in these, the waning days of stern: 2013-2014 NBA regular season thread (part 1)

Lakers may have already resigned themselves to not being able to sign LBJ

But this puts them in a good position for the Durant sweepstakes

I mean there's no doubt in my mind that this represents a decision by the owners to not be competitive for the next two years and to make money off of the % of 13 million LA citizens who would still pay money to watch a cooked Bean play

You may think that your average Laker fan is not that stupid

But that's being generous

Even with a shitty team Lakers still brought in tons of money last year

― 乒乓, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 10:41 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they made the playoffs, and no doubt theyre also bringing in tons of money this year without kobe, the lakers will make tons of money, if the lakers win theyll make more money, this deal extends the no winning era in favor of a washed up former superstar era, not very wise imho

Nah man the fallback position for the Lakers is to be the West Coast Knicks, no winning + superstar to draw the crowds

non contending teams just do not draw crowds, watch what happens if the knicks continue to suck

the lakers for all we know may be an exception to that rule and always sell out no matter what, but that still doesnt make the kobe deal a good one

It's a terrible decision if your only metric is W/L

But I still think it's a savvy business decision

I think the numbers here are really interesting

http://www.forbes.com/nba-valuations/

Thunder brought in 127 mil in revenue

Other teams that broke the 120 mil mark: Suns, Magic, Cavs, Pistons, Warriors

Generally the 'elite' teams bring in 130 mil or more, e.g. the Heat brought in 150

Lakers and Knicks brought in 197 and 243, respectively

i wouldn't exactly say it's "savvy." the savvy business decision would be to figure out how to make tons of money and still put your team in a place to win games.

It's a terrible decision if your only metric is W/L

But I still think it's a savvy business decision

― 乒乓, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 10:52 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its shitty from both points of view, which are highly correlated, quite obviously too

giving kobe a hilarious contract was kind of the default move right? i mean who really expected kobe to be playing for anyone besides LA next year?

they couldve paid him less and still retained him because no one was gonna give him nearly that much

i dunno i think kobe had the leverage actually

really tell me whos gonna sign kobe to that kind of money

nyets wd find a way

Forcing him to take less money would be an implicit acknowledgment that management believes he's cooked (which doesn't look good for either side) unless Kobe made a statement that he was 'taking less money so that we can be competitive in the free agent market'

Think how likely it would be for Kobe to admit that

really tell me whos gonna sign kobe to that kind of money

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:00 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

if i'm arguing this from kobe's side i say "look, someone will definitely pay kobe 2/35. are you prepared to tell your fans that you let the most beloved player of the last 30 years walk over $13 million?"

i wouldn't exactly say it's "savvy." the savvy business decision would be to figure out how to make tons of money and still put your team in a place to win games.

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, November 27, 2013 10:56 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

Can you think of a way though. I mean let's say you force Kobe to a under 20 million contract (unlikely) or just let Kobe walk (extremely unlikely). What are your other options for next season. Who are the big FA's on the market?

that zach lowe column spells it out nicely

they probably will not be able to sign kevin love, for instance

my guess is that the lakers are banking on being able to do some Crazy Laker Shit because a superstar wants to force a trade there in the next few years

I think Lowe's column assumes they won't be willing to take luxury tax hits

its free agents for the next TWO offseasons youre wiffing on fwiw, kevin love la native who doesnt like his team comes to mind

the lakers did this deal because they are kobes bitch is what it comes down to m/l

Who's gonna sign Love to a 22 million a year contract?

what do they do after this contract is up, is kobe going to retire, not if he can still walk, shd they sign him to the biggest contract in the league then too

what do they do after this contract is up, is kobe going to retire, not if he can still walk, shd they sign him to the biggest contract in the league then too

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:09 AM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark

yeah this is kinda the more interesting question

retires and becomes the coach like j kidd

They'll cross that road when they get there

Who's the big FA coming up in 15-16? LBJ if he doesn't take his player option. Who else?

why does dayo write like bill plaschke now

lol

yeah this is kinda the more interesting question

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:09 AM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its not the more interesting question, its exactly the same question, i assume if you guys are in favor of wildly overpaying kobe now then youre also in favor of doing it in two years too

By the end of this contract we'll have a lot of data on how good Kobe is after coming back from injury. If he stinks, giving him a more reasonable contract will be more justifiable from everybody's perspective

You could argue why didn't the Lakers just do that this year. True, but probably the longer you wait the more pissed off you'll make Kobe. And he runs that town

Who's gonna sign Love to a 22 million a year contract?

― 乒乓, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:08 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

anyone with $22m

lakers despite their ability to attract any and all free agents are cooked im guessing, their management is just too incompetent now

the knicks west

why does dayo write like bill plaschke now

Who is bill plaschke

I blame my iPhone

lakers were dumb to do this move, p sure fans in LA wd get over any affront to kobe once they started winning again

like kobe get that paper dude, but lakers are like....punting here

lakers have missed the playoffs like twice in the last 25 years, their fans are soo spoiled, the meltdown shd be fun

lakers despite their ability to attract any and all free agents are cooked im guessing, their management is just too incompetent now

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:17 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the knicks west

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 11:17 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

i agree w/ this 100%

i think it will be interesting to see if the clippers can capitalize on this longterm

id like to see kobe booed at home before this is all over

crazy both the nbas signature franchises are being run by idiot heirs

#america and all

I dunno. The Lakers over invested in their hall of famer on a short term contract. Not in Dolan's league.

theres more track record than that to go on

On the other hand Dolan's dad has as many titles as JD has

Knicks have won two titles in their history and yet are Americas highest grossing and most valuable franchise

Meanwhile the celtics were on life support in the mid 00s until they pulled off the big three coup

for instance if you look at last years team past their top four it was very telling at how bad theyve been at filling out their roster, they still had the old laker magic as far as attracting stars but signing the right role players or drafting useful players late in the draft, forget about it