Jerry West is a fan of contraction

[slimm44]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

If the two lowest revenue generating teams were contracted, say Miami and Minnesota, (Just a guess, didn't know where to find the info. I was going to put the Clips, but LA is a big market, even with two teams. Atlanta, Memphis, Detroit, and possibly others could have been used also.), these are the starters to be drafted.

It would potentially give
1. New Jersey - Dwayne Wade
2. Golden State - Michael Beasley
3. Washington - Al Jefferson
4. Indiana - Johnny Flynn
5. Philly - Kevin Love
6. Detroit - Jermaine O'Neal
7. Sacramento - Ryan Gomes
8. Knicks - Corey Brewer
9. Bucks - Mario Chalmers
10. Charlotte - Quentin Richardson

The two worst teams in the league get a top-5 talent and a very young, very promising PF. Washington gets an outstanding low-post presence, Indiana gets PG help, Philly bulks up their front line, Detroit gets bigger in the post, and the rest are throw-ins, with Q potentially giving the Bobcats a solid outside shooter.

New Jersey's potential lineup would be

PG Devin Harris
SG Dwayne Wade
SF Chris Douglas-Roberts
PF Josh Boone
C Robin Lopez
6th Man Courtney Lee
Chairman Yi
Bobby Simmons
Jarvis Hayes
Rafer Alston
Trenton Hassell

I think that squad wins more than 3 games. Besides, Devin Harris and D-Wade in the same backcourt would be sick. They may also be able to lure Bosh or a different top-notch FA with that lineup.

[P2K]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

You guys do remember the epic suck of the late 90's and early 2000's, right?

And? There's still a dilution of talent. Or are you for worse play and there being only two legit title contenders in the league?

[JBH3]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

Just because NBA players are better doesn't mean the talent pool is larger. So by "evolving" are you hoping there are fifty NBA teams in the future?

How could the talent pool be smaller? It's a global game now, and there isn't the same racial tensions from when Jerry West began playing in the NBA in the early 60's.

Talent pool is larger...MUCH larger.

[Taur3asi3]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

Top 4 teams from each division make the playoffs only. This would make division play matter more. I'm not a big fan of contraction but if the league decides to go this route taking away the Nets and Clippers and go with this division format. I could live with it.

Bad, bad, bad idea. The NHL used to do this and it was awful. With the NHL a team would miss the playoffs because they finished 5th in their division yet a team who made it in over them had 12 less wins.

[Stumbleweed]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

And? There's still a dilution of talent. Or are you for worse play and there being only two legit title contenders in the league?

Wait, there are only 2 legit contenders? News to me.

My point was that today's NBA is better than it was 10 years ago.. talent level and otherwise. We have one of the future GOAT PGs in CP3, the future GOAT in LeBron (along with a great supporting cast of other superstars.. Kobe, Wade, Durant, Melo, Dwight), 2 divisions in the West have all but 1 team over .500 and heavily in playoff contention... I guess I don't get it. Suddenly the NBA is bad and it's because there are 30 teams rather than 28 or 26? I don't see it.

There is more and better talent than ever due to the growth of developmental leagues, the increase in talent in Europe, and the global growth of the game. Most of the horrible teams are because GMs screwed up and signed horrendous contracts that saddled their team for 5+ years and eliminated their playoff chances, not because there is actually a dearth of quality players. The concentration of power right now is kinda crazy (especially in the East where Orlando sits Brandon Bass with a DNP almost every night), but it's just temporary as teams like the Knicks and others start to emerge from salary cap hell. Teams like Cleveland and Orlando sort of lucked out on timing because they had the right mix of low dollar contracts, quality young players, and owners who can afford to spend over the luxury tax... adding to it was the issues that many other franchises were going through, the possible reduction in cap for 10-11, and the reticence of players to sign with bad teams who are essentially waiting for 2010.

You can make a FAR better argument for the voiding/reducing of horrendous contracts or something along those lines, which essentially protect the owners, teams, and fans, from terrible predestined losing seasons (unless something unexpected like an injury to a superstar, Arenas-type situation, etc. happens) than you can for contraction IMO.

[P2K]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

Wait, there are only 2 legit contenders? News to me.

My point was that today's NBA is better than it was 10 years ago.. talent level and otherwise. We have one of the future GOAT PGs in CP3, the future GOAT in LeBron (along with a great supporting cast of other superstars.. Kobe, Wade, Durant, Melo, Dwight), 2 divisions in the West have all but 1 team over .500 and heavily in playoff contention... I guess I don't get it. Suddenly the NBA is bad and it's because there are 30 teams rather than 28 or 26? I don't see it.

There is more and better talent than ever due to the growth of developmental leagues, the increase in talent in Europe, and the global growth of the game. Most of the horrible teams are because GMs screwed up and signed horrendous contracts that saddled their team for 5+ years and eliminated their playoff chances, not because there is actually a dearth of quality players. The concentration of power right now is kinda crazy (especially in the East where Orlando sits Brandon Bass with a DNP almost every night), but it's just temporary as teams like the Knicks and others start to emerge from salary cap hell. Teams like Cleveland and Orlando sort of lucked out on timing because they had the right mix of low dollar contracts, quality young players, and owners who can afford to spend over the luxury tax.

You can make a FAR better argument for the voiding/reducing of horrendous contracts or something along those lines, which essentially protect the owners, teams, and fans, from terrible predestined losing seasons (unless something unexpected like an injury to a superstar, Arenas-type situation, etc. happens) than you can for contraction IMO.

Contraction is not the only solution to the NBA's problems, I agree. Your post overall is on point (not like you need my approval lol). But the spreading out of talent has killed bench play and killed team ball altogether. This going hand-in-hand with Stern changing the rules to cater the superstar isolation era.

Again, dilution of talent isn't the only problem. More talented league, yet fundamentals are very lacking...the cap rules and contracts crippling teams...I could go on. But, I do think contraction would help the NBA and also the three other major sports.

[Schism 6]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

haha "back then". Jerry West needs to shut up. Different age. Different time.

Show some respect to a great........Who by has more basketball talent and knowledge in his pinky toe than you have in your entire family tree.

[Schism 6]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

I would like just a smaller season. It is just too awful to take teams away from faithful fans. Look at Seattle, that is just unfair. I love the NFL with almost every game mattering. I'd say like a 29 game season or maybe 58 would be awesome. I love the NBA at the start and finished but I just get kind of bored in the middle. Never happens with College Bball and NFL for me. Definitiely happens in MLB though. I think I watched the first five games on TV, then watched all my Met games on TV, and after that stay cleared until the playoffs. Basically I watched like 12 games. Shorter Seasons!!!

I'm sorry but all pro sports could lose 5-10 teams each and they'd all be a better product, along with say a 64 game schedule for the NBA and Hockey would be fine.....

[Schism 6]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

Wait, there are only 2 legit contenders? News to me.

My point was that today's NBA is better than it was 10 years ago.. talent level and otherwise. We have one of the future GOAT PGs in CP3, the future GOAT in LeBron (along with a great supporting cast of other superstars.. Kobe, Wade, Durant, Melo, Dwight), 2 divisions in the West have all but 1 team over .500 and heavily in playoff contention... I guess I don't get it. Suddenly the NBA is bad and it's because there are 30 teams rather than 28 or 26? I don't see it.

There is more and better talent than ever due to the growth of developmental leagues, the increase in talent in Europe, and the global growth of the game. Most of the horrible teams are because GMs screwed up and signed horrendous contracts that saddled their team for 5+ years and eliminated their playoff chances, not because there is actually a dearth of quality players. The concentration of power right now is kinda crazy (especially in the East where Orlando sits Brandon Bass with a DNP almost every night), but it's just temporary as teams like the Knicks and others start to emerge from salary cap hell. Teams like Cleveland and Orlando sort of lucked out on timing because they had the right mix of low dollar contracts, quality young players, and owners who can afford to spend over the luxury tax... adding to it was the issues that many other franchises were going through, the possible reduction in cap for 10-11, and the reticence of players to sign with bad teams who are essentially waiting for 2010.

You can make a FAR better argument for the voiding/reducing of horrendous contracts or something along those lines, which essentially protect the owners, teams, and fans, from terrible predestined losing seasons (unless something unexpected like an injury to a superstar, Arenas-type situation, etc. happens) than you can for contraction IMO.

I remember when Marbury was a future GOAT, what happened? Nothing in the NBA is set in stone, Grant Hill was gonna be the next MJ before injuries.... Nothing is a sure bet in life and to call anyone's career before it's over or to label players like the kids do now is silly and it's just a crap shoot. Drugs, women, injuries, stupid choices alot of players make, can all derail a career.....

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

GSW-Its never personal to me on here. I just know that you're wrong in everything you said, but I kept quiet to see if you would correct yourself, which you didn't so ill do it for you.

New Jersey's unability to even fill out the Izod Center has nothing to do with the product on the floor(right NOW it does). I don't know if you've ever been out east or been to NJ but the Izod Center is located in the absolute WORST spot to have a Sports Arena, not to mention it's on one of the busiest highways on the East Coast. Hell this was an issue even when we were good and making the Finals those years but when you're trying to start a game in the middle of rush hour traffic when you know half of your attendance is going to be sitting in traffic on the Turnpike for awhile, then any team will struggle to fill up it's arena. That's how it's always been and will be until this new arena gets off the ground.

As for "being terrible for sometime" that bill fits ya'll alot better than it does us considering we could have more than one winning season a decade unlike ya'll. So why not mention your squad?

[Schism 6]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

GSW-Its never personal to me on here. I just know that you're wrong in everything you said, but I kept quiet to see if you would correct yourself, which you didn't so ill do it for you.

New Jersey's unability to even fill out the Izod Center has nothing to do with the product on the floor(right NOW it does). I don't know if you've ever been out east or been to NJ but the Izod Center is located in the absolute WORST spot to have a Sports Arena, not to mention it's on one of the busiest highways on the East Coast. Hell this was an issue even when we were good and making the Finals those years but when you're trying to start a game in the middle of rush hour traffic when you know half of your attendance is going to be sitting in traffic on the Turnpike for awhile, then any team will struggle to fill up it's arena. That's how it's always been and will be until this new arena gets off the ground.

As for "being terrible for sometime" that bill fits ya'll alot better than it does us considering we could have more than one winning season a decade unlike ya'll. So why not mention your squad?

Inability........

[slimm44]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

IMO, contraction wouldn't be primarily because of talent or the lack thereof, but because some teams aren't able to make money. When that happens, you have two choices - A, find out how to make the franchise more prosperous, or B, cut em off. There are enough teams losing money that it could potentially damage the NBA as a whole.

The other side of the coin is that through contraction, you get better because of addition by subtraction. Less teams leads to deeper teams and better product to sell the consumers, regardless of the talent pool. The more teams you have, the deeper you delve into the talent pool to fill those teams. The deeper you go into the talent pool, the lower-quality players you find.

[JBH3]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

Inability........

[tehova]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

8 teams 2 conferences

[slimm44]

Re: Jerry West is a fan of contraction

8 teams 2 conferences

I used this smiley because I don't know what it means and I didn't know how to respond to this post. They'd be some STACKED teams. 8 teams, 2 conferences, 112 games per season. NBA Live 95 stats on rookie mode.