BigDaddyG wrote: but Melo had a bigger impact than Starks, Houston, Oakley and Spree.

You mean offensively correct? I never once saw melo bring the defensive energy that Sprewell had. Actually energy period. Melo has to be one of the laziest "Star" players I have ever seen. Melo is great at 1 thing getting an open look on the elbow. If Melo played with 1/2 the energy Sprewell brought to the court he would be a rafters player.

Jmpasq wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote: but Melo had a bigger impact than Starks, Houston, Oakley and Spree.

You mean offensively correct? I never once saw melo bring the defensive energy that Sprewell had. Actually energy period. Melo has to be one of the laziest "Star" players I have ever seen. Melo is great at 1 thing getting an open look on the elbow. If Melo played with 1/2 the energy Sprewell brought to the court he would be a rafters player.

There's a folding chair somewhere in MSG and some stitches in Mr.EverLazyOnly's fingers that beg to disagree with you. That was at least once.

But to your point, there's never been any star besides Ewing in the post-chip era that brought it at both ends of the floor like Spree did. The man had endless motor.

Jmpasq wrote:You want parity take away the max salary. These guys will fight for highest paid player and you won't have 3-4 guys on the same team. The problem is in the NBA eyes there is no reason to fix it. The NBA is truly the sport of front running, it gets higher ratings when there are dominant teams. I would say the majority of NBA fans don't have a favorite team. They just like to watch great players win.

Achieving true parity in the NBA would require 5 specific things

1) The league would need to ban all endorsement contracts/association of any kind with shoe/apparel brands. This would only happen if a scandal occurred to the tune of basically point shaving via collusion by the major brands to lean gambling situations in a favorable way. In any pro sports, gambling is the "nuke" for pretty much anything. The league would have no choice from this kind of scandal but to ban it all. Nike pays LBJ more than the NBA does. Who do you think he really works for out there?

2) The structural format of the game would need to change. You'd need larger rosters, larger starting units, more diverse roles to combat the height dependency of the entire talent pool. Widening the court, making it longer, reducing the shot clock, adding in 4 and 5 point shots, raise the rim, the entire game would need to change. You need actual market inefficiencies or the potential as such for any pro sports system.

3) League would need widespread use of non guaranteed contracts and a hard cap, basically the NFL system.

4) "Refs" would need to be eliminated, the game would need to called in an automated way using cameras, mics, sensors, drones, etc, etc. Concurrently all foul outs would need to be eliminated, progressive penalties instead.

5) Hornacek's daughter, along with Wes Edens' daughter would need to show up to my place in Brooklyn wearing nothing but whipped cream bikinis. I would be a human Lego. And like good girls, they would need to share their toys.

The point of 5 is to illustrate the first four would never happen. I don't think it's possible in our lifetimes to see true parity in the NBA.

jrodmc wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

jrodmc wrote:

Jmpasq wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote: but Melo had a bigger impact than Starks, Houston, Oakley and Spree.

You mean offensively correct? I never once saw melo bring the defensive energy that Sprewell had. Actually energy period. Melo has to be one of the laziest "Star" players I have ever seen. Melo is great at 1 thing getting an open look on the elbow. If Melo played with 1/2 the energy Sprewell brought to the court he would be a rafters player.

There's a folding chair somewhere in MSG and some stitches in Mr.EverLazyOnly's fingers that beg to disagree with you. That was at least once.

But to your point, there's never been any star besides Ewing in the post-chip era that brought it at both ends of the floor like Spree did. The man had endless motor.

Endless motor, but just so-so results on offense. I think his defense might be over-stated, not because of his effort, but because of the position we put him in. Honestly, az good as Houston and Spree were, was there ever year where you could seriously argue that they were top 5 players at theit positions. That's not really a question I have to think about with Melo.

So-So results on offense with Spree was also due to the position he was put in. Charlie Football handling the ball, and $100million Alan playing SG. So we took a prototypical All Star backcourt player (who had averaged more assists in one season than Charlie ever did) and gave him less touches than he would have had if he was playing PG, and SG when H2O was off the floor. We saved a few more turnovers a game in order to play a backup PG and get less production out of Spree. Spree's in the backoourt, and there's a good chance he replicates a little bit more of what he did in GS.

I agree. JVG was a crap offensive coach and the others were unimaginative. Spree was an up and down player forced to play out of position on half-court teams. But, that said, I'd still hang Melo's jersey up over him. The record books speak for themselves.

Melo too often took the heat for lousy teammates, but he wasnt without holes in his own game.

Ewing got away with not being a very willing passer because he was a legit two-way player.

Melo led the team in assists one season, proving that his ball stopping was too often a choice. Melo earned his salary, no more than that IMO.