I can say this much, it's making it harder to enjoy for me.

Just saw DWade is looking for a 2yr/$50M deal. I don't think the Cavs can do that can they?

This has probably been the most interesting offseason of any sport in a long time. The fact that some players (cough, Harrison Barnes, cough) are getting max deals when they shouldn't be is compelling. Will be interesting to see how many plays they take off now that they've got paid.

Durant = lame.

In all pro sports, I'm thinking that we're near a point that home attendance will drop innabigway for those teams that have no chance at all of winning a title in a given year.

Maybe when a star-studded team comes to town, the fans will come out. But why go to a Minne Twin or Orlando Magic etc game when you know you're team's quite mediocre and has little chance of making the playoffs and no chance of a title?

Espec at the way tickets are high-priced now.


Those leagues that share revenue may be able to ease this. But leagues (baseball ?) which let teams keep all their local TV revenue are dooming the small market teams...it would appear.

That's funny considering MLB has significantly better parity than the NFL and NBA. It just goes to show that a salary cap is nothing more than a tool by the owners to keep salaries from their market and stuff the owners pockets. I've never understood why fans so predominantly support salary caps.

After setting the NBA win total last year Golden State will win 5-8 games less with Durant than without him. LeBron wins another title in Cleveland against Durant. The critics will be all over it.

One can only hope for more parody! I so miss the blooper videos on This Week in Baseball! That said, I love that there is more parity as well :) Revenue sharing is a big factor, but there has really just been a great influx of young talent into the league in recent years. Teams with smart GMs and good minor league systems can easily compete with the big boys.

I haven't watched an NBA game end to end since the late '80's. This NBA season, I don't believe I watched a combined 48 minutes of action, including the post season. That probably makes me lame.

Actually I do like it because I like the way Golden State plays. I'm interested to see if they can have four players that average 20+ points a game and a team that assists on almost every basket. They are the anti-NBA team, if there is such a thing (no isolations).

But you kind of make my point. Durant and friends go up 3-1 on the Warriors and they STILL lose. He's probably thinking "if we can't beat them up 3-1, we're never beating them." He's a bad guy for realizing that? Cmon.

Also - the Thunder got rid of Ibaka. They did acquire Oladipo from the Magic, but does that make them better than the Warriors? Who just happen to sign David West also? I don't think so.

No. Analogy fails at key points. (Left very fine team and went to already best team.)

No.

Heat was sorta stacked once LeBron and Bosh got there--but unproven, unlike Oakland.

No.

So is Dwyane Wade weak because he left Miami for Chicago? Wade was beloved in Miami and has spent his whole career there. Miami is arguably in a better position for the playoffs than Chicago now that everyone on Chicago has gone elsewhere. But Miami wasn't willing to pay him what he wanted, even though Wade has NEVER been the highest paid player on the Heat in his entire career.

He's doing what's right for him and so is Durant.

Now you're just trying to get Monroe fired up about MAC titles in football. ;)

I don't see how it's a cop out because he's going to a better team than the one he was on. Why shouldn't he WANT to play with the best players? This old diatribe of "loyalty" and "winning alone" is so overplayed in professional sports. Miami was real reciprocating of Wade's loyalty to his franchise this past week weren't they? But if the player does the same thing he's a bad guy? Why?

Michael Jordan completely destroyed the outlook of championships for pro sports athletes as we know it. The thing nobody ever talks about is that Michael struggled for years before he even sniffed the Finals. And that he really didn't start getting closer until Scottie Pippen got there.

Everyone has to win a title on their own or they are labeled not good enough, or not willing to carry a team or God forbid not TOUGH enough to carry a team. Maybe Durant was pissed about Ibaka not getting resigned. Maybe he didn't like Russell Westbrook as a basketball player. Maybe he likes playing with Curry, Thompson and friends more. That's shouldn't be a problem and it is.

In your (not you personally) professional career, it would be the exact same thing as you moving to another company and working with better talent to make your job easier. Who wouldn't want that? Durant plays a game for a sport, but it's his job.

It shouldn't matter who he loses to. Had LeBron's Cavs lost to Miami in his last season in Cleveland the first time around, it would have been the exact same sentiment. People killed LeBron and now those same exact Cleveland fans who burned his jersey are singing his praises. Why couldn't they just appreciate him for what he was and how great of a player he was for their franchise at the time? Most franchises don't get a LeBron James once. Cleveland has had him twice.