Saturday, July 14, 2007

Torn

I want to hate on Maurice Williams. For making the Heat squirm while awaiting his decision, and for choosing the money over the potential to win a championship. I know I'm probably giving the Heat too much credit to believe that one point guard can put this team back on the path to the 2008 NBA Finals. I mean, Mo ain't Jason Kidd. But that's what fans do: they believe the improbable.

The pundits are hatin' on Rashard Lewis. Again, for "taking franchise money" even when he obviously ain't franchise talent. The Magic will be fun to watch (I'm a big fan of Stan Van Gundy and believe he'll get the best out of the guys he's coaching), but they are still a 7 or 8 seed in the East even with the 110 million dollar man (and 80 million dollar boy).

Everybody's hatin' on Stevie "Franchise" Francis. How the hell did he get a $30 million buy out of a $33 million contract. What, is the Portland franchise that stupid? Buy outs are supposed to be "pennies on the dollar", right? Dude hasn't played that well since his 2nd or 3rd season in the league, and now he'll probably get 2-3 million dollars more to not play for another team, probably Houston.

When you get right down to it, though, I'm extremely happy for the player who can convince team ownership to overpay for the talent they employ. Recognize the NBA as the corporation that it is. Most owners of NBA teams also own other multimillion dollar companies. In fact, the teams are their side business in many cases. The team is just one of the entities that they invest in for profit. These men are worth 10 times the salaries they pay the players. These folks also will own these teams for decades, and in some cases generations, having acquired them from their daddies and in turn plan to pass them down to their sons (and daughters). The NBA team is a 401(K) for these guys, paying annuities to them and their heirs. The earning potential of a player in this game is what, 5-7 years on average? And if, as I suggest in a previous post, they have not really been prepared to pursue another career path, they will leave the workforce at around age 30-33. Think about that for a second--they will have to provide for themselves and their families for another 40 or 50 years off of the money they've earned over a 10 year (and that's being generous) period. The point is that the earning potential for an NBA player is a LOT shorter than the earnings over the life of an NBA team owner and his heirs.

So, no way am I going to begrudge Williams, Lewis, Francis or Carter the "overpayment" they received on recent contracts. They should be able to provide for their heirs too, since their performance on the basketball court helps take care of generations of Paul Allens, Richard De Voses, Jerry Busses, Mickey Arisons, Herb Kohls, James Dolans, etc., etc,

10 comments:

CoCo said...

I agree that the players are getting paid a very small fraction of what they make for most owners, so I can't hate on anyone tryna get that money. I just hate the players who take the money then start bitching about the lack of opportunity said team is giving them to win. When you take Franchise Player money, and your owner is not trying to pay that luxury tax you can forget about him putting quality players around you. A lot of owners are cheap and it just ain't happenin!

Nothin_personal said...

The whole deal about players being overpaid, is that the effort to build a good team is a side game of it's own, to the game. I think most of the owners would pay Knicks kind of money to put together a championship team. A team like that is a goldmine from amarketing standpoint. The problem is, if you pay that kind of money, two things will most likely happen:
1. The team wins one, you make some money, and then you lose them while you are stuck with an aging, cruppy team full of overpaid guys.
2. You fail, and you are in the same situation without winning first. (knicks)
The way to build a great team, is to get your hands to some toung talent over 2-3 years, THEN, while they are locked in the rookie scale, make a couple of big bucks signings (actually cheaper, if you've got an Oden guy, everybody wants to play with him).
If you see the team making a Lewis signing, then they probably gave up on their championship aspirations, they just want to fill the seats. It's bad for the fans and for young Dwight.

Nothin_personal said...

Sorry for the long comment.

Anonymous said...

On the court,the Rashard Lewis deal is good for the Magic,he provides shooting,versitility and match up problems for the other team,he's probably worth about 5 wins a season-not exactly valur for money.Hedo Turkoglu for a fraction of the price.Signing such a crippling contract to a player like Lewis will severly hold there chances at winning anything back unless they can get some really amazing cheap players and thats not happening.

Anonymous said...

On the court,the Rashard Lewis deal is good for the Magic,he provides shooting,versitility and match up problems for the other team,he's probably worth about 5 wins a season-not exactly valur for money.Hedo Turkoglu for a fraction of the price.Signing such a crippling contract to a player like Lewis will severly hold there chances at winning anything back unless they can get some really amazing cheap players and thats not happening.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more, ASPOV. Mo Williams is a great player, and he could have brought a great dynamic to the Heat, possibly a championship dynamic.They clearly have the pieces to get the job done, and Williams would have put them over the top, as well as scare the rest of the weak east. This guy should be thinking championship, not $$$.
I love your blog and glad you wrote. I will be back to read up on you more. Care to swap links? E-mail me at clutch3blog@gmail.com
All others, check me at www.clutch3.com

Eboy said...

Mo would have been nice, but oh well, he'll freeze his ass off in Milwauke and we'll be loungin' here. Someone will shake loose, so I'll keep the faith.

Anonymous said...

Well, Lewis will have a hard time living up to that money. He'd better still be out-performing Grant Hill at age 34, then playing for 25.7 million dollars. For that kind of money, he has to pull Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant or at least LeBron James kind of tricks when it comes to being a major factor in multiple wins, winning seasons and succesful play-off runs. I doubt he'll be able to pull that of, but I'll give him a chance...

Anonymous said...

Hey, ASPOV. I'm waiting for your next post. I like your topics (I'm a Heat fan, also) and the way you bring in the political aspects of sports. Your only problem is that you don't post enough! Keep doing what you do and I'll keep reading.

Anonymous said...

In all fairness to Mo, he is staying loyal to his team. Check my newest Mo Williams article at www.clutch3.com