Good things happen to the Lakers, nothing good happen to the Knicks.
The fans around the league should let these fuckers hear it. You go win a championship, albeit against a depleted team, and are in the conversation for the top player in the league. So what do you do? Go join two other top five players of course?!?! What a farce. Fuck the NBA, fuck Leonard, fuck the Lakers. And a big fuck you to LeFraud.
So the hundreds of millions of dollars spent yesterday mean nothing. As a petty, pissed off Knicks fan, I'm kinda rooting for this now. Let the Lakers cockblock everyone while the Knicks keep building.
I get it's his decision & his life, but weak sauce on Kawhi's part if true. If you're going to leave Toronto & go to LA, be The Man with the Clips. Don't go join a superteam with LBJ & AD.
Depressing.
I guess the one bright side is that it sometimes takes teams like this a year to get it all together & by then LBJ will be 36 & wearing down. I don't know. I'm talking myself into thinking that.
It's difficult to see how a kid who grew up in SoCal during that time, seeing how the Lakers absolutely owned the league, would pass up a chance to play with the best player of this generation and arguably the second best player in the league.
when on the court together. Best Big 3 ever by quite a distance.
But Kawhi/AD are injury prone and LeBron is an Iron Man but missed 1/3rd of last year and has accumulated an absurd amount of miles over the years (I believe he's already Top 10 mins all-time including playoffs).
An injury to any one of those guys, and the league is open again. Just like KD getting hurt.
when on the court together. Best Big 3 ever by quite a distance.
But Kawhi/AD are injury prone and LeBron is an Iron Man but missed 1/3rd of last year and has accumulated an absurd amount of miles over the years (I believe he's already Top 10 mins all-time including playoffs).
An injury to any one of those guys, and the league is open again. Just like KD getting hurt.
Better than Kareem, Magic, and Worthy? They are better than the Heat trio. The Bulls trio 3 peat was on the decline too.
It does fly in the face of the whole culture/competent front office Â
- LeBron joined the Lakers for reasons that had little to do with basketball.
- LeBron and his "friend/agent" orchestrated the trading of a star player to LA for a collection of media-hyped, overrated young players.
- Kawhi went where he always wanted to go in LA, only choosing the better, more high-profile team.
The only thing the Lakers' front office controlled this entire offseason was getting gifted cap space from the league's worst front office in Washington and hiring Frank Vogel after they messed up the Ty Lue negotiations.
Part of it is that it's the fucking Lakers these players are clamoring Â
to join, not our Knicks. Is their owner any better? No. Is their organization better run? Hell no.
But they are the Lakers so they get all the breaks. I mean, who the fuck is watching Space Jam that LeBron is producing?
I get that the league is suffering because of this type of abominable behavior, because most of the pimply fans now have an attention span of a gnat and are bandwagon fans who pick teams based on the uniform color. But the diehard fans need to let these players hear it. This is frowned upon, if you are going to do this, don't come crying about your legacy when you retire.
I get him wanting to go to the Lakers. He's a local, grew up a Lakers fan, & wanted to be traded there last summer.
It just sucks for people who hate the Lakers, like me. In hindsight, I should have told my old man to F off, bought a Big Games James jersey, & gone with the local team. Instead I chose the Knicks....(shaking head in disgust).
Just makes not watching the NBA that much easier Â
And the players around the league generally don't rail against this, at least judging by their social media responses.
This is a different generation, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. This is how society in general is going. When things get tough, take the easy way out.
Haha, maybe an over generalization, but this fucking blows as a Knicks fan.
I don't think any of these players with 100s of millions in career earnings will be crying about legacy.
They will be owning media companies, clothing and shoe brands, and NBA teams.
There are 2 ways to build winners in the NBA -- be a city that is relevant and can attract stars or build a winner through the draft and make a big move if you're close.
The players own the league now. It's been that way since Miami.
Really felt Kawhi was different. He has taken down 2 big 3 franchises.
Why in the world would he want to play on "LeBron's team" when he can have his own and still win. There are plenty of players that would want to play with Kawhi at this point.
I can wait for this "team up" era of basketball to end.
--Kawhi grew up a Lakers fan and lives in SoCal so it makes obvious sense he'd want to play there at some point
--Kawhi already won two championships as an alpha dog; it's not like Durant running to Golden State after blowing a 3-1 lead against them with the Thunder
--This Lakers Big 3 is very injury prone; AD is always hurt and at LeBron's basketball age (top 10 all time in minutes played), who knows how long he holds up
He's 993 mins away from Kobe in 2nd place. He played 1937 mins last year in only 55 games.
He's 6,476 mins away from Karl Malone in 1st place. He played 4,018 mins in 2018 when he carried the Cavs to the Finals
He has maybe 2 full seasons before he passes Karl Malone in minutes played, a guy that was known as the ultimate example of longevity. He's in the midst of passing Kobe/Dirk/Duncan/KG who all fell off hard at the end. LeBron is a freak, but he's in some uncharted territory here.
I have to mention that Kareem is at 66,297 mins (10,012 ahead of LeBron) + he played at UCLA, so it isn't completely unprecedented. Either way, it's no given he stays LeBron James stays "LeBron James" for too much longer.
Good things happen to the Lakers, nothing good happen to the Knicks.
The fans around the league should let these fuckers hear it. You go win a championship, albeit against a depleted team, and are in the conversation for the top player in the league. So what do you do? Go join two other top five players of course?!?! What a farce. Fuck the NBA, fuck Leonard, fuck the Lakers. And a big fuck you to LeFraud.
Kinda agree about good things with the Lakers. They have had 4 top five picks the past five years, an incredible amount of luck, yet no all stars from them. While the Knicks never were higher than three even while having the worst record.
Kawhi and KD or Davis and KD joining the Knicks would have been awesome and them joining stars elsewhere is weak and what’s wrong with the NBA. Do I have that right?
I'm not rational when it comes to the Lakers. Having grow up there & being surrounded by their fans, I hate that franchise & fan base with every bone in my body.
I'd obviously not be mad if they all came to the Knicks. I just don't love the landscape of the league. Players just call all the shots and if they don't get their way, they hold their team hostage until they get traded or freed up to play with their buddies.
It's just not that enjoyable to me - but the ratings and everything else say this is what people like now, so I guess I'm just old and grumpy. Just seems like most of these guys want the path of least resistance.
I don't expect anyone to deliberately take the hard road; it just feels weak and cheap to keep seeing teams form like this.
The Lakers were being talked about like the biggest circus in the league mere weeks ago - now they're potentially looking at a killer Big 3 that will plow through the West (and the league) if those guys stay healthy.
God forbid they ever have to deal with actual adversity there.
Apparently LBJ really wants to play with his 14 year old son Bronny in the NBA someday. The '21 draft will probably be the one that goes back to high schoolers being drafted so Bronny might be picked then.
It's amazing how well the league is doing if BBI is anywhere close to a good sample.
Butler goes to Miami for the max largely on his own = he's selfish and just wants the shots
Kyrie and KD take less than the max to fit in Jordan = weak they just want to play with their friends
Vets want to join the Lakers for a chance at a ring and take less money = chasers
Leonard signs with his hometown team after delivering rings to two cities he had no choice in playing = should have picked the shittier team in his hometown
Apparently LBJ really wants to play with his 14 year old son Bronny in the NBA someday. The '21 draft will probably be the one that goes back to high schoolers being drafted so Bronny might be picked then.
Hopefully he gets drafted to Minnesota so LeBron has to go there.
Back in the day, each team would have 1-2 legit stars and match-up's on any given Sunday would be fun to watch. Now you have super teams killing also-ran's to the tune that the good teams are routinely sitting their stars during the regular season.
Sure, let the players do what they want, it's good for the league.
It's especially deflating when the Lakers reap all the benefits of player movement. They are as incompetent as the Knicks and yet their outlook is always bright because players are tripping over each other to play at the Forum.
So there are no NBA players that grew up with the Bulls, Pistons, or the Knicks? Why is AD not dying to join Chicago?
Who would ever suspected such a thing as Kawhi going to the Lakers?No No wonder Millennials get 99% of their info from Reddit
This is a useless post. Reddit is an invaluable resource and effectively an aggregation of the internet at large. It's like saying "no wonder Millennials get 99% of their info from the internet."
I don't expect anyone to deliberately take the hard road; it just feels weak and cheap to keep seeing teams form like this.
The league and the union keep trying to put measures in place to convince players to stay put, and the players keep indicating money is less important than winning and being happy.
These guys are paid extremely well, and thankfully this offseason it looks like most of the big free agents have actually made 4 year commitments to their teams.
There is a way to keep players on their incumbent teams, and that's penalize the owners financially for signing other team's franchise-type players. But good luck getting that passed by the teams in cities players like.
Lakers don't trade for AD without the number 4 pick Â
They had a 2.8% chance to get that pick and a 77+% chance to pick 10 or higher. Yet, what a coincidence got the number 4 pick which then allowed them to get AD. Oh and of course David Griffin is hired to run the Pelicans just as the Lakers and his old pal LeBron decide they want AD. All a bunch of amazing coincidences of course.
RE: Just so I am understanding my BBI correctly... Â
Kawhi and KD or Davis and KD joining the Knicks would have been awesome and them joining stars elsewhere is weak and what’s wrong with the NBA. Do I have that right?
Good point, but the Knicks haven't won squat in 50 years - the NBA world can spare us a title or two. Lakers have won plenty.
They had a 2.8% chance to get that pick and a 77+% chance to pick 10 or higher. Yet, what a coincidence got the number 4 pick which then allowed them to get AD. Oh and of course David Griffin is hired to run the Pelicans just as the Lakers and his old pal LeBron decide they want AD. All a bunch of amazing coincidences of course.
I'm as much an NBA conspiracy theorist as the next person, but come on. This is a stretch.
Look on the bright side, at least the Knicks don’t get flattened Â
Already on the bottom where it’s safe. Would really suck to be a Bucks/Rockets/Celtics/Nets/Sixers fan now knowing your teams are good but also have no fucking chance. Could throw some others in there as well, Jazz, Nuggets.
But shoe companies have heavy influence in the NBA and have for a very long time. Stern and now Silver allow their influence. Nike has LeBron and AD. If they wanted them on the same team in the market of LA of all places they would get what they want. One way or another, they always do.
I don't expect anyone to deliberately take the hard road; it just feels weak and cheap to keep seeing teams form like this.
The league and the union keep trying to put measures in place to convince players to stay put, and the players keep indicating money is less important than winning and being happy.
These guys are paid extremely well, and thankfully this offseason it looks like most of the big free agents have actually made 4 year commitments to their teams.
There is a way to keep players on their incumbent teams, and that's penalize the owners financially for signing other team's franchise-type players. But good luck getting that passed by the teams in cities players like.
It's really hard to do because of how much weight singular players carry in the NBA. One LeBron James or KD or Kawhi... whichever superstar player you want to name - that one guy makes such a huge difference in wins and losses - so, the players have more leverage than they do in any other landscape.
Odell Beckham, for instance... outstanding player. We all know that. We watched him here for some time and know what he can do on the field. But Beckham going to Cleveland doesn't just automatically make them a playoff team. It makes them better. But it's nothing like LeBron joining a crappy Cavs team and almost turning them entirely upside down all on his own.
I get why it's this way, and I realize a lot of the complaining I do about it is useless. It's just deflating to be a fan of a team that I already know has no chance at a title pretty much every year before a game is even played since I've been a fan.
I don't need a dynasty. I don't need the Knicks to have the same history as the Celtics or Lakers.
I'd just like to live in a world one day where I can think the Knicks might win a title and not have people look at me like I should be admitted for even thinking it...
We might need to attach picks to free agent signings. Â
Although in the NBA draft picks aren't valued as much as the other sports.
It just sucks that one player has such an influence on a team in basketball. You just don't see players in other sports buddying up to play with each other.
RE: Look on the bright side, at least the Knicks don’t get flattened Â
Already on the bottom where it’s safe. Would really suck to be a Bucks/Rockets/Celtics/Nets/Sixers fan now knowing your teams are good but also have no fucking chance. Could throw some others in there as well, Jazz, Nuggets.
Many of those teams are a torn AD Achilles from a shot at a championship.
Where they play shouldn’t bitch one iota. This is what you get. You think NBA owners should be loyal to players? Why should they. We see countless examples where players decide they are leaving even before the prior season starts.
We just saw Kyrie fracture a team knowing he wasn’t coming back.
Lebron has screwed over 3 teams.
KD has left multiple teams.
AD basically quit on the pelicans.
Kawhi is about to leave a team who just won the title.
And what’s the compensation for the fans/teams? Nothing but the players laughing to the bank.
If you can’t see that as a problem.... then I’m sorry you aren’t seeing the big picture.
RE: Look on the bright side, at least the Knicks don’t get flattened Â
Already on the bottom where it’s safe. Would really suck to be a Bucks/Rockets/Celtics/Nets/Sixers fan now knowing your teams are good but also have no fucking chance. Could throw some others in there as well, Jazz, Nuggets.
Yep. A total downer for those teams. We can keep building in peace.
Good things happen to the Lakers, nothing good happen to the Knicks.
The fans around the league should let these fuckers hear it. You go win a championship, albeit against a depleted team, and are in the conversation for the top player in the league. So what do you do? Go join two other top five players of course?!?! What a farce. Fuck the NBA, fuck Leonard, fuck the Lakers. And a big fuck you to LeFraud.
This sums it up perfectly
RE: Fans who think players should have more power Â
Where they play shouldn’t bitch one iota. This is what you get. You think NBA owners should be loyal to players? Why should they. We see countless examples where players decide they are leaving even before the prior season starts.
We just saw Kyrie fracture a team knowing he wasn’t coming back.
Lebron has screwed over 3 teams.
KD has left multiple teams.
AD basically quit on the pelicans.
Kawhi is about to leave a team who just won the title.
And what’s the compensation for the fans/teams? Nothing but the players laughing to the bank.
If you can’t see that as a problem.... then I’m sorry you aren’t seeing the big picture.
The best leverage the owners have is not getting desperate and handing out 1-and-1 deals at the max. Force players to commit to 4 years.
KD would still be a Warrior if they had displayed any backbone when courting him.
Thankfully it looks like most of the big names aside from Davis have committed to their new teams.
KD going to Golden State is still the one that bugs me the most.
He and Westbrook were good enough to beat them in OKC. They fucking HAD them beat the year before KD bolted - it was KD's own shitty performance in Game 6 that kept them from closing that shit out and ultimately losing the series.
I wanted to see KD say "I'm going back to OKC and I want another shot at Golden State" - it's not like the Thunder were bad. They were right there. They had the Warriors on the ropes.
Instead, he just bolts and joins Golden State and essentially makes them unbeatable.
Stuff like that is just bad for any league. I don't see how anyone could have seen that happen and thought it was a good thing for the NBA outside of Oakland.
The fans around the league should let these fuckers hear it. You go win a championship, albeit against a depleted team, and are in the conversation for the top player in the league. So what do you do? Go join two other top five players of course?!?! What a farce. Fuck the NBA, fuck Leonard, fuck the Lakers. And a big fuck you to LeFraud.
I just cringed.
Depressing.
I guess the one bright side is that it sometimes takes teams like this a year to get it all together & by then LBJ will be 36 & wearing down. I don't know. I'm talking myself into thinking that.
But Kawhi/AD are injury prone and LeBron is an Iron Man but missed 1/3rd of last year and has accumulated an absurd amount of miles over the years (I believe he's already Top 10 mins all-time including playoffs).
An injury to any one of those guys, and the league is open again. Just like KD getting hurt.
But Kawhi/AD are injury prone and LeBron is an Iron Man but missed 1/3rd of last year and has accumulated an absurd amount of miles over the years (I believe he's already Top 10 mins all-time including playoffs).
An injury to any one of those guys, and the league is open again. Just like KD getting hurt.
Better than Kareem, Magic, and Worthy? They are better than the Heat trio. The Bulls trio 3 peat was on the decline too.
- LeBron joined the Lakers for reasons that had little to do with basketball.
- LeBron and his "friend/agent" orchestrated the trading of a star player to LA for a collection of media-hyped, overrated young players.
- Kawhi went where he always wanted to go in LA, only choosing the better, more high-profile team.
The only thing the Lakers' front office controlled this entire offseason was getting gifted cap space from the league's worst front office in Washington and hiring Frank Vogel after they messed up the Ty Lue negotiations.
But they are the Lakers so they get all the breaks. I mean, who the fuck is watching Space Jam that LeBron is producing?
I get that the league is suffering because of this type of abominable behavior, because most of the pimply fans now have an attention span of a gnat and are bandwagon fans who pick teams based on the uniform color. But the diehard fans need to let these players hear it. This is frowned upon, if you are going to do this, don't come crying about your legacy when you retire.
It just sucks for people who hate the Lakers, like me. In hindsight, I should have told my old man to F off, bought a Big Games James jersey, & gone with the local team. Instead I chose the Knicks....(shaking head in disgust).
This is a different generation, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. This is how society in general is going. When things get tough, take the easy way out.
Haha, maybe an over generalization, but this fucking blows as a Knicks fan.
They will be owning media companies, clothing and shoe brands, and NBA teams.
There are 2 ways to build winners in the NBA -- be a city that is relevant and can attract stars or build a winner through the draft and make a big move if you're close.
The players own the league now. It's been that way since Miami.
Why in the world would he want to play on "LeBron's team" when he can have his own and still win. There are plenty of players that would want to play with Kawhi at this point.
I can wait for this "team up" era of basketball to end.
--Kawhi already won two championships as an alpha dog; it's not like Durant running to Golden State after blowing a 3-1 lead against them with the Thunder
--This Lakers Big 3 is very injury prone; AD is always hurt and at LeBron's basketball age (top 10 all time in minutes played), who knows how long he holds up
Kobe: 57,278
Dirk: 57,262
Duncan: 56,738
LeBron: 56,285
Kidd: 56,199
Garnett: 55,701
Stockton: 54,163
He's 993 mins away from Kobe in 2nd place. He played 1937 mins last year in only 55 games.
He's 6,476 mins away from Karl Malone in 1st place. He played 4,018 mins in 2018 when he carried the Cavs to the Finals
He has maybe 2 full seasons before he passes Karl Malone in minutes played, a guy that was known as the ultimate example of longevity. He's in the midst of passing Kobe/Dirk/Duncan/KG who all fell off hard at the end. LeBron is a freak, but he's in some uncharted territory here.
I have to mention that Kareem is at 66,297 mins (10,012 ahead of LeBron) + he played at UCLA, so it isn't completely unprecedented. Either way, it's no given he stays LeBron James stays "LeBron James" for too much longer.
The fans around the league should let these fuckers hear it. You go win a championship, albeit against a depleted team, and are in the conversation for the top player in the league. So what do you do? Go join two other top five players of course?!?! What a farce. Fuck the NBA, fuck Leonard, fuck the Lakers. And a big fuck you to LeFraud.
Kinda agree about good things with the Lakers. They have had 4 top five picks the past five years, an incredible amount of luck, yet no all stars from them. While the Knicks never were higher than three even while having the worst record.
No one wants a challenge anymore... everyone just wants to play in the same city and build super teams.
I'm not rational when it comes to the Lakers. Having grow up there & being surrounded by their fans, I hate that franchise & fan base with every bone in my body.
He's not the same player he once was, but the Lakers can really manage his minutes now.
When it comes down to it, the Lakers really just need to be a top 4 seed in the regular season, and then go full speed in the playoffs.
With that three they are going to get 2 rings in the next 3 years.
It's just not that enjoyable to me - but the ratings and everything else say this is what people like now, so I guess I'm just old and grumpy. Just seems like most of these guys want the path of least resistance.
I don't expect anyone to deliberately take the hard road; it just feels weak and cheap to keep seeing teams form like this.
The Lakers were being talked about like the biggest circus in the league mere weeks ago - now they're potentially looking at a killer Big 3 that will plow through the West (and the league) if those guys stay healthy.
God forbid they ever have to deal with actual adversity there.
Butler goes to Miami for the max largely on his own = he's selfish and just wants the shots
Kyrie and KD take less than the max to fit in Jordan = weak they just want to play with their friends
Vets want to join the Lakers for a chance at a ring and take less money = chasers
Leonard signs with his hometown team after delivering rings to two cities he had no choice in playing = should have picked the shittier team in his hometown
(Finds something breakable, but not important or hard to clean up)
Hopefully he gets drafted to Minnesota so LeBron has to go there.
Sure, let the players do what they want, it's good for the league.
It's especially deflating when the Lakers reap all the benefits of player movement. They are as incompetent as the Knicks and yet their outlook is always bright because players are tripping over each other to play at the Forum.
So there are no NBA players that grew up with the Bulls, Pistons, or the Knicks? Why is AD not dying to join Chicago?
This is a useless post. Reddit is an invaluable resource and effectively an aggregation of the internet at large. It's like saying "no wonder Millennials get 99% of their info from the internet."
The league and the union keep trying to put measures in place to convince players to stay put, and the players keep indicating money is less important than winning and being happy.
These guys are paid extremely well, and thankfully this offseason it looks like most of the big free agents have actually made 4 year commitments to their teams.
There is a way to keep players on their incumbent teams, and that's penalize the owners financially for signing other team's franchise-type players. But good luck getting that passed by the teams in cities players like.
Good point, but the Knicks haven't won squat in 50 years - the NBA world can spare us a title or two. Lakers have won plenty.
LOL. Yeah, that'd be fitting.
I'm as much an NBA conspiracy theorist as the next person, but come on. This is a stretch.
Quote:
I don't expect anyone to deliberately take the hard road; it just feels weak and cheap to keep seeing teams form like this.
The league and the union keep trying to put measures in place to convince players to stay put, and the players keep indicating money is less important than winning and being happy.
These guys are paid extremely well, and thankfully this offseason it looks like most of the big free agents have actually made 4 year commitments to their teams.
There is a way to keep players on their incumbent teams, and that's penalize the owners financially for signing other team's franchise-type players. But good luck getting that passed by the teams in cities players like.
It's really hard to do because of how much weight singular players carry in the NBA. One LeBron James or KD or Kawhi... whichever superstar player you want to name - that one guy makes such a huge difference in wins and losses - so, the players have more leverage than they do in any other landscape.
Odell Beckham, for instance... outstanding player. We all know that. We watched him here for some time and know what he can do on the field. But Beckham going to Cleveland doesn't just automatically make them a playoff team. It makes them better. But it's nothing like LeBron joining a crappy Cavs team and almost turning them entirely upside down all on his own.
I get why it's this way, and I realize a lot of the complaining I do about it is useless. It's just deflating to be a fan of a team that I already know has no chance at a title pretty much every year before a game is even played since I've been a fan.
I don't need a dynasty. I don't need the Knicks to have the same history as the Celtics or Lakers.
I'd just like to live in a world one day where I can think the Knicks might win a title and not have people look at me like I should be admitted for even thinking it...
It just sucks that one player has such an influence on a team in basketball. You just don't see players in other sports buddying up to play with each other.
Many of those teams are a torn AD Achilles from a shot at a championship.
Being good is never bad in the NBA.
We just saw Kyrie fracture a team knowing he wasn’t coming back.
Lebron has screwed over 3 teams.
KD has left multiple teams.
AD basically quit on the pelicans.
Kawhi is about to leave a team who just won the title.
And what’s the compensation for the fans/teams? Nothing but the players laughing to the bank.
If you can’t see that as a problem.... then I’m sorry you aren’t seeing the big picture.
Yep. A total downer for those teams. We can keep building in peace.
The fans around the league should let these fuckers hear it. You go win a championship, albeit against a depleted team, and are in the conversation for the top player in the league. So what do you do? Go join two other top five players of course?!?! What a farce. Fuck the NBA, fuck Leonard, fuck the Lakers. And a big fuck you to LeFraud.
This sums it up perfectly
We just saw Kyrie fracture a team knowing he wasn’t coming back.
Lebron has screwed over 3 teams.
KD has left multiple teams.
AD basically quit on the pelicans.
Kawhi is about to leave a team who just won the title.
And what’s the compensation for the fans/teams? Nothing but the players laughing to the bank.
If you can’t see that as a problem.... then I’m sorry you aren’t seeing the big picture.
The best leverage the owners have is not getting desperate and handing out 1-and-1 deals at the max. Force players to commit to 4 years.
KD would still be a Warrior if they had displayed any backbone when courting him.
Thankfully it looks like most of the big names aside from Davis have committed to their new teams.
He and Westbrook were good enough to beat them in OKC. They fucking HAD them beat the year before KD bolted - it was KD's own shitty performance in Game 6 that kept them from closing that shit out and ultimately losing the series.
I wanted to see KD say "I'm going back to OKC and I want another shot at Golden State" - it's not like the Thunder were bad. They were right there. They had the Warriors on the ropes.
Instead, he just bolts and joins Golden State and essentially makes them unbeatable.
Stuff like that is just bad for any league. I don't see how anyone could have seen that happen and thought it was a good thing for the NBA outside of Oakland.