The NBA's Power Struggle
Bryant, Garnett and company have the most sway over David Stern
Jul 2, 2007
In case any of us forgot, this offseason has reminded us that the NBA is run by its players.
If general managers want to talk trades, then they have to talk about feelings, feelings, and more feelings.
How does this star player feel about going here? What will he think if we trade him there? If we try to acquire this guy will he work hard and be happy coming here?
God forbid there is an unhappy superstar in the NBA. Because you know what happens when superstars get unhappy? They get lazy. They don’t play hard. They don’t care. Just ask the Toronto Raptors.
David Stern has allowed the players in his league to become bigger than the league, and bigger than the game. They have guaranteed contracts, millions and millions of dollars, and stardom to top it all off. They can orchestrate trades, oust coaches and teammates, and they can bring organizations to their knees.
They have too much power and don’t know what to do it with it most of the time. Kobe Bryant could have had six championships by now, but he piped off and expressed his opinions about Shaq to Phil Jackson and Jerry Buss, and Bryant still has three championships while Shaq has four. Now Kobe is in another tussle, this time with Mitch Kupchak, and he has asked to be traded.
Bryant isn’t the only one. Kevin Garnett wants to be traded to a contender - not just traded, he wants to be traded to a contender. How easy do these guys have it? So once you’re good you can write your own ticket? Garnett wants to go to the Phoenix Suns (who doesn’t?). The Timberwolves and the Celtics had an agreement in principle to send Garnett to the C’s for Al Jefferson and others. But Garnett and his agent blew it up.
That was the end of that. You can’t have an unhappy superstar. No way. Because they don’t respect these things called contracts. They are guaranteed their money, so who the heck are you to tell them to work hard? They will work hard when and where they please, even at the expense of a team or the alienation of a fan base.
Vince Carter did it to the Raptors and everyone was miserable. Tracy McGrady had the same situation in Toronto and then another one in Orlando. There is nothing worse for ownership to have fans coming to a game to see a millionaire coasting down the court without a care or a worry in the world.
So the players win. The NFL, the only league that still exerts a shred of discipline over its players, does it the right way: No guaranteed contracts, no play-when-you-want-to-play (unless you’re Randy Moss). Either you come to work every day with 100 percent effort or you’re gone. That’s why (and the fear of getting you’re head taken off, too) there are so few of these NBA issues in the NFL.
The NBA is owned by its athletes, and it might be the only business in the world that bends to the will of its employees. Apparently, the dignity and integrity of working hard every day for your money and livelihood doesn’t register with these NBA guys, and Stern has not been able to get the message through.
Stern has tried. With the implementation of a dress code and the heightened sensitivity to suspensions for bad language and yelling at refs, Stern has taken some steps in the right direction.
But it might be too late for the NBA. Players rule. Coaches, owners, commissioners, and GM’s are in the backseat.
