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Cavs' big contracts look smart compared to the latest NBA free agent offers -- Bud Shaw's Sports Spin

14:25:00




CLEVELAND, Ohio – Golf has its silly season. Now, so does the NBA. It’s just not what you think.


It’s not the salaries offered this latest crop of free agents that are so nonsensical and laughable. It’s the reaction to the salaries, a reaction most kindly described as begrudging.


First, be happy the Cavs mostly got their best players under contract. And that Dan Gilbert probably isn’t going to ask you for a loan anytime soon.


Also, don’t be these guys:





OK, so here’s the thing. You’d have to make a team before you could make those free throws you think you’d swish while grabbing your shorts and hyperventilating.


And what exactly would depress you about Matthew Dellavedova getting offered $38 million? Good for him. As for global suffering, I’m pretty sure there’s no more suffering now that Timofey Mozgov is going to make $64 million than there was this time last month.


If you believe under a different salary structure that Dan Gilbert and other NBA owners would lower their ticket prices for a game that commands an increasingly lucrative TV deal, a game that put fans in his seats even when LeBron was in Miami, you’re the one being silly.


The NBA salary cap jumped from $70 million to $94 million because of TV money. Players get a percentage of that. Experienced players (Mike Conley) get better raises than inexperienced players. It’s all part of the collective bargaining agreement.


Gilbert is widely seen as the best owner in town, even though his team was one of the NBA’s worst between 2010-14. James had one major question when he was considering his return: Was Gilbert willing to take on the luxury tax as a repeat payer?


You bet he was. Why? To get James back in Cleveland. And because the explosion of TV money provided the means to do it.


NBA players get a percentage of league revenue. The owners get their percentage. When the revenues go up, everybody gets richer.


When you see Mozgov and Dellavedova guaranteed a combined $112 million, it’s startling. But the conversation shouldn’t be about how unworthy they are. It shouldn’t even be about how rich the owners are. It’s just part of the business arrangement.


The NBA gets what TV and its advertisers and customers are willing to pay. The players do the same. The owners aren’t exactly losing money.


In mid-May — the halfway point of the NBA’s marathon postseason tailored for TV — we heard of Gilbert (along with Warren Buffett) making a play to purchase Yahoo. In the middle of the NBA Finals, that bid was reported as a $5 billion offer.


That was right about the same time the Cavs fell behind 2-0, then 3-1 to Golden State. I received lots of correspondence griping about the Cavs “$82 million dollar man” Tristan Thompson and questioning Kevin Love’s status as a “max” player. I didn’t hear from anyone bemoaning Gilbert’s expanding portfolio and his (to that point) inability to win a title, or even be competitive in the LeBron Miami years.


Cavs fans should look at the 2016-17 free agent market and feel good that Thompson and Love are under wraps, along with Kyrie Irving (5 years, $90 million). Luol Deng just got offered $18 million per season by the Lakers, after all.


When Memphis offered Mike Conley $150 million over five years, some Twitter trolls tore him up. One said no way he should make more than Portland’s talented point guard Damian Lillard.


To which Lillard Tweeted:



That’s not always easy to do but it sounds about right.


Fans do have recourse. They can stop watching. They can stop buying tickets.


Or they can work on their vertical and practice their free throws.





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Cavs" big contracts look smart compared to the latest NBA free agent offers -- Bud Shaw"s Sports Spin

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