The Magic Touch: Foreign Leagues Growing With NBA Players

During the past several years, NBA games have become much more competitive. An increasing number of NBA players have decided to join foreign leagues because of limited opportunities to play in games and higher salaries offered by clubs outside the United States. Underdeveloped but fast-growing basketball leagues in China, Turkey, and Russia, as well as mature leagues like those in Greece and Spain now regularly display former NBA players. 

Turkish Basketball League

First, let’s focus on the Turkish Basketball League. It was founded in 1966 by the Turkish Basketball Federation. There are now 16 teams in the league with the most famous ones being Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş and Anadolu Efes which won the most titles. Ranked as the fifth among the European national basketball league, TBL has drawn a number of former NBA players.

Jordan Farmar  who played for the Lakers from 2006 to 2010, Jordan Farmar decided to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2011, in the wake of the 2011 NBA lockout, and then transferred to Anadolu Efes in 2012–13. During the two years in Israel and Turkey, Jordan averaged out at 14.8 points and 3.9 assists per game. Now he has returned to the Lakers for 2013-4.

Sasha Vujačić He went to Israel with his Laker teammate Jordan Farmar in 2011. He signed a two-year contract with Anadolu Efes. As a point guard, Sasha averaged 11.0 points per game.

However, for most basketball fans, the first time they became familiar with the TBL is when Allen Iverson joined the Beşiktaş in 2010. Although he only played ten games for the club, this striking news led many people to pay attention to the TBL.

Rated as one of the top three European national leagues, the Liga ACB is a high-level league similiar to NBA, and because of this, many former NBA players chose to join this league.

Spanish Basketball League (The Liga ACB)
 

Spanish Basketball League (Liga ACB)

Andrés Nocioni played in the NBA from 2004-12 and as well as led the Argentine national team to win a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Last year, he signed with Caja Laboral after he was let go by Philadelphia 76ers. Interestingly, Andrés had already played for this club during 2001 to 2004. However this time when he returned to the Liga ACB, Andrés failed to play as well as he did in the NBA due to his injuries. He averaged 10.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game on average.

Chris Quinn played for Miami Heats from 2006 to 2010, but after that he was cut by several teams. In November 2012, he joined the Spanish League club Valencia. One year later, he returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the rest of the 2012–13 NBA season.

Greek Basket League (GBL)

Since Dominique Wilkins, the former NBA slam dunk contest winner signed with Panathinaikos of the Greek League in 1995. More than 100 NBA players have joined the GBL successively. Now, the most successful example is Acie Law, who is playing for Olympiacos Piraeus. With Olympiacos, Acie Law won the Euroleague 2012 and 2013 championships, and the 2011-12 Greek League championship.

Compared to these European leagues, the huge-potential Chinese Basketball Association has attracted the most NBA stars during the past several years, like Stephon Marbury, Tracy McGrady and J.R.Smith who have shined on Chinese courts.

As a former NBA All-Star, Stephon Marbury is widely acknowledged as the most outstanding and devoted international player in the CBA. In 2010, Stephon joined the CBA, but in order to win the CBA championship, he transferred to a stronger team, Beijing Ducks in 2011. After starting with a 13–0 record, Stephon and his team dominated the league in that season and finally won the championship. During the past season, he averaged 29.5 points and 5.3 assists per game, helping to lead the club to the second title. Currently, Stephon Marbury is in US for a surgery on his knee.
 

Stephon Marbury won his first championship in the CBA

Unlike Stephon Marbury who had a amazing performance in China, Tracy had an unpleasant memory in CBA. Although he averaged 25.0 points in 2012 in Qingdao Eagles, his team ended up in the last place in the league standings, with a record of 8 wins and 24 losses. Immediately after that season, Tracy went back to the United States and signed with the Spurs.

During the 2012-13 season in the Shanghai Sharks, Gilbert Arenas joined the team. Despite high expectation as a former NBA All Star, Arenas played in only 14 games and started just 8 of them because of injury. Partially due to his poor performance, his team finished the last place and missed the playoffs.

These three are the most well-known players, but there are many talented former NBA players playing in the CBA now such as Quincy Douby, Von Wafer, Delonte West, and Marcus Williams. Most of them are averaging more than 25 points per game.

So why do so many NBA players choose to play in foreign leagues, especially in CBA?

I believe that there are three major reasons for it.

First, for some players, their salary is much lower in NBA compared with the higher one offered by other foreign leagues. For example, in China an increasing number of companies have invested in the fast-growing sports industry and are determined to invest more. In 2011-12 season, J. R. Smith just played approximately 30 games for his team but earned three million dollars.

Second, for many leagues, the length of a season is much shorter than that of the NBA, and low-level games are not as intensive as games in the NBA. A CBA season only lasts for four months, so players have more time to relax in the year.

Lastly, unlike several decades ago when NBA was the only league that people knew about, today more basketball leagues are well-known in the world, which attracts attention from the public and NBA players.

However, it is not a wise strategy for these upstart basketball leagues to solely rely on their better foreign players in order to achieve a better record. Rather, giving sufficient opportunities to players from the country where the league is based is necessary for further development of the leagues. These leagues can only achieve a healthy and prosperous development of their own leagues if domestic players are vital contributors.

Here's to the BCS: Top 5 Title Games of All Time

This year's National Championship Game between Auburn and Florida State marked the conclusion of the thrilling yet highly flawed Bowl Championship Series. Beginning in 1999, the BCS featured some incredible moments over the years, but the selection of the participants in these games has often been highly controversial. As a result, the College Football Playoff will finally come into effect next year in which the top four teams in the country will square off in two semifinal games prior to the championship game.

In recognition of the fiasco that was the BCS, here is a list of the top five title games of all time:


5. 1999 Fiesta Bowl: Tennessee 23, Florida State 16

In the first ever year of the BCS, the Volunteers triumphed over the Seminoles to cap off on undefeated season just one year after a fellow by the name of Peyton Manning left for the NFL. The Vols got off to a fast start in the game jumping out to a 14-0 lead. However, Bobby Bowden's Seminoles continued to fight after being down the 23-9 late in the 4th quarter. 

After a FSU touchdown and a lost fumble by star Tennesee running back Travis Henry, Florida State had a chance to tie the game up. Filling in for star quarterback Chris Weinke, backup Marcus Outzen went on to throw a game-sealing pick and the Volunteers came out victorious led by wideout Peerless Price's 199 receiving yards.

4. 2011 BCS National Championship: Auburn 22, Oregon 19

Both teams entered the season undefeated as Heisman winner Cam Newton went toe-for-toe against star running back LaMichael James and Chip Kelly's high-powered offensive attack. However, defenses led by Nick Fairley and Casey Matthews respectively reigned supreme in this one up until the final few minutes of the game. With just over two minutes to go Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas led the Ducks to a touchdown drive and a two-point conversion to tie the game up. 

Auburn was able to to rebound though as the Tigers marched down the field 73 yards all the way down to the Oregon one-yard line. The drive featured one of the most bizarre plays in BCS history on a Michael Dyer 37-yard run, which set up a game winning field goal as time expired.

3. 2014 BCS National Championship: Florida State 34, Auburn 31

The BCS certainly left with a bang as FSU and Auburn played in an absolute classic. It almost felt as though Auburn was a team of destiny following a season filled with dramatic plays against the likes of Georgia and Alabama. The Tigers stormed out of the gates to take a 21-3 lead. While FSU seemed overmatched early on, head coach Jimbo Fisher made a gutsy fake punt call on their own 40-yard line that changed the complexion of the game. 

The Seminoles chipped away from that point on, and a kickoff return touchdown put them up 27-24 in the 4th quarter. Auburn was able to answer back the following possession with a 37-yard score by star running back and Heisman finalist Tre' Mason. With just over a minute remaining in the game, Jameis Winston displayed great composure, displaying why he was the best player in the land this past season as he led his squad on a game winning drive with a touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with just 13 seconds remaining, finally putting an end to the SEC's run of national dominance.

2. 2003 Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State 31, Miami 24

The heavy favorite Hurricanes came into the game riding a 34-game win streak, featuring a stacked roster of future NFL Stars including Andre Johnson, Willis McGahee, Jonathan Vilma, and Antrel Rolle. However, Miami's high-powered offense just could not get into a rhythm throughout the course of the game against Jim Tressel's defense. In fact, the Buckeyes controlled much of the game and it took a Miami field goal as time expired just to send the game into overtime. 

Following a Kellen Winslow Jr. touchdown pass on the first possession, it appeared as though the 'Canes had won the title on a goal-line stand, but a highly controversial pass-interference penalty was called on 4th down to give the Buckeyes life. Ohio State proceeded to tie the game up at 24 before scoring a quick touchdown to start of the second OT. On the next possession the Buckeye defense stepped up once again, stopping the Hurricanes at the 1-yard to pull off the upset.

1. 2006 Rose Bowl: Texas 41, USC 38

In one of the most widely anticipated bowl games of all time, the unbeaten Longhorns faced the unbeaten Trojans. Both teams were coming off long winning streaks with Texas having won 19 straight while USC had won its last 34 games. Pete Carroll's squad boasted the last two Heisman trophy winners in Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, but Vince Young didn't seemed to mind as the night belonged to him. 

The game went back and forth for the most part until USC looked like it was pulling away following a Matt Leinart strike to Dwayne Jarrett with just 6:42 remaining. Heisman runner-up Vince Young had something to say about this though as he rallied his squad down the stretch; VY then led a quick touchdown drive, and following a Longhorn defensive stop, he had one last shot to win his school its first national title since 1970. Refusing to let his team come up short of accomplishing this goal, Young capped off a brilliant game with one of the most memorable plays in college football history with an 8-yard TD run to give Texas the 41-38 victory.

Batting Leadoff- A Modest Proposal: Baseball Expansion

This post originally appeared on Batting Leadoff. Batting Leadoff is a website dedicated to providing readers with premium baseball content. Posts from the site will appear regularly on the Sports Business Society Blog (view the information in the sidebar for updated information).

In general, I find change to be very scary. For example, living on my own for the first time was pretty freaky (for a week or so). That said, there are so many things that happen in our lives that we just accept with a blind eye; North American pro sports being no exception. The Cubs new mascot, Clark, can’t talk. Why?

Why can’t the animate face of your franchise communicate? Not that he would need to on a regular basis, but what if Clark announced the lineups for the day’s game? Or verbalized some new promotional campaign as he prances through the concessions? Who decided that mascots couldn’t talk? Perhaps a better question is, why are we afraid to change such things? Instant replay took this long? Seriously?

Rant over. The real topic I want to discuss here is expanding the sport with new teams. Enough of the talk about whether Oakland is moving or not moving to San Jose; let’s give San Jose a legitimate shot at a bid for the MLB’s 31st team. I see you too, Montreal. More on potential cities later; I don’t really understand why possible landing spots always takes the spotlight in these types of talks. Instead, I want to look at the conceivable impacts of expansion.

First, I think that it has become evident that MLB is in a decent financial standing. Last March, Mike Ozanian of Forbes said, “The average baseball team is now worth $744 million, 23% more than a year ago and the largest increase since we began tracking MLB finances in 1998. During the 2012 season, revenue (net of stadium debt service) rose 7%, to an average of $227 million per team”. Coincidentally, baseball hasn’t expanded since ’98, when it added the Diamondbacks and the Devil Rays. With the recent explosion of TV contract dollars pouring into the league, it is pretty easy to see that baseball is well off. Not to mention the money being thrown around in free agency, and the increasing cost of buying one Win Above Replacement, or the news that Atlanta will soon be playing in a new park after being in their current one since just 1997. Needless to say, baseball is big business.

Both Tampa Bay and Phoenix paid total expansion fees of $130 Million each, way back in 1995. The Dodgers were just bought for roughly $2 Billion. I’m going to keep things simple and ballpark it, if you will, and say that the expansion fee for a new team would be $500 million. If two new teams were to be added, we’re talking about roughly $1 Billion to be shared among the existing 30 franchises. That is a decent amount of money, just to open the doors to your league. There are many other financial implications that could be discussed here, but I think the point is again quite clear; expansion would create value.

As I alluded to earlier, certain cities have an itch to call themselves home to a MLB club. Speculation often includes the Canadian cities of Montreal and Vancouver, as well as American cities like Portland, Charlotte, Indianapolis, San Jose, and so on. The most recent MLB additions of Washington, Phoenix, and Tampa Bay place 14th, 19th, and 30th on Forbes’ value list, respectively. While Tampa is clearly the laggard of the three, both the Nationals and Diamondbacks are very successful franchises, in terms of financial strength. As a Rays fan, I’ll try to keep my homerism to a minimum, but I must point out that the Forbes list has them just $6 million behind the 29th place Royals, so it isn’t like they are the broken leg of a cheetah. Also, their TV ratings are, at very the least, encouraging. Why they play in a dome in St. Pete’s is another story.

Furthermore, wouldn’t MLB want to cover the map as much as possible? Expand the game across North America (and beyond) to their full extent? Makes enough sense at face value. However, I must acknowledge why this may not be in the best interests of the league. As long as there are viable host cities, there will always be a demand for a team. Having fewer teams than baseball could theoretically handle artificially increases demand for a franchise.

 In other words, if San Jose had a team, the purchase value of the Oakland Athletics would decrease. This artificial demand is what gives the league power; if the Giants didn’t build a new park, would they still be in San Francisco? I absolutely hate the idea of publically funded stadiums, but it is what it is. More franchises would loosen the stranglehold the league has on these cities, as demand for a team would be lessened. But still, as demand for baseball in general increases, I think there are more than enough viable cities to keep demand at a high level.

What other reasons could play a factor in the league not wanting to expand? A common argument is talent dilution. More teams would require more players, and there aren’t a lot of really good ones as it is. Personally, I don’t buy this argument at all. I would suspect that as the population increases, the number of talented ballplayers churned out should increase too. And intuition tells me that those talents are being developed better then ever, with improvements in equipment, facilities, teaching methods, and so on. This is especially true on an international level, as MLB aids fundamental development in various countries. The result is a more diverse sport than ever seen before. Baseball talent is abundant, and should continue to be so.

In my opinion, talent dilution could be a good thing for today’s game. An extra two teams would bring with it a slew of minor league affiliates, each with job openings both on and off the field. The added players would theoretically lower the replacement-level player. This would predictably make players like Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw even better, and their production more valuable. Retaining star talent would be an even bigger deal than it is now, and expansion would spur innovative ways to get your hands on a stud. I understand that in a sport like basketball, one player can fundamentally change your franchise (See LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers).

In that circumstance, talent dilution would be a disaster (it is a team sport). While I don’t think Mike Trout should be the sole difference-maker for the Angels, I do believe that he should be worth more than 10 wins. As the best player of my baseball-watching era, I would have no gripes if his current level of production created, say, 12 wins rather than 10.

One thing that is certain is new teams would help keep talent in MLB. For example, Kevin Youkilis recently jumped ship to the Japanese league. In a larger MLB, surely the fringe-players like Youkilis would find more opportunities here. Not that the Nippon League is a threat MLB, but retaining talent is probably a good idea. In the event, years down the line, MLB wanted to expand outside of North America, it would be easier if existing local leagues were of lesser quality and easily outclassed.

So how would the rosters of new teams look? Lets look to the expansion draft for Tampa and Arizona. Apparently, other teams could protect 28 players of their choice, as well as all players from the previous two drafts. Of all drafted players, five would become all-stars (and Bobby Abreu is still kicking around, I guess). While this is just an educated guess, I could see this draft-system applying well in today’s game, just as it did roughly 15 years ago. 40-man rosters are sometimes a struggle now, so I’d imagine some solid players would be left off of a 28-man protected list. Teams with deeper rosters, or loaded farm systems, would probably feel the pain in this system. If somebody wants to go ahead and speculate examples of what players would be left off of a club’s 28-man list, feel free. In any case, the Diamondbacks got good in a hurry, and I don’t see any reason an expansion team today couldn’t do the same.

Let’s say that there are two new expansion teams in Portland and Charlotte, mainly because Ken Woolums found that they are the two most viable cities. The league would need to restructure divisions and logistical stuff like that. I’d probably have two divisions of eight teams in both the AL and NL, which would work nicely. The top two teams in each division are locks for the playoffs, and then MLB could decide on a wildcard system however they’d like. In any case, 32 teams would allow MLB to make the postseason system a bit cleaner than it currently is.

I think back to the brand new Cub mascot. Clark hasn’t had to endure the century-and-then-some of sans-championship baseball in the Northside of Chicago. With two more teams, the odds of Clark seeing a Cubs championship decreases even more.  And unfortunately for us, we’ll never know if Clark has an opinion on this, or any other subject. The change that Clark represents, however, is exactly what I’m trying to convey here. He is the only official mascot in the 112-year history of the Cubs. Clark will provide a revenue stream as well as a marketing tool, and more importantly, change. Hopefully, MLB will embrace the same ideas and expand beyond the 30-team threshold. Change can be good. In this case, it seems like a no-brainer. Expand the league, please!

This post originally appeared on Batting Leadoff. Batting Leadoff is a website dedicated to providing readers with premium baseball content. Posts from the site will appear regularly on the Sports Business Society Blog (view the information in the sidebar for updated information).


Bryan Robinson is a second-year student at Brock University, located in St. Catharines, Ontario. He studies Sport Management, and hopes to earn himself a career in the baseball industry. Bryan spent time as an intern with the Fergie Jenkins Foundation this past summer, and also recently started his own website at www.ProProjections.com. Bryan aspires to continue developing his passion for baseball. He is from Wheatley, Ontario, Canada, and has been a life long Rays fan. Contact Bryan at bryrob58@gmail.com, or follow him on twitter @ProProjections.

Featured Image courtesy of www.majorleagueaholes.com

The Weekly Rant: Possible Outcomes of the Tanaka Deal

Masahiro Tanaka's contract with the Yankees has gotten a lot of attention already.  Dave Cameron at Fangraphs had a nice overview of it.  I wanted to look more in depth at the specific possible outcomes for the deal.

The contract is interesting for reasons besides being one of the largest ever for a pitcher, at 7 years, $155 MM. (There's some disagreement on how to rank the pitcher mega-deals. MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has a great read on how they should be analyzed.) The contract also includes a $20 MM "release fee" and an "opt-out" after four seasons. Here's how the contract breaks down cost-wise with and without the "opt-out":

Years Cost Cost/Year w/ opt-out 4        $108 MM $27 MM w/o opt-out 7        $175 MM $25 MM

It's a ton of money either way.  The Yankees are going to be seriously hoping Tanaka opts-out though. The reason is that it is nearly impossible to imagine a situation where Tanaka both a) does not pitch well in his first four seasons and does not exercise the opt-out and b) pitches well enough in years 5-7 to be worth $67 MM.

Even if salary inflation bumps the value of 1 WAR over $9 MM by 2020 (Year 7), Tanaka would need to put up 2.5 WAR per season over years 5-7.  If he's likely to produce at that level, he will have just opt-out.  Overall, this deal would be pretty terrible if for the Yankees if Tanaka doesn't opt out.

Let's say he averages 2 WAR per year over the entire 7 seasons.  Maybe a little above 2 WAR for his 4 younger seasons and a little below for his 3 older seasons.  That's not great production, and not what the Yankees are expecting, but it's also not a complete bust. And let's assume some significant salary inflation, so that the overall $/WAR rate over the contract's duration is $8 MM/WAR. Here's how the contract would look:

Total	Total	Total	Surplus	$/WAR
WAR	Value	Cost	Value
14	$104 MM	$175 MM	­-$71 MM	$12.5MM

I guess that wouldn't crippling (for the Yankees), but its pretty bad.  Now lets see what would happen if Tanaka is a 3 WAR pitcher through his 4 seasons.  He would likely opt-out if this is the case.  If the going $/WAR rate is at just say $7 MM, he should be able to find a deal with more years and similar average annual value to what amounts to a 3-year, $67 MM option.  He would be entering his age-29 season at that point, so he'd be in line for a nice payday if healthy.  So I think as long as he's about 3 WAR pitcher through year 4, he'll opt-out. Now let's say $7 MM is the market rate over those four years and see what the contract looks like:

Total	Total	Total	Surplus	$/WAR
WAR	Value	Cost	Value
12	$84 MM	$108 MM	-$24 MM	$9 MM

Now it looks at least reasonable.  Since the "release fee" is getting spread around 4 years as opposed to 7, the average annual value goes up a couple million.  And remember this is guessing that Tanaka is about about as good as Hiroki Kuroda.  That would be a pretty nice projection for Tanaka, and he still doesn't provide positive return on that contract.  What does he have to pitch like for this deal to break even?

Total	Total	Total	Surplus	$/WAR
WAR	Value	Cost	Value
16	$112 MM	$108 MM	$4 MM	$6.75 MM

Basically, assuming some inflation, the Yankees are betting on Tanaka being a 4 WAR pitcher. He doesn't have to pitch like Yu Darvish to make this work, but he does have to very good.  And if he's only pretty good, the deal doesn't look good at all. And if he's not that good, this deal will be a 7-year disaster.  Tanaka is set-up exceptionally well to optimize his earnings no matter how he pitches.  But the Yankees are taking a big risk, knowing that Tanaka will have to pitch like an ace for this deal to be a winner.  

Revisionist History: The Dwight Howard Trade

            

Who Really Won the Dwight Howard Trade?

With the news that Andrew Bynum has been traded to and cut by the Chicago Bulls and will be on his 4^th team in 3 seasons, it is time to revisit the blockbuster trade of the NBA in the summer of 2012. It has been 15 months since the Dwight Howard blockbuster occurred and this article was written about winners and losers and now it is time to revisit the winners and losers of the trade. To recap on August 11^th 2012, the Los Angeles Lakers received Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon, and Earl Clark from Orlando.

The 76ers got Andrew Bynum from the Lakers and Jason Richardson from Orlando. The Nuggets got Andre Iguodala from the 76ers. The Orlando Magic got Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington from Denver, Nikola Vuevic and Moe Harkless from Philadelphia, Josh McRoberts and Christian Eyenga from the Lakers as well as 3 first rounders and 2 second rounders over the next 5 years. Just 15 months later only 3 players remain on the team they were traded to and thus we have new winners and losers of the trade.

Winners:

Orlando Magic

Crazy to think that the Magic could trade away one of the 5 best players in the NBA at the time and end up a winner, but they did. The Magic in the deal got much younger and much worse quickly. Without the trade, the Magic would not have been one of the worst teams in 2012-3 and would not have landed Victor Oladipo with the 2^ndpick in the draft. Also the Magic got a starting shooting guard in Aaron Aflfalo and center in Nikola Vuevic as well as a solid rotational player in Moe Harkless. While the team may not compete this year, they should have two lottery picks in the crowded 2014 draft (their own and the less favorable of the Nuggets/Knicks pick).

Oklahoma City Thunder

While on the face of it Dwight Howard going to the Western Conference should have left them worrisome, the 2012-3 Lakers were nothing that anyone expected and the Thunder benefit from that with an easy 1^st round series. Dwight Howard’s injured back never fully healed until it was too late for the Lakers to gel and truly reach its potential. Instead the Lakers were poor man’s version of themselves the whole season and Oklahoma City benefited with a walkthrough first round series against the Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers

Yes 15 months later the Lakers are winners but for completely different reasons than before. The Lakers like many other teams have nothing to show for the Dwight Howard blockbuster other than one less first rounder in 2017. The fact they have nothing to show might be their biggest gain. Without the trade, the Lakers would have had no choice but to give Andrew Bynum a max deal after the 2013 season.

He is the Lakers only lottery pick of the last 18 years and was most likely player to pass the torch as the face of the Lakers after Kobe. The problem is Andrew Bynum does not want to play basketball. He is on a year prove-it contract and he does not want to play. Imagine if they Lakers invested 5 years and 100 million dollars in the guy who then decided he does not want to play. The fact that this trade saved the Lakers of Andrew Bynum makes them a winner.

Losers

The NBA’s new CBA

Dwight Howard left and the Lakers got nothing for him. The NBA wanted to prevent players from being able to take an extra year if they left their team in free agency via the sign and trade. With Dwight Howard unable to sign and trade, the Lakers got nothing from the Rockets in return for the potential superstar leaving just so he could grab the extra year and 30 million dollars.

Unlike in the summer of 2010, when both Lebron and Chris Bosh were sign and trades to end up in Miami leaving Cleveland and Toronto with future picks from the Heat, the Lakers got nothing. The NBA was trying to convince superstars to stay where they were by providing financial incentives to not leaving via free agency, but as Dwight proved even the new CBA will not stop them.

The 76ers

The 76ers thought their best chance to compete in the East was becoming a big physical team that could beat up Miami and slow down the game, much like the Celtics and Magic teams that beat LeBron in Cleveland and the Celtics and Pacers who slowed down the Heat in the 2012 playoffs. The 76ers traded their franchise player Andre Iguodala for another in Andrew Bynum. The problem is Bynum never played a single minute for the 76ers in 2012-3. He battled constant knee injuries that never healed and created such a divide in Philadelphia with the fans that they were forced to let him go in free agency.

The Denver Nuggets

The 2011-2 Denver Nuggets were a 6 seed that lost in the first round and the 2012-3 Denver Nuggets were a 6-seed that lost in the first round. The biggest difference between those two teams was the addition of Andre Iguodala instead of Aaron Afflalo at shooting guard. Aaron Afflalo had an extremely team friendly 5 year 36.1 million dollar deal that had 3 years and player option left at the time of the deal and Iguodala was entering the final year of his deal. A year later the Nuggets were unable to re-sign Iguodala and rather than entering the 2014 draft with likely two lottery picks and Aaron Afflalo, the Nuggets instead just have 1 lottery pick to show for it.

Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard’s image took an even bigger hit from the trade. Dwight Howard went from one of the most liked, marketable NBA players to one who is simply disliked. The Dwight Howard time in LA and free agent saga was referred to as a Dwightmere. Dwight Howard suffered the same issue that LeBron did; in trying to make everyone like him he instead made everyone hate him. Dwight led teams along even though almost everyone knew that he was going to end up in Houston from the moment free agency started. While Dwight might be happy in Houston now, his image took an even greater punishment as he switched teams for the 2^ndtime in 2 years.

The Weekly Rant: A-Rod and Arbitrators

 

 

We learned late last week that Alex Rodriguez's suspension had been cut to 162 games. Commissioner Bud Selig had originally banned the former star for 211 games, but arbitrator Frederic Horowitz decided on a reduced sentence, although not as reduced as A-Rod and his team would have liked. The decision generated a great deal of buzz because Rodriguez is still baseball's most famous active player, and because many people are interested in the Yankees. 

 

Critics of Major League Baseball immediately pointed out how much more severe this punishment was than suspensions for other players who violated the Joint Drug Agreement, including those who attempted to mislead investigators.  The JDA levies penalties of 50 games for a first-time, 100 games for a second-time, and a lifetime ban for a third-time violation. Ryan Braun accepted a 65-game ban after repeatedly lying about and concealing his use of PED's. Besides Braun, all violators had received penalties in accordance with the JDA.

 

But baseball obviously decided that A-Rod's actions constituted more than just using banned substances.  Selig used his powers as commissioner to dole out punishments for actions detrimental to the good of baseball.  While this power has traditionally been used for lifetime bans, MLB officials saw no reason it couldn't be used for lesser suspensions as well. The MLBPA filed a grievance on Rodriguez's behalf, and he went to an arbitration hearing armed with his private legal team, after pushing away his own union.

 

Much of the writing about baseball out there is done by, you know, baseball writers.  But there are some people who weigh in on baseball's legal and economic aspects that know what they are talking about.  Wendy Thurm at Fangraphs is one of these people. Thurm's well-researched and well-written pieces are truly must-reads.  That's why I was a little disappointed in her last post, Arbitrator’s Decision On Rodriguez Suspension Leaves Bad Taste.

 

The writing had an almost accusatory tone to it.  While it was factually correct, Thurm didn't really clarify who she was criticizing for the decision.  Her biggest criticism concerned the lack of precedent for the length of the suspension, and the specific violations A-Rod was being punished for. Since the JDA only accounts for 50 games (or possibly 100 if MLB successfully argued multiple violations), then the suspension must also have considered additional language in the CBA. And to go from 65 games (Braun) to 162 games (Rodriguez) is quite a big gap. So while I agree with Thurm that the arbitrator's decision was kind of dramatic and somewhat surprising, I still have faith that Horowitz made a good decision.

 

Horowitz had access to evidence and testimony that we may never see or hear, and ruled that most of the suspension would remain intact.  To argue that his decision leaves a bad taste would imply that he is either incompetent or lacked impartiality.  I don't think it would be fair to say he was incompetent, especially since he had more information than us.  To say that he was not impartial would ignore the realities of arbitration.  Arbitrators must be impartial or else they do not get hired again. 

 

The one possible critique of baseball arbitrators that may have some credence is a tendency to split the decisions between labor and management.  While I have never seen data to support this theory, anecdotally it could be true that after a big win for the employees (the case where the drug tester improperly handled Braun's urine sample), then arbitrators may lean more towards employers in the next decision. 

 

But if we assume Horowitz is impartial, than who could be blamed for the bad taste of the decision?  If the MLBPA was heading A-Rod's case, then it may have been plausible that they didn't deliver a just defense.  But it was Rodriguez's lawyers that defended him, so I assume they were putting in a good effort.

 

Could Selig and MLB be at fault for the bad taste of this decision? They of course went all out to make this suspension stick, and they must have done a pretty good job. If they did anything in poor taste, it would have been up to A-Rod's lawyers to exploit it, and up to the arbitrator to ultimately decide. 

 

I guess I just have more faith in binding arbitration than Thurm does. In all fairness, her writing may have been just pointing out that it's not good to have your most famous player suspended for a whole season.  Nor is it good for the next potential commissioner (Rob Manfred) to be paying drug dealers for evidence against a player.  Nor is it good that we are still talking about performance enhancing drugs so many years into the "new" Joint Drug Agreement.  I think all of those statements are more fair than criticizing an arbitration decision. 

 

Most people agree that Rodriguez will not be able to win a favorable decision in federal courts.  He may receive an injunction if there is a sympathetic judge out there.  But that will just allow him to be a side show for a little longer.  Much like Bonds, Rodriguez has been turned into a great villain.  Whether you think he did it all to himself, or if you think baseball, the union, or even an arbitrator were out to get him, it's a very sad baseball story. Thurm was certainly right that something leaves a bad taste.