The season is winding down. The excitement of the race for the final spots and playoff positioning is starting to get real, for a majority of teams, that is. But what about those who are out of it with more than a dozen games still to go. Do you mail it in? Play for draft position? While no player wants to be in that position, there can still be plenty of motivation of things to play for. After all, only the GMs care about draft
Now that the NBA Players union has rejected the league’s “smoothing” proposal to gradually increase the salary cap, we are going to see extraordinary financial changes over the next several years. When the NBA’s new television money kicks in for the 2016-17 season, the salary cap — currently at $64 million — will jump to an estimated $90 million. That means a player like Kevin Durant, who will be eligible for a starting salary worth slightly less than 35 percent of
There are few things that indicate futility more than when a coach loses the connection with his team. When that happens there is nothing to fix, nothing to do, nowhere to turn. It is over. The wonder of team sports is the coming together of a group of people willing to put personal agendas aside for the common goal of winning. When that happens you truly get a whole bigger than the sum of the parts, and magic happens. When people
It is pretty unusual for a team in the playoff picture to make wholesale changes at the trade deadline. While it is common to add a piece or two, trading featured stars or half the roster is not common for teams in the hunt. This season it was surprising that so many impactful trades were made at the trade deadline, the busiest one in NBA history. With Phoenix and Oklahoma City fighting for the last playoff spot, team instability is something
Today the NBA announced that the earth has shifted on its axis. The long-awaited new TV deal has been disclosed. Although it has been anticipated for a long time, it still makes the eyes water to think about a $24 billion dollar deal. It makes deep-pocketed people all over America think one thing today: Why didn’t I buy a team 5 years ago when I could have paid only $200 million? With the disclosure of the details of the contracts, many things
The short answer is $600 million “plus.” The $600 million represents economic value of the team based on fundamentals, while the “plus” represents intangible value that is specific to the buyer’s view of the Hawks opportunity. What is the “plus” worth? Keep reading. Pro sports franchises are one of a kind, extremely desirable and rarely available. While that accounts for some of the eye-popping NBA team sales prices lately, it doesn’t make pricing the next one much easier. Each team has its
The new executive director of the NBA Players Association has a lot of work to catch up on. It has been 18 months since Billy Hunter was forced out of the job, and the process of choosing a successor was long, arduous and contentious. What should be prioritized? The unresolved situation with Donald Sterling’s ownership of the Clippers? Preparing to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2017, then hunkering down for a battle to try to get the players a greater
With the NBA draft coming up, it is kind of fun to remember back to my draft day in 1981. It’s like going through your wedding album years later. But instead of the burgundy tuxedo and ruffled shirt, its 1980s hair and wide ties. Going into my senior year at Syracuse, I was a relatively unknown player. I had played behind All-American center Roosevelt Bouie and had just played my first season as the starter. Scouting was primitive by today’s standards.