[Awilliamson19]

Lets be real here.. A trend has been started that EVERY superstar , or semi superstar for that matter , will follow for years to come.. Kobe-Pau , LBJ-Dwade-Bosh , Melo-Stoudemire.. Williams will leave New Jersey to team up with someone , Paul is on his way out of New Orleans , and Dwight Howard will not be in Orlando past 2012 , UNLESS , Paul or Williams finds their way to Orlando.. Most likely though , Howard ends up in LA , Williams ends up in New York , and Paul ends up in either LA or OKC. Griffin wont be with the Clippers once he finds a way out , Love doesnt wanna lose in a small market city like Minnesota , and Tyreke Evans would like to have stability , not wondering whethere he'll be here(sacramento) or there(Anaheim).

Lets just get rid of these 8 franchises and have an expansion draft.. Starting with the BEST team from the previous season getting to pick first.. Thats basically how free agency works anyway..

Clippers , Magic , Hornets , Timberwolves , Kings , Cavaliers , Pacers , Raptors..

For one , Small market teams will NEVER win in a free agency battle.. Stop with all of this CBA bullshit to lower the cap(trying to save the small market franchises) and give some parity to the league.. Its not what the players want , obviously.. Put a 100 mill a year cap on the shit and let the players do as they please.. If you dont , theyll find loopholes..

[LostBankroll]

Pirates Indians Blue Jays Astros Cubs Brewers Expos Twins

[Awilliamson19]

^^^ I guess the same could go for the MLB as well.. One thing all those teams have in common , they suck.

[Awilliamson19]

Although , The teams in the MLB have a little more history behind then than the teams in the NBA. I still think NBA and MLB could both retract and lose a few teams. Look at Cliff Lee , basically did same thing as LBJ , just more quiet about it. People want to win and be in the spotlight , no matter how humble you are.

[FindTheLock]

the magic have finished at the top of the east for the past few seasons. They also made it to the finals and sell out their arena all season. This is a stupid suggestion considering the magic also have one of the highest pay roles in sports. Won't happen and isn't even worth discussing.

[ChileCheese]

Although , The teams in the MLB have a little more history behind then than the teams in the NBA. I still think NBA and MLB could both retract and lose a few teams. Look at Cliff Lee , basically did same thing as LBJ , just more quiet about it. People want to win and be in the spotlight , no matter how humble you are.

Lee turned down New York, so your comparison is off base.

[Awilliamson19]

and you think Dwight wants to stay there to finish top 3 in the East to be upset in the playoffs , while he watches LBJ , bosh and Dwade take all of the Florida and National publicity? Not worth discussing? Check this thread in 2013 when Paul and Howard are on Kobes nuts in LA and Deron Williams has teamed with Melo and Stoudemire in New York.. Dwight dont want to be in Orlando , therefore he wont stay there.. Its ineveitable.. Did you not see what happened to Cleveland ? Same thing will happen to Orlando..

[chevy6]

gtfoh with this espn thread

[Awilliamson19]

Lee turned down New York to go to Philly.. Thats like turning down sex with Cindy Crawford to have sex with Jenna Jameson.. Comparison is right on target.. He chose less money to have a shot at winning a titile.. Knew itd be easier to get throough the NL than to get through the AL and especially the East.. He chose what HE WANTED...which actually proves my point , players do what they want , no matter what.

[Awilliamson19]

espn thread? LOL. Hornets fan? Magic fan? Pacers fan? Facts are facts.. These small market teams are getting tired of being beat to death by these Stars who pick and choose where they want to play and always get what they want..

[AikenJ]

No, because you're taking it past loving basketball and screwing with local economies.

[Awilliamson19]

^^ Agree with this.. I wish they'd set the cap at 40 million and it would all disperse and be the NBA again.. I just dont see it happening.. So instead of losing a season because they cant agree , give the players what they want and let the superstars form all star teams.. If not , theyll find loop holes and it wont even be basketball anymore... Its already happening.

[Bradyd]

The NBA is a dynasty league. Always have and always will be.

[Awilliamson19]

Obviously.. What , 7 different teams since 89 have won the title? If that many.. Guessing off top of my head.. The way it looks now though , there will be about 2 teams in the East and 2 teams in the West who will dominate year in and year out.

[FindTheLock]

and you think Dwight wants to stay there to finish top 3 in the East to be upset in the playoffs , while he watches LBJ , bosh and Dwade take all of the Florida and National publicity? Not worth discussing? Check this thread in 2013 when Paul and Howard are on Kobes nuts in LA and Deron Williams has teamed with Melo and Stoudemire in New York.. Dwight dont want to be in Orlando , therefore he wont stay there.. Its ineveitable.. Did you not see what happened to Cleveland ? Same thing will happen to Orlando..

the end of basketball in Orlando is losing Howard? We had Shaq (who was a much better player) before Howard and when he left we built a winning team again. You're not looking at the big picture. Howard is a great defensive player, but he has only himself to blame for not winning a title yet. He is an offensive liability. He doesn't know when to stop dribbling into double teams and he has a pretty weak post game when the refs aren't allowing him to push the defender under the basket. Any team that tries to use Howard as their go to guy on offense is going to lose. I don't care who else is on his team. He can't make the FT's when they count, and that isn't going to win championships. As a Magic fan I am not even sure losing Howard is a bad thing as long as we get some good players in return. howard totally destroys any possible flow the offense can get. he demands the ball and turns it over half the times he touches it. If he doesn't turn it over he bricks his FT's which is as good as a turnover. He's a great defender and rebounder, but he is more like ben wallace than he is shaq.

[Awilliamson19]

At least you made a valid point rather than saying Gtfoh with this bullshit.. and a very good ******* point at that.. I guess saying losing the Magic was a little harsh eh? They did rebuild after Shaq and the fans seem to be behind the team.. So maybe 8 teams is a little much? But seriuosly? Im not trying to offend any fans here.. Just stating the obvious of what has happened over the past 5 years and will continue to happen..

[jgilmartin]

Pirates Indians Blue Jays Astros Cubs Brewers Expos Twins

NFW would they get rid of the Cubs. Yes, they suck, but they are in the top 10 for home and road attendance every year.

[Awilliamson19]

Yeah , definitly agree with that.. Thats what I meant by a little more history behind even the shitty teams in the MLB . Still think the MLB could lose a few teams.. Starting with Florida.. Even when they win , nobody shows up.. Give that team to a city that cares damnit.

[zam77]

If a city is winning and the fans show up no point in moving them. If the team is losing and no fans show up, owners can move or sell the franchise. Keep it this way. If professional sports gets anymore Hollywood than it already is, you can kiss any intergrity they have left goodbye. Retraction would do this imo.

[spurginobili]

It's contraction, not retraction. Don't think it's going to happen, but if it does it will probably be just two teams.

[DemoralizdDreamr]

MLB: If ur talented sign with Yanks, Bo Sox or Phillies. Underdogs haave barely nay hope. I was very glad to see the Giants win it all last year. Hopefullt the indians could go all the way this year, that would be a major upset.

[LostBankroll]

NFW would they get rid of the Cubs. Yes, they suck, but they are in the top 10 for home and road attendance every year.

And your point is? GET THEM THE **** OUT MLB

[TheDane]

8 seems excessive, but a couple shouldn't hurt.

[jgilmartin]

And your point is? GET THEM THE **** OUT MLB

My point is that it would never happen.

[crustyme]

Lets be real here.. A trend has been started that EVERY superstar , or semi superstar for that matter , will follow for years to come.. Kobe-Pau , LBJ-Dwade-Bosh , Melo-Stoudemire.. Williams will leave New Jersey to team up with someone , Paul is on his way out of New Orleans , and Dwight Howard will not be in Orlando past 2012 , UNLESS , Paul or Williams finds their way to Orlando.. Most likely though , Howard ends up in LA , Williams ends up in New York , and Paul ends up in either LA or OKC. Griffin wont be with the Clippers once he finds a way out , Love doesnt wanna lose in a small market city like Minnesota , and Tyreke Evans would like to have stability , not wondering whethere he'll be here(sacramento) or there(Anaheim).

Lets just get rid of these 8 franchises and have an expansion draft.. Starting with the BEST team from the previous season getting to pick first.. Thats basically how free agency works anyway..

Clippers , Magic , Hornets , Timberwolves , Kings , Cavaliers , Pacers , Raptors..

For one , Small market teams will NEVER win in a free agency battle.. Stop with all of this CBA bullshit to lower the cap(trying to save the small market franchises) and give some parity to the league.. Its not what the players want , obviously.. Put a 100 mill a year cap on the shit and let the players do as they please.. If you dont , theyll find loopholes..

why in the world would you fold the cavs who are 3rd in the league in attendance?

i don't believe retraction is the answer. i think relocation is. look how well it worked out for the sonics.

hornets can move to anaheim since so cal can support 3 teams. pacers and twolves could possibly move to kansas & kentucky, two great college "towns" that could support pro teams. nets are moving to nyc so they should be fine. kings should be fine once a new arena is built.

i also think stern should do away with the draft lottery and just award the top pick to the worst team. not fair that the worst team ends up with the 4th pick. imagine how good the kings would in the standing and attendance had blake griffin gone there instead of la. clippers already had good attendance so they didn't really need him as much as cow-town.

[TexansFan]

MLB should as well.

[Goat Milk]

The NBA is a dynasty league. Always have and always will be.

exactly

[UntilTheNDofTimE]

This is the main reason i didn't want to see the heat win this year. However inevitable it may be it will destroy the league if they win and win multiple championships in a row. All the leagues superstars will be on 3-4 teams if this trend succeeds which it will.

But its sad that great players dont wish to compete against the best anymore.

[frostno98]

and you think Dwight wants to stay there to finish top 3 in the East to be upset in the playoffs , while he watches LBJ , bosh and Dwade take all of the Florida and National publicity? Not worth discussing? Check this thread in 2013 when Paul and Howard are on Kobes nuts in LA and Deron Williams has teamed with Melo and Stoudemire in New York.. Dwight dont want to be in Orlando , therefore he wont stay there.. Its ineveitable.. Did you not see what happened to Cleveland ? Same thing will happen to Orlando..

Dwight Howard doesn't need to go anywhere. If he can get a Chris Paul or Deron Williams, the Magic's will be back in contention. They can beat any team in the East if Howard can get some real help.

[Goat Milk]

This is the main reason i didn't want to see the heat win this year. However inevitable it may be it will destroy the league if they win and win multiple championships in a row. All the leagues superstars will be on 3-4 teams if this trend succeeds which it will.

But its sad that great players dont wish to compete against the best anymore.

Jordan had Pippen, got Rodman too later. Hakeem got Clyde. Malone and Stockton. Payton and Kemp. Kareem and Magic. McHale, Parish and Bird. I could go on and on. There's about 15 superstars in the league today and a lot of all stars. Wade, Bryant, James, Cp3, Dwight, Deron WIlliams, Rose, Durant, Carmello, Stoudemire, Dirk, Pierce, etc. A lot of new superstars are going to continue to come into the league.

The NBA will always be competative bro. 3 peats are going to be much harder now with the teaming of true superstars like Bryant and Howard (just an example) once they see what Miami is capable of. This is good for the league. Good for guys like Bryant and JOrdan that have 5 and 6 rings. Theres not going to be any easy 3 peats like there was--lets face it, During Jordans 3 peats. Jordan never played against two of the top 3 players in the world on 1 team. The best teams he played against were the Jazz who probably had 2 of the top 12 players in the league at the time.

[chargers4222]

shut up goat milk....you cant even spell....or win....what are you like 12

[FindTheLock]

Jordan had Pippen, got Rodman too later. Hakeem got Clyde. Malone and Stockton. Payton and Kemp. Kareem and Magic. McHale, Parish and Bird. I could go on and on. There's about 15 superstars in the league today and a lot of all stars. Wade, Bryant, James, Cp3, Dwight, Deron WIlliams, Rose, Durant, Carmello, Stoudemire, Dirk, Pierce, etc. A lot of new superstars are going to continue to come into the league.

The NBA will always be competative bro. 3 peats are going to be much harder now with the teaming of true superstars like Bryant and Howard (just an example) once they see what Miami is capable of. This is good for the league. Good for guys like Bryant and JOrdan that have 5 and 6 rings. Theres not going to be any easy 3 peats like there was--lets face it, During Jordans 3 peats. Jordan never played against two of the top 3 players in the world on 1 team. The best teams he played against were the Jazz who probably had 2 of the top 12 players in the league at the time.

I totally disagree with your argument comparing two different generations of basketball. Jordans era had some of the most influential players of all time. What Jordan did in his time will never be duplicated, and that has nothing to do with it being easier on Jordan either. Jordan had a will like no other player on the court today. Jordan wouldn't allow himself to ever give up no matter what. When players like Kobe and lebron start to fade into bad shots and start slacking off on defense, those were the moments in games where Jordan would start to drop 50 on ANYONE who was guarding him. Jordan wasn't so good just because of his talent and skill. He wasn't so good because the other players on the other teams were so bad. Jordan was so good because he feared losing more than he feared dying. There was absolutely no quit in Jordan. He didn't talk about having the flu when he was sick, he just went out on the floor and dropped 60 while locking down his man on the defensive end. Jordan would still be the best on the floor if he played right now in this same NBA in his prime. He had the will to overcome any obstacle on the other team, and he played against some of the greatest of all time.

[BRAVES1985]

this thread is fukin stupid

cavs and raps were top 10 in the league in revenue

and they both had bottom 5 talent

[cleaveland]

This is the main reason i didn't want to see the heat win this year. However inevitable it may be it will destroy the league if they win and win multiple championships in a row. All the leagues superstars will be on 3-4 teams if this trend succeeds which it will.

But its sad that great players dont wish to compete against the best anymore.

I think the players realize that the only way to beat the Stern/NBA fix is to have so much talent on your team that no one stop you...if winning is priority then stacking your team to beat the other team + the refs if necessary is the logical, sensible thing to do if you think about it. It's the only way to go, imho.

[milwaukee mike]

Pirates Indians Blue Jays Astros Cubs Brewers Expos Twins

surprised nobody has mentioned this EPIC FAIL

1) the expos no longer exist, the franchise moved to washington dc and become the nationals SIX FUKKING YEARS AGO!!

2) the cubs, brewers, and twins all draw more than 3 million fans/year