A way to rule the NBA

by SpyderRyder on Jul 24, 2008 1:44 PM PDT

Take a read on this:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-89/Diabolical-Scheme-for-a-Deep-Pocketed-Owner.html

When I read this I quickly remember some talk in another forum about the possibility of PA buying a team in Europe to stash players so we could use it as a farm team, much like the article liste above.

With the current scenarios with Jennings and Childress, we could create a dynasty. Take for example, the top ranked HS senior 2 years from now. Due to NBA restrictions, he will have to go to college for a year even though he has the skills to be the next LeBron, Garnett etc. Lets say that Team Euro as we will call it, comes in and offers a $5mill/yr contract for 4 years making almost $20mill playing in the south of France, say Monaco or Nice. We wait until he is 23 and then we sign him as a FA when he will not be elgible for the draft where he would of gone #1. He will have pocketed $25mill for playing in the south of France and we will be able to sign him to a large contract if we need to replace one of our current players. It would be a win/win situation as the player would be able to make a lot of $$ right out of HS, and still have the option to come over and play in the NBA. Instead of playing in college for 4 years he would play in Europe and be making $$ at the same time, negating the need to jump to the NBA early as he would be a millionaire, living in the south of France.

The title of the article above would seem to indicate a "deep pocketed" owner and who has deeper pockets than our own PA? Nobody. Say it woud cost him another $200mill a year to field a euro team that would net lets say $100mill in revenue in a year for a total cost of $100mill and for a billionare that is not much.

A second thought is that with Childress leaving for Europe, due to the financial stinginess of the ATL owners group, that could bode well for us if Euro teams pick off midlevel US players, gutting some teams of being competitive. That will not be the case with us as PA has shown in the past that he can be liberal with his $$ and if a player is worthy, he will sign him to a big contract, sometimes signing a player who is not worth a big contract (I'm looking at you Mr Miles.) If the NBA is dep[leted of those roleplayer types and we still have them, we can kill other teams with out 2nd unit. Unfortunately, this will also strengthen big market teams in L*, NY and Chi.

All of this is a few steps ahead but this is a very real possibility for a man with as much wealth as PA. Imagine drafting LeBron type player to a Euro team as a HS'er, and bringing him over in a few years.

We would be able to rule the NBA if we could do that.

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Comments

This is almost too evil

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 1:48 PM PDT 0 recs

Correction

it IS too evil. Plain and simple.

Darius Miles found me.

by prezofdeath on Jul 24, 2008 1:53 PM PDT up 0 recs

Well I didn't go to 4 years of evil medical school

just to be called Mr. Evil, thank you very much.

by SpyderRyder on Jul 24, 2008 4:40 PM PDT up 0 recs

Also, this is an ingenius idea and post

However, I’m not going to rec it for fear that Mark Cuban might come along and steal the idea.

Darius Miles found me.

by prezofdeath on Jul 24, 2008 1:55 PM PDT 0 recs

+1

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 2:03 PM PDT up 0 recs

He won't.

Cuban is too busy trying to buy the Cubs right now to worry about Euroleague.

Jerryd Bayless has two emotions: Kill and Win.

"I think it’s going to be very beautiful game next year."
-Nicolas Batum

by rockingharder on Jul 24, 2008 2:12 PM PDT up 0 recs

Lucky for us,

when your GM is this good who needs evil schemes?

I want to be tucked in by Greg Oden and have him tell us stories about the old days.

by MGNNoah on Jul 24, 2008 2:05 PM PDT 1 recs

the NBA is going to have to take a hard look at some of its rules

It will have to make changes if it wants to remain the undisputed #1 league in the world.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jul 24, 2008 2:19 PM PDT 0 recs

otherwise we could someday see....

... a soccer-like scenario where the best players in the world are spread across ~4 leagues.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jul 24, 2008 2:20 PM PDT up 0 recs

Yeah

but everybody knows the Premier Leauge is the best. And by everbody I mean me.

Salaam

by Junior Del Norte on Jul 24, 2008 2:22 PM PDT up 1 recs

+1

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 2:24 PM PDT up 0 recs

I agree its the best...

but La Liga, the Bundsliga and Seria A are not exactly minor leagues.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jul 24, 2008 2:27 PM PDT up 0 recs

wow neither of us can speall

You spelled League as “Leauge” and I one upped you by dropping the “e” in Bundesliga and misspelling “Serie A.”

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jul 24, 2008 2:28 PM PDT up 0 recs

lol and to top it all

I misspelled spell as “speall.”

That was not even on purpose folks. Wow.

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Jul 24, 2008 2:29 PM PDT up 0 recs

Ahh

I hate misspelling words. Thanks for calling me out. I wasn’t trying to talk down the other leagues, I’m just a West Ham fan.

Salaam

by Junior Del Norte on Jul 24, 2008 2:30 PM PDT up 0 recs

why it adds character :)

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 2:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

So now you're questioning my character?

Juuuuuuuust kidding. By the way, jksnake, my above comments are also in response to the soccer team (Vicenza Calcio) from the city of my birth being in Serie B recently. I’m a little disappointed.

Salaam

by Junior Del Norte on Jul 24, 2008 2:59 PM PDT up 0 recs

You must have taken A HUGE

sensitive pill today :-)
LOL

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 3:05 PM PDT up 0 recs

Anything that gets Stern out of office would

be an improvement.

by SpyderRyder on Jul 24, 2008 4:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

Weird

I was just thinking about something exactly like this….........does that make me evil?

Check Out My Blog

by Zaron5551 on Jul 24, 2008 2:26 PM PDT 0 recs

Yes

by southern oregon on Jul 24, 2008 2:36 PM PDT 0 recs

Question,

Is the 23 year age rule for the draft true? IE, once a player turns 23, he no longer has to enter the NBA through the draft? If this is true, why wouldn’t a player like Rudy just have waited till this year and signed with whomever he wanted? He is 23 now right? I thought it doesn’t matter how old you are, the only way to enter the NBA is through the draft.

I'm a rec whore, so sue me.

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 2:40 PM PDT 0 recs

we own his draft rights

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 2:46 PM PDT up 0 recs

yeah but I think prem's question was why DIDN'T Rudy wait?

Sure, we own his rights because we drafted him. But why didn’t Rudy just wait till he was 23 and then sign with whatever team he wanted? Why did he bother to enter the draft last year?

by Love on Jul 24, 2008 3:13 PM PDT up 0 recs

This is why

If he doesn’t enter the draft, sure he could just enter and go to whatever team he desires, but I assume that is the road less traveled b/c it’s more difficult. Plus, what happens if he gets injured this last season, as he did? I think entering the draft was the decision b/c he just wants to play in the NBA no matter what, plus you both are talking like being on the Blazers is a bad place to be..? Um hello it’s like his best chance to super duper succeed here plus we love him :)

Sophia

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 3:35 PM PDT up 0 recs

Why is it more difficult?

If he was really savvy about the direction teams are going, he could pick up a contract with the Nets this year, who would have thanked their stars at obtaining another young asset that could attract LeBron in 2010 to the Nets. Portland is a great place to play now if you want to win a championship, but we aren’t a big market team, no matter how you look at the picture. Besides, one of the issues with getting him here was the fact that he had to give up big money in spain and sign a rigid rookie contract. At least through free agency he would have had more negotiating power.

I'm a rec whore, so sue me.

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 3:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

note

the nets thing was just an example, obviously the team would have to have money to afford a free agent.

I'm a rec whore, so sue me.

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 3:46 PM PDT up 0 recs

i <3 nic

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 3:53 PM PDT up 0 recs

Yes of course

but you write as if navigating free agency would

a. get him more money, when that is not always guaranteed
b. his injury or play the previous year does not affect free agency
c. he doesn’t want to play for a small market team…

I agree with your sentiment, why not? But obviously he and his agent thought a guaranteed contract etc through entering the draft…

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 3:55 PM PDT up 0 recs

meant to add would be best option

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 3:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

doesn't add up

If he considered the 3 things you mention, and then decided to hell with all of them and went with the draft, why wouldn’t he take the extra step and get bought out of his contract last year, instead of waiting an extra year? If the possibility of greater money through free agency didn’t attract him, then why did KP and PA have to go to so much effort to bring him over here? I’m not saying that he didn’t want to come here, or is a money grubber, as his decision to come obviously proves that he’s not.

Regardless, Rudy is but an example of how international players could “beat the system” if they really wanted. My point was that I am not sure that the 23 year rule actually exists with regards to draft, and if it didn’t, then the idea behind this thread would be destroyed, as it wouldn’t matter whether the deep pocket owner had a bunch of players on his team that he wanted to ship over from euro to the NBA, all his players would have to go through the draft.

Andy Roddick has the most wimbledon titles in the world. He just hides them in Federer's trophy case

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 4:18 PM PDT up 0 recs

i see your point

I think we both agree at this point

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 4:54 PM PDT up 0 recs

does that mean I win?

Andy Roddick has the most wimbledon titles in the world. He just hides them in Federer's trophy case

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 5:36 PM PDT up 0 recs

It does you have convinced me

you are right honey

Leaders build cultures that create self-esteem, generate and sustain trust, elevate the dignity of work , create community and foster open communication, and finally encourage growth and learning.

-Warren Bennis USC Professor

by BlazerFan1 on Jul 24, 2008 7:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

sweetness.

Andy Roddick has the most wimbledon titles in the world. He just hides them in Federer's trophy case

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 8:14 PM PDT up 0 recs

+1

That’s exactly what I meant. Sorry for the lack of clarification.

I'm a rec whore, so sue me.

by premthegrem on Jul 24, 2008 3:36 PM PDT up 0 recs

He couldn't wait

When players turn 22 they are automatically entered into the draft. Even if they don’t want to be drafted and have no intention of ever playing in the NBA, a team can still use a pick on him and get his rights in case he ever decides to change his mind.

by trk on Jul 24, 2008 9:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

that doesnt seem right.

As SpyderRyder points out below, Jose was signed as a FA by the Raptors at the age of 25-26. Wouldn’t that conflict if his rights were already owned by some other team? Or was he mistaken, and the Raptors signed him as a 2nd round pick?

Andy Roddick has the most wimbledon titles in the world. He just hides them in Federer's trophy case

by premthegrem on Jul 25, 2008 10:48 AM PDT up 0 recs

Jose was in the draft when he was 22

However, none of the teams in the NBA thought that he was worth spending a draft pick on at the time. Since the NBA teams all passed on their chance to draft him, he was able to sign as a free agent a couple years later.

by trk on Jul 26, 2008 8:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

As per

the NBA CBA,

http://www.nbpa.com/cba_articles/article-X.php

“(G) If the player is an "international player" (defined below), and notwithstanding anything contained in subsections (A) through (F) above:

(1) The player is or will be twenty-two (22) years of age during the calendar year of the Draft; or

(2) The player has signed a player contract with a "professional basketball team not in the NBA" (defined below) that is located in the United States, and has rendered services under such contract prior to the Draft; or

(3) The player has expressed his desire to be selected in the Draft in a writing received by the NBA at least sixty (60) days prior to such Draft (an "Early Entry" player).”

Now this would seem to indicate that IF a player wants to be drafted, he has to state that he wants to be drafted to the NBA in writing, however if a player in this situation was making $5mill/yr and put his name into the draft, even if he went #1 he would be making a little less than his current contract.

Actually by signing as a FA he would be free to ask for whatever contract amount he wants be it $5mill or $10mill. He would not be set into the rookie scale salary and there could be a lot more wiggle room for a contract. We would simply have to manage our salary cap to sign a player of that caliber and salary but we would just trade a for an expiring the year before and free up salary.

We could trade say Webster and and say Joel for a $11mill trade exception or expiring contract, then we sign the Euro player the next year for $11mill.

Just because a player is eligible, does not mean that they have to declare for the draft. Sometimes players just want to play overseas whether it be due to skill reasons or personal.

by SpyderRyder on Jul 25, 2008 1:50 PM PDT up 0 recs

No

It says that a player will be entered into the draft when he is 22 OR when he expresses a desire to enter the draft in writing. So a player who is 22 will be in the draft whether he wants to be or not, but he has the option of entering the draft before then if he wants to.

The thing you have to understand is that the draft does not exist for the benefit of the players. The purpose of the draft is to help balance out the differences in talent between NBA teams so that the league remains competitive and is not dominated by a small number of rich teams. Most of the players would actually end up getting better deals if they were able to avoid the draft, but they end up being drafted anyway because they can’t avoid id.

by trk on Jul 26, 2008 8:52 PM PDT up 0 recs

Nope

look at the other Spanish player that we wanted a while ago, jose Calderon. He was signed as a FA by the Raptors and was not drafted because he was what 25-26 when he came into the league. So 23 is the magic cutoff # as when international players become 22 they are considered college seniors and if they want to play in the NBA they have to put their names in the draft.

Calderon did not want to play in the NBA so he stayed in Spain and worked until he thought he was ready, THEN he came over as a FA.

by SpyderRyder on Jul 24, 2008 4:37 PM PDT up 0 recs

I think he is eligible to be drafted without declaring

and I thought the age was 21. If you clear the draft and are not drafted (as some mega-talented Europeans and others have done) then you are a FA when you have no European contract and can sign with any team.

Two years ago Randolph Morris went through the draft and was not drafted and then petitioned the NCAA to return to school. He was granted the petition and played for Kentucky another year – immediately following the Kentucky season he signed with NY before the draft because he was a free agent. You can see a listing of FA overseas right now here.

Aldridge said. "We feel like we can beat any team. We feel like we can beat the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, whoever any night right now, and we'll still be here when those teams get old and their guys retire. We're going to be here for a long time."

by lee3022 on Jul 24, 2008 10:45 PM PDT up 0 recs

The idea for the article post came from the "fiendishly clever mind of TrueHoop reader Ben"

Ben? Ben? Is that you?

Coach, I promise I wasn't running hard ...

by Norsktroll on Jul 24, 2008 2:42 PM PDT 0 recs

Just had to post this, though it would also fit in yesterday's thread

Coach, I promise I wasn't running hard ...

by Norsktroll on Jul 24, 2008 3:07 PM PDT 0 recs

There seems to be a major flaw to this plan

What is to stop the player from signing with another team after his 4 years in Euro are done? If he truly is a UFA then he can and likely will sign with the highest bidder, which may not be the NBA team of the deep pocketed owner.

by tingeyga on Jul 24, 2008 3:41 PM PDT 0 recs

I wonder if you could structure

buyouts to benefit your team

example Portland has a player playing for euro portland and he can be bought out by portland for 500k, which portland could pay and there would be no cost to the player, or they could have a buyout of 1mil, which would require the player to pay 500k.

Just throwing that out there as a possible terrible solution to your good question.

Also, I know that scenario is really anti free market, but so is much of the nba.

Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.

by jonestr on Jul 24, 2008 4:12 PM PDT up 0 recs

I meant to say

a buyout from not portland of 1mil

Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.

by jonestr on Jul 24, 2008 4:13 PM PDT up 0 recs

Yeah if we owned his Euro buyout

we would essentially be paying ourselves. He would have to payback the money, but because we would be recieving it, we could simply give it back to him or invest it for him and slip him the swiss bank account number on a cocktail napkin.

by SpyderRyder on Jul 24, 2008 4:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

what CBA rule

is there to stop an NBA team making a trade with a Euroleague team? Are there any rules to prevent this?

Can a Euroleage team sign a player out of highschool here to a 4 year deal, then trade said player to a NBA team for another player, cash, etc…? That is what I would try, so I am assuming there is a rule against it. PA could buy a Euroleague team, and sign good HS players to nice contracts, then trade them to the Blazers once they develope.

Also, I find it hard to believe that the NBA doesn’t have a rule against a current NBA owner, owning another Bball team from another league.

by usmcr3049 on Jul 24, 2008 3:51 PM PDT 0 recs

A trade between the NBA and Euroleague is likely wouldn't work per the CBA

Here is a quote from some anonymous lawyer on TrueHoop, in the updates of a post referenced in the TrueHoop post that this diary is talking about:

I think the answer is no. The form of player contract is mandated by the CBA. Under Article II, a player and team are not permitted to vary the form of player contract except in certain enumerated ways. The permitted ways that players and teams may vary the uniform player contract do not include any variation in the section of the player contract that states that the team may assign the player contract to another NBA team (although it is permitted to restrict the assignment of the contract through a no-trade clause, in certain circumstances).

Accordingly, I do not think that the CBA would permit the team and player to sign a contract that permitted assignment to non-NBA teams.

Source (at the very bottom)

by tingeyga on Jul 24, 2008 4:34 PM PDT up 0 recs

that last paragraph before the link are the lawyers words and not mine

by tingeyga on Jul 24, 2008 4:34 PM PDT up 0 recs

this is not gonna work so well because...

if he’s 23, becomes a FA and decides to come to NBA, why would he want to sign with us? We still have to outbid other teams to get him to Portland. Basically we have about the same leverage as other teams do.

by iverigma2 on Jul 24, 2008 4:51 PM PDT 0 recs

didn't read thru all the comments...

so forgive me if the same point has already been posted…

by iverigma2 on Jul 24, 2008 4:53 PM PDT up 0 recs

It wouldn't work

If he is that good, then when he turns 22 a team will draft him, even if he is playing in Europe and has buyout issues.

by trk on Jul 24, 2008 9:36 PM PDT 0 recs

He doesn't have to enter the draft if he doesn't want to.

by usmcr3049 on Jul 25, 2008 9:02 AM PDT up 0 recs

He doesn't have a choice

22 year old players are always in the draft unless they are still playing in college or have already been in a previous draft.

by trk on Jul 26, 2008 9:09 PM PDT up 0 recs

Trust in Stern

To maximaze the lawyer billing $ and screw the pooch

by southern oregon on Jul 24, 2008 9:41 PM PDT 0 recs

NBA is a fiefdom and we are already at risk with the King

When Paul Allen joined Mark Cuban against the Seattle to OKC move he stepped in the King’s path. Should KP actually corner the market on mega-team-player talent the King will step on us hard like he did Seattle. The NBA changed the rules several times against Wilt Chamberlain and they will do so again with us should be further incur the wrath of the King. All hail to the King. May his reign become rained on by all the Seattle fans and the rest of the NBA.

by lee3022 on Jul 24, 2008 10:52 PM PDT 0 recs