A Guide to Signing Players for Less

[moofs]

It's frequently said in here, "maybe he'll sign for less money", "it makes sense because he has a great chance to win a championship here", etc.

There are only a small handful of reasons that an NBA player would sign with a team for less money than he seems capable of getting (in order of likelihood):
- To win a championship
- Family reasons
- He thinks that the team offering more money is going to under- or badly utilize him, hurting his future earning power
- He likes living in a certain city and doesn't want to waste any more time travelling in order to live there than necessary (bad career move for several reasons)
- He really likes being on the team with a certain player/coach/other ("strange" and dumb career move, although it may be more fun while he's there)
- He doesn't like something about one of the teams that's offering him more money
- In spite of fan and media opinion, actual GMs realize that he is not worth what he is asking and/or his contract is full of clauses he knows he can't meet
- The team offering the money is the Clippers or Atlanta (because with New York, at least you're in New York, although you won't be able to go anywhere in peace if you play bad)
- Can anyone think of anything else? I can't.

The typical reason on this board that someone "is going to come sign with us for less money" is "to win a championship." So now, for those of you stating this, I have a question:

Did you, or are you, going to college?

If the answer is yes, my next question is:

Upon graduating with a grade/degree/contacts/etc combination that places you in the top 0.1% of college grads in the nation, would you be satisfied with working at Burger King for 4 years with dreams of winning a top employee certificate? (I ask "Burger King" because it's nigh guaranteed to earn you less per year than any sort of job you can get with any college degree from any college. The absolute and relative money differences don't match, but the concept is similar enough.) Granted, money isn't everything - a terrible work environment is a terrible work environment, but the higher the money goes, GENERALLY the more people are willing to overlook so long as it doesn't come back to haunt them in the future.

A similar question still applies to non-colleged peoples, why would YOU take a lower paying job? Be objective. What is a championship? It's a trophy that sticks with the franchise. You get a ring and probably some glory and attention (that will wane more and more as the years go by), but very little else that's going to help you out in the future unless you were famous and charismatic enough to swing some endorsement deals. So if you're a forward-thinking person, why do it?

(Yes, this was prompted by the people who think Arenas wants to come sign with us and hundreds of other silly trade ideas. Granted, he is on par mentally with Chris Wallace, but still...)

[Guy986]

If ppl wants to believe that Arena is coming here for the MLE, let them. It'll help them sleep better at night.

[TMU]

Good post.
And with the salary cap, it's difficult to have 3 "maxed" players on a roster. We'll probably have to find our talent elsewhere.

[Devin 1L]

I agree with the premise of your post, and the list at the beginning of the post, but with that said, I disagree with your analogy.

I see what you mean, but it's just not really comparable, in my opinion.

Winning an NBA Championship is considered the highest achievement in the highest level of basketball (apart from an MVP for some); It's the ultimate goal, everyone wants win one, and those with the most are held in the highest regard.

These guys have grown up with their eyes on playing in the NBA since they were kids, they've probably dreamed about holding up a trophy and wearing a Championship ring hundreds of times.

Who spends their whole life dreaming of working at Burger King and winning a top employee certificate? Perhaps someone has always dreamed of working in the food industry, but then, still, why would they chose to work at Burger King? In this analogy, Burger King would have to be the pinnacle of success in it's industry, and an employee certificate from there would have to be something that everyone in the industry strives for and dreams about -- to work for Burger King and to win an employee certificate from them.

Again, I don't disagree with the premise of your post, in fact, I do agree. I've seen the same discussions on the Magic board, and I presume people are having the same discussions on other boards.

[Ribalding]

I can only think of one other plausible reason for a player purposefully passing up salary. It happens to be relevant to the Rockets:

- Endorsements. If, for whatever reason, signing with the team offering less money puts a player in a position to make up for lost salary with endorsement money, then the loss of salary becomes a moot point, to whatever degree.

The Rockets are a prime example of this opportunity. If a player signs with the Rox, he is GOING to get Chinese product endorsement money. Period.

Can you think of another way Chuck Hayes would have ever gotten a shoe deal?

(P.S. - The potential for added endorsement dollars in larger media markets [LA, NYC] isn't a relevant example,as has been posited here. That extra available endorsement money is most often offset by higher costs of living in those larger media markets.)

[Ribalding]

Sorry for the double post.

But I got to thinking the following:

"For free agents, signing with the Rockets adds financial utility as it pertains to available Chinese endorsement money, by virtue of Yao's presence on the team. So why not point out this financial opportunity to potential free agents?"

Oh snap! Great idea. Right? Just tell Arenas or whomever 'yeah, we can only pay you minimum wage, but Chinese company X is going to give you a 10 figure endorsement deal because you play with Yao. So it's a wash. We've already talked to Random Chinese Company X. They love you."

Wrong.

The Deceptive Trade Practices Act (sub-section 39.11, I think) says that's illegal.

The Rockets would get sued back to the stone age by every other team who had been feting Player X. Why? The Rockets had an unfair advantage and purposefully maneuvered to pursue it.

Well crap. That's out.

Under the UTP rules, the Rockets can't even mention the availability of Chinese endorsement dollars, much less engage in collusion to make those monies available.

But....

(and I apologize for typing while thinking)

But....how could Team X PROVE the Rockets engaged in unfair trade practices? As long as D-Morey doesn't use a land line to make his calls to Random Chinese Company X, how could collusion be proved in court?

Short answer: It can't, unless Morey does something (Please Use More Appropriate Word).

So c'mon, Morey!!!! Get busy breaking the law!! There's gold in them thar Chinese hills!! Get you some!!!

Just don't get caught.

[moofs]

I agree with the premise of your post, and the list at the beginning of the post, but with that said, I disagree with your analogy.

I see what you mean, but it's just not really comparable, in my opinion.

Winning an NBA Championship is considered the highest achievement in the highest level of basketball (apart from an MVP for some); It's the ultimate goal, everyone wants win one, and those with the most are held in the highest regard.

These guys have grown up with their eyes on playing in the NBA since they were kids, they've probably dreamed about holding up a trophy and wearing a Championship ring hundreds of times.

Who spends their whole life dreaming of working at Burger King and winning a top employee certificate? Perhaps someone has always dreamed of working in the food industry, but then, still, why would they chose to work at Burger King? In this analogy, Burger King would have to be the pinnacle of success in it's industry, and an employee certificate from there would have to be something that everyone in the industry strives for and dreams about -- to work for Burger King and to win an employee certificate from them.

Again, I don't disagree with the premise of your post, in fact, I do agree. I've seen the same discussions on the Magic board, and I presume people are having the same discussions on other boards.

True, the analogy isn't perfect, but it still makes a decent amount of sense. I was trying to get at the difference in accomplishments vs. success. If you set yourself up to not succeed, accomplishments really don't matter as much. The guy who undervalued his exceptional skills and took the bad (to say the least) salary/position with the goal of being the best burger flipper at Burger King is very similar to the top tier NBA players that are generally assumed by some people as having the goal of getting a [better chance at a] championship at the cost of several [often, tens of] million [s of] dollars.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of NBA players come from very poor backgrounds, often skipping out on education for a period of time or altogether for the chance to earn millions of dollars in windfall. Would anyone with this sort of mentality (not that I have a clue if any of this part applies applies to any of the people in question or not) be likely to pass up large sums of money for fleeting glory? I'm skeptical of it.

The place the analogy really breaks down was when we both mentioned fame. The difference in reputation, respect and fame between the two is astronomical. Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, and Hakeem Olajuwon, all would no doubt, at any time, be able to come back to Houston under financial hardship and be bailed out by someone who had become successful after idolizing them growing up (Of course, they actually won. The person we're questioning here is only presuming that he's going to win). The burger flipper is never going to have that kind of opportunity. Aside from that, it should still work very well.

For the bolded part, you might be surprised. I've honestly met people that did. Not with Burger King, but with other, equally insignificant companies/positions. The thing is, those people weren't able to do more (or at the very least didn't think or care if they could for whatever reasons) or delusionally thought that what they were doing was bigger than what it was. Dreams are subjective. Why would anyone choose to bounce a ball and throw it at a ring for a profession? Geez I've even known people who dreamt of living in a trailer park. One of my friends once wanted to work at A&F for a full year to "pad her resume because it looks great to other companies". I've met people at Jason's Deli that are the same way. There are all kinds out there. Our Burger King guy really likes cows. In fact, the only thing in the world that he likes more than cows, is cutting them into small pieces and flipping them. Why? Because he wants to be the best cow flipper that's ever lived. Don't think he's not willing to step on anyone that gets in his way either, our boy is driven.
Edit: This whole thing would seem to work against my point if it weren't for the fact that Burger Flipper, in spite of how he finished at university, is obviously a raving idiot. By that same notion, it actually does work against me saying that there's no chance Gilbert Arenas would sign with us, but I already acknowledged that dude is nuts.

The point was that if a person wants to accomplish something at the cost of success, it's absolutely an option for them to do so, and it may even happen on occasion, but it doesn't mean it's something that most people would see as "smart" and doesn't mean it's likely. Accomplishments are not always easy to grasp, and they provide you with a sense of satisfaction, but if you have a guarantee of success without them, why would you abandon that guarantee for a shot at an accomplishment that may or may not even provide you with anything in the future? It happens, as with our Burger King worker, but it's kinda freakish and you had better REALLY enjoy what you're doing considering the short-sighted goal you just set for yourself.

Back to our pipe-dreamers, most people are smarter/more sane than this. (Also, a special idiocy-exemption is granted for the awesome people who go about doing social and charity work and maybe a few other cases)

[moofs]

I can only think of one other plausible reason for a player purposefully passing up salary. It happens to be relevant to the Rockets:

- Endorsements. If, for whatever reason, signing with the team offering less money puts a player in a position to make up for lost salary with endorsement money, then the loss of salary becomes a moot point, to whatever degree.

The Rockets are a prime example of this opportunity. If a player signs with the Rox, he is GOING to get Chinese product endorsement money. Period.

Can you think of another way Chuck Hayes would have ever gotten a shoe deal?

(P.S. - The potential for added endorsement dollars in larger media markets [LA, NYC] isn't a relevant example,as has been posited here. That extra available endorsement money is most often offset by higher costs of living in those larger media markets.)

Oh geez. Nice one!

So c'mon, Morey!!!! Get busy breaking the law!! There's gold in them thar Chinese hills!! Get you some!!!