LeBron James supports contraction of some NBA teams

[QUOTE=PurpleChuck]He wants an easier road to championship.:oldlol:[/QUOTE]
I bet by now you wish you used your brain before posting this.

[QUOTE=Nash]I bet by now you wish you used your brain before posting this.[/QUOTE]

Frankly, yup.:(

Haha but hey it's Christmas, have a laugh.:cheers:

[QUOTE=dallaslonghorn]Contraction would obviously make this harder not easier ... think.

Once again LeBron says something fairly non-controversial and completely obvious ... and everyone freaks the f*** out :oldlol:

Relax guys, he's no actually "The Chosen One"; he's just a good basketball player with some opinions. He can't actually contract teams on a whim :facepalm[/QUOTE]
Contraction is a non-controversial subject? :roll: :lol :oldlol: :roll:

[QUOTE=PurpleChuck]He wants an easier road to championship.:oldlol:[/QUOTE]

Actually, contraction would probably make winning a championship more difficult.

[QUOTE=Kurosawa0]Actually, contraction would probably make winning a championship more difficult.[/QUOTE]

Yup I felt a bit dumb haha.:oldlol:

But it's okay, Merry Christmas guys.:cheers:

[QUOTE=Nash]I agree with what he says. The whole socialist thinking in the NBA where they always want to spread the talent is crazy. Lets have a smaller league which obviously going to give us a better basketball product instead of seeing good players play with shit players. Like Garnett for example, dude was rotting in Timberwolves for years.[/QUOTE]
How is this socialist? This is capitalism at its finest. The league sees an opportunity to CAPITAIZE of it pouparlarity and grows. That's all im saying. You guys are acting like the talent isn't there. The talent is fine. Saying that the league would be better with a guy the caliber of kevin love being a twelfth man is rediculous. The fact is he ain't gonna play. There's not enough time and there's only one ball.

The owners and gms are the ones that are bad. They just don't do well by their teams. And I do agree that these contracts shouldnt be guaranteed. Only a portion. The rest needs to be incentive based. And cut the games a few to make each game more important. I mean, you got teams saying that games don't matter. Games that are against teams you might see in the playoffs. These are the games you want to show teams and send a message.

first of all, they should dissolve or move teams that are not selling out enough seats. it's just a waste of basketball talent putting a team in a city that does not care enough to support its team.

then they need to put in a system of relegation and promotion much like in soccer. bottom feeders need to be relegated and the best performers of the next division be promoted to the NBA.

and the craziness that is guaranteed contracts need to stop.

SMH at this guy begging for more help.

[QUOTE=Showtime]Actually, quite the opposite. The reason the Lakers have such a huge advantage is because of a watered down league. Because of their history, their location, and their success, they are more attractive of a destination for players, and have more ability to draw in top talent, so they are able to get better teams when lesser teams cannot.[/QUOTE]

They also have a competent front office.

Why did he bring up the T-Wolves?

They are under the salary cap and building a team progressively, steadily and most importantly responsibly without throwing obscene Joe Johnson/Rudy Gay contracts about. They could be a playoff team next year with a bit of luck.

Maybe Kevin Love would like prefer to be number one in Minnesota than number 4 in Miami.

It isn't everybody's dream to be your Mo Williams style lapdog LeBron.

nice job lebron, way to sell out the players... just jump on the league bandwagon and endorse the same hammer they are waving over the players association's heads...

[QUOTE=Harion]first of all, they should dissolve or move teams that are not selling out enough seats. it's just a waste of basketball talent putting a team in a city that does not care enough to support its team.

[b]then they need to put in a system of relegation and promotion much like in soccer. bottom feeders need to be relegated and the best performers of the next division be promoted to the NBA.[/b]

and the craziness that is guaranteed contracts need to stop.[/QUOTE]

God no. The current system is definitely more preferable than what they do in Europe where half of the teams are at extreme levels of debt or are currently run by suspect owners. (Abramovich, Glazers, etc.)

I have to admit. LeBron had a good ass point here. I agree.

Which city has the smallest market for basketball, out of interest? I'm betting Charlotte, but I'd like to see some numbers if possible.

[QUOTE=nightprowler10]Which city has the smallest market for basketball, out of interest? I'm betting Charlotte, but I'd like to see some numbers if possible.[/QUOTE]
But see even when you go by tv markets, its not an exact science. Look at college. north carolina has a huge basketball following. And isn't duke close to north carolina too? But they put a quality product on the floor every night.

I don't care where you put a team, if they have a competant owner and GM, they're gonna pack it in. Especially the owner. You can't have a guy trying to low ball and save money all the time.

[QUOTE=gts]nice job lebron, way to sell out the players... just jump on the league bandwagon and endorse the same hammer they are waving over the players association's heads...[/QUOTE]
He's a dumb ass, all he's doing is undercutting his unions negotiating ability. And he's killing his negotiating ability too. Less teams mean that owners don't need his services as bad. Due to the fact that he's competing against other great players for lesser spots.

[QUOTE=97 bulls]But see even when you go by tv markets, its not an exact science. Look at college. north carolina has a huge basketball following. And isn't duke close to north carolina too? But they put a quality product on the floor every night.

I don't care where you put a team, if they have a competant owner and GM, they're gonna pack it in. Especially the owner. You can't have a guy trying to low ball and save money all the time.[/QUOTE]
North Carolina is a big college basketball state but they never cared about the Bobcats or Hornets. Hornets were an exciting team(and pretty decent playoff too) to watch in the 90's. Duke and UNC are a few hours north of Charlotte but yeah, they're in the same region(Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh area...).

Its a good idea but i hope this never happens

[QUOTE=97 bulls]He's a dumb ass, all he's doing is undercutting his unions negotiating ability. [/QUOTE]

exactly. he just kicked his own union squarely in the balls.

LeBron apparently also doesn't understand the talent pool is much bigger now than it was in the 80s.

Besides, if you dump some of the bad teams, who are the Heat going to get their wins against?

[QUOTE=kentatm]this

LeBron apparently also doesn't understand the talent pool is much bigger now than it was in the 80s.

Besides, if you dump some of the bad teams, who are the Heat going to get their wins against?[/QUOTE]
:lol :lol :lol :lol

[QUOTE=DeronMillsap]North Carolina is a big college basketball state but they never cared about the Bobcats or Hornets. Hornets were an exciting team(and pretty decent playoff too) to watch in the 90's. Duke and UNC are a few hours north of Charlotte but yeah, they're in the same region(Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh area...).[/QUOTE]
I think they packed the house when they had mourning, johnson, rice and co. If you win thell come. Why do you think duke and carolina fill the seats every night? Its cuz they contend every season. Not be a mid 15th ranked team one year and totally garbage the next 10. Who wants to pay to see that?

He's right, though. If you take the good players from teams that have virtually no chance to make or do anything in the Playoffs and add them to the mediocre/decent teams, the league would be a lot more enjoyable to watch.

[QUOTE=kentatm]Besides, if you dump some of the bad teams, who are the Heat going to get their wins against?[/QUOTE]

Haha.

I agree with him 100%

[QUOTE=insidehoops]“Hopefully the league can figure out one way where it can go back to the ’80s where you had three or four All-Stars, three or four superstars, three or four Hall of Famers on the same team,” James said. “The league was great. It wasn’t as watered down as it is [now].”
[/QUOTE]

I don't think Lebron and most people realize how overblown this is. Obviously he's referring to teams like the Celtics and Lakers. Those 80s teams were built more on the intelligence and riskiness of their management plus alot of luck. Sure, its more possible with a smaller league, but even in today's league the only team in recent history to carry out as ballsy of a strategy of those teams did were the Heat. Let looks at the facts:

If Kareem isn't miserable in Milwaukee and demands a trade to either LA or NY, the Lakers don't get him. If the Lakers don't trade a Hall of Famer in Gail Goodrich to the Jazz for a package of picks, they don't get the no. 1 pick 3 years later and get Magic, the Jazz do. If the Lakers don't their their 1980 pick for a future 1982 pick to the Cavs, they don't get the no. 1 pick 2 years later and get Worthy, the Cavs do.

If Red Auerbach doesn't have the patience and intuition to draft Larry Bird a year earlier, the Celtics don't get him. If he doesn't pull off one of the biggest trade steals in NBA history, he doesn't get both McHale and Parish.

In a alternate universe, Kareem's on the Lakers, Magic's on the Jazz, Worthy's on the Cavs, Bird's on the Bulls, Parish stays with the Warriors, and McHale is still on the Celtics (Celtics would've had the no. 1 pick if they didn't make the trade). And by the way, I think its safe to assume that the Bulls don't get Jordan and the Jazz don't get Malone or Stockton. So like I said, it took alot of risky management decisions that are very uncommon for the 80s to be how they were. It wasn't just because there were less teams.

3 years, and 1 month later. I still agree with Lebron. Just look at the eastern conference this year after Rose, Horford went down with an injury. I love to see the Lakers and Wolves in the Eastern Conference.

And just contract or merge the Bucks with the Bobcats.