LawHall88 said:

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****

That's hilarious.

Obviously you're 100% right; there's no way to create a rule to handle this. But it's just utter BS that ruins the competitiveness and commercial attraction of the league

Deputy Travis Junior said:

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Obviously you're 100% right; there's no way to create a rule to handle this. But it's just utter BS that ruins the competitiveness and commercial attraction of the league

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I think it's a weak move by Cousins.

But GS was run away favorite before this. I don't think it makes them that bigger of favorites.

Soccer people - how does this compare to Barcelona or Bayern (or whichever team that has all the best players)? More lop-sided or less? I know it's apples to oranges, but I'm interested in seeing what people have to say.

I don't buy for a second that cousins went there for the mle. This is some ole miss level bull*****

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sports-media-harvey-20180530-story.html

When league TV ratings continue to grow, why make a stink about competitive balance?

MyNameIsKyle said:

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Don't overreact to this. Cousins won't be healthy, his style of play doesn't fit, and he's a bad defender even when healthy. It looks insurmountable on paper but in reality I don't see it.

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lol that lineup won't need health, style, fit and sure as hell won't need defense to cruise to the title

Wow. Someone gave him terrible advice to turn down 70 mill guranteed

Deputy Travis Junior said:

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Wow. This has to be the biggest ring chase move in the history of basketball, and I don't think it's even close. He's a 30 million dollar/year guy playing for 5.

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FWIW, if this is true, I think it is pretty important.
According to WOJ (on ESPN.COM)

Cousins...told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears he was confused and hurt that he had no offers, even from the Pelicans....
On Monday, Cousins called Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers to discuss joining the team.



I can't imagine why the Lakers wouldn't consider reaching out to Cousins, at least to see what was going on.
They picked up JaVale, Lance, and Rondo...but drew the line on a guy like Cousins.
Seems odd.

The NBA will never be a good league again until a hard cap is put in place...like the NFL. It is a myth that players always take less. Many teams just pay huge tax bills that they cover with merchandise sales.

Avery Bradley 2 yrs. $25MM with the Clippers.

That 2016 cap jump screwed up the market so badly. Otto Porter is making $26MM a year. Allen Crabbe is making $18MM a year. Julius Randle will make half that.

Seven Costanza said:

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That 2016 cap jump screwed up the market so badly. Otto Porter is making $26MM a year. Allen Crabbe is making $18MM a year. Julius Randle will make half that.

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The owners wanted the cap to go up gradually so this wouldn't happen. Players said no, all at once.

From Ben Falk:

:large

The players are morons, but the owners should be able to restrain themselves from overspending.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23979341/zach-lowe-demarcus-cousins-golden-state-warriors-nba

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You'd like to think the Golden State Warriors had a grand plan -- that they watched their beautiful game stutter in the middle of the Western Conference finals against the Houston Rockets' switching defense and thought to themselves, "Let's wait out the cool market for the one potentially available dude who can just smash through those switches and cram in James Harden's face."

That is not what happened. DeMarcus Cousins, an All-NBA behemoth, fell into the laps of the two-time defending champions over a chaotic few hours during which the market collapsed on him -- so fast, several members of Golden State's brain trust (including some very close to the innermost sanctum) had no idea the deal was coming. The Minnesota Timberwolves paid more for Anthony Tolliver, and hilariously hard-capped themselves in the process.

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Quote:

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Given everything -- the injury, the timetable for return, Cousins' limitations -- I'm very skeptical this signing merits the hype or the anguish. Cousins' reputation and statistics have always inflated his contribution to winning -- both on the floor and behind closed doors.

But the guy is damned good. And for this price, all the Warriors are really paying him to do is bulldoze switching defenses at a few critical postseason moments -- if this team even experiences any of those.

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Gap said:

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NBA = boring

This might make it better:

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Not sure this really makes it better.

M. Jordan + hard capped team > any other top player + hard capped team in that era.
At most, you would have 1-3 teams challenging in any given era, just like it is now.



Better run franchises have a competitive advantage on poorly run franchises.

I hate the predictability of these last few NBA playoffs has been, but the masses seem to be OK with it, I guess.
The masses seem to like that it is Alabama, Ohio State, & Clemson that always seem to be in the CFP.



I also think it has led to more tanking, as well.

Guitarsoup said:

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What teams, if known, still have the full or partial MLE (and are actually trying to compete this year)?

Iowaggie said:

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Gap said:

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NBA = boring

This might make it better:

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Not sure this really makes it better.

M. Jordan + hard capped team > any other top player + hard capped team in that era.
At most, you would have 1-3 teams challenging in any given era, just like it is now.



Better run franchises have a competitive advantage on poorly run franchises.

I hate the predictability of these last few NBA playoffs has been, but the masses seem to be OK with it, I guess.
The masses seem to like that it is Alabama, Ohio State, & Clemson that always seem to be in the CFP.



I also think it has led to more tanking, as well.

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People say the last year's playoffs were predictable...yet both Golden State and Cleveland had to win Game 7's on the road to make the Finals. Yes, the Finals matchup (and winner) turned out to be the expected case...but the Conference Finals were anything but 'predictable' in how they played out. Both GSW and LeBron had to sweat some to get to Cavs vs. Warriors Round 4.

If you are a hard core fan of a team not named Golden State, sure you have lots of hate towards them. On the other hand, if the role was reversed and the teams of those hardcore fans were in Golden State's shoes right now, they'd be having a blast. I doubt you'll find many Golden State fans on message boards right now complaining about 'lack of parity'.

History has shown that great teams bring in lots of casual NBA fans, so I doubt the current GSW dynasty run is hurting the NBA's popularity or bottom line. Even when there is a big favorite, people love upsets and lots still tune in to see if somebody can bring Goliath down.

I'm not necessarily in favor of the idea, but it would place a ton of importance on finding the right complementary players at the right price. It's just that the right price would end up being a couple million instead of 10 million. No way the NBPA goes along with something like that.

Pumpkinhead said:

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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23979341/zach-lowe-demarcus-cousins-golden-state-warriors-nba

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You'd like to think the Golden State Warriors had a grand plan -- that they watched their beautiful game stutter in the middle of the Western Conference finals against the Houston Rockets' switching defense and thought to themselves, "Let's wait out the cool market for the one potentially available dude who can just smash through those switches and cram in James Harden's face."

That is not what happened. DeMarcus Cousins, an All-NBA behemoth, fell into the laps of the two-time defending champions over a chaotic few hours during which the market collapsed on him -- so fast, several members of Golden State's brain trust (including some very close to the innermost sanctum) had no idea the deal was coming. The Minnesota Timberwolves paid more for Anthony Tolliver, and hilariously hard-capped themselves in the process.

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Quote:

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Given everything -- the injury, the timetable for return, Cousins' limitations -- I'm very skeptical this signing merits the hype or the anguish. Cousins' reputation and statistics have always inflated his contribution to winning -- both on the floor and behind closed doors.

But the guy is damned good. And for this price, all the Warriors are really paying him to do is bulldoze switching defenses at a few critical postseason moments -- if this team even experiences any of those.

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^THIS. Sooooo many over reactions about Boogie. It's absurd. He's a net 0 for GS.

CasualObserver44 said:

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MyNameIsKyle said:

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cousins incurred arguably the worst sports injury; he's never been known for work ethic, so rehabbing plus getting in shape are tall tasks; his playing style doesn't compliment what GS does well, nor adds dimension/improve to what they could use, ie switchable rim protection. Now, maybe he makes it back to 70%-80% by mid season and becomes the offensive anchor of a second unit that plays a slower style, but he isn't going to be defending or our running anyone.

Happy to bookmark and eat crow if wrong, but I think Cousins does little to separate GS from Houston, and a healthy Boston is every bit the contender Houston is. If GS had signed DeAndre I'd join the "welp, it's already all over crowd", but I almost feel the opposite about this signing. Achilles injuries ruin guys, and add the locker room issues and mismatched skill set and I bet Cousins ultimately doesn't improve GS one iota - now, they might not need to improve, but I don't think Houston and Boston should fear this signing at all.

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You make an effective argument regarding playing style, but you're forgetting the most important aspect of all this: they signed a 2x All-NBA player in the prime of his career for the MLE! They're paying DeMarcus Cousins what other teams are paying guys like Marcus Morris, Patrick Patterson, Alex Abrines, Thabo Sefolosha, Mike Muscala, etc. Those guys will all make the same amount of money next year as Cousins, give or take a couple hundred thousand.

The Warriors will have 7 All-Stars on their roster out of 15 roster spots, and their entire starting 5 will be All-NBA players. They now have more All-NBA recognitions on their roster from the last 4 years (13) than the entire Eastern Conference (12). They were the most talented team in NBA history last year, and they just signed a top 15 player. Even if he's only 70% of what he was it's ridiculous.

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You're ignoring the fact that this player is coming off a ruptured achilles as a big man

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He's a net 0 for GS.

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Uh, no he's not. He landed in quite possibly the most perfect situation for him. A players coach, friends in the locker room, virtually no pressure or burden at all for him to return early from his injury, much less be the man.

Lol yes, GS is perfect for Boogie. So what? He still adds nothing.

Again, I'm more flabbergasted at the reaction to him taking a small paycut (if at all, based on reports that he didn't even have any offers) to play for a contender.

A dude with an established history of poor work ethic and attitude, a poor fit of playing style on the court with GS, AND will be less than a year removed from the most debilitating sports injury you can have in NBA is somehow an affront to competive sports.

A lot of bitterness going around right now.

Lots of money for Exum.

So now there's twice where Boogie has been transacted on for what fans perceived to be way lower than fair value... 1 time = dumb team or dumb player... but 2 times = Boogie isn't as valuable or as good as his statistics indicate.