stashing assets for the 2023 nba offseason

i dont consider the black isrealists to be labor tho i do find them more interesting than nike executives

I think it’s important to note that the state of the current cba has basically squeezed the nba middle class, as far as it goes, basically out of the league. The future of labor in the nba increasingly is the powerful stars bloating their own contracts, a handful of very rich secondary players, and everyone else getting min deals. I think this speaks to where the powerful players’ solidarity lies (it is not with labor)

i dont understand why the nba bench guys allow that to happen there are more of them than the stars

tho i guess its pretty easy for those guys to be out of the league if lebron et al doesnt like them, but still

they should strike

or stop electing chris paul union pres

i dont consider the black isrealists to be labor tho i do find them more interesting than nike executives

― lag∞n, Friday, September 29, 2023 4:02 PM (five minutes ago)

kyrie gave six figures to standing rock pipeline protestors, tried to quash the bubble on i believe two separate occasions, gave over a million dollars to WNBA players during the pandemic, and took a brave stance on behalf of the unvaccinated workers of new york city! the most labor forward NBA player we have also being one of the most unlikable psychos is a reason why the NBA is great

things have been happening in labor recently some sort of nascent groundswell general support for unions is way up i dont think ive heard one person mention unionized athletes as an inspiration, people do talk about starbucks baristas tho

― lag∞n, Friday, September 29, 2023 3:50 PM (twelve minutes ago)

maybe i'm being naive but while i don't think the conversations are causal in most instances, i would consider them correlative. like i think women who are invested in the equality of women athletes in basketball, soccer, college sports etc would tell you that those fights are not separate from their own. professional male athletes are treated much better but their issues as far as labor goes are not irrelevant imo to the larger cause tho i would of course never argue that such discussions are an adequate stand in "for a real fight"

kyrie gave six figures to standing rock pipeline protestors, tried to quash the bubble on i believe two separate occasions, gave over a million dollars to WNBA players during the pandemic, and took a brave stance on behalf of the unvaccinated workers of new york city! the most labor forward NBA player we have also being one of the most unlikable psychos is a reason why the NBA is great

― J0rdan S., Friday, September 29, 2023 4:15 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i mean it does sound good when say it that way but these are the actions of a lone wolf philanthropist not labor

i dont understand why the nba bench guys allow that to happen there are more of them than the stars

― lag∞n, Friday, September 29, 2023 4:04 PM (twelve minutes ago)

i think the union's argument (to its members but also in general) is that the new CBA is structured in a way that funnels more money overall to the players side in terms of how the TV money and all that income is split up. that the contracts will all be larger in the aggregate not just because there is more money flowing into the league but also because of how the union fought for it to be split up. and while it's probably true that the players overall will get more money it also seems evident that a certain number of players who think a payday awaits them in free agency will find that the money has already been allocated to more famous, more important players

differing agendas w/in a union based on real or implied strata w/in the membership group is intrinsic to all unions i think. but the sports leagues are also unique insofar as we know incontrovertibly that lebron and KD are more valuable to the NBA than the rank and file, which isn't really true for assembly line workers or teachers or what not. the CBA as approved by the union 100% acknowledges that reality -- it's basically like the rank and file pay a tax to the stars for making the league what it is. i think i would take the position that acknowledging that imbalance w/ such a structure is what keeps the union together, as opposed to it being a commentary on to the degree to which the star players side w/ power over labor. but i would also be curious the unvarnished thoughts from non-star players who are involved w/ the union on whether they think guys like lebron and cp3 are genuinely looking out for the rank and file in CBA negotiations

this thread has delivered today, thank u ilh 🙏

psh more free labor I’m demanding a trade to I love baseball

worth noting that the nba cba is kind of a strange analogue for other sorts of labor agreements in that half the rules in it are there to keep the owners, who both cooperate and compete, from stomping all over each other, and in particular do things like try to protect undesirable market portland from desirable market miami. that the players are bystanders in a lot of this is maybe its own labor issue but pro sports in america is such a weird ecosystem, it's hard to compare it to other things.

most workers cant dunk

but yeah, it is an interesting discussion to what extent we are all transaction-brained as fans of this sport and how that informs the discourse. it's not unreasonable to frame a lot of the things that happen in the nba offseason as labor issues but there are also a lot of different types of labor issues, some of which are probably more important than others.

most workers cant dunk

― lag∞n, Friday, September 29, 2023 9:09 PM (thirty-nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol this too

thought america ran on dunkin tbh

most workers cant run tbh

celtics shd pick him up

Can confirm Spurs are buying out veteran Reggie Bullock, per sources.

Spurs roster sits at 19 (with two-way deals) heading into training camp.

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) September 30, 2023

mb theyre going after him tho

The Celtics’ pursuit of Jrue Holiday remains alive, I’m told. But there’s still a significant gap.

— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) September 30, 2023

why not both

interesting approach for brian wright to koolaid man wallbreak into every opportunity to facilitate trades and take back marginal draft capital and then cut the veteran players they get back in the deal bc they have around 34 teenagers that need minutes

i get it tho, cam payne and reggie bullock are solid bench guys but not worth a draft-pick centered trade when the other team would have to salary dump to make the trade work. hope that dallas pick swap in 2030 becomes someone cool.

shouldnt the spurs be looking for situations where they get salary dumped on them in exchange for picks (except for the fact that they have too many guys)

i dont mind the strategy in general, but they need to consolidate some of those 2nd rounders into something that has a chance of actually improving their roster. the dejounte, poeltl, and derozan trades were all good at bringing some potentially quality draft spots (the 2024 TOR 1rp they have is only top 6 protected for ex) but a lot of these trades (cam payne, devonte graham) leave them with decentish money that gets wasted in service of 2nd rounders. feels like there are bigger fish out there idk.

also

The Celtics are trading Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, 2024 GSW 1st, 2029 unprotected BOS first to the Blazers, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/gx53jyH1RG

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 1, 2023

The Celtics are trading Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, 2024 GSW 1st, 2029 unprotected BOS first to the Blazers, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/gx53jyH1RG

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 1, 2023

lol whoops wasnt trying to double post

Final tally on Lillard trade: Portland gets Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, Toumani Camara, three first-round picks 2024 (Golden State, Top-4 protected), 2029 (Bucks and Celtics unprotected) and 2028 and 2030 Milwaukee pick swaps.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 1, 2023

i can't keep track of the celtics' net in/out asset calculation this summer but it feels like basically a long shell game to reorient the team around porzingis of all people...

damn rob gone marcus gone its a new era

brogon rob and two firsts is an absolutely insane price for jrue

okay if they flip brogdon too Cronin is a genius

had a feeling they would get it done and the package would basically be that

suspect brogdon currently has less than 1 first value celtics have been trying to trade him but if he plays well and stays healthy could prob get something at the deadline

blazers actually ended up getting a superstar haul for dame tip o the cap to them

celtics front court depth situation worries me the oft injured zinger and the old horf then... kornet, also before this trade they option of playing big but now theyre back to being stuck with one big lineups, but i do think theyre better now than last year and before the trade, jrue is a beast and he will be able to pick his spots on offense, brodgon and rob are both so injury prone you cant rely on them

happy trails timelord

https://i.imgur.com/chMld0x.png
https://i.imgur.com/zzSfC9D.png

It’s not great that portland era now have a reason to cosplay as dr who at blazer games

*portlanders

ha yeah shouldnt encourage them

zinger-jayson-jaylen-jrue-dwhite is a ridiculous defense

maybe kornet becomes a lil more playable since theyll be working out of a drop scheme with zinger idk

blazers getting a far out unprotected first from the celtics was coup

the last time we saw porzingis at center in the playoffs he was completely unplayable. he’s healthier now (in theory anyway) and the celtics perimeter defenders are obv very formidable. but man idk. i guess we’ll see how it plays out. maybe the celtics can invent like upside down defense

one good thing for the celtics when questionably rearranging their big man rotation is that the best defender against embiid in the playoffs is his own mind

its big al horford, who tbf does live in embiids head

zinger is a really good rim protector but teams will hunt him on the perimeter in the offs which maybe the celtics can just live with it since theyre such good defenders top to bottom, staying healthy is the main thing for him

i think we can say confidently that if they see the bucks in the playoffs playing drop coverage against pick and rolls is probably a bad idea. but mazzulla has a whole season to experiment

yeah you cant just play a straight drop against guys like dame or really anyone these days its more of a multiple switches type thing to keep the big man back when you can, like denver does with joker or bucks with lopez

it did feel like the bucks and celtics rosters both hit a wall last playoffs but that the teams decided to take different approaches this offseason. but then the bucks switched up and now the celtics are directly connected to their overhaul. it should be a very fun year in the east