Top clutch performer in the playoffs, by a mile

https://x.com/kalshinba/status/2088419146866503898?s=46&t=0wqff4cNt-sCGcDs-uMExw

This is false. You can continue to bend yourself into a pretzel trying to prove that it is true. But it isn’t.

But we’ve gone over it with the Knicks, too. We can hardly aggregate $7M. The hard cap itself has already cost us more than the penalties likely ever will.

It was the same for the Celtics. They didn’t need to aggregate salaries, they needed to duck the luxury tax.

It’s pretty clear these title-winning teams weren’t facing severe trade restrictions. They were facing huge tax bills.

If the players think it’s the second apron, they’re going to fight the wrong fight.

I guess that makes him a pretty slick business man if he can increase valuation with his tongue.

I was thinking more collusion than individual genius, but even so yes it was a slick move if that was his motivation.

His pronouncement did more for the perception that the second apron is a hard cap than anything else ever did. And a hard cap (even the perception of one) makes franchises more valuable.

That’s not the only reason for the valuation boom — there’s a heavy surplus of cash in the upper stratosphere of wealth after the AI boom, and few investments are as safe as a professional sports team in the US — but it likely accounts for some of it.

But the second apron penalties aside from the tax implications are very real.

Look at the case of Hartenstein.

The trade restrictions he’s referring to are the ability to aggregate salaries and the freezing of one pick.

Sam Presti has aggregated salaries approximately one time in the last ten years (the Al Horford for Kemba Walker trade) and he has more picks than god.

As we’ve seen with the Knicks, the ability to aggregate salaries isn’t very helpful when you don’t want to break up your team, and the hard cap of the second apron is more limiting than the restrictions themselves.

On the other hand, the luxury tax payment for keeping the Thunder together and giving Hartenstein a 20% raise would have been over $400 million.

So what do we really think it’s about… an ability that the Thunder will probably never use… or the $400M?

I believe the second apron is a sleight of hand the owners are using intentionally to get the players to focus on the wrong thing heading into the CBA negotiations. I think they’ll gladly give up those restrictions they’re not really that important.

An excellent two-way SS like Lindor is a rare bird, but he just might not be that player anymore. This year he has played like a 3 WAR player. Thats good enough to hold down the job for another couple of years, but any further decline and he’s going to become a problem.”

I get the skepticism about Lindor, but he doesn’t seem like a particularly old 32. He’s been dynamite at the plate for the last two months, and while his fielding probably has something to do with his injury recovery and initial struggles. I don’t think they will find a better hitting SS than him unless they pay top dollar for it. And if it takes moving him to 2B with some DH duty to keep him fresh, I’d be good with that. Of all the recent vets, including the ones moved last year, he’d be the one I’d least want to see moved.

A part of me wonders if James Dolan’s second apron decree had more to do with the CBA than anything else. His interview has the made the league billions. He fueled the perception that there’s a hard cap when there really isn’t, and as a result valuations skyrocketed this summer.

I guess that makes him a pretty slick business man if he can increase valuation with his tongue.