Were the 80's or 90's ever like this Free Agency-wise?

[sammichoffate]

I've never seen an organization, let alone a city, try so hard to get back a player that literally abandoned them. He gave them 7 great years, I get that. John Stockton and Karl Malone gave Utah 19 and 17 years respectively. Kobe and Dirk are entering their 18th and 16th seasons with their respective teams, hell Reggie Miller retired after 18 seasons with the Pacers. What the hell happened to loyalty? Is it going to completely die out after guys like Dirk or Duncan retire? I've never seen fans or players act like this before, it's borderline insane. :facepalm

[J Shuttlesworth]

Social media changed everything

[sammichoffate]

Social media changed everythingWhat does that say about us though? :banghead:

[J Shuttlesworth]

What does that say about us though? :banghead:
That we're slaves to social media. Look at this forum. It's all "Source says this, source says that". This forum is basically like reading twitter. People can't look away from their computers/phones/tablets even though it's the off season

[Soundwave]

Shaq did Orlando dirty in '96.

That would've been a bigger deal had the internet/Twitter etc. been around then to the same degree.

There was a lot of anti-LeBroning in the late 90s/early 2000s, examples of guys leaving stacked/up and coming teams to go to less talented teams (T-Mac leaving Toronto, Marbury leaving Minny and KG).

[sammichoffate]

That we're slaves to social media. Look at this forum. It's all "Source says this, source says that". This forum is basically like reading twitter. People can't look away from their computers/phones/tablets even though it's the off seasonIt's confirmed then, some of the people on here are obsessed with Lebron :facepalm

[Hey Yo]

There was no such thing as Free Agency until the NBA implemented it in the summer of 1988. Unless you were traded, you were staying with your team prior to the summer of 88.

[KingPush]

brb using time machine

[dreamwarrior]

"the decision 1" wasn't even this big of a deal.

[Eric Cartman]

"the decision 1" wasn't even this big of a deal.

You can't seriously believe that.

[MavsPoke]

No off-season was ever like this.

The new CBA + Twitter has changed the NBA off season dramatically.

It's funny watching some of the old school media trying to keep up. I was listening to the radio today and had to turn it off after about 15 mins of listening to them be wrong about what was going on between the Mavs and Rockets.

[Rubio2Gasol]

Shaq did Orlando dirty in '96.

That would've been a bigger deal had the internet/Twitter etc. been around then to the same degree.

There was a lot of anti-LeBroning in the late 90s/early 2000s, examples of guys leaving stacked/up and coming teams to go to less talented teams (T-Mac leaving Toronto, Marbury leaving Minny and KG).

Are you kidding me? :biggums:



Orlando, and their pathetic organization, fanbase and city did not want to give an about to enter his prime Shaq a max deal. At the time, he did have better options than the Lakers, IMO, but he should not have re-signed with Orlando.

[Stringer Bell]

FWIW, this is what Shaq said about leaving Orlando in 1996.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-06-04/sports/os-bianchi-saturday-circus-0604-20110603_1_shaq-magic-jersey-leonard-armato

[QUOTE]Finally, on the day one of the greatest players of all-time retired, I got a chance to ask The Big Orlandoan why he really left the Magic all those years ago. Was it actually the Orlando Sentinel poll in which readers overwhelmingly voted that Shaq was not worth a $120 million contract? Was it the Magic's initial low-ball offer that insulted him? Or was it simply because he wanted to play for the Lakers and be a big star in a big city?

It was mainly the latter, although Shaq said the Sentinel poll and the Magic's indecision about whether to match the $121 million Lakers' offer were certainly factors.

"Fifty percent of it was that I was selfish. I had a lot of stuff going on