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after all, Professional Sports is a Business, since they pay their players, they invest in them, so in a way, literally all Professional Sports team that are consistently successfull like the Patriots, Steelers, Yankees, they buy championships too in a sense
after all, Professional Sports is a Business, since they pay their players, they invest in them, so in a way, literally all Professional Sports team that are consistently successfull like the Patriots, Steelers, Yankees, they buy championships too in a sense
The Yankees do, the others don't.
Football has a hard cap, NBA a semi hard and MLB is super soft....
Essentially, the Yankees really arent that wll run, they just have a ton of cash and no serious caps like the other sports. In other sports you can see which teams are well run and which ones aren't. I mean we need look no further than a Knicks vs. Lakers comparison.
Then how come the Knicks haven't won a title since 1973? The Dolans have been throwing money at that team for years.
Interestingly enough, the Lakers have gone into the luxury tax mostly resigning their own players. Their numbers now look bad because of the nearly $30 million they are paying Kobe. Pau's contract is an extension of his previous one as well. That is two players getting nearly $50 million a year.
It would be different if the Lakers had a $100 million dollar payroll because they were signing all the best players in free agency by outbidding other teams. That is not the case. The biggest chunk of their payroll is going to two guys who got extensions under the old CBA. In essence, they "rewarded" their own players for winning multiple titles for the team. It is the reason they are far over the cap. It is also one of the many reasons star players want to play for them.
Last edited by CaliDude1; 09-24-2012 at 04:57 PM..
It is also one of the many reasons star players want to play for them.
I think you'd have to throw the lineage in there as well. If we were to comprise a top ten list of players alltime, 2 of them are career Lakers(Magic, Kobe), are mostly known for or enjoyed their greatest success as a Laker(Kareem, Shaq), or spent a fair portion of their career with some success( Wilt post 76ers). Then of course there's West and Baylor.....thats one heck of a legacy.
I think you'd have to throw the lineage in there as well. If we were to comprise a top ten list of players alltime, 2 of them are career Lakers(Magic, Kobe), are mostly known for or enjoyed their greatest success as a Laker(Kareem, Shaq), or spent a fair portion of their career with some success( Wilt post 76ers). Then of course there's West and Baylor.....thats one heck of a legacy.
You are absolutely right. I was just thinking of how Cuban broke up his title team for financial reasons. The Lakers, on the other hand, took the hit and paid their main guys when it was time to re up. They could have tried to squeeze a few more dollars out of Kobe and Pau and offered them less. I doubt either was going anywhere. Yet, they paid them the max anyway. Players make note of those kinds of things.
And it is worth noting the Buss family is not Dolan family rich, or even Mark Cuban rich. The Lakers are their main business. It is not their vanity project like most teams are for other owners. They don't have the comparatively deep pockets of Dolan (Knicks), Arison (Heat), Cuban, and surely not Allen (Blazers). Yet, they pay their best players well and are willing to spend to stay competitive. What more can a fan ask for? Most importantly, they usually make spot on basketball decisions.
You are absolutely right. I was just thinking of how Cuban broke up his title team for financial reasons. The Lakers, on the other hand, took the hit and paid their main guys when it was time to re up. They could have tried to squeeze a few more dollars out of Kobe and Pau and offered them less. I doubt either was going anywhere. Yet, they paid them the max anyway. Players make note of those kinds of things.
And it is worth noting the Buss family is not Dolan family rich, or even Mark Cuban rich. The Lakers are their main business. It is not their vanity project like most teams are for other owners. They don't have the comparatively deep pockets of Dolan (Knicks), Arison (Heat), Cuban, and surely not Allen (Blazers). Yet, they pay their best players well and are willing to spend to stay competitive. What more can a fan ask for? Most importantly, they usually make spot on basketball decisions.
In fairness, I think the Lakers got caught by surprise a bit by the CBA. I'm not sure anyone knew about the severity of the tax penalty that starts next year back when they gave those guys those contracts. (especially Kobe's)
As a result, the Lakers are potentially staring at a 100mil. tax penalty next year.
Given your accurate comments about the Buss financials and their generally being well run I don't think that part of the scenario was intentional but rather poor luck on their part.
(That's why they unloaded Walton and Fish last season)
Thats why this season is so fascinating because they may have to make some very hard choices after it ends due to the tax implications, aging personnell and so forth. Just a lot of BIG moving pieces to the puzzle.
In fairness, I think the Lakers got caught by surprise a bit by the CBA. I'm not sure anyone knew about the severity of the tax penalty that starts next year back when they gave those guys those contracts. (especially Kobe's)
As a result, the Lakers are potentially staring at a 100mil. tax penalty next year.
Given your accurate comments about the Buss financials and their generally being well run I don't think that part of the scenario was intentional but rather poor luck on their part.
(That's why they unloaded Walton and Fish last season)
Thats why this season is so fascinating because they may have to make some very hard choices after it ends due to the tax implications, aging personnell and so forth. Just a lot of BIG moving pieces to the puzzle.
They will pay at least one really big tax bill. However, once Kobe and Pau's contracts comes off the books in the summer of 2014 things will get easier (tax bill wise). Nash's contract comes off the next season. I can't see any NBA players making $30 million a year again anytime soon. The new CBA killed those kinds of paydays.
The Lakers will have to strip their team down one good time in the next few years just to avoid the repeater tax. Assuming Howard stays, I can see a season or two where it is him and a bunch of nobodies.
The Lakers win. Which attracts people to LA, which lets them win.
I'm going hard for Miami this time, or really anyone but the Lakers.
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