Oh. You gave us the answer. You gotta do that in the NEXT newsletter, Marc. Or I’ll just keep answering in the replies right when I read the question, before finishing, I guess.
Related to Tommy's comment below... I get that in basketball, more than any other team sport, one player can influence the game, but does anyone has done some "money-ball" analysis to determine if these $40M+ contracts bring that much value as opposed to splitting the contract into two or more good players? After all, a single player, as good as he might be, can only guard one player and play one spot on the court at any time... I can't imagine Chris Paul, for example, bringing to the team what his salary cost.
Great question, Xavier. I know that common wisdom is that you can win without at least two all-stars, but I always think back to that 2004 Pistons title team that had very good players, but only one all-star (and Ben Wallace was a fan vote selection). I guess one can point to their being the outlier of proof that the common wisdom is correct, but I'd love to more teams go for it in that way.
I always loved that team, mostly because everyone was ready to engrave the Lakers on the trophy in the preseason when Malone and Payton joined Kobe and Shaq.
I have a (non-Harden) question: is one of the reason that G League players make up 50% of NBA teams (as you pointed out in you numbers game) because team stars eat up so much of the salary cap? If so, it’ll explain early season troubles. I’m sure a lot of vets without teams aren’t pleased.
I think there is an important distinction to be made here. Players with G League experience is not exactly the same as saying 50 percent of the league is G League players. But there's no question that more teams than not feature a few players with big salaries and hitting on minimum/bargain signings is a huge key to success. The reality is that more teams than not are convinced that you can't win it all without 2/3 elite (and expensive) stars and that is the model most teams are bound to pursue.
MVP trade Trivia: McAdoo, Mose Malone, Westbrook.
Oh. You gave us the answer. You gotta do that in the NEXT newsletter, Marc. Or I’ll just keep answering in the replies right when I read the question, before finishing, I guess.
Trivia: Moses Malone, Russell Westbrook, and...Bob McAdoo
Ugh, w/o looking at the list I had the first two and guessed Derrick Rose and AI as the others.
Ah crap, I just saw Stein provided answer later on. I spent time looking through mvp list to see who last player was!
Point for Pablo regardless!
Related to Tommy's comment below... I get that in basketball, more than any other team sport, one player can influence the game, but does anyone has done some "money-ball" analysis to determine if these $40M+ contracts bring that much value as opposed to splitting the contract into two or more good players? After all, a single player, as good as he might be, can only guard one player and play one spot on the court at any time... I can't imagine Chris Paul, for example, bringing to the team what his salary cost.
Great question, Xavier. I know that common wisdom is that you can win without at least two all-stars, but I always think back to that 2004 Pistons title team that had very good players, but only one all-star (and Ben Wallace was a fan vote selection). I guess one can point to their being the outlier of proof that the common wisdom is correct, but I'd love to more teams go for it in that way.
I always loved that team, mostly because everyone was ready to engrave the Lakers on the trophy in the preseason when Malone and Payton joined Kobe and Shaq.
I have a (non-Harden) question: is one of the reason that G League players make up 50% of NBA teams (as you pointed out in you numbers game) because team stars eat up so much of the salary cap? If so, it’ll explain early season troubles. I’m sure a lot of vets without teams aren’t pleased.
I think there is an important distinction to be made here. Players with G League experience is not exactly the same as saying 50 percent of the league is G League players. But there's no question that more teams than not feature a few players with big salaries and hitting on minimum/bargain signings is a huge key to success. The reality is that more teams than not are convinced that you can't win it all without 2/3 elite (and expensive) stars and that is the model most teams are bound to pursue.