NBA's lack of parity.
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NBA's lack of parity.
What do you think has contributed to the NBA's lack of parity? The Warriors and the Cavs have played each other in the finals for 4 years in a row.
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New! Tazy Ten
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Deku Tree
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Re: NBA's lack of parity.
KD and Boogie payed millions in contract discounts so they could have it easy and play for the Warriors.
I think getting rid of max contracts while keeping salary caps would help. Maybe KD makes a different decision if he's giving up $25M instead of $8M to play for the Warriors, you know? Maybe to get King James, you gotta pay the dude $50M.
I think getting rid of max contracts while keeping salary caps would help. Maybe KD makes a different decision if he's giving up $25M instead of $8M to play for the Warriors, you know? Maybe to get King James, you gotta pay the dude $50M.
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Calamity Panfan
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Re: NBA's lack of parity.
Endorsement deals make the paycuts players like KD take for going to superteams significantly less of a big deal. If you're making hundreds of millions dollars from Nike or Adidas a year
It's also really hard to build teams off of drafts in the NBA. Even if you've got a lottery pick, you're lucky to get a starting-caliber player. Once you're halfway through the first round, you just hope you can get a solid rotational guy. If you're a perennially mediocre squad like, say, the Detroit Pistons, it's insanely hard to build a team with the NBA draft with the 10-20th picks. Even if you tank for high draft picks like the Sixers did with The Process, it's a gamble. Not every one of those picks was Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons.
But the NBA has never really had much parity. In the 1980s, FIVE TEAMS went to the NBA Finals. The Lakers or Celtics won 8 of the 10 NBA Finals that decade. The second greatest NBA player of all time had to briefly retire for a team other than the Bulls to win a championship in the mid-90s (though boy, Rockets-Bulls would've been INCREDIBLE series in those two years).
The 2000s had more parity than we do now probably, but it was still a lot of the same teams contending year-to-year: Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, Heat, Celtics.
To be truly great in the NBA you either need a generational player, luck into enough draft picks, have a solid-to-good coach, or be enough of a Big Name Location to attract free agents. Unless your generational player is an MJ or LeBron, you probably need at least two of those. Essentially, you have to have smarts, money AND cap space. That's hard to get.
It's also really hard to build teams off of drafts in the NBA. Even if you've got a lottery pick, you're lucky to get a starting-caliber player. Once you're halfway through the first round, you just hope you can get a solid rotational guy. If you're a perennially mediocre squad like, say, the Detroit Pistons, it's insanely hard to build a team with the NBA draft with the 10-20th picks. Even if you tank for high draft picks like the Sixers did with The Process, it's a gamble. Not every one of those picks was Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons.
But the NBA has never really had much parity. In the 1980s, FIVE TEAMS went to the NBA Finals. The Lakers or Celtics won 8 of the 10 NBA Finals that decade. The second greatest NBA player of all time had to briefly retire for a team other than the Bulls to win a championship in the mid-90s (though boy, Rockets-Bulls would've been INCREDIBLE series in those two years).
The 2000s had more parity than we do now probably, but it was still a lot of the same teams contending year-to-year: Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, Heat, Celtics.
To be truly great in the NBA you either need a generational player, luck into enough draft picks, have a solid-to-good coach, or be enough of a Big Name Location to attract free agents. Unless your generational player is an MJ or LeBron, you probably need at least two of those. Essentially, you have to have smarts, money AND cap space. That's hard to get.