Magic worried Howard will go the 'Melo route

First. What a sad future for small and mid markets if they are just the breeding ground for talents to run off to the big markets. Lockout and franchise tag please. Parity is king and parity will die without protection for these markets and especially their fans

QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 08:24 AM ET  02.25 by cobracommander

First.

So close...

QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 08:24 AM ET  02.25 by cobracommander

First. What a sad future for small and mid markets if they are just the breeding ground for talents to run off to the big markets. Lockout and franchise tag please. Parity is king and parity will die without protection for these markets and especially their fans

David Stern is just watching this all happen & counting his $. He doesn't care. Heat & Knicks fans, have fun with the 8 team league of the future.

Maybe it's just me but does anyone else see this guy ending up in LA?

QUOTE(#4):

Originally posted 08:34 AM ET  02.25 by Bolio

David Stern is just watching this all happen & counting his $. He doesn't care. Heat & Knicks fans, have fun with the 8 team league of the future.

Your right David Stern must love the current state of the NBA. All the big city teams are competitive Ny, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Miami , Orlando, Boston. If those 7 teams plus a couple of wildcards like SA and OKC. The state of the NBA is exactly how the NBA would like it. Now if they can just gets those players to take less money.

QUOTE(#8):

Originally posted 08:47 AM ET  02.25 by jgb

See my above comment.3 teams not named LA or boston or chicago won a title from 1980 to 2004Tje celts won everything in the 60sThat is the nba, its always been that way

I agree, MLB is still the second most popular sport in this country and only 8 teams a year really compete on a serious level. NFL is slightly different but their plenty of team that haven't been competitive in football. Detroit and Cleveland come to mind... see a pattern here?

**** Ainge!

QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 08:24 AM ET  02.25 by cobracommander

First. What a sad future for small and mid markets if they are just the breeding ground for talents to run off to the big markets. Lockout and franchise tag please. Parity is king and parity will die without protection for these markets and especially their fans

Good morning good people!

What an insane day in the NBA yesterday was.

You are so right CC... this BS needs to stop and the owners and the league need to get things under control. There will be a lockout.. after watching things yesterday I have no doubt.

QUOTE(#5):

Originally posted 08:39 AM ET  02.25 by Pimpston23

Maybe it's just me but does anyone else see this guy ending up in LA?

That won't happen... that's one reason for the lockout and hard cap. As long as the big markets can just go over the cap and pay the luxury tax to the lesser markets eventually we will end up with about 4 real teams and 28 JV squads

Maybe Danny Ainge is a genious and by trading Perkins was making room for Rondo to Dwight alleys for the next 10 years

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 08:44 AM ET  02.25 by jgb

Parity has NEVER been the king in bball....I dont get how people don't get this.The celts and lakers have basically been in like every finals over tha last 50 yearsThe nba has ALWAYS been top heavy.....there's ALWAYS a max of 3-4 teams before a season starts that you KNOW will win.Its not the nfl, its a star driven league, the best players win

This will get the "you're old!" comments flowing but I agree to a point jgb. There has always been the top tier teams of which LA and Boston were pretty much at the top. But that's where we might disagree.

In the earlier days when there were only 10-12 teams the competition was at least at a higher lever and the disparity was not so egregious. But having 32 teams hasn't done much to improve the game or the competition.

There are still only about 8 teams that matter. The rest are out of the running after the first 3 weeks of the season.

QUOTE(#13):

Originally posted 09:31 AM ET  02.25 by Patriots Go Go Grogan

Maybe Danny Ainge is a genious and by trading Perkins was making room for Rondo to Dwight alleys for the next 10 years

Please let it be so... but I think Perks knee is shot and he was out for the duration this year. Trade him or lose him to injury leaves us in the same position... playing without him

Love to have you in LA, Bro.

QUOTE(#12):

Originally posted 09:29 AM ET  02.25 by Epoch1

That won't happen... that's one reason for the lockout and hard cap. As long as the big markets can just go over the cap and pay the luxury tax to the lesser markets eventually we will end up with about 4 real teams and 28 JV squads

I think if there is a hard cap it will be closer to the luxury tax number ( 70 million ) rather than the soft cap ( 58 million ) if thats the case teams will still have room.

QUOTE(#13):

Originally posted 09:31 AM ET  02.25 by Patriots Go Go Grogan

Maybe Danny Ainge is a genious and by trading Perkins was making room for Rondo to Dwight alleys for the next 10 years

If Howard leaves Orlando he will play in Chicago. He and Rose are close friends and the Bulls have pieces to trade.

There was an article about Howard going to Chicago . I can totally see that. David Stern loves this. He doesn't want anymore Spurs,Orlando,Pistons,or Pacers in the finals. Look at the ratings when those teams are there.