The NBA Thread

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JohnErle
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by JohnErle »

Even Canadians would have a hard time getting excited about Tampa Bay vs. Dallas at the best of times. There's lots of star Canadian players on both teams, but neither has much of a fan base, I wouldn't think. Mostly we just resent the fact that Florida and Texas have zero state income tax, which makes it easier for teams to attract elite free agents. The winter weather down there doesn't hurt either.

One upside to these weird, late summer bubble playoffs is that the Vancouver Canucks surprised a lot of people, so it looks like they'll have a bright future ahead of them since most of their best players are very young and only going to get better.

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JohnErle
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Re: The NBA Thread

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Of course, Canadian teams have a new advantage they can use in their sales pitch to free agents. "Want to keep your family safe from COVID and rioting in the streets? Come to scenic Winnipeg."

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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by W »

People say the income tax thing about the NBA, but free agents are always tripping over themselves to go to California (the highest in the country). Kyrie and KD went to New York state (one of the highest). I don't remember the last big free agent that went to San Antonio, Dallas, Orlando, or Houston (LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015?). The biggest FA in Texas and Florida is probably Jimmy Butler since The Big Three and even LeBron and Bosh came down there because of Wade, not the tax implications.
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JohnErle
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Re: The NBA Thread

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Well, the choice between Florida and California is a lot different than the choice between Florida and Ottawa, and the Lakers are probably the most prestigious team in the NBA, so players are probably more willing to pay the extra taxes. And even California's taxes are still much lower than any Canadian province. I remember Steve Francis whining about the taxes in Canada and that was one reason he refused to play for the Vancouver Grizzlies. I don't really follow the NBA or MLB any more, but I'm sure the Raptors and Blue Jays have similar problems keeping American born players. I do know the NBA and MLB have soft salary caps that allow rich teams to throw lots of money at the LeBrons of the world, but the NHL has a hard salary cap where every dollar counts so I think taxes are more of a factor in the NHL than the NBA.

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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by Buscemi2 »

I always heard that Steve Francis asked for a trade because someone in Vancouver thought he was a rapper, which led him to believe everyone in Vancouver thought that. By the way, you should listen to the Crime in Sports episode on him. You'll learn a lot of things you didn't know previously.

As for California, there is the case of some players going there to start film careers. LeBron produces projects and has Space Jam 2 in post-production, Shaq went to the Lakers partially to continue acting, and though not Los Angeles, Steph Curry produced that movie last year with the lady from This is Us.
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by W »

You can’t just sign free agents and go over the cap in the NBA. In the NBA you can go over the cap to sign long tenured players (3 years with the same team signing them). You can also pay these guys more than if you just signed them as a FA. It entices them to stay with the same team. They’re called “Bird rights.” You also have “exceptions” to sign lower level players. And you can sign minimum players if it puts you over. That’s the soft cap.

There are max contracts in the NBA determined by age, how long you’ve been in the league, and if you have Bird Rights. LeBron makes over $37m/year. If a team was allowed to pay $100M, he’d get it. So players of that caliber can pretty much choose where they want to go when their contract is up and they are underpaid relative to their worth to the franchise.

The MLB doesn’t have a salary cap and no max contracts. They have a “luxury tax”. If you go over a certain amount you have to pay into a pot. That pot gets doled out to the lower level teams to try and make it more competitive. A team like the Yankees or Dodgers have the income to pay more for star players because of a bigger fan base and local tv revenue, so they do.

There’s also an NBA luxury tax and the more years you violate it in a row
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JohnErle
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by JohnErle »

Well, like I said, I barely followed the NBA when it was in Vancouver, and never followed it before or after, and I haven't followed baseball closely since the Red Sox ended their World Series drought. You're the expert on both those leagues, so if you say taxes have no impact on free agency I bow to your superior knowledge, but when it comes to the NHL and the competitive disadvantage Canadian teams face, I dare say I know more than you and I still say taxes are one reason hockey players choose to go to places like Florida.

One interesting post-COVID wrinkle is that the NHL is considering an all-Canadian bubble division next year, so all the Canadian teams will be on a level playing field when trying to make the playoffs, which is something I've often thought would be an interesting approach for the NHL to take.

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Re: The NBA Thread

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So kind of like when the CFL expanded to the US and has an all-Canadian division and an all-American division? I bet some Canadians are still salty over an American team winning the Grey Cup.
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Re: The NBA Thread

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The season starts back up this week and my biggest question is why the hell Tom Thibodeau keeps getting hired by teams to coach? He can't win in the postseason and his handling of the Timberwolves should have been enough to forever get himself banished to the forbidden zone. But it is the Knicks and they never seem to learn.
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by transformers2 »

Buscemi2 wrote:
December 21st, 2020, 5:37 pm
The season starts back up this week and my biggest question is why the hell Tom Thibodeau keeps getting hired by teams to coach? He can't win in the postseason and his handling of the Timberwolves should have been enough to forever get himself banished to the forbidden zone. But it is the Knicks and they never seem to learn.
There's your answer. The Knicks are the most inept franchise in the entire league and the prospect of working for James Dolan probably isn't too appealing to most people that aren't desperate for work like Thibs.
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by W »

All I know is it's almost Lukatime.
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by transformers2 »

Watching Luka on a nightly basis has to be incredible. Kid is fucking electric.
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by Buscemi2 »

Lately, I've been seeing things about how Deandre Ayton is a bust because he's not as good as Luka but when looking at his stats, he doesn't seem that bad of a pick. Sure, he's no Luka but how is Ayton a worse pick than Mo Bamba, a guy who only went #6 because of a Soundcloud rapper?
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by transformers2 »

Fair or not, Ayton is going to continue to get scrutinized because he was drafted over two of the most dynamic offensive players in the league. He's kind of like the poor man's Joel Embiid at this point, but his potential to morph into a great floor-stretching 5 is still there and the Suns are lucky to have a nightly double double guy who can also block shots at a consistently high clip (I know I'd kill for someone like that on the Celtics right now...). If I were to do a re-draft for 2018, I'd take Ayton 5th after Luka, Young, Gilgeous-Alexander and Jaren Jackson.
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Re: The NBA Thread

Post by Shrykespeare »

The Suns are red-hot right now. I'm loving every minute of it.
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