All throughout certain portions of the NBA, a manic game of musical chairs was being played before and during the league’s free-agency period. Superstars were changing locations as free agents. Others were forcing trades from their current teams so they could join forces with another superstar. The big names were flying about with big-market teams, or better yet, big-revenue teams, finding a seat among the league’s elite.
And the Indiana Pacers?
They couldn’t even get meetings. They couldn’t get meetings with the Tier I free agents, which comes as no great surprise. But even after decades of sustained success — and by success, we mean being a playoff team year in and year out — they couldn’t even get a meeting with the representatives of the second-tier free agents. Khris Middleton? Not interested. Tobias Harris? Thanks, but no thanks.
That’s not to say the Pacers struck out this offseason. Fact is, they did as well or even better than expected, pulling off a sign-and-trade for former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, dealing for former Phoenix forward T.J. Warren (in exchange for cash) and signing free agent Jeremy Lamb. If Victor Oladipo can return from his injury sometime in December or January — there is no established timetable, or at least there’s not one the Pacers are willing to share externally — Indiana figures to be a playoff team once again. One thing about the Pacers is, they always seem to get more bang for their buck than their competitors – which is great, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the Pacers will be playing deep into the spring.
And that’s the problem, for Indiana and for so many of the lower-revenue, small-market teams: The most they can promise their fans is that they’ll be good, better than average, competitive. The Pacers have resided in this NBA purgatory for years, having not won a first-round playoff series since 2014. They won’t tank — ever — which is both an outdated philosophy and a noble one. So they continue to reside somewhere in the middle, good enough to maintain fan interest but rarely great enough to make a run at an NBA title.
The one thing sports can do is sell hope, something the parity-driven NFL does better than anybody. In the NFL, worst-to-first is not a complete anomaly. A few prescient off-season moves, a great draft like the Colts had last year, and you can go from 4-12 to 10-6 (with a whole lot of help from Andrew Luck’s return).
My fear is, the NBA, with its soft salary cap and more loopholes than the tax code, continues to become a league of haves and have-nots, creating a semi-permanent underclass of teams who are always left picking up the crumbs after the free-agent party passes them by.
While NBA Twitter was entranced by the wild machinations of free agency and offseason trades, where KD and Kyrie decided to look for their elusive happiness in Brooklyn, where Kawhi and Paul George chose to join forces with the Clippers, where Anthony Davis left New Orleans to join LeBron, where the rich generally got richer, small-market teams were left with their noses pressed up against the glass.
Is this healthy?
Let me answer my own question.
This is not healthy.
Would a hard cap — and good luck negotiating that into the next collective bargaining agreement — level the playing field?
Let me answer my own question again.
Absolutely.
Right now, the salary cap is like a highway speed limit: It’s just a suggestion, a vague parameter. And that allows teams such as the Lakers, arguably one of the most mismanaged franchises the league has seen the past decade, morph into a title contender virtually overnight with the Davis addition.
Meanwhile, the Pacers, who have been a model of consistency and solid leadership the past 30 years, are resigned to competing with good, but not elite, players.
It’s not a matter of being unwilling to spend money, although the Pacers figure to have one of the lowest payrolls, if not the lowest payroll, in the league next season. Owner Herb Simon is on record saying he would spend more to make the Pacers a title contender, but if expensive players and their representatives are not interested in so much as taking a meeting with Kevin Pritchard and his staff, who do you pay?
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has addressed the concept of a hard cap, something that’s utilized in the NFL, NHL and Major League Soccer, but he has suggested he doesn’t want to legislate the kind of parity that produces mediocrity (his words). What I’m saying is, the NBA could use a little bit of parity. The NBA needs to establish a system that gives everybody — that is, well-managed franchises — some real hope they can succeed at the highest level while operating out of a low-revenue market.
Clearly, there are anomalies. The San Antonio Spurs have been a beacon of excellence for years while playing in a city that hardly rates as a huge market. The Pacers themselves reached the NBA Finals in 2000 and have made seven other trips to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1994. Toronto, a team that didn’t have a single lottery pick and a market that doesn’t draw big-time free agents because of its location, won the NBA title last year. Milwaukee, another small market (albeit one that has spent a ton of money), reached the Eastern Conference Finals last year, thanks in large part to the growth of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Certainly, less-visible markets are making inroads, such as Portland and Utah, which both figure to be contenders out West next season.
It has happened and it can happen. But this is the age of super teams, mega-stars conspiring with one another, even tampering, in order to run with their old AAU buddies. The Lakers got richer. The Clippers got richer. The Nets got richer. And everybody else is left to look on. Anybody see a change on the horizon? I don’t.
If you’re Indiana or any of the other smallish markets in this league, you are operating with one hand tied behind your back. To succeed, you have to ace every offseason. You know game-changing free agents aren’t coming — David West rates as Indiana’s biggest-name free-agent acquisition in the team’s history — so that means winning every trade and drafting brilliantly, often in the middle of the first round (see: the refusal to tank). The margin of error is slimmer than Tacko Fall. The Pacers can’t make the same kinds of mistakes the Lakers have made in recent years and have any reason to believe they can turn it all around with one massive move to acquire the likes of an Anthony Davis. And it is a source of perpetual frustration for the men who run franchises like the Pacers, Grizzlies, Kings … and the list goes on.
Meanwhile, Silver has to deal with the ongoing issue of tampering in his league. Nobody around Indy will ever forget Magic Johnson’s absurdly ill-advised appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, where he clearly tampered with then-Pacer Paul George. The Pacers have a tough enough time retaining free agents-to-be without the Lakers then-team president going on national TV and overtly expressing his desire to add George to his lineup. As you might expect, the Pacers were properly incensed and complained to the league.
The result was laughable: A $500,000 fine. That’s pocket change. But you know what it is, too? It’s the price of doing business. In the end, George decided to remain in Oklahoma City — for one additional season, anyway — but you don’t think it was worth the price the Lakers paid? There is no incentive to play by the rules.
If Silver wants to put some teeth into the tampering rules, he will start taking away draft choices.
That would stop the tampering in a heartbeat.
The absurdity of the whole thing was on full display during the free agent period. According to the NBA calendar, teams, players and agents could start discussing the parameters of a free-agent contract beginning June 30 at 6 p.m. But at 6:01, here came all the tweets from The Athletic’s Shams Charania and his ilk, telling us about all the epic signings throughout the league. In some cases, journalists reported that several signings were a fait accompli long before the 6 p.m. start time.
Silver knows he needs to fix the problem. He just doesn’t seem to know how at this time.
“Obviously, if deals are being announced immediately after the discussion period begins, there had been prior discussions,’’ Silver told reporters recently. “I think the consensus at both our committee meetings and the board meeting was that we need to revisit and reset those rules, that some of the rules we have in place may not make sense. I think it’s pointless at the end of the day to have rules that we can’t enforce. I think it hurt the perception of integrity around the league if people say, ‘Well, you have that rule and it’s obvious that teams aren’t fully complying, so why do you have it.'”
Look, I’m all for players having power and doing what’s best for them and their families. It’s their collectively bargained right to shape their careers, although I’m chilled by guys forcing trades with years left on their contracts. But there’s got to be some kind of middle ground, a way to keep the revenue disparities, and geographic location, from producing a league that is composed of a small number of super teams and a whole bunch of wannabes.
Free agency was wild and fun and completely nuts.
Here in Indiana, and places just like Indiana?
Yawn.
Just like always.
And the Indiana Pacers?
They couldn’t even get meetings. They couldn’t get meetings with the Tier I free agents, which comes as no great surprise. But even after decades of sustained success — and by success, we mean being a playoff team year in and year out — they couldn’t even get a meeting with the representatives of the second-tier free agents. Khris Middleton? Not interested. Tobias Harris? Thanks, but no thanks.
That’s not to say the Pacers struck out this offseason. Fact is, they did as well or even better than expected, pulling off a sign-and-trade for former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, dealing for former Phoenix forward T.J. Warren (in exchange for cash) and signing free agent Jeremy Lamb. If Victor Oladipo can return from his injury sometime in December or January — there is no established timetable, or at least there’s not one the Pacers are willing to share externally — Indiana figures to be a playoff team once again. One thing about the Pacers is, they always seem to get more bang for their buck than their competitors – which is great, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the Pacers will be playing deep into the spring.
And that’s the problem, for Indiana and for so many of the lower-revenue, small-market teams: The most they can promise their fans is that they’ll be good, better than average, competitive. The Pacers have resided in this NBA purgatory for years, having not won a first-round playoff series since 2014. They won’t tank — ever — which is both an outdated philosophy and a noble one. So they continue to reside somewhere in the middle, good enough to maintain fan interest but rarely great enough to make a run at an NBA title.
The one thing sports can do is sell hope, something the parity-driven NFL does better than anybody. In the NFL, worst-to-first is not a complete anomaly. A few prescient off-season moves, a great draft like the Colts had last year, and you can go from 4-12 to 10-6 (with a whole lot of help from Andrew Luck’s return).
My fear is, the NBA, with its soft salary cap and more loopholes than the tax code, continues to become a league of haves and have-nots, creating a semi-permanent underclass of teams who are always left picking up the crumbs after the free-agent party passes them by.
While NBA Twitter was entranced by the wild machinations of free agency and offseason trades, where KD and Kyrie decided to look for their elusive happiness in Brooklyn, where Kawhi and Paul George chose to join forces with the Clippers, where Anthony Davis left New Orleans to join LeBron, where the rich generally got richer, small-market teams were left with their noses pressed up against the glass.
Is this healthy?
Let me answer my own question.
This is not healthy.
Would a hard cap — and good luck negotiating that into the next collective bargaining agreement — level the playing field?
Let me answer my own question again.
Absolutely.
Right now, the salary cap is like a highway speed limit: It’s just a suggestion, a vague parameter. And that allows teams such as the Lakers, arguably one of the most mismanaged franchises the league has seen the past decade, morph into a title contender virtually overnight with the Davis addition.
Meanwhile, the Pacers, who have been a model of consistency and solid leadership the past 30 years, are resigned to competing with good, but not elite, players.
It’s not a matter of being unwilling to spend money, although the Pacers figure to have one of the lowest payrolls, if not the lowest payroll, in the league next season. Owner Herb Simon is on record saying he would spend more to make the Pacers a title contender, but if expensive players and their representatives are not interested in so much as taking a meeting with Kevin Pritchard and his staff, who do you pay?
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has addressed the concept of a hard cap, something that’s utilized in the NFL, NHL and Major League Soccer, but he has suggested he doesn’t want to legislate the kind of parity that produces mediocrity (his words). What I’m saying is, the NBA could use a little bit of parity. The NBA needs to establish a system that gives everybody — that is, well-managed franchises — some real hope they can succeed at the highest level while operating out of a low-revenue market.
Clearly, there are anomalies. The San Antonio Spurs have been a beacon of excellence for years while playing in a city that hardly rates as a huge market. The Pacers themselves reached the NBA Finals in 2000 and have made seven other trips to the Eastern Conference Finals since 1994. Toronto, a team that didn’t have a single lottery pick and a market that doesn’t draw big-time free agents because of its location, won the NBA title last year. Milwaukee, another small market (albeit one that has spent a ton of money), reached the Eastern Conference Finals last year, thanks in large part to the growth of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Certainly, less-visible markets are making inroads, such as Portland and Utah, which both figure to be contenders out West next season.
It has happened and it can happen. But this is the age of super teams, mega-stars conspiring with one another, even tampering, in order to run with their old AAU buddies. The Lakers got richer. The Clippers got richer. The Nets got richer. And everybody else is left to look on. Anybody see a change on the horizon? I don’t.
If you’re Indiana or any of the other smallish markets in this league, you are operating with one hand tied behind your back. To succeed, you have to ace every offseason. You know game-changing free agents aren’t coming — David West rates as Indiana’s biggest-name free-agent acquisition in the team’s history — so that means winning every trade and drafting brilliantly, often in the middle of the first round (see: the refusal to tank). The margin of error is slimmer than Tacko Fall. The Pacers can’t make the same kinds of mistakes the Lakers have made in recent years and have any reason to believe they can turn it all around with one massive move to acquire the likes of an Anthony Davis. And it is a source of perpetual frustration for the men who run franchises like the Pacers, Grizzlies, Kings … and the list goes on.
Meanwhile, Silver has to deal with the ongoing issue of tampering in his league. Nobody around Indy will ever forget Magic Johnson’s absurdly ill-advised appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, where he clearly tampered with then-Pacer Paul George. The Pacers have a tough enough time retaining free agents-to-be without the Lakers then-team president going on national TV and overtly expressing his desire to add George to his lineup. As you might expect, the Pacers were properly incensed and complained to the league.
The result was laughable: A $500,000 fine. That’s pocket change. But you know what it is, too? It’s the price of doing business. In the end, George decided to remain in Oklahoma City — for one additional season, anyway — but you don’t think it was worth the price the Lakers paid? There is no incentive to play by the rules.
If Silver wants to put some teeth into the tampering rules, he will start taking away draft choices.
That would stop the tampering in a heartbeat.
The absurdity of the whole thing was on full display during the free agent period. According to the NBA calendar, teams, players and agents could start discussing the parameters of a free-agent contract beginning June 30 at 6 p.m. But at 6:01, here came all the tweets from The Athletic’s Shams Charania and his ilk, telling us about all the epic signings throughout the league. In some cases, journalists reported that several signings were a fait accompli long before the 6 p.m. start time.
Silver knows he needs to fix the problem. He just doesn’t seem to know how at this time.
“Obviously, if deals are being announced immediately after the discussion period begins, there had been prior discussions,’’ Silver told reporters recently. “I think the consensus at both our committee meetings and the board meeting was that we need to revisit and reset those rules, that some of the rules we have in place may not make sense. I think it’s pointless at the end of the day to have rules that we can’t enforce. I think it hurt the perception of integrity around the league if people say, ‘Well, you have that rule and it’s obvious that teams aren’t fully complying, so why do you have it.'”
Look, I’m all for players having power and doing what’s best for them and their families. It’s their collectively bargained right to shape their careers, although I’m chilled by guys forcing trades with years left on their contracts. But there’s got to be some kind of middle ground, a way to keep the revenue disparities, and geographic location, from producing a league that is composed of a small number of super teams and a whole bunch of wannabes.
Free agency was wild and fun and completely nuts.
Here in Indiana, and places just like Indiana?
Yawn.
Just like always.
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