Welcome to The Hangover, a semi-regular offseason item I’ve elected to start on weeks such as this, when children/work/travel/obligation have elected to cut deeply into both my subconscious and my time (or, failing at that, when there’s nothing particularly noteworthy happening). The promise of two things per week holds true, and thus has been born this attempt at offering tips, tricks and tales for better living until college basketball returns.
How is this different than just ranting and raving about whatever I want? Mind your own damn business is how.
The NBA Player’s Association
A connected NBA guy texted me the juicy details of an NBA Players Association conference call a couple of weeks ago. The gist, per source: these guys seem to fucking HATE each other.
The problem stems from the latest CBA, which squeezes the NBA’s middle class to the point that it may as well not exist. This is best manifested by the Phoenix Suns, which has constructed a roster of four max players (Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal) and eight guys on the league minimum. The new luxury tax penalties will lead teams to prioritize locking up their studs (see Boston and the massive Jaylen Brown contract, topped only next season by the even more massive Jayson Tatum deal), even if it means jettisoning depth. The logic (and it’s not necessarily wrong) is that depth can be procured with good scouting and resource allocation, but if you have a max guy, you give him max money, even if it means your team doesn't make a ton of sense (see Boston again, with two lengthy wing types who can’t reliably go left).