The Truth About “Parity” in the NBA
May 8th, 2014
[Originally posted on Hoopsworld, 5th November 2013.]
In February 2010, NBA commissioner David Stern spoke ominously of the league’s forecasted $400 million loss that financial year, as well as hundreds of millions more in losses over the previous few seasons. His words were one of the earliest warnings of an impending lockout, a threat that became a reality 16 months later. Financial inequalities and a broken system supposedly saw 22 out of the 30 NBA franchises losing money, and something …
Why NBA Teams Sign Players They Don’t Want
May 8th, 2014
[Originally posted on Hoopsworld, 29th October 2013.]
The vast majority of players signed for training camp are signed to contracts without any guaranteed compensation on them.
This, certainly, is no surprise, as it has long been known that most players signed for training camp are not expected to make the team. A few players have fairly nominal guaranteed portions – for example, Dee Bost received $50,000 from Portland, Dewayne Dedmon $25,000 from Golden State, and Trent Lockett $35,000 from Sacramento. …
The False Allure Of Multi-Year Contracts
May 8th, 2014
[Originally posted on Hoopsworld, 15th October 2013.]
Unguaranteed or partially guaranteed final seasons are quite the trend nowadays in the NBA, and they have these days almost completely superceded team options. In fact, excluding rookie scale contracts, there are only eight team options in the entire league, belonging to Chauncey Billups, Darius Morris, Timofey Mozgov, Marreese Speights, Carrick Felix, Chandler Parsons, Jae Crowder and Rodney Williams.
All other contracts referred to in the press as ‘team options’ are, in fact, …
The Value of Minimum Contracts In The NBA
May 8th, 2014
[Originally posted on Hoopsworld, 7th October 2013.]
The most fun part of preseason is being able to get wildly carried away with the results and performances in the mostly meaningless games. This is particularly true of the performances of individual players who simply were not expected to shine, but did.
Two such players have already shown their faces, in Houston’s Omri Casspi and the L.A. Lakers’s Xavier Henry. Casspi shot 9-10 for 20 points on his debut, whilst Henry topped …
Ten Of The Worst New Contracts This Offseason
May 8th, 2014
[Originally published on Hoopsworld, 30th September 2013.]
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is designed to save teams from themselves, and make reckless spending far harder to do. It works – most free agency contracts are now, frankly, well priced.
But not all of them.
After taking a look at the best contracts of the offseason last week, here, in no particular order, are ten of the worst ones from this past offseason:
Al Jefferson – Charlotte Bobcats
The harsh but …
Ten Of The Best New Contracts This Offseason
May 8th, 2014
[Originally published on Hoopsworld, 23rd September 2013.]
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is designed to save teams from themselves, and make reckless spending far harder to do. It works – most free agency contracts are now, frankly, well priced.
Here, in no particular order, are ten of the best ones from this past offseason:
Paul Millsap – Atlanta Hawks
Millsap signed with Atlanta for two years at $9.5 million per year, a significant chunk of cap space for a team …
