Adam Silver Did It

Don't blame the owners for New CBA parity; This is Adam Silver's league

Draymond Green made some waves this week by posting a “Dear Diary” lamentation of the current NBA, based on the relative inactivity of this current free agency period. Responses in the basketball world ran the gamut from “he’s right” to “he’s wrong” to “he’s saying nothing.” The post began like so:

Dear Diary, I’m sitting in my mancave having a conversation with my wife. Baffled at the fact that NBA free agency is over. Quite frankly it never really started. The level of anticipation leading up to July 1st were as exciting as the fireworks on the 4th. It was the excitement of the NBA Finals yet only a week after watching a team spray champagne and ride on floats. One can only point to the “New CBA” and the 2nd apron(hard cap) for absolutely putting an end to Free Agency. Sadly, I sit here and watch so many players overplay the market and not understand what they are up against with the new rules. Which leads me to trying to understand the [staggering] percentage of guys that has no idea of THE BUSINESS they are a part of. And I as a 'VET' in this league watch players mismanage their careers and before they know it, look back like DAMN, where to next?

ESPN Cap Man Bobby Marks rebutted Draymond’s thesis:

I respect @Money23Green but disagree that the apron rules has ended free agency. Why free agency has shrunk is because nearly 50 potential free agents this summer decided that guaranteed money was too valuable and signed extensions. The change in extension rules in this CBA allow players more earning power.

Marks is correct on substance and personally, I couldn’t give a shit about NBA free agency buzz. Whether the NBA is “fun” or “active” in July is perhaps not all that important for the sport’s health. Indeed, the NBA arguably got wayward in this era by prioritizing the transaction over the action. The other major sports aren’t announcing massive trades during their championships and I’d say that’s more feature than bug. What’s interesting to me is less that NBA free agency is a dud and more what the actual sport’s structure is going forward.

From that perspective, Draymond’s lamentation might be more correct in spirit than in technicality. Players are making more money than ever before, but a wider range of guys are considered disposable by their teams. What’s changed is how teams are forced to divide talent amongst themselves. Two years in, the effects of the new CBA are becoming ever more salient. We don’t need to go deep on what the “2nd apron” threshold is for our purposes here. It’s enough to know the second apron is so punishing that it palpably changed the game. Teams get broken up. Runs struggle to sustain. We’ll see if the Oklahoma City Thunder buck the “new champion every year” trend with their war chest of young talent.

For the sake of posterity in this little NBA world, I’m going to say something based on my sourcing. It’s what I heard back when the CBA was being hashed out, and is worth revisiting now that we’re really seeing the result. I think it’s important, just in terms of placing proper credit or blame. It is often said that the commissioner of a sport is a figurehead. He merely “works for the owners,” so we spend too much time assessing his reign. Wrong.