Kawhi Leonard may 'sit out' at Toronto? THIS IS WHY I HATE TODAY'S NBA...

Kawhi Leonard may 'sit out' at Toronto? THIS IS WHY I HATE TODAY'S NBA... Jul 20, 2018 18:36:57 GMT via mobile

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Post by theshape25 on Jul 20, 2018 18:36:57 GMT

Jul 19, 2018 22:23:04 GMT Rey Kahuka said:

But college sports will never be as popular as pro sports. It's based on regional loyalty. That's why the fan base for New Hampshire is so much smaller than the fan base for Duke. If you went to New Hampshire or live in that area of course you'll cheer for them...but why would anyone else be a fan? How is that fair to the fans?

College sports aren't based on regional loyalty, they're based on winning. Do you think all Duke fans are from North Carolina? All NY Yankees fans are from New York? The collegiate system isn't fair to the fans and they show up anyway, this was my point.

They have the exact same opportunities. You can quit Bank of America any time you want and go to another bank. You can quit the NFL any time you want and go into broadcasting or the CFL. There is nothing "hopeless" about it. Demarco Murray just quit this week. Making less money is the choice you make. They pay you more money in every industry on earth to offset you giving up things you want. Doctors make more money because they put in enormous time and money into education and work long hours. They can give all that up any time they want.

You can quit Bank of America and go to another bank. But quitting the NFL to play in an inferior league or become a broadcaster is a major step down in prestige and salary, it isn't even close to being a comparable opportunity. Odd argument. As I already explained, anybody can be a branch manager for Bank of America; an elite pro athlete has specific skills that make him a commodity of significant value. It's entertainment and the athlete literally is the show.

But let's flip that argument around. Imagine the rest of the world worked the way pro sports do. To stick with the bank analogy, let's say I always wanted to be the branch manager of my local bank, but I got drafted by bank of America. I shouldn't be allowed to pursue an opportunity with my local bank? I should work at a gas station instead because hey, that's the choice I made by not wanting to work for bank of America. It's ludicrous.

Not a good example to bring up the Celtics. If you were a Kings fan that would a lot harder to do. (which is why the Kings get minuscule ratings compared to the Celtics and Lakers)

The fans have a choice...and so do the players. They can quit any time they want. Either work for the NBA and NFL or don't. Those leagues have to maintain competitive balance....that is literally their #1 goal as an entity.

How's the draft been working out for Sacramento? Switching formats literally could not be any worse for them. Players choosing their own destinies would probably have the same success rate as executives doing it.

Dynasties have ruled the early years of most sports league, pro or otherwise, and the popularity of those leagues was built on those dynasties. Competitive balance came along with free agency, by not allowing the one competent and/or financially secure team to hold onto the best players indefinitely.

Sure if I'm a player I want as much as I can get. Being able to play where I want would sound fantastic. But you aren't making the case why any fan should want that. Of course the owners are against it too, but I don't care about them either. This is why the fans line up with the owners on so many issues. Our desires are often the same. Fans just care about our teams having an equal chance to win even if we live in a small market.

Agreed, and that isn't what I set out to do. I'm looking at it from the player's perspective; from the average person's perspective. Any normal person would try to maximize their opportunities in life, pro athletes are no different.

Your 'fan' perspective treats players as property instead of accepting their rights as laborers. There's no reason a person should be forced to either work for the bank that drafted them or find a new occupation picking up elephant dung at the circus. Same goes for pro athletes. Suggesting they either play for one team or go become broadcasters is crazy.

As an aside, the NBA has only had 11 franchises win championships since 1980. 11 franchises in 38 years. Not much of an argument for competitive balance under the current format.

I realize that it would suck to get called into the office and told, "you've been traded to..." but it happens in sports and has been happening for decades. They all know this going in. If he doesn't like it then maybe he should choose another career or maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut about all this trade stuff, played the upcoming season with the Spurs and then left via free agency. He pretty much brought all this stuff on himself by saying, "I want to be traded." Did he expect San Antonio to just hand him over to whatever team he wanted? Imo he should just suck it up, collect his millions from Toronto, and go play in LA the following season.