Bleacher report thinks Barrett will be a disappointment at three

The only reason we don’t have a system like this is because no one would want to go to small markets.

But here’s the thing: the league doesn’t need small markets. The league would be perfectly fine with 20 teams playing only in cities that can sustain them. There are only two reasons small market teams exist:

1 – so the cartel of owners could grow

2 – because said cartel found another municipality it could pillage

So it’s bad enough these teams exist, subsidized by local governments and large market teams like ours, diluting the talent and entertainment value of the league. But not only do they exist, all the rules are created to favor them, which is even more detrimental to the league, fans, and players.

I only brought it up because others made the “Get Out” comparison.

I made the comparison, but you’re forgetting the context.

I specifically compared the image of David Griffin celebrating wildly at the lottery while Zion helplessly looked on to the auction scene where the old white man won the rights to the young black man’s body.

In both cases a system is constructed to determine how and where a young black man’s youth and vigor is to be spent without him having a say in the matter, and an old white man who did nothing to deserve it is granted new life and reacts with glee at becoming the beneficiary of the young black man’s ability.

I found the two scenes to be eerily similar.

During the mid-nineteenth century origins of the American Industrial Revolution many New England farmers dispossessed from their land and driven into factory work made the comparison between slavery and their wage labor work, seeing it as an attack on their personal liberty. This was such a popular view at the time that it was a centerpiece of the Republican Party.

We accept it today as a given that capital has the authority to tell labor how, when and where to live. But its not the only way of working. I like the old Republican Party line that the people who work in the mills should be the ones who own them and determine their own destiny.

I think Horford made a very good move for himself. He’s on a slight decline already, but still good enough to have a good market of teams chasing him. The ideal landing spot for him would probably be the Bucks, but I don’t think they have the cap space for him unless Middleton leaves, then they trade Snell and or Ilyasova.

Very odd that you specified white MLB players here

I only brought it up because others made the “Get Out” comparison. My point was it’s not a race issue in this case; many sports have these same rules. As for basic labor rights, there is no “right” to dictate your work location to your employer. The NBA has a partial anti-trust exemption, so the whole league is treated as one entity. Zion et al are free to work for any employer, even to play with other basketball leagues. If they sign with the NBA they get assigned a work location.

If you disagree with the exemption (which I do, though less so because the players bargain collectively too) that’s one thing, but another to say the labor practices are unfair or the players are treated like slaves. If I sign with Google I don’t get to tell them I’m going to work in Hawaii (unless they let me work remote; hard to do in the NBA!). I go where they want me to, period. Or I’m fired. And by the way, they can move me to different locations at any time.

Woj just reported on ESPN that the Knicks have zero interest in signing B-List guys like Cousins or Jimmy Butler. That’s actually great news.

Fantastic news! Let’s hope for a true rebuild strategy!