The nba buyouts are ruining the game, gaming the hard cap

The rockets sucked. It didn’t matter if he played or not. They would still get beat by the lakers playing against sorry westbrick. He isn’t the reason for anything besides being another body to play spot minutes in the rotation

 

Every game was relatively close except game 5. Markieff Morris won them game 2 which shifted the momentum. If they don't have him who are they playing in his place? I think he factor much bigger than you are giving him credit for. He shot like 50% from three against us.

Im not saying we for sure win but he definitely played a huge role.

 

Lakers already had their 4 of AD, lebron, kcp, green. You can literally plug in rondo, Caruso, kuz, or kief and they all were beating the rockets. A lot of these guys shot well vs rockets. Quit acting like kief was this sole reason they won. He wasn’t even the player off the bench playing the most minutes. And no these games weren’t close

 

I don't think 2015 Rockets are comparable to the 2021 Nets in any meaningful way. Those Rockets were a miracle run in both regular season and playoffs with all the injuries they had, led by shoulda-been-MVP, this-isn't-even-my-final-form James Harden. They had no business winning a title even if they were fully healthy, let alone after they were decimated by injuries. Every rotation player outside of Harden on that team was either out of the NBA or entirely irrelevant within a season or two, including Dwight's overrated b**** ass. So of course there was room to make Josh Smith look like he still mattered in a couple games.

The Nets now have a far better version of Harden to go along with friggin Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, and a somewhat underrated supporting cast. They have a decent shot at a title even if Kevin Durant never plays another game this season, let alone if he comes back fully healthy. There is no place for washed up role players on that team. They're just ornaments.

If they actually suffer enough injuries that those guys matter, it's bad news.

 

1. Do you agree that depth is very important for a long playoffs run? Injuries happen. Teams are banged up by the time of the conference finals. You need quality replacement to plug the holes a few games at a time. Not to mention, these playoffs-experienced players give the coach a lot of flexibility to adjust to different matchups.

2. If you don't think the 2015 Rockets are relevant (which I think you are just nitpicking), how about the 2020 Lakers? Markieff Morris played 18 mpg in the playoffs, shot 42% from 3 (.608 TS%). Was he not an important piece of their championship?

 

The Lakers were another team that, while top heavy (even moreso than the 1.4-star 2015 Rockets), didn't have much depth, so there was again room for more players to have an impact. I absolutely think depth is important, but my point is that the Nets already have plenty of it when they are anywhere close to healthy.

My other point is that Aldridge and Griffin are just really not good players anymore. There is an argument that Claxton is already better (not to mention younger and worth developing more) than either Aldridge or Blake for this team. He's definitely more mobile. As I said, if the Nets are so beaten down by injury that Aldridge and Griffin need to play meaningful roles in the playoffs, they're probably already screwed. I just really don't think those guys give you much at this stage in their career, no matter what team they're playing for. Let alone on a team as stacked as the Nets. I think Markief Morris is better than either of them, especially defensively. Griffin and LMA are just NBA bodies.

 

Lots of owners refuse to pay lux tax the old owner never paid lux tax either. Fertita said he was willing to foot the bill if Rox at least made the Finals which they didnt do.

Running off Morey was a mistake but Stone is doing an ok job. Dumbtoni just sucks and should have been fired earlier, although to be fair to him no coach is gonna beat KD Warriors with Harden and a bunch of role players.

 

Agree to disagree. I think you are underestimating how much left in their tank. They can still play 10-20 minutes a game and be effective. I mean, look at Melo. He can't string together a few good games. But he can still light it up once in a while and help win games here and there. That's all you need these guys to do instead of some fringe NBA players at the end of your bench. Remember, they are signed to minimum contracts because of the buyout. Can you find equal value with that kind of prices?

 

They're certainly low risk, but even minimum contracts for veterans aren't all that cheap, IIRC. They are probably a good value considering the risk-reward tradeoff, but I just doubt we'll be talking about these guys contributions after any playoff games. I'm sure the commentators on ESPN and TNT will love bringing up those names, though, when talking about the Nets.

 

One simple solution could be requiring the team who signs the bought-out player to partially reimburse the team that bought him out for the original contract value and having that value count against the cap. What that partial value is could be up for negotiation by the league etc.

I don't think it necessarily needs to get much more complicated than that!

 

Over the past 15 years, there are 39 buyout players who averaged two games and 10 minutes per NBA playoff round. Twenty were signed into top-15 markets -- and 19 into the rest. Out of the 13 of 39 players joining teams that advanced to the conference championship, three were signed in top-15 markets.

this is what people are spending time b*tching and crying over...lol

 

NBA Will Discuss Buyout Reform With NBPA During Next CBA Talks

The league office plans to consider wrapping a conversation about the buyout market when the NBA and NBPA reconvene ahead of the 23-24 CBA talks.

Several small market teams have complained about how the buyout market benefits, in their viewpoint, big market teams. The reality is there have been 39 buyout players who have averaged at least two games and 10 minutes per NBA playoff round and twenty were signed into top-15 markets, while 19 joined the rest.

Adam Silver's office doesn't see so much of an issue of fairness between big and small markets, but perhaps more a process that it is contradictory to the financial system's goals.

The NBA does want to find a way to make the buyout pool players available to more teams than only the contenders, sources tell ESPN, but that's hard to do without significant changes to the process.

The union will side on the freedom of movement for players unless they receive something of significance back.

 

The only buyout player from this season that no one spoke about negatively and could break that mold is Drummond. He could provide elite rebounding and good interior defense and 30+ minutes a game. No other buyout player could do anything at an elite level or play 30 minutes a game. He would have made the Nets invincible and has now made the Lakers the favorite if LeBron and Davis are healthy.

 

The nets are already invincible and still remains the favorite. This was before adding BG and LA. They didn’t need Drummond. The lakers are still not favored after adding Drummond

 

People also said the Warriors didn't need Durant to win. Yeah, I still remember Rockets fans were crying foul whenever GS signed somebody decent, not just Durant.

No, I'm not comparing any of the bought out players to Durant. But I think a lot of people are either putting their heads in the sand in saying these guys signing with contenders are nothing or making excuses for the problem because they are rooting for the Nets.

 

If BG and LA both signed with the lakers, the nets would still be the favorites. The nets have been the odds on favorite for a few months now with or without these bought out players

 

It's mainly about optics, in the end.
I'd predict Blake Griffin might end up being a net negative for the Nets in the playoffs, versus a younger, hungrier, better defending, and more athletic floor runner as a Harden target.

 

the buyout only sucks if the player don't choose your team

 

sucks for rockets and grizz fans

 

I'm sure the optics of auctioning men who are predominantly black would go over very well. Adam Silver must be kicking himself for not thinking of this.