League management, owners, and players have all expressed opinions on the expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement, the impending intense negotiations for a new CBA, and the potential for a lockout. Former Cavalier LeBron James further confused the NBA and its fans with comments today about possibly contracting the league and dispersing talent to other ballclubs. In the midst of all this confusion is a message that Cleveland Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert understands possibly better than most Cavs fans: rebuilding in the NBA is not easy. At 8-21, Cavs fans and NBA analysts are calling for the Cavs to blow up their roster and completely start over.
It is important to remember that the NBA is not the NFL or Major League Baseball. While the NBA has profit sharing to help smaller-market teams to keep up with the cash flow of larger-market teams, it does not have the out clauses that NFL contracts have. In the NFL, teams waive players annually in order to escape expensive player contracts; however, the NBA has guaranteed contracts. While the NFL has fair and intricate rules in setting up more favorable schedules for sagging teams to help league competitive parity, the NBA runs the same fair schedule every year with teams playing the same conference teams 3-4 times a year and teams from the other conference 2 times a year. Thus, the NBA does not allow for the 2-year plans of some NFL teams that go from league's worst to league's best, like the St. Louis Rams did in winning the Super Bowl for the 1999 NFL season.
Likewise, Major League Baseball is built on a system of only 8 of 30 teams making the playoffs. As recent as 1993, only 4 of 26 teams made the MLB Playoffs annually; in essence, the system is built with teams around the league understanding that many teams do not win--that is, qualifying for the MLB Playoffs is not by itself a marker for success or failure in an MLB regular season. Meanwhile, the NBA has allowed 16 teams to make the playoffs for multiple decades--which is greater than 50% of the teams qualifying for the NBA Playoffs annually. Furthermore, Major League Baseball has a large intricate Minor League system, while the NBA has a newly formed Developmental League. Moreover, MLB allows for trade imbalance, in which teams can pretty much trade anyone for anyone in order to become a top contender now or to trim payroll now for rebuilding a contender in 3-5 years. On the other hand, the NBA has a balanced trading rule required for teams above the salary cap. Thus, NBA teams cannot trade players as freely as MLB teams do.
The most recent Cleveland Cavaliers' rebuilding effort was an anomaly. The rebuilding effort relied on one major condition--the drafting of LeBron James in the 2003 NBA Draft. Had the Cavs not gotten the first pick of the 2003 NBA Draft, they would have ended up with Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Darko Milicic, or Chris Bosh. It is very doubtful that Anthony, Wade, or Bosh would have stayed past the initial rookie contract, while Milicic was much more raw than the other three talented prospects. Cleveland fans embraced James much more than they would have embraced Carmelo, D-Wade, Darko, or Bosh had any of the latter four been drafted by the Cavaliers. With LeBron James joining Zydrunas Ilgauskas, former Cavs fans, non-Cavs basketball fans, and non-basketball sports fans packed the Gund Arena, later to be renamed Quicken Loans Arena.
Even with LeBron in place, Cleveland remained a tough free agent market. Like it or not, more NBA players than not do not seek out Cleveland annually as a free agent destination. Players seek out L.A. for the Lakers--not the Clippers--or other popular metropolis cities such as New York, Chicago, and Miami. This means that teams in major popular metropolis cities have a much, much better chance to successfully produce a rebuilding success. Other teams are not so lucky, seeing playoff runs lasting only 2-3 years--recent examples include the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Other teams, such as the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, and Sacramento Kings continue to struggle to turn the tide in their rebuilding efforts. Along with free agency, another message can be taken from these failed/short-lived rebuilding efforts: the NBA Draft is not as impactful as the NFL Draft or the Minor League Baseball System in providing the resources to rebuild a franchise.
Rather than looking at the franchise models of the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, or Heat, the Cavaliers need to look more closely at the recent successes of the systems of the San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons. While San Antonio is a smaller, quieter city than Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Miami, Detroit is a city struggling in a manner similar to Cleveland. Likewise, while the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, and Heat have a much flashier approach to putting their teams together, San Antonio and Detroit quietly built winners, relying on excellent scouting and bringing in more humble players and unselfish players willing to sacrifice personal statistics for team success. Rather than chasing after more raw, immature young players in the NBA Draft, the Cavs are better fit to find guys that want to play in Cleveland--like Daniel Gibson; find steady players like Andre Miller (a former Cav) and Rip Hamilton; or scout well and find hidden gems internationally like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
While the NBA is not the NFL or MLB, perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers can also learn from the recent rebuilding of the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL. In bringing in new talent, Atlanta put an emphasis on signing and drafting former team captains. Rather than drafting raw hit-or-miss prospects, they have drafted a number of collegiate team captains in the past few NFL Drafts. This means that Falcons' players are more familiar with leadership, hard work, and winning. With the CBA bringing a lot conflict in the NBA, players are calling for players to come into the league from high school, while former players like Charles Barkley are calling for the league to change the draft rule to 2 years in college before being eligible for the NBA Draft.
Sure, Owner Dan Gilbert may have looked foolish to some in making his bold proclamations hours after LeBron James aired "The Decision" to leave Cleveland. However, he understood the need to reach out boldly to Cavalier fans to keep fan support, and he also understood that, in the NBA, rebuilding isn't easy. The teams that succeed the most in the NBA are the teams that spend the least amount of time rebuilding and the most time playing to win the game.
It is important to remember that the NBA is not the NFL or Major League Baseball. While the NBA has profit sharing to help smaller-market teams to keep up with the cash flow of larger-market teams, it does not have the out clauses that NFL contracts have. In the NFL, teams waive players annually in order to escape expensive player contracts; however, the NBA has guaranteed contracts. While the NFL has fair and intricate rules in setting up more favorable schedules for sagging teams to help league competitive parity, the NBA runs the same fair schedule every year with teams playing the same conference teams 3-4 times a year and teams from the other conference 2 times a year. Thus, the NBA does not allow for the 2-year plans of some NFL teams that go from league's worst to league's best, like the St. Louis Rams did in winning the Super Bowl for the 1999 NFL season.
Likewise, Major League Baseball is built on a system of only 8 of 30 teams making the playoffs. As recent as 1993, only 4 of 26 teams made the MLB Playoffs annually; in essence, the system is built with teams around the league understanding that many teams do not win--that is, qualifying for the MLB Playoffs is not by itself a marker for success or failure in an MLB regular season. Meanwhile, the NBA has allowed 16 teams to make the playoffs for multiple decades--which is greater than 50% of the teams qualifying for the NBA Playoffs annually. Furthermore, Major League Baseball has a large intricate Minor League system, while the NBA has a newly formed Developmental League. Moreover, MLB allows for trade imbalance, in which teams can pretty much trade anyone for anyone in order to become a top contender now or to trim payroll now for rebuilding a contender in 3-5 years. On the other hand, the NBA has a balanced trading rule required for teams above the salary cap. Thus, NBA teams cannot trade players as freely as MLB teams do.
The most recent Cleveland Cavaliers' rebuilding effort was an anomaly. The rebuilding effort relied on one major condition--the drafting of LeBron James in the 2003 NBA Draft. Had the Cavs not gotten the first pick of the 2003 NBA Draft, they would have ended up with Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Darko Milicic, or Chris Bosh. It is very doubtful that Anthony, Wade, or Bosh would have stayed past the initial rookie contract, while Milicic was much more raw than the other three talented prospects. Cleveland fans embraced James much more than they would have embraced Carmelo, D-Wade, Darko, or Bosh had any of the latter four been drafted by the Cavaliers. With LeBron James joining Zydrunas Ilgauskas, former Cavs fans, non-Cavs basketball fans, and non-basketball sports fans packed the Gund Arena, later to be renamed Quicken Loans Arena.
Even with LeBron in place, Cleveland remained a tough free agent market. Like it or not, more NBA players than not do not seek out Cleveland annually as a free agent destination. Players seek out L.A. for the Lakers--not the Clippers--or other popular metropolis cities such as New York, Chicago, and Miami. This means that teams in major popular metropolis cities have a much, much better chance to successfully produce a rebuilding success. Other teams are not so lucky, seeing playoff runs lasting only 2-3 years--recent examples include the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Other teams, such as the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, and Sacramento Kings continue to struggle to turn the tide in their rebuilding efforts. Along with free agency, another message can be taken from these failed/short-lived rebuilding efforts: the NBA Draft is not as impactful as the NFL Draft or the Minor League Baseball System in providing the resources to rebuild a franchise.
Rather than looking at the franchise models of the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, or Heat, the Cavaliers need to look more closely at the recent successes of the systems of the San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons. While San Antonio is a smaller, quieter city than Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Miami, Detroit is a city struggling in a manner similar to Cleveland. Likewise, while the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, and Heat have a much flashier approach to putting their teams together, San Antonio and Detroit quietly built winners, relying on excellent scouting and bringing in more humble players and unselfish players willing to sacrifice personal statistics for team success. Rather than chasing after more raw, immature young players in the NBA Draft, the Cavs are better fit to find guys that want to play in Cleveland--like Daniel Gibson; find steady players like Andre Miller (a former Cav) and Rip Hamilton; or scout well and find hidden gems internationally like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
While the NBA is not the NFL or MLB, perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers can also learn from the recent rebuilding of the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL. In bringing in new talent, Atlanta put an emphasis on signing and drafting former team captains. Rather than drafting raw hit-or-miss prospects, they have drafted a number of collegiate team captains in the past few NFL Drafts. This means that Falcons' players are more familiar with leadership, hard work, and winning. With the CBA bringing a lot conflict in the NBA, players are calling for players to come into the league from high school, while former players like Charles Barkley are calling for the league to change the draft rule to 2 years in college before being eligible for the NBA Draft.
Sure, Owner Dan Gilbert may have looked foolish to some in making his bold proclamations hours after LeBron James aired "The Decision" to leave Cleveland. However, he understood the need to reach out boldly to Cavalier fans to keep fan support, and he also understood that, in the NBA, rebuilding isn't easy. The teams that succeed the most in the NBA are the teams that spend the least amount of time rebuilding and the most time playing to win the game.