ESPN's First Power Rankings of the Year: Raptors #28

[rdiaz101]

No love from ESPN for the raps ? what a suprise ! pricks

[JoePanini]

I actually pay to read that crap. -_- Yeah, so just because we lost Bosh we go down all the way. But we still have young assets (Bargs, Johnson, Davis, Jack, DeRozan, Weems). And while Bosh isn't an MVP caliber player, LeBron IS. And Cleveland lost their 2 MVP, the player that single-handed, brought Cleveland into the playoffs and the spot light. Bosh could not get us into the play-offs half of his career with a better supporting cast. And Cleveland have only one young decent player in Hickson. And a PG who shoots too much and got most of his points off pass outs off double-teams from LeBron. So how are Cleveland ranked higher than us?

[YKR23]

i agree completely witht these power rankings. based on the current roster i dont see this team making any noise in the east. maybe the occasional upset of a playoff bound team. but this like some one above said should be nice motivation come training camp.

[Employee]

Yeah honestly guys. No love from ESPN? Do we deserve it? Yeah we have lots nice young assets but it prob won't translate into wins this year. I hope im wrong but i prob would have even put Kings ahead of us.

[.40 Cal Flakes]

IDK the rankings are fairly accurate imo. There's really not a team ahead of the Raps that doesn't belong there-except for the Nets. Mid to high 20's sounds about right.

...time to get blasted now.

[Apollo]

We shall see. Don't bet on your position that is all I can say.

Well that was a waste of time because you immediately went on to say

the teams in the major TV market cities will continue to be among the best with a few exceptions each year

Which I agree with, because they will still have their same rosters. However, if a hard cap is employed then their reign at the top will at least be challenging to maintain instead of expected.

P.S. You nor I have any clue as to what the real financial numbers are for the league or the franchises. All we have is what some people write in the SLSM, which I consider basically worthless.

No, I don't know the exact numbers but I know the league had to take out a loan last year of $200M to distribute to half the league owners so that they could pay the bills. I also know that there is a group of owners who are saying that they would lose less money by just closing the doors than to continue on as is. This situation is very similar to the NHL lockout. The owners there played hardball until the players had to cave. They did this because they had no choice and not just as a negotiation tactic. It worked and now the NHL has a manageable system for the current economic environment by way of a hard cap. Needless to say, what I just said is a little more valuable than "worthless" to say the least.

Moving on, I also know what is going on state side both politically and economically and it is troubling to say the least. They are at the dawn of a wide spread commercial real estate crisis and in position for another private real estate crisis. The real unemployment rate down there is closing in on 20%. Now then, what I do with this valuable information is I apply it to the current lockout situation and ponder what this means to both sides at the table. Who is more likely to get help to pay the bills while the lockout is on going, a big mega entity that provides jobs to thousands and generates millions for other big greedy corporations or some spoiled players who need help to pay their $10M mortgages? Track record says the government lets the people crash and burn while not allowing corporate America to weather hardly any losses. Just saying.

Well I just read a very timely article that I feel helps advance the topic.

NBA owner praises NHL's hard salary cap

FAIRFAX, Va. — Washington Wizards majority owner Ted Leonsis told local business leaders Wednesday that he expects the NBA soon will have a hard salary cap similar to the NHL's model.

NBA commissioner David Stern said that's not necessarily true — and warned that Leonsis could be punished for discussing private league business.

"We're negotiating and that was one of our negotiating points," Stern told The Associated Press, "but collective bargaining is a negotiating process, and that was not something that Ted was authorized to say and he will be dealt with for that lapse in judgment."

"In a salary cap era — and soon a hard salary cap in the NBA like it's in the NHL — if everyone can pay the same amount to the same amount of players, its the small nuanced differences that matter," he said.

said he felt the NHL's system "is a good one."

"It's working," he said. "The teams are very, very competitive. There is no way that big markets teams can outspend small market teams. So when the season starts everyone thinks their team can compete for the Stanley Cup."

"There's a hard cap in the NFL, there's a hard cap in the NHL, and that was something that was part of our initial proposal," Stern said. "But we're open to a deal and it depends what the deal is."

Source: The Associated Press

Also, here's a link the NBA board thread to further the discussion: http://raptorsrepublic.com/forums/sh...3366#post43366