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Bleacher Creature

(11,504 posts)
4. I think it cuts both ways.
Tue Jun 13, 2017, 08:04 PM
Jun 2017

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of superteams as it feels a bit like taking a shortcut to a championship. As a result, there's no real excuse for being "the best active player who's never won a title," as you can just wait out your contract and sign with a team with another star.

And while the salary cap changes make this all possible, don't sleep on the role of AAU basketball. As it's grown, it's become the norm for players to grow up together, by virtue of playing and traveling the country on AAU teams starting at a pretty young age. It's why LeBron, Chris Bosh, Carmelo, Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade are so close, and why it was so easy for three of them to come together in Miami. It's also why you hear players like Jordan and Magic complain about the superteam phenomena. They saw their rivals as enemies, and never would consider joining together to get a ring.

That all said, it's also nice to see how players are willing to take less money - albeit not a lot less - to get a ring. Wade gave up a few million dollars to get LeBron and Bosh, and Durant is already talking about giving up something to help keep Curry. I don't begrudge any player for wanting maximum money. They certainly deserve it more than the owners. But it also speaks to how much they also want to win.

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