24) Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan and Chris Mullin
25) One of many Michael Jordan ones
26) Bill Walton
27) The 1999-2000 Golden State Warriors, advertising......themselves.
28) Larry Johnson, obviously
29) Gheorghe Muresan
30) Kenny Anderson
31) Scottie Pippen
32) Tayshaun Prince
(Is it just me, or does he say "I can do that because I'm a pro; Wallside can do that because they're defective"? Doesn't sound like a glowing endorsement.)
33) Richard Hamilton
34) Ben Gordon making a better effort of it than Rip did
35) Chris Andersen again
36) Darryl Dawkins
37) Jalen Rose and Kenyon Martin
38) Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Michael Jordan's shirt
39) More Bob Lanier, mad enough to dunk
40) Greg Oden
41) LeBron James
42) Shaquille O'Neal
43) Julian Wright and Morris Peterson
44) Hedo Turkoglu
45) Predrag Drobnjak (wasn't a real commercial, but we'll run with it)
46) Predrag Drobnjak, again
47) Predrag Drobnjak, again, again
48) Vladmanovic, from the same vein as the Drobnjak ones
49) Dikembe Mutombo back when he was ever so slightly decipherable
50) Juwan Howard, Scottie Pippen and Grant Hill (who must have demanded to be paid by the word)
51) David Robinson and Tim Duncan
52) Pau Gasol
53) Scottie Pippen (bonus points to anybody who can decipher the first line)
54) Vin Baker
55) Dan Majerle headlines a lot of white guys talking about hustle
56) Michael Jordan.....turning around.
57) Larry Bird and Grant Hill
58) Karl Malone hunting for little American chickens, with a slightly hilarious voiceover artist as his backup
59) Carmelo Anthony
60) Several guys, but mainly let's just laugh at Larry Bird, this time as he raps badly and oscillates irritatingly
61) Christian Laettner and restaurant buggerer Rick Pitino
62) Emeka Okafor
#
63) More Gheorghe Muresan
64) And more (Muresan ones are not particularly cheesy, but they are fun)
65) Brent Barry
66) Brent Barry, Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen
67) Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
68) Brent Barry, Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili again. Yes, we're doing the whole H.E.B range.
69) Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
70) Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
71) Tim Duncan
72) Brent Barry, Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
73) Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
74) Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker for a change
75) Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker
76) Brent Barry, Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
77) Brent Barry, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili
(No more of those five now, I promise)
78) Latrell Sprewell
79) Grant Hill and Jerome Williams
80) Bob Knight, Mike Shasheffski, Rick Pitino and Roy Williams
81) John Stockton
82) Magic Johnson hitting a note he'll never hit again
83) Rip Hamilton again
84) Audible Chocolate, Jay Bilas
85) Marko Jaric with a good looking woman that is not his own
86) Jared Dudley and Sam Vincent
87) Steve Francis
88) Adam Morrison talking about how he's going to make people cry in the NBA
89) Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, Tyrus Thomas, Aaron Gray, Kirk Hinrich, Lou Wolding and Stacey King (it's a fake advert, but I'd totally buy this)
90) Dirk Nowitzki throwing a self alley-oop which is in some way supposed to make German kids stop snorting coke
91) Martell Webster
92) Lamar Odom with a very strange cameo in a Fashion TV advert
93) Robert Horry
94) Julius Irving
95) A few commercials based around the allegation that Muggsy Bogues is kind of small, one of which has an inexplicably tenous link to the mighty Hyundai Accent:
96) Wilt Chamberlain advertising the raw throbbing power of the gutsy Volkswagen Rabbit
97) LaMarcus Aldridge
98) Jason Williams
99) Another fake commercial, this time featuring Pat Burke, Steve Nash, James Jones, Alvin Gentry and Leandro Barbosa:
And finally, the most terrible commercial of all time to have ever featured an NBA player.....
At the end of the third quarter of a game that was a blowout from the fifth minute onwards, Raptors point guard Jarrett Jack holds the ball at the top of the key. Noticing his shoelace is undone, he tucks the ball under his arm while the clock continues to tick, and ties it back up.
That basically summed up the whole game. The Bulls played worse than any team has ever played in any game at any standard in any season of any decade in any league in any country of any sport ever. They were listless, talentless and overmatched, with the playbook of a Corleggy cheese and all the energy of a bag of spanners. They fought like a Frenchman on their way to losing 110-79, in front of a sold out crowd of men in suits who refused to boo as if they cared. It's the only time I've ever turned off a game because I couldn't stand to watch it. Bad, bad, bad times.
If you happen to own or run an NBA team and are looking to hire someone to work 80 hour weeks as a professional nerd, hire me. Because then I can stop supporting the Bulls.
It is my intent that you will come to view this site as a valuable resource. Between the character issues thing, the NBA salaries section, the tracking of endless former and/or fringe NBA players, the general abundance of boring trivia, the occasional bad jokes and the hugely lengthy player database that no one really looks at, I serve to bring you information that you either can't get elsewhere on the internet, or to bring it better than other people do. I do this for reasons of self-gratification and (hopefully) career advancement, and even if you think I'm annoying and a bit of a twat, I hope you can at least respect the information that I collate on this website. That is my aim.
For now, though, we'll take a slight detour.
Yesterday afternoon, I was a bit bored, and decided to find out what Mike Bibby looked like if you turned his eyes back to front and his mouth upside down. We've all wondered that, of course, and yet yesterday was the day that I could wait no longer. I had to know. The results were as follows.
I quickly realised that this was my new favourite hobby. So here are some more NBA players with their smiles turned upside down.
At the start of the month, over the course of three posts united by the overused theme of Alec Baldwin's monologue from Glengarry Glen Ross (one, two, three), I attempted to anaylse and predict the training camp rosters of every team in the NBA.
For the hell of it, here's the monologue again:
Preseason is now over, and rosters have been set. Here are my predictions again, along with a depressing look at their whimpering inaccuracy and some half-baked excuses for my own failings as a person.
Predicted to make it: "Dixon, Wilks, Siler. Or any two from three."
Actually made it: Hunter only.
Excuses: The Hawks needed an extra guard, hence why they signed four of them. So expecting them to sign at least one of them seemed logical. I guess Dixon hasn't enough left. As for the Siler/Sims thing, it never did make a whole lot of sense for the team with Randolph Morris at fourth string centre to be bringing in two more for training camp, but Siler and Sims represent two of the best American centre prospects not currently in the NBA, so I figured one of them had a chance. Guess not.
Excuses: Reports came out that stated that the Celtics really liked Sweetney, and tried to find a way to keep him on the roster, but they eventually decided that he wasn't worth eating someone else's guaranteed money for. And they're right. If ever Sweetney gets it together, loses all the weight and finds mentor that gets him to dedicate himself in ways he's never done before, some team will have themselves a frigne starter/quality backup, the kind of player that shouldn't be readily available. But it's not happened yet. Not even close.
Excuses: When I said "neither," I was referring to Anderson and Graham, and hadn't factored in Jefferson. I should have done, really, especially after the Bobcats signed Ronald Murray. Why they want Stephen Graham, I don't know; they already have enough small forward options, and Graham will do no better of a job masquerading as a power forward than the rest of them. But at the very least, he's the most talented of the bunch.
Excuses: Byars made it briefly, but was waived on opening day. He still hasn't appeared in an NBA game. He did as much as he could do in preseason, and played well enough to win the spot, but the finances of the situation got the getter of him. And they were always going to, in fairness.
Predicted to make it: "Jackson gets cut, Williams and Green survive, Karl and Kurz make the team."
Actually made it: Williams, Green, Jackson, Karl.
Excuses: Three for four's not bad, but the Cavaliers decided to keep Jackson over the rangier power forward Kurz. I'm not sure they should have done, since Kurz fills a role that the Cavs don't otherwise have, while Jackson somewhat replicates a slower and crapper J.J. Hickson. But since they're vying for the 14 man spot, it's probably not important anyway.
If Antonio Daniels joins the Cavs, it doesn't look good for Karl.
Excuses: Dallas apparently wanted to keep Voskuhl, and tried to open a roster spot for him. They got halfway there when they traded Nathan Jawai to the Timberwolves, but they didn't complete a trade/buyout of Shawne Williams's contract in time, so Voskuhl lost out. He's rumoured to be headed to the Kings.
Excuses: The Nuggets need an extra shooter, and Graham is a terrible one. White isn't much of one either, but he's comfortably better at it than Graham, and would have cost the same. Graham also doesn't really bring anything different to what Renaldo Balkman does, and so that's why I didn't fancy his chances. But then the story came out about how the Nuggets were at one time willing to trade Linas Kleiza for Graham. And at that point, it was over.
Predicted to make it: "Probably neither, unless Atkins shows there's still a spark on the fire. If there is, he needs to throw a log on it."
Actually made it: Atkins did, Washington didn't.
Excuses: As described here, Washington shouldn't have been a candidate to be waived. But he was, as Atkins apparently showed there was still a spark in the fire, enough of one for Washington to be needlessly waived.
Excuses: This one was a bit obvious. The Warriors' only non-guaranteed contract is that of Anthony Morrow, and not even the dysfunctional Warriors could get that wrong. By the way, have you noticed that their four acquisitions via trade and free agency this summer were Mikki Moore, Devean George, Acie Law and Speedy Claxton? Can it get much worse than that?
Predicted to make it: "[Brent] Barry waived, Pops makes the team."
Actually made it: Barry was waived, Pops made the team.
Excuses: The downside to this, as mentioned, was that it leaves the Rockets with only two point guards, and none of the players on the roster can really masquerade as one. Shane Battier did it a tiny bit in his rookie year, but that was a long time ago, and it wasn't a good idea even then. Nonetheless, that's not a need until it's actually a need. And since the Rockets are a team made up of glue guys with very little offensive creators anyway, what good would keeping an inactive list point guard do for that?
Predicted to make it: "None of them will make it, because the Pacers already have 15 contracts."
Actually made it: None of them made it, because the Pacers already had 15 contracts.
Excuses: The only possible way in for the camp invites was if they could outplay Luther Head and/or A.J. Price, whose contracts are not fully guaranteed. But a slew of injuries at the guard spots saw those two play big minutes in preseason, and play them rather well. So even though Rod Benson did well in his audition, the numbers were against him once again.
Predicted to make it: "I'd like McNeal to make the team, but suspect that Rush will."
Actually made it: Rush.
Excuses: Rush didn't shoot the ball well in preseason - then again, he doesn't often shoot the ball well - yet seemingly he was tall enough to win a roster spot. That's how it works, apparently.
Predicted to make it: "If Gelabale proves his health, he will make the team. If he does not, none of them will."
Actually made it: None of them.
Excuses: Tony Gaffney put on a damn good charge for the spot, but unfortunately, his minimum salary was deemed to be too much. Here's the thing, though; the Lakers stated their intentions early to have only a 13 man roster this season, due to them currently having the biggest payroll in the league. As such, the camp invites never really a had a chance. Why, then, did they bring so many in? What was the point? Even when someone (Gaffney) won you over enough to want to keep him as a player, you still couldn't do it, because the finances dictated the situation. So then why bring in players like Fey, who have no chance of making the roster, since all they can do is get injured and hamstring your finances? Don't get this.
I also don't get why a team that absolves itself of all youth chooses to own its own D-League affiliate; the Lakers currently have no players eligible for assignment down there. Whatever, though.
Predicted to make it: "If they [buyout Marko Jaric], I predict Gilder will make it; if they open a second spot, I predict Gilder and Taylor make it."
Actually made it: They didn't buyout Jaric, thus keeping on only 1; Gilder.
Excuses: Sorry about completely missing out on news of the Thomas Gardner waiving for the best part of three weeks. I'm not as good at this as I was in my youth, and am just simply not eighteen years old any more.
Also, it appears that Steven Hunter is actually healthy to play, appearing in multiple preseason games and playing 9 minutes on debut tonight. He hasn't played well at all yet, but he's playing, thus making me responsible for yet more misinformation. Sorry about this as well.
Predicted to make it: "I'm predicting none of the 5 to make it; however, if any of them do, I vote Lucas, Randolph, Tolliver, Aminu and Brown, in that order."
Excuses: I chose that order pretty much solely on the basis of the Heat's depth chart; they needed help at the point guard and power forward spots, and while Randolph was the best power forward option, Lucas was the only point guard option. The Heat clearly saw that, and surprised us all by bringing in Arroyo partway through preseason. Didn't see it coming. A good move, though.
Excuses: Cheated slightly here, since all of them had already been waived before I wrote my prediction. But I'm claiming it anyway, because I need all the success I can get.
Predicted to make it: "If and when the buyouts with [Antonio] Daniels and Mark Blount are finalised, the Wolves will have two roster spots. At that point, they'll need a point guard, which bodes well for Hart. Releasing Blount will leave the Timberwolves with only five big men, two of whom are Brian Cardinal and Oleksiy Pecherov (whom, since they're expiring, are also slim possibilities for being released, as is Damien Wilkins). So that gives Reiner a chance. I'm predicting him and Hart."
Excuses: Apparently I can't count; they needed only to release Daniels to open two spots, which they did. A buyout of Blount wasn't finalised in time, but my logic was at least right; Minnesota opted to keep a point guard and a big. They kept Hart, but decided to bring in Jawai over Reiner. Hadn't considered that a possibility at the time. But it's probably best.
Excuses: The Nets didn't have any roster space, they won't spend any money this year, and none of the three has NBA talent. They liked Hamilton, in the same way that all teams love defensive minded athletic forwards, but they didn't have any roster space. So this one was self-explanatory.
Predicted to make it: "The Hornets could use someone with centre size, particularly if they're going to pawn [Hilton] Armstrong off to the Clippers as I'm predicting they'll do between now and February. As such, they could use Barron, and any and all frontcourt offense is welcome. But despite all their cost cutting moves this summer, the Hornets are still over the tax (hence the Armstrong suggestion). So even if they freed up a roster spot by salary dumping Devin Brown or whoever, any additional signing would then cost them double. And is Earl Barron worth that? No. So for that reason, he's out. (Owens is out too, and I guarantee I'll be right about him this time. Hopefully.)" [A long-winded way of saying 'neither of them.']
Actually made it: Neither of them.
Excuses: Same as the Nets; the Hornets have no roster space and no money.
Excuses: Strangely, the free spending Knicks opted to keep a roster spot open instead of keeping an unguaranteed 15th man. This was kind of unexpected. Also unexpected was Marcus Landry's blazing hot three point stroke; he first demonstrated in summer league, but after a four year career of only decent shooting on few attempts at Wisconsin (with the shorter three point line), him being such a fine shooter is perhaps unexpected. But it's what's kept him around.
Predicted to make it: "It should be just Harris, but for some I suspect it'll be just Ruffin. Maybe I'm too cynical."
Actually made it: Bowen only.
Excuses: Not cynical enough, apparently. I respect Ryan Bowen, because any man who can keep getting jobs in a field where he's so badly underqualified is clearly doing something so very very right. But why he keeps getting these gigs, and why NBA executives are so enamoured with players who understand the nuances of defence in lieu of having any discernible talent, I will never understand. Good luck to him, though.
Predicted to make it: "I'm going to go ahead any say they'll keep them, even though they probably won't. (If that makes sense.)"
Actually made it: Neither of them.
Excuses: No idea what I just said here, but apparently Orlando isn't willing to spend any more on luxuries after all. And why should they? They've got enough talent right now to win the NBA title. A strong inactive list will change nothing.
Predicted to make it: "In spite of needing a shooter more urgently, they've got to keep Swift. It matters not that they have [Primoz] Brezec, Marreese Speights and the returning Jason Smith: you can never have too much frontcourt depth. And even if he didn't show it for the Suns, Stromile is great frontcourt depth. This is more of a plea than a prediction."
Actually made it: No one.
Excuses: Stromile was injured in preseason, which will have factored, but seemingly the Sixers don't rate him as much as I do. Apparently not many people do. Has he really fallen off this much between the ages of 28 and 29? I find it hard to believe. We'll wait and see, though.
Actually made it: None of them initially, but then they picked up Jarron Collins off of waivers.
Excuses: All brothers jokes aside, I don't understand the need for Jarron Collins. Robin Lopez is injured, and the Suns are short of quality size, but Jarron Collins isn't quality size.
Actually made it: None of them, as Patrick Mills was unexpectedly signed towards the end of preseason.
Excuses: Nate McMillan wanted to keep Udoka really badly, and if the Blazers had been able to foresee Nicolas Batum's injury, then maybe Udoka would have stayed. As it is, Mills gets a spot, despite currently being injured and having no short term role on the team. (I still think it's possible that Mills accepted his tender offer without the Blazers wanting him to, as this would explain the very weird timing of the signing. If this is true, or even if it's not true, please let me know.)
Predicted to make it: "As a result, neither player will make the team, as the Kings are already carrying the minimum of 13 players. It also doesn't help that neither is NBA calibre."
Actually made it: Neither of them.
Excuses: Once again, I can't count; the Kings had 14 players at the time, and still do. Desmond Mason made the team even in spite of his unguaranteed contract, and although he joins a stacked small forward rotation (weakened a bit by Francisco Garcia's freak physio-ball injury, he always had the talent to make it. Unlike the others.
Predicted to make it: "There's not enough room for Jones, and after the signing of [Keith] Bogans, the Spurs wing positions just got full as well. Jerrells might be the least skilled of the bunch, but the depth chart is most in his favour, so I vote for him."
Actually made it: Hairston.
Excuses: Jerrells' position and amount of guaranteed money certainly made his chances look promising. Instead, though, it seems he's going to join Hairston and Williams in the Spurs' juggling act between the big league team and the Austin Toros, getting paychecks here and there as incentive to hang around with the Toros and essentially extend the Spurs' roster to 18 players. It's sneaky, but it's totally legitimate. This, Lakers, is how you're supposed to use an affiliate.
Predicted to make it: "If [there's] only 1 [spot available], I vote for Matthews. If it's 2, I vote for Matthews and Suton. If it's 3, I vote for Matthews, Suton and Dupree. If it's 0, shame."
Actually made it: It was 1, and it was Matthews.
Excuses: Utah had the same sort of thing going on as the Lakers - open roster spots, but a huge payroll, and not a whole lot of incentive to keep someone on. However, unlike the Lakers, the Jazz had injuries; Matt Harpring will almost certainly never play again, and C.J. Miles is out for a while after thumb surgery. As such, they needed an extra player, which is where all the auditions came in. And Matthews did enough of everything
It's going to look like I'm just saying this because he's made the team, so please trust me that I'm not; I always thought Matthews was underrated at Marquette last year. Maybe he does nothing exceptional, but he does everything pretty well, and he doesn't look as athletically disadvantaged as advertised. There should always be a place for players who are solid at everything. There should be less places for players who are only good at the defensive "little things."
Predicted to make it: "Neither. The Wizards already have 14 players and are in the tax, so taking on extra players for the inactive list won't be done unless they're hit by their usual injury bug."
Actually made it: Davis only.
Excuses:Antawn Jamison got injured again, and I'm fully prepared to count that as being "hit by their usual injury bug." It suits me to do so.
Sam Presti's Survival Strategy In A Post-Apocalpytic Dystopian Nightmare
Simple question: Did the tough economic climate affect NBA team's spending plans as much as MSM scaremongerers would have you believe?
Not-so-simple answer: Kind of.
This summer saw a team that could have had nearly 8 figures of cap room opt not to use any of it. The Oklahoma City Thunder did pretty much nothing with their offseason once draft day was completed, and having won a total of 23 games last year, it's justifiable to ask why that was. There follows some exploratory maths, which get a bit dull and confusing.
To that total, add the cap holds of $3,336,800 for Harden and $933,500 for both Mullens and Ibaka, take away all the cap holds linked to above (which at the start of the offseason also included cap holds for unwanted players such as Desmond Mason and Mickael Gelabale) and the Thunder would have had themselves a total team salary of $41,845,259. Against a salary cap of $57,700,000, that would have meant cap room of $15,854,741. And that's pretty much the max.
(If bits of that don't make sense to you, such as the talk of cap holds for draft picks and free agents, don't worry about that for now.)
Had they done this, the Thunder would have the second biggest free agent player this past offseason, second only to the Pistons. However, the Thunder didn't use their 8 figures of possible cap room. They didn't use any of it, in fact. They didn't make a single move this offseason that required any cap space, which is why they continue to rock massive cap holds on such seminal names as Danny Fortson and Malik Rose (over $21 million added to the cap in those two alone).
What they did instead was trade Wilkins and Atkins to Minnesota for Etan Thomas, taking on an extra $3,846,088 of salary this season just for the joy of getting future second round picks. They then followed tradition by signing their three first rounders to 120% of the scale, boosting those earlier figures of $3,336,800 and $933,500 to $4,004,160 and $1,120,200 respectively. Finally, they made their only two free agency signings of the summer:
They could have had as-near-as-is max cap room. Instead, they got the two least talented players in the league. No offense. (They tried to make it three when they also signed Michael Ruffin, but roster numbers got the better of him. Sadly.)
The Thunder still have the lowest payroll in the league, a modest $48,383,101, and could have nearly $9.5 million in cap room tomorrow if they can bear to parted from The Fortson and friends. But they still haven't done so. They've shown no intention of doing so all summer. And until over-the-tax teams starting waggling cash and picks incentives towards the Thunder for them to take on their bad contracts when the trade deadline comes around - just like teams did with Memphis all of last year - then they're not going to use their cap room any time soon either.
The obvious question is why. Why would the Thunder not use this massive potential asset? Why would they turn down the opportunity to be one of the few buyers in such a seller's market? Why weren't they in there soliciting players like David Lee, Paul Millsap and Ben Gordon, using this prime opportunity to add one more significant piece to an already impressive young core? Did they whiff on an opportunity? Were they mismanaged?
No, I don't think so. As far as I see it, it was a combination of two things;
1. Truly quite a crap free agency class. The three aforementioned players were probably the pickings of the market, and two of them were restricted, which would have made the Thunder heavily overpaying to get them. They also would have had to bid outrageously to outbid the Pistons for Gordon, since Detroit themselves overpaid him, and while there's no real evidence to suggest that Oklahoma City attempted to get Gordon, there's also no real evidence that they should have done.
2. They don't have a whole lot of money. Having cap space and having money are not really the same thing.
Oklahoma City aren't a big budgeted franchise. As mentioned above, they have the league's smallest payroll, and spent all of last year trimming the remnants of Seattle's payroll. Attendance for the new franchise has been impressive in the early going, but the $75 million that it cost to move the team - combined with the $325 million that it cost to buy it - seems to have stymied the Thunder's spending on players. They've signed Nenad Krstic for three years and unsuccessfully tried to trade for Tyson Chandler's big contract, but that's been about it. And it isn't long until they're going to have to pony up for Kevin Durant's max contract. (That is, unless they trade his plus/minus-killing arse away before then. Although that might be hard to do, since apparently he's difficult to give way for free.)
But is this unwillingness to spend limited to the Thunder only? Quite what is the difference between spending during this summer's recession and during last summer's honeymoon period? Let's look at some more numbers.
Listed below are the future salary commitments for all NBA teams, including this season, but not including luxury tax payments. Note: for the purposes of consistency, all options and partially guaranteed contracts are assumed to be being paid in full. Even those that won't be.
Total = $5,565,152,517. Or, to put it in words: five billion, five hundred and sixty five million, one hundred and fifty two thousand, five hundred and seventeen dollars.
(Makes you feel a bit weird to see it all totalled up like that, doesn't it?)
And now, the same statistic, but from this time last year. The following is the future salary commitments for all NBA teams as of October 26th 2008;
Difference between 2008/09 and 2009/10: $825,069,298
[Note: none of these figures are guaranteed to be 100% accurate, because I've reverse-engineered them, but at worst it's 98.5%. Also note: the $158,312,000's worth of extensions given to Danny Granger, Jason Maxiell, Martell Webster and Andrew Bynum were signed after October 26th 2008, and therefore weren't counted towards their team's totals above. Nor is the $18 million that reappeared on Portlands's cap for Darius Miles. Similarly, LaMarcus Aldridge's extension from last week is not included, because I don't know what it is yet.]
$825 million is a lot of freaking money, even when split over 30 big money franchises. That figure alone highlights the difference in spending between this year and last. But here's another way of looking at it.
This summer, $1,275,302,921 of new player salary was given out. That total includes minimum salary deals, rookie scale contract, extensions......everything.
Last summer, however, $1,885,122,482 of new player salary was given out. That's an decrease of $609,819,561 in new expenditure from one summer to the next. And that's a lot.
Of course, there are mitigating factors for that. The crappy 2006 draft class has had something to do with it; as I mentioned here, only three players have gotten extensions from that draft class, and only a couple more have a chance of getting one. The 2010 free agency market is another huge factor (one that you may not have heard of, due to the minimal press coverage its received), and many teams are trying to avoid clogging their cap in eager anticipation of the impending free agency anti-climax coming up next offseason. When that day comes, spending should ramp up again, and the current contingency plans for it may well explain some of the decline in salary expenditure.
But more than anything, it appears that the economy's affect on player spending has not been overstated. Working purely on averages, NBA teams have $20 million less on players this summer than they did last summer, a large amount of money regardless of the number of years that it is spread over. Times are tough, and we're all having to make small sacrifices right now. (Personally, I'm forgoing all haircuts. They're too expensive anyway.) The NBA is no different; as we've now seen, it's stopped spending like it used to as well.
And so that might explain why the Thunder picked Ryan Bowen over Paul Millsap.
(The picture that opened this post had literally nothing to do with the rest of it.)
Sham is a miserable and self-effacing little bastard, whose basketball opinions are often riddled with bias, insecurity, and rank immaturity. He has also never played the sport, and the only game he has ever been to see was a Ware Rebels game back in 2001. The night bus didn't show up and he had to walk the 9 miles home. It was after this that his passion for basketball really took off.
He considers himself to be Britain's foremost NBA expert, an arbitrary title that carries with it no basis in fact, or any worldly significance. He also wrote this section of the website in third person narrative, purely for reasons of arrogance.
Copyright ShamSports.com, 2005-2010. Every published word on this website
is copyrighted to the website's owner, including (but not limited to)
the really stupid ones that I wish I'd never written.
