Official Detroit Pistons thread

[CGVT]

You 2 would agree a lot more if you weren't both such douchebags on the delivery.

QFMFT

Haha

[ghandi]

Boban is going to be one expensive victory cigar

[Futureshock]

Kstat and I agree on something. Will wonders ever cease.

Boban's exactly the sort of guy the Pistons have to target, someone floating under the radar but has shown excellent production in limited minutes. If he can keep that same level with expanded responsibilities, the Pistons will have committed larceny against the league.

$7 mil a year is an excellent price for this sort of lottery ticket.

What I like is that he put up numbers on a good team. I am always suspicious of guys that put up great numbers on bad teams. Loy Vaught anyone?

[fontes91]

Loy was a good player until his back went out. He was worthless at that point.

[fontes91]

Boban is going to be one expensive victory cigar

He actually has some skills. He will get some meaningful minutes.

[chemiclord]

One person who disagrees with Froot's theory on superteams?

NBA Commissoner Adam Silver.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/17032907/adam-silver-says-kevin-durant-signing-golden-state-warriors-shows-need-change-league-cba

You'd think if they were the big draw that Froot claims they are, that the commissioner wouldn't feel the need for damage control.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Silver has 28 team owners real pissed off right now. He's against super teams. That doesn't mean the national ratings are impacted though.

[jaadam4]

Now that we have Bilbo Bobans we're a super team.

[chemiclord]

Silver has 28 team owners real pissed off right now. He's against super teams. That doesn't mean the national ratings are impacted though.

As has been demonstrated, pretty much the only ratings that are up are late rounds of the playoffs. Everything else is cratering, and pretty hard. Considering how small of a percentage of the total games those late rounds are, yeah, I can see why the league wouldn't be thrilled.

The NBA landed a sweet broadcasting deal on the heels of a stretch where there wasn't any one singular dominant team (the closest was the Heat during the Big Three era, and they went 2-2 during their Finals appearances and met three different teams in the process). That's nothing like what's shaping up in the current NBA, where the overwhelming likelihood is that the league is going to be trying to sell casual fans on Cleveland/Golden State IV in two years time.

[CGVT]

It is because regular season NBA, with a few exceptions, is unwatchable to all but the hard core fans.

[Futureshock]

It is because regular season NBA, with a few exceptions, is unwatchable to all but the hard core fans.

I would fall in that category. And I used to be a hard core fan. But watching the majority of players attempting to play like GS, but sending brick after brick up and fouling players (like Drummond) that can't hit a FT as an every game strategy is not fun to watch.

[Malto Marko]

.........so, we hear a lot from players on how they want to be respected.

Who deserves the most respect?

A Media whore player that announces at the beginning of the season he is retiring after 20 years and 5 Championships in the league or the player who quietly retires after the season is over with 19 years seniority and 6 rings?

[Futureshock]

One person who disagrees with Froot's theory on superteams?

NBA Commissoner Adam Silver.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/17032907/adam-silver-says-kevin-durant-signing-golden-state-warriors-shows-need-change-league-cba

You'd think if they were the big draw that Froot claims they are, that the commissioner wouldn't feel the need for damage control.

In the article below that one:
With Tim Duncan, the Spurs wrote the book on handling superstars; will the NBA read it?

But they have yet to seriously consider the one measure that those experts agree would do the most to preserve the health of the league's high-volume players: reduce the 82-game schedule.

Lord yes

The exec requested anonymity because suggesting that superstars drive disproportionate value for the NBA is verboten. With negotiations over the next collective bargaining agreement already underway, the league can't have its bean-counters publicly offering a true appraisal of those they're facing off against across the table.
Meanwhile, the NBA continues to market its cohort of superstars to the hilt. Virtually every team uses the likes of LeBron James, Stephen Curry and, for years, Kobe Bryant as anchors in their ticket packages, and the league constructs its national broadcast slate around its most elite talent.
"Superstars are an accelerant," said a senior NBA marketing official who has also worked in other pro leagues. "They're the thing that drives people to the product and the experience. If a guy has a specific injury and isn't playing, he's out of sight, out of mind. That's a reality with any product. If I'm in front of you all the time, I'm not just building awareness, but I'm also building intent. Then you start getting caught up in whatever I'm selling, and you say, 'You know, I should buy that.'"

To a great extent, the NBA's abiding mandate is to create as many of these icons as possible. When the league talks about expanding the global reach of the game, the best means of export aren't new courts in Guangzhou, China, or Johannesburg, South Africa. They are LeBron, Steph and whoever else can captivate the imagination of people born after 1980.
There's little reason the NBA couldn't have half a dozen supernovas right now, instead of just two or three. That kind of depth would brighten the league's financial picture in ways never previously imagined.

All the while, the league keeps its superstars' pedal to the metal, racing toward the horizon until the clutch gives out.

Although the article is centrally about reducing the 82 game season, of which I agree, but the league needs to do a better job of promoting up-n-coming players. On and off the court. #Death2theSuperstarCalls

[nhwbrooklyn]

The easiest change to mitigate super teams is to significantly raise the max player pay number in relation to the total cap. LeBron should probably be getting paid half of the Cav's total cap space.

[Futureshock]

The easiest change to mitigate super teams is to significantly raise the max player pay number in relation to the total cap. LeBron should probably be getting paid half of the Cav's total cap space.

Question: Do the Cavs get a % (not the league revenue share) of Lebron's merchandise sales? Because if so, the team would still pay him and pay the tax with the extra $ they get from this type of sales.

IMO, (I obviously don't know a lot about today's NBA) the best solution for the future of the sport is to promote the TEAMS. The "Superstar" crowd isn't going anywhere, but when the "blue -collar-homer-loyalist" of every team not named GS or Cle. sees they have no chance, it is not going to take long before the most loyal turns away from the sport.