Hunter believes a lost season could 'force contraction'

[Dash]

If the NBA loses the 11-12 season, Billy Hunter believes some teams may not survive the damage.

 

"If everybody begins to dig into their respective positions, then I think the league will be decimated. It took us five years to recover from the 1998 lockout and there's probability that we may never recover [from this lockout]," Hunter told ESPN before Friday's sit-down with players. "I think there will be some teams that won't survive. Particularly if the season gets shut down, there will be teams that will not be around next year."

 

The Kings could be one team subject to "forced contraction", according to Hunter.

 

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/216015/Hunter_Believes_Lost_Season_Could_Force_Contraction#ixzz1asICA3NB

 

More reason to get a deal done ASAP.

[Flash]

The league needs contraction regardless.

[Flash]

This is all on Stern and the owners. Over the past 20 + years they've created the problem due to overexpansion and letting weak ownership groups become included into an 'exclusive' club they can't really afford and it's now coming home to roost. The best owners/franchises in the league are being held hostage by the worst IMO.

 

There are all these mumblings coming out where the Heat are the root of the problem, or the process that led to the Heat becoming what they are. Didn't the NBA just have it's best season since MJ was playing?

 

If some of these teams have the problems they say they do where they will lose less money by not playing then the system is clearly messed up along with the deals they've struck and the fact that the markets they operate in do not have the want/need/ability to support their franchise.

 

Moves like these are why we are where we are today (this is nothing against those franchise's or fanbases either):

 

-Vancouver to Memphis. That team should have never left in the first place, but the problem was made worse by a move to stick a club in the 2nd largest town in TENNESSEE...c'mon

 

-Let Charlotte's garbage owner move to NO who used to have a team and never supported it. They don't support sports period and if the NFL allowed Benson..the Saints would've been gone years ago. The Hornets are now owned by the League

 

-Then another super move, hey lets put another team where one just failed miserably! Enter, the Charlotte Bobcats.

 

 

To be honest, clubs like New Orleans, Sacramento, Minnesota and Milwaukee might need to bite the dust and move the Grizzlies to Seattle. Again, nothing against those fanbases but it needs to happen or we'll be right back to where we are today when the next deal expires.

 

 

The NBA is just not well run, PERIOD. Another example is League Pass. Huge piece of shit. You can't even get all the games on HD through Comcast. Meanwhile MLB is giving you "Extra Innings" in HD with a home and away telecast on any system imaginable.

 

Point is, the owners have run this thing into the ground and that's why we are where we are right now.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Flash

[EastCoastNiner]

The league needs contraction regardless.

 

They should get rid of Miami. Their fans don't show up to games, and they have to put white shits on seats, so it looks like a whiteout. . PATHETIC!

 

They should just send LeBron and Wade back in FA because Miami does not deserve a single professional sports team. They are the worst sports city in the country. Fact.

[Flash]

They should get rid of Miami. Their fans don't show up to games, and they have to put white shits on seats, so it looks like a whiteout. . PATHETIC!

 

They should just send LeBron and Wade back in FA because Miami does not deserve a single professional sports team. They are the worst sports city in the country. Fact.

 

Number 5 in attendance? Not to mention, every time we came to town I'm sure it was that teams highest attendance. I'm not gonna turn this into a Heat vs. anyone thing though because that's not what it is. You're just a [expletive]ing retard.

[Check my Stats]

The NBA needs worry about trying to equally distribute the talented players around the league before it worries about something as absurd as contraction.

[Flash]

The NBA needs worry about trying to equally distribute the talented players around the league before it worries about something as absurd as contraction.

 

I disagree. It shouldn't be the NBA's responsibility to make sure teams are getting talent. Its up to those front offices to make the right personnel decisions. The league has never been able to do that and IMO this is the closest they will ever get to it. Every team besides maybe Milwaukee and Toronto off the top of my head have a star player

 

Another problem is letting a player hold a franchise hostage like Carmelo did last season. They have to find a way to eliminate that because nothing good comes out of it.

[Check my Stats]

So if Pat Riley was our GM all-stars would suddenly love to play in Toronto? How about Milwaukee? Charlotte?

 

The fact that small market teams typically seem to have to be flawless in building their roster (the stars really do have to pretty much align) in order to be a contender is dumb. LA traded Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, sure they got Pau in another rape deal but don't tell me that teams like LA are excellently managed because they aren't (they gave Artest a blank check book). They just have Kobe Bryant, who actually forced his way to LA I think, I am ignorant to the issue as I was 5 at the time, but yeah players forcing their way off teams is far from an issue right? It's not like it still happens right?

 

People point to San Antonio as inspiration that the system isn't broken, but in reality they won all these titles because they won a [expletive]ing draft lottery and got the best PF of all time. And he won before Manu and TP were relevant so don't even say their names; not trying to discredit SA's front office because they are obviously great, but just making a point. Washington, Chicago, these teams moving forward now are going to be contenders because they won a lottery, not because their management is so awesome.

 

The bottom line is, you only win with superstars (minus anomalies like Detroit). There aren't enough superstars to go around to allow all 30 teams to compete (or even 16 teams to to have a shot at winning the title realistically), so there needs to be another way to spread the next level of talent around to even the playing field so that teams who aren't lucky enough to win the draft lottery or draft a superstar (or live somewhere nice enough just to sign them), can still find ways to win. If you want to have 2-3 stars on your team, then you should have difficulty filling the rest of your roster out, this is how I feel a hard cap helps the system.

 

I just feel like people don't give enough credit to how much luck is involved in building a good team in the NBA.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Check my Stats

[Flash]

Did you not see my point about ending situations like what Melo did last year? Owners like Robert Sarver are bitching and crying but all he had to do was re-sign Amare rather than choose Warrick. Frye and Childress and he wouldn't be complaining all that much.

 

Then you have Dan Gilbert. I don't know how many different trades were on the table to bring in a second star to play alongside LBJ. Names like Amare and other great players but then you go out and get Antawn Jamison? Its no wonder he left...which is why Cleveland is in the position they're in now. If you give up JJ Hickson...JJ Hickson in one of the deals (wasn't he the guy they wouldn't let go?) LeBron probably wins a ring and is still in a Cavs uniform.

 

Toronto had a shot to get Rudy Gay and put him next to Bosh. Does that make them instant contenders? No, but it makes them a top team in the East in the past. Instead they chose Andrea [expletive]ing Bargnani.

 

Portland [expletive]ed up drafting Oden over Durant but they ended up building through the draft and if B. Roy was healthy and at his peak they'd be a contender in the West. They aren't some luxurious destination for players but they have a competent front office.

 

Memphis gives up Pau Gasol in what at time time was an absolute rape but now look who's in the conference semi's with a great shot to become a contender these next couple seasons.

 

Detroit, after making such brilliant moves earlier in the decade, decided they didn't have patience to wait till 2010 and gave absurd deals to Ben Gordon and Charlie V and now they are where they are.

 

Atlanta, aside from giving Joe Johnson that contract, has also built a very good team that almost made the conference finals this year through the draft and trades.

 

Point is..if you draft well you're going to have a shot down the road. Hell, even the Clippers got it right and they'll always be the Lakers' little brother in that city. It also comes down to the front office. Yeah, Pat Riley is a hell of a GM, but there are plenty of other great GM's out there. At the end of the day, if a franchise shows a commitment to winning, spending the necessary money to do so and competent management, players are going to see that put aside the big city bullshit. OKC is the perfect example. Durant sees what they're doing there, he see's the young core they've drafted and knows the future there is bright. He could've easily said na I wanna go play in a bigger market. How many big name FA's were flocking to the Knicks during the 2000's? That's the biggest market in the NBA aside from maybe, maybe LA. It all happened once they got a functioning front office that shit got straightened out and players started seeing the direction they were headed in.

 

Blaming the big market team is a cop out IMO for bad front office and personnel choices made by certain teams.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Flash

[Nitro]

It's a superstar's league, and ultimately if you don't have at the very least a top 10 player, you don't have a shot at a championship. There will never be NFL/MLB parity in the NBA. Far more than any other sport one player can win games in basketball, and there's only a handful of them. It's up to the smaller markets to draft these players and build wisely enough to keep those homegrown superstars, while the more lucrative markets have greater flexibility with the ability to sign/trade for those players...and really, it's like that in all sports.

 

As for contraction, I love the idea in theory. Condensing talent will make for a better product (in terms of quality of basketball), period.

[Flash]

It's a superstar's league, and ultimately if you don't have at the very least a top 10 player, you don't have a shot at a championship. There will never be NFL/MLB parity in the NBA. Far more than any other sport one player can win games in basketball, and there's only a handful of them. It's up to the smaller markets to draft these players and build wisely enough to keep those homegrown superstars, while the more lucrative markets have greater flexibility with the ability to sign/trade for those players...and really, it's like that in all sports.

 

As for contraction, I love the idea in theory. Condensing talent will make for a better product (in terms of quality of basketball), period.

 

In regards to contraction, the idea will obviously work. A talent like Kevin Love doesn't deserve to be rotting away up there where they have no idea what they're doing. Same goes for CP3.