From Alex Kennedy "Right now, I guarantee you there are NBA stars talking about the possibility of teaming up to beat GS. Some interesting group texts tonight."

Is this pure speculation? Where is it most likely for the next 'super team' to form? Celtics? NO? Washington?

This could be a great summer!

It would be very interesting if we could see some of these actual group texts or tweets.

Well that is well and good but do they realize there is such a thing as salary cap which will make forming super teams harder in the future unless these people take massive salary cuts in order to get it done...think Carmelo taking the minimum and joining Lebron....eh I dont think so.

Does the NBA need to contract teams?

No.   The league is flush with money & there's no way the player's union would ever go for that. 

Almost all of the "sky is falling" stuff out there right now is much ado about nothing and just stupid #hotsportstakes.  The league is fine.

Quote from: celticsclay on June 13, 2017, 12:39:32 PM

Does the NBA need to contract teams?

No.   The league is flush with money & there's no way the player's union would ever go for that. 

Almost all of the "sky is falling" stuff out there right now is much ado about nothing and just stupid #hotsportstakes.  The league is fine.

That is not really true. The salary cap IS going down because the playoffs were not competitive and there were the least amount of games since the format changed in 2003.

Local TV ratings for a majority of teams were down this season (last I saw was 20 out of 30)

To my surprise, the ratings for this finals were very high (there was not that level of enthusiasm from my friends around the country or even here in the bay area where I live). However, I don't think having lower interest for the regular season and 90% of the playoffs is exactly good business.

The Warriors team is unprecedented in the modern NBA with 4 top 20 players in their early 20's playing together along with back to back MVPs.

The only hot take I really see is people that refuse to acknowledge there are some issues that the league has to figure out or it will become a much bigger problem than the small one it already is. Silver himself has acknowledged the cap spike with no smoothing wasn't great for the league and he is not exactly a sky is falling kind of guy.

The best chance to collude to beat the Warriors is through K. Leonard and San Antonio.  I think financially they can get better this offseason than Cleveland. 

Imagine if they signed Chris Paul and Paul Millsap (possible?).  Then imagine the Celtics traded Avery Bradley to the Spurs for salary and a couple of firsts (crappy ones albeit).

Paul, Parker, Mills, Murray
Bradley, Green, Murray
Leonard, Anderson
Millsap, Gasol, Bertans
Aldridge, Gasol, Dedmon

Quote from: wiley on June 13, 2017, 01:25:12 PM

The best chance to collude to beat the Warriors is through K. Leonard and San Antonio.  I think financially they can get better this offseason than Cleveland. 

Imagine if they signed Chris Paul and Paul Millsap (possible?).  Then imagine the Celtics traded Avery Bradley to the Spurs for salary and a couple of firsts (crappy ones albeit).

Paul, Parker, Mills, Murray
Bradley, Green, Murray
Leonard, Anderson
Millsap, Gasol, Bertans
Aldridge, Gasol, Dedmon

Don't know for sure, but I don't think it's possible to add CP3 and Millsap while retaining Parker, Green, Mills and Dedmon. Also, if Manu wants 1 more run you HAVE to give him another contract so that's another name to add in that making it difficult to add those guys.

At a cap of 101m, they would have to dump everyone save for Leonard and Aldridge while taking back zero salary to add two maxes.  Even then, I think they may still come up a few million short.

Quote from: Donoghus on June 13, 2017, 12:41:47 PM

Quote from: celticsclay on June 13, 2017, 12:39:32 PM

Does the NBA need to contract teams?

No.   The league is flush with money & there's no way the player's union would ever go for that. 

Almost all of the "sky is falling" stuff out there right now is much ado about nothing and just stupid #hotsportstakes.  The league is fine.

That is not really true. The salary cap IS going down because the playoffs were not competitive and there were the least amount of games since the format changed in 2003.

Local TV ratings for a majority of teams were down this season (last I saw was 20 out of 30)

To my surprise, the ratings for this finals were very high (there was not that level of enthusiasm from my friends around the country or even here in the bay area where I live). However, I don't think having lower interest for the regular season and 90% of the playoffs is exactly good business.

The Warriors team is unprecedented in the modern NBA with 4 top 20 players in their early 20's playing together along with back to back MVPs.

The only hot take I really see is people that refuse to acknowledge there are some issues that the league has to figure out or it will become a much bigger problem than the small one it already is. Silver himself has acknowledged the cap spike with no smoothing wasn't great for the league and he is not exactly a sky is falling kind of guy.

Just because the cap is going down doesn't mean the league isn't healthy. Hell, if a couple of more games are played, it's a moot point.   

The "sky is falling" stuff is mostly based on anecdotal items.   A large scale picture of the league shows that it remains financially robust & healthy.  They've also globally better than any of the other Big 4 easily.  They also seem to pivot in regards to technology better than the other leagues.  The competitive balance thing is an issue to some but things tend to correct themselves & once the cap spike is smoothed over & the lingering effects of the last CBA off off the books, any issues of competitive balance should correct themselves if people are genuinely worried about this "super team" concept. Its a temporary issue for now.  Also, and as always,  what looks written in stone now can make a huge swing with one injury here or there or just another team coming out of nowhere.