Michele Roberts Rejects NBA Imbalance Complaints After Warriors Signed Boogie
Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, doesn't believe the Golden State Warriors' signing of DeMarcus Cousins speaks to a larger problem in the NBA.
Over the weekend, she discussed complaints of imbalance in the league with the New York Times' Kevin Draper:
"We exist to enhance the lives of the players—to provide them with freedom, opportunity, job security and economic wealth. We actually believe we can provide it all—all these things, plus competition. The fact that one of the 30 teams, at this moment in time, is having its own moment, doesn’t trouble us or make us question the merits of our system."
Roberts also addressed the salary-cap spike in 2016 that inadvertently helped the Warriors strengthen their dynasty. Golden State suddenly had enough cap space to land Kevin Durant, while other teams suffered by agreeing to massive contracts that look regrettable once the cap started leveling off:
"I get that there are folks who believe that some of the contracts executed post the smoothing rejection were too large. I vehemently disagree as I am sure do the players that negotiated those contracts. However, if that's the beef folks have, take it up with the GMs that negotiated them. The argument that we gave teams too much money to play with is preposterous."
Regardless of whether agreeing to a smoothing of the salary cap would've been the right decision at the time, many argue it created a ripple effect nonetheless:
Roberts isn't wrong when she points the finger at general managers for any poor decisions made during the summer of 2016.
The Portland Trail Blazers are a perfect synthesis of the issues at play.
Like every other team in the league, the Blazers had money to burn in 2016. They used their newfound riches to sign Evan Turner for four years and $70 million while agreeing to $83 million in extensions for Meyers Leonard and Maurice Harkless.
Those moves essentially locked Portland into its current squad and seriously hampered its ability to contend for a title. General manager Neil Olshey had an opportunity to build a championship-caliber roster, and he failed to do so.
One can only blame cap smoothing so much when front offices don't spend wisely, thus causing significant long-term consequences.
