The Ol' East/West Disparity

[August Us Seazr]

It's a new day in the NBA. Here we are, dragging along in 14th in the East, really laboring to get over the hump. And then I put the records in order. 14th in the East currently equals 8th draft pick?????!!!!!

I thought the western conference was strong, but below us record wise are:
Golden State Warriors at 5-13
Minnesota Timberwolves at 4-12
Sacramento Kings at 5-15
Memphis Grizzlies at 4-13
Washington Wizards at 3-12 (The ONLY East team with a worse record than the Bobcats)
LA Clippers at 3-14
Oklahoma City Thunder at 2-16.

Looks like the tanking has begun in earnest over there. Any thoughts?

Not to mention if we are looking to draft a CLASS power forward, it looks like we are facing some LONG odds.

[Felton for Pres]

Its pretty bar belled in the West. I don't think its tanking, I just think some the teams out West are awful or injury plagued (GSW particularly with Monta )

[ohara]

And for the East, the Knicks will be below us in a few days. Such a crime. They were playing very well with a winning records and somewhere around 5th in the East. Then they trade away 40 pts of offense for nothing but garbage and cap space for 2010. God I hope and pray LaBron stays with Cleveland. That would be awesome if the Knicks cleared out their most productive 2 players for cap space and King James disses them and stays with Cleveland. Intentionally tanking for 2 years to clear cap space should never be rewarded.

[Paydro70]

I'm not sure why that would make you angry... but even if they don't get LeBron, some star will be willing to jump ship for a max deal.

I don't think the West is barbelled... I think it's just not very good. Regardless, doesn't really bode well for us since we're probably looking at a crappy draft pick AND a crappy place in the standings.

As far as the playoffs go, I guess at this point there are 9 teams battling for 3 spots. I'm only really willing to write off Washington, but there's some reason for optimism... we can hope Miami, New York, and New Jersey fall off, Toronto doesn't do any better with a new coach, and that we just outplay Milwaukee and Indiana. So sad how much has to happen even for us to slip into the 8-spot...

[e4Nf6]

I'm not completely convinced that NY was for real before the trades. 5 of their wins came against Washington,(X2) Memphis, OKC and us. It is, however, a shame to see a team make a trade that clearly hurts them on the court. I really hope the NBA changes the salary/salary cap structure to de-incentavize this kind of thing. Basically every trade is now a cap deal that may or may not make sense basketball-wise.

[ohara]

Paydro, it only makes me angry because it hurts the integrity of the game. Tanking a season is just wrong, especially 2 seasons, even if it is for trying to get King James.

[Paydro70]

The NBA can never prevent this from happening. The only way to get rid of the incentive to create cap space is to eliminate the salary cap... which means Charlotte becomes the KC Royals and the Knicks become the Yankees.

So long as there are long-term contracts, there will be reasons to think long-term, and that means clearing cap space. I don't know what the integrity of the game means, but in this case it just seems like thinking only one season at a time. Is that really so important?

[Felton for Pres]

I feel bad for Knicks fans who have long term season ticket contracts. I don't care if that puts them in the front of the line to watch LeBron in two years, that's still a lot of money to pi** away until he gets there.

I don't believe in "game integrity" in sports anymore.

[e4Nf6]

Well I wouldn't say there's NOTHING that the league can do short of eliminating the salary cap. I can't think of an easy solution right now, but who knows. I guess eliminating guaranteed contracts would do the trick, as teams wouldn't be stuck with bad contracts. That will never get past the player's union though.

What about a provision that says you can cut a player at any time, and only 50% of his contract counts against the cap. (Although you still owe him the money, and it still counts toward the luxury tax) It would make it a little easier to get out from under a terrible contract, while not letting you off the hook completely.

[BigSlam]

How about GM's/owners/decision makers etc dig their heels in and stop over paying for guys and try and regulate it a little?

The problem with the system is that Hammer's agent see what Kapono's agent got him and says that his client should get the same - because of market rate.

The problem is though that it's the agents setting and increasing the market rate by painting owners into a corner and demanding stupid money for guys who don't deserve it.

[August Us Seazr]

Would any of you say that any particular player moving from a Western Conf. team to the East has turned the tide? Or a coaching change somewhere?

I think KG's trade to Boston may have set it in motion, but the East was good at the top last year... we didn't have 6 of the bottom 7 in the west. I think that Golden State's problem now mirrors the Bobcats circa 2007-08, so I understand that. How did the Kings sink so low? The Mavericks are near break-even, but they seem to be stuck in neutral gear. And the Clippers are a hot mess! These are teams we don't expect to see in such trouble. Looks like the axe should be warming up in some of the front offices!

I DO expect we will get better as the guys "get it" with the Larry Brown system. But how far up is the ceiling this year? Time and trades (or lack thereof) will tell the story on that one. But if things don't shake up soon, we are going to see another year with some winning teams in the lottery and some losing teams in the playoffs. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Claws out...One, two, three, SLASH!!!!!!!!!

[Paydro70]

I don't think it's a matter of "digging in your heels," it's a matter of being intelligent about who you give money to. Intelligently managed teams like the Spurs, for instance, let players walk if they're going to make too much. If you can get a better money-to-talent ratio elsewhere, you go find it.

Doing so does not fix the "problem" of trades for cap space anyway; cutting a player who you're paying too much is still making your team worse for the sake of financial flexibility. It's exactly the same thing for the Knicks' talent to cut Zach Randolph as to trade him for expirings that don't play.

I guess you want them to cut Zach but be forced to spend all the money this summer and not next? Frankly, this system is great, because the Knicks dug themselves into the biggest hole ever, and if they manage to get out in 2 years, that'll be pretty impressive. For the most part, the trading-for-cap-space thing means rebuilding can happen in just one year.