than it is today. Ahead of a season that will feature a bevy of marketable stars, a budding rivalry between the Cleveland Cavaliers of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and the Golden State Warriors of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, skyrocketing franchise valuations and the influx of massive amounts of cash thanks to a new television deal, it is undeniably a golden era for the league.

 

So why is it, as the NBA’s annual convention otherwise known as the Las Vegas Summer League continues this week, that the dominant theme among the league’s movers and shakers is the strong possibility of a work stoppage next summer? Ironically, many of the same reasons for the league’s current vibrancy and health could lead it to the brink of labor strife next July.

 

More Money, More Problems

The first point of contention is an age-old issue whenever there’s a pile of money to divide: both sides want a bigger share.

 

In the last lockout in 2011, the NBA significantly cut into the National Basketball Players Association’s share. The league managed to reduce the players’ share of basketball related income (otherwise known as BRI) from 57 percent before the work stoppage to a band between 49 and 51 percent under the new CBA.

That doesn’t mean the league is satisfied, though.

 

“They want one thing,” said one player agent, referring to the owners. “They want a higher percentage than 50 percent [of BRI]. That’s it.”

 

But while the owners will want a bigger cut, so will the players. Since Michele Roberts became the executive director of the NBPA, she’s made it clear she’s going to try and give the union more of a backbone than she believed the organization exhibited in the past. This will be her first chance to prove it.

 

Franchise tags

The idea that someone of Durant’s caliber was able to join Golden State without the Warriors having to tear up their roster is something that’s left many teams around the league unhappy. Silver admitted as much when he said of this week’s Board of Governors meetings, “Of course we discussed the activities from the last two weeks for free agency. I would say we had a robust discussion in the room of various views of player movement that we’ve seen.”

 

Silver also made a point to circle back to one theme multiple times during his press conference Tuesday evening: that the NBA needs to try to ensure all teams have a chance to be competitive, provided they are managed well.

“I do think to maintain those principles that I discussed in terms of creating a league in which every team has the opportunity to compete, I think we do need to re-examine some of the elements of our system so that I’m not here next year or the year after again talking about anomalies,” Silver said. “There are certain things, corrections we believe we can make in the system.

“Of course we’re not going to negotiate here with the union; it requires two parties to make those changes. I think we’ve had very productive discussions with the union so far, and we will continue to do so.”

 

One of those elements to be re-examined will likely be the proposal of an NFL-style franchise tag, an idea tossed out by several executives in Las Vegas this week. If the Thunder had the option to retain Durant with such a designation, he would have been prevented from leaving via free agency. Similarly, if it existed now, the Thunder would have the option to use it on Russell Westbrook after next season. Instead the Thunder face a current situation in which Westbrook is presumed likely to be traded by General Manager Sam Presti to ensure Oklahoma City doesn’t lose a second star for no return.

 

Player opposition figures to be strong against a franchise tag. From their perspective, Durant spent nine seasons playing in Oklahoma City and had earned the right to test the open market. The topic could be one of the most contentious during any collective bargaining.

 

No more maximum salaries

The sheer dollar amounts of the summer’s free agent contracts to middling players has been a popular talking point in Las Vegas, but some of that amazement at the big-dollar figures comes out of context. If contracts were measured as a percentage of the salary cap, rather than a total dollar amount, these contracts wouldn’t look much different than past pacts, given the $24 million jump in this year’s salary cap ceiling.

 

But that cap jump and the artificial ceiling for max contracts meant plenty of players were given hefty contracts this summer simply because they could peg their demands to a max salary, and know multiple teams would give it to them. The most obvious example is Harrison Barnes, who went from being the fourth or fifth option with the Warriors to getting over $90 million guaranteed over the next four years on a max deal from the Dallas Mavericks.

 

“If I was the owners, why wouldn’t I want to stop this?” one talent evaluator asked.

One easy way to both prevent these kinds of contracts and to eliminate the ability for teams like the Warriors to have several stars team up would be to eliminate max contracts. If players like Curry and Durant could each command, say, $50 or $60 million per year instead of the $26.5 million and change Durant will earn next season on his maximum allowed salary, it would be difficult – if not impossible – for them to play together without agreeing to take gigantic pay cuts.

Unlike many of the topics on this list, however, this one could gain some traction. Roberts has previously talked about the possibility of eliminating them, and with the union’s executive committee now full of names like Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony — who all would likely command more than a maximum dollar amount in an open market — perhaps it’s something they would be interested in pursuing.

 

The problem, though, is that such a decision would significantly diminish the NBA’s middle class. Those artificial maximum limits for players like Curry, Durant and James mean players like Barnes, for example, benefit by hauling in the dollars the league’s stars aren’t allowed to collect for themselves.

 

Bring on the hard cap

The idea of a hard salary cap has been something the NBA has always wanted. There’s no better way to prevent teams like the Warriors from accumulating a disproportionate amount of talent than a fixed spending limit teams are forbidden to exceed.

But just as it’s something the NBA has always wanted, it’s something the players union has always fought. The idea surfaced during the last lockout and it was a non-starter for the union. Eventually the NBA relented, and pulled it off the table.

When Adam Silver said Tuesday that, “I think we can make the system even better,” this is one of the things he undoubtedly had in mind. It’s also something the players will fiercely resist.

 

With so many issues for the two sides to hammer out over the next 12 months, and with NBA teams apparently determined to find ways to prevent moves like Durant joining the Warriors, settling on a new CBA will not be an easy task. And the incredible amount of money up for grabs won’t make the task of dividing it any easier.

 

[Guiness]

Pat Riley has an interesting idea about how to fix the NBA's 'superteam' problem

In the aftermath of Kevin Durant's decision to take his talents to the 73-win Golden State Warriors, the basketball world has obsessed over and decried the latest NBA trend of "superteams."

 

With the Warriors taking the idea of superstars teaming up to a new level, many have argued how these superteams make the league anticompetitive, how they are a product of max contracts undervaluing the league's best players, and above all else, how they need to go away.

On Saturday, Miami Heat President Pat Riley (who knows a thing or two about superteams) offered his solution to this problem: create an NBA franchise tag, which would allow each team to sign one player for as much money as they wanted, no salary-cap rules applied.

 

Here's Riley:

"I believe that there should be a franchise tag on one of your guys. My opinion of a franchise tag — this is why they don't allow me to talk and give opinions in the collective bargaining agreement — is that a franchise player to me would be a player in which you can pay him as much money as you want.

"It doesn't go against the cap. Everybody gets one player, that Kevin [Durant] you get 50 [million], LeBron you get 100 [million]. Somewhere along the way there are players in this league that are worth that kind of money. Or there's a limit on that. But if you franchise somebody then you have the ability to protect [against your star player leaving for a super team.]"

 

There's some truth to the notion that Durant's decision to team up with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green has made the league less all-around competitive: We're in the heart of the NBA offseason and, barring some unforeseeable, blockbuster trade, a Finals rematch between Cleveland and Golden State already feels like a foregone conclusion.

 

But so long as elite NBA players are willing to take pay cuts in order to play with other elite players (which is, in part, a product of rings and legacy remaining national obsessions), superteams will forever continue to exist, at least in some capacity.

 

Still, the question of altering the collective bargaining agreement in some way to structurally defend against the creation of superteams remains an intriguing one.

Riley's idea is certainly thought-provoking, though its logic is based on an assumption that a prestigious NBA free agent would always stay with his current team because that team has no limit in how much money it could spend on him.

 

That's maybe true for some players, but again, many players (understandably) care more about winning championships than anything else. And for those dying for a ring, why opt in to a $50 million franchise tag if that team is never going to actually compete for a title? Instead, you could sign a max contract (about $27 million per year) under the salary cap with a better team — a team that would have likely offered its own franchise tag to another superstar. And wouldn't that, then, just be another superteam?

 

Another possible flaw in Riley's concept is that there are very few sure things in sports. As The Big Lead notes, shelling out $50 million or $100 million is almost always a risk. Would owners really want to spend that kind of money when a freak injury could end a career?

If nothing else, Riley's solution is interesting in a subject that will continue to gain traction as the season gets underway — because for now, superteams aren't going anywhere.

[DaisukiWie]

Most exciting summer league in ages!

[bukkaka]

this season's draft class are not that super explosive, pero makikita mo sa kanila yung versatility at athleticism

[leaderofthebibes]

Teams to watch for, could go deep into the playoffs or pwede ring pulpol, pero nevertheless talent and coach wise these teams are really good


Boston Celtics (Brad Stevens FTW!!! great coach, Plus they got a legit al horford as center)
Minnesota Timberwolves( Wiggins, Lavine, Dunn, Towns, Shabazz plus a great coach in Tim. Trade rubio for a good PF and surely this team can beat anyone.)
Phoenix Suns( DEVIN BOOKER!!!, plus knight, bledsoe and a great rookie in bender. Coaching wise, siguro kailangan pang experience pero we'll never know, kerr nga eh diba)
Atlanta Hawks(Hindi magiging pulpol dito si howard ako nagsasabi sainyo!! Magaling coach plus deep bench)
Bucks(Ohwell, longest team to, plus a champion coach in kidd)

Overrated Teams:
Knicks(Could go to the playoffs pero now too deep)
Bulls (though nandun si waaade, c'mon wade lang?! HAHA)

Lakers(WALTON!? REALLY!?)

[Mr.TwoTimerss]

team boston

 

[lonelyhobo]

I'm a KD fan but his decision to join the team they ALMOST beat is dumbfounding.

With that being said, I'm still going to follow him to the bay area.

[Guiness]

Why the NBA doesn't like superteams like the Warriors, even though they make a lot of money

By Tom Ziller on Jul 21, 2016, 10:28a

 

The Super Warriors might help the NBA draw more eyeballs, but their existence hurts 29 other teams' ability to win, and thus to make money.

 

There is substantial evidence to suggest that the NBA should like having one or more so-called superteams at any given time. Superteams tend to elevate superstars, like Magic and Bird in the '80s and Michael Jordan in the '90s. This is a superstar league, and higher global profiles for the very best players draws more attention to the NBA itself. Legion are the stories of international fans who watched '90s Bulls games at all hours of the night just to catch a glimpse of His Airness. (A number of these fans have become NBA players and speak fondly on those memories.)

Ratings spikes tend to follow the creation of superteams. Jordan's Bulls won six titles in eight years and had a 72-win season; the NBA's television ratings never reached a higher level than during that run. The 2010-11 Miami Heat brought with them a huge ratings bump, even though (unlike the Bulls) that team was widely reviled. People love a spectacle, and that's what superteams are. The Warriors maintained high ratings and sold out every road game last season while chasing the regular season wins record despite not becoming villainous until the playoffs. Adding Kevin Durant will only boost the interest level more.

The NBA, as a single-business entity that is focused on maximizing exposure, benefits from the creation of superteams. But the NBA really isn't a single-business entity. It's 30 smaller businesses working to each maximize their own revenue.

It's true that a rising tide lifts all boats, but it's also true that winning in the NBA is a zero-sum game. Winning has a huge effect on revenue for those individual teams. Studies have indicated that winning percentage has a strong positive correlation with attendance. Gate receipts are a huge piece of the revenue puzzle for individual teams, as are the knock-on effects from a higher gate: more merchandise sold, higher arena operations revenue for concessions and parking (some of which is shared or taken whole by the team), higher demand for other games through smaller supply of available tickets.

If a few teams are doing all of the winning, are they creating a higher tide that lifts all those less fortunate boats, or a tidal wave that wipes them out? That's the concern those teams have, and that's why NBA commissioner Adam Silver is down on Durant joining the Warriors.

As we tend to think of the NBA as a single, massive business concern, we tend to think of Silver as concerned primarily with growing the league's total footprint. But really, Silver answers to 30 bosses. It does him little good to grow NBA revenue as a whole if only a few teams are truly benefiting. The Warriors, thanks to the wealth of their ticket-buying fandom and their incredible success, were drawing eight-figure gate receipts for single playoff games. Some of that is shared with the broader league. Half ends up in players' hands. The rest stays with the Golden State Warriors, helping to fuel their next talent coup (Durant), a coup that hurts the revenue potential of another team (the Oklahoma City Thunder) directly and other teams indirectly.

Consider it this way. There are 1,230 wins available in an NBA season. With perfect parity, every team would go 41-41. Now introduce just one outlier. Give one team -- say, the Warriors -- 73 wins. With perfect parity for the rest of the teams, they'd go 40-42, a little bit worse. Give one team 73 wins and introduce two more outlier teams that win 65 apiece. The rest of the league is now down to 38 wins apiece. Teams that win 38 games don't really capture the imagination like teams that win 40-something games.

This is a facile example, as the NBA has nothing close to perfect parity (in fact, quite the opposite). The league's standings are messy in permanence. But the larger point stands: when a high-quality team gets better on the court, that starves the other 29 teams of a) a talent asset that would help each of them get better, and potential wins, which are necessary in most cases to maximize local revenue.

Adam Silver's dream isn't really about perfect parity. It's about 30 fandoms that are excited enough about their teams to open their collective wallets and pay to see those teams 41 times a year.

The immense financial success of the Warriors is good for Adam Silver, and important. But it's also important that the Dallas Mavericks succeed financially, that the L.A. Clippers and Washington Wizards and New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Hornets succeed financially. A few teams hogging all of the success for themselves will eventually starve the rest, and when you are starved, you get desperate. That's not what Silver wants or needs. He wants and needs to spread that cake around.

The most intuitive way to spread it around is through robust revenue sharing. The league has gotten better (much better) on that account since the 2011 lockout, but those high-revenue teams come to that solution only begrudgingly.

So Silver and his crew turn toward ways to level the playing court in opportunity to succeed financially. Ensuring all teams have equal opportunity to win basketball games is the clear route to that end. Superteams are roadblocks on the path.

That's why Adam Silver wants to prevent them, no matter how attractive they are to the wider viewing audience.

 

[Guiness]

Kevin Durant turns jeers to cheers, leads Team USA to lopsided exhibition victory

 

LOS ANGELES — In his first game at an NBA arena since he made the decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant was met with a cascade of boos Sunday after his name was announced in pre-game introductions for Team USA’s exhibition against China.

 

The type of reaction, though likely amplified by the number of Los Angeles Clipper fans among the sold-out Staples Center crowd, is something Durant will have to get used to as he takes on the role of NBA villain with his new super-team.

 

Though fans at Sunday’s contest jeered at the sound of Durant’s name, they couldn’t help but cheer his game as he led the Americans to a lopsided 106-57 victory.

 

For the second consecutive game, Durant was the brightest star for Team USA. He followed up his 23-point performance against Argentina with a game-high 19 points Sunday, 12 of which came from beyond the arc.

Two of Durant’s five assists against an overmatched Chinese side came on kick-outs that turned into Klay Thompson three-pointers, putting a smile on the faces of Warriors fans. The two Golden State teammates helped Team USA break out of an early shooting slump and combined for 36 points Sunday night.

“[Durant and Thompson] are two of the best shooters in the world,” Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Our guys want them to get shots. It’s neat when they do shoot that the whole bench wants that to happen. Hopefully they keep hitting them.”

Krzyzewski won’t be alone in his wishes for more Durant and Thomspon highlights at Team USA’s next contest, which will take place Tuesday at Golden State’s Oracle Arena.

 

There, Durant can expect a much warmer welcome as takes to his new home court for the first time.

“I’m excited going to Oakland as a member of the Warriors,” Durant said after Sunday’s game. “We’ll see. I don’t know to expect. I’m just going to go out there and be my normal self and do my normal routine and we’ll see what happens.

 

“I can’t wait. Every time I get to step on the court with these players, I feel better so I’m looking forward to it.”

After that, he’ll get more of a taste of what his new NBA journey will bring when he visits Chicago’s United Center and Houston’s Toyota Center before Team USA officially begins its quest for Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.

 

Earlier this week, Durant told The Vertical’s Michael Lee he flat-out doesn’t care about whether he’s liked or not.

“I want to be liked by people that I think love me. People I don’t know, I don’t care about,” Durant told The Vertical. “I want you to respect my game and what I bring to the floor, and if you don’t like what I do as a person, I don’t care. I want you to respect my game and if you don’t, that’s your problem.”

 

So far, it’s mission accomplished for the newest Warriors star.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o90PytkckwI