Every team tanks. Chicago and New York did last season and the Lakers the season before that. Those are considered big markets. For all the praise the Celtics got for not tanking they had a very tank-ish year the season before they drafted Marcus Smart. It’s not limited to poor market teams.The draft actually gives small market teams a chance to contend. Something that is impossible in the Premier League.
In the NBA there are 41 home games with sometimes multiple home games a week whilst football is a one-time a week thing. Obviously attendance will differ.
Chicago, New York, Boston and LA are all big markets which means they can complement their draft with good free agents. The difference is teams in worse markets have a more difficult time to break the tanking cycle because they can’t attract top guys and that what bothers.
Attendance is just one way of gauging general interest.
I agree the draft is a more equitable way for smaller teams to contend but their chances are slim to do so before a bigger market poaches their star
I agree with @jmb27 I have never liked European football/North American sports comparisons. There’s no sensible basis for comparison, way too many variables
The market size thing in the NBA is bullshit. San Antonio is a large city but actually one of the smaller media markets in the league and they’ve been arguably its most successful franchise over the last 20 years. Cleveland is a relatively small market and they just went to four straight finals. Miami is a medium-sized market and they were the league’s dominant franchise for a stretch just recently. The biggest media markets are New York, LA, Chicago, Toronto, and Philadelphia and of the seven teams in those markets only the Lakers have been a particularly successful franchise since 2000.
The NBA is a superstar driven league. The problem for any team in any market is that they need to find 2-3 star players to have a chance at a title. Doing so is easier for a team like the Lakers but that’s more to do with franchise history than market size.
I don’t think that is a question of big/small market rather than it is of competence. Chicago and New York for example have been proper shit for years now whilst both belonging in the top three markets of the NBA.
I agree, I never said a teams performance it was solely down to market size. Competency of FO people and coaching will play a major part, more so than market size imo
I wouldn’t use Cleveland in this argument, they are an outliner, only reason they went to 4 straight NBA finals is because a player in the conversation for GOAT was born in Akron. I don’t think we will see the Cavs in the NBA finals again for a long long time.
This is because of SA having the arguably the greatest coach in NBA history. The fact that players are willing to take less just to compete under Pop speaks levels. SA have a win mentality because of the coach and the competency of the FO staff around him
Not many teams will have a generational talent born in their back yard.
I agree the NBA is a superstar driven league, how do teams in smaller markets attract multiple superstars without the History/Market? Recent success is OKC with maybe Bucks
Except up until now there was a manager here that had no answers to the many demands of his job. Surely if we have a hands off style owner, we have to have serious personnel beneath them before going all in on the judgment?
A few years ago, when someone I know attempted to import corned beef into Nigeria from Botswana for distribution, he couldn’t on the grounds that it was on the prohibited list. When I nosed around, I ascertained that this same criminal, Aliko Dangote imports into Nigeria and distributes all manner of corned beef
Especially leagues that have a salary cap that forces parity—imagine, Man City and Crystal Palace having the same amount of money to spend! Not too mention, the draft mechanism is not something that is viable for euro leagues.
Even with the parity that supposedly allows for nearly every team to have a chance to win as well as making it hard to stay on top, Kroenke’s teams haven’t done much of note.
That’s true, but whatever Kroenke has done, whoever he has employed to make the decisions and the fact that he saw Wenger dragging us down while sitting back and doing nothing, would indicate he lacks ambition and is completely useless.
I have nothing but for contempt for him and the way he has ruined our club.
Market matters but a lot less than in other sports and for a lot fewer teams. How many top teams are that way because their market allowed them a big advantage in attracting free agents? Not many. You make San Antonio and Cleveland out to be exceptions. But the current strength of the Warriors, the Celtics, or the Rockets has nothing to do with market size. All three sucked for long periods then put together great teams after hiring really good basketball people and getting a little luck in the draft. Good management is the key to success. Easier said than done but the Kroenkes sure haven’t done it.
Essentially, there’s no excuse for the Nuggets to have been this mediocre this long. They can’t attract free agents like the Lakers but neither can most teams. They just haven’t been able to draft stars or build winning teams through savvy trades.
It isn’t necessarily market size (salary cap) but attractiveness of market. NY is outlier frankly bc people do want to play there, but right now it is driven more by the nexus of emergent stars… that city has 2 superstars, a good complementary cast, and a good coach, along with salary cap room to pay me? Ok sign me up… very strange league dynamics really.
Exactly. And “that city” could easily be Denver. They’re not fighting some kind of impossible battle, they just haven’t been well run as a franchise under the Kroenkes.
It isn’t that easy though… you have to sort of hit the lottery on draft year - think about Cleveland with Lebron James draft year… it makes MASSIVE impact and years like Washington got first pick (under Michael Jordan’s management) - we got crap… Yes, there is skill and good management, there is also a ton of just serendipity. Think of San Antonio and Chicago with Jordan, etc. - the list goes on. I think it is true that well run orgs that conistently perform deserve credit, but look at Chicago - now a laughing stock but under Jordan a perennital contender…
I think there is a LOT of noise:signal ratio going on in this league.
Actually this is something that is somewhat comparable in what it means to have Kroenke leading a club. Kroenke is known for not spending on his teams/salaries and paying an possible luxury tax. He’s known for being a frugal owner. Whilst spending is exactly what make a club succesfull in Europe or North-American sports for that matter.
@Powderfinger They have been very close though. Just missed out on the play offs on one game last season.
