After sitting through another agonizing, self-initiated loss against the Lakers compounded by another depressing salary-dump deadline marathon(I.E. the trade deadline) the NBA’s ominous problems became more obvious.  As fans who grew up watching a sport that focused on team chemistry achieved through the draft and limited free agency acquisitions this game is starting to look like a bizarre, unfamiliar animal.     
    Teams like the big-market Lakers can afford to add on a wealth on contracts and pay the luxury tax so easily it’s like tipping on a fifty dollar tab. Where is the parity, or more simply purity, in that? Boston will most certainly add another bought out veteran that was traded knowing we would simply be cut. A lot of yellow tape and window dressing is all the trade/waiver wire amounts too. What other sport can a retired player such as Keith Van Horn be traded and it’s legal? Anyone want to sign Len Bias and trade him back to the Celtics?  He’s probably still more agile than Big Baby anyway.  

    Teams have sold their fans out by dumping salaries and putting out a D-League level product for the mere CHANCE at signing a marquee free-agent in 2 years. If you are okay with your teams doing this you are not a fan, you are a certified moron, and sorry If I made New Yorkers mad. Just wait two years when you don’t sign LeBron James to be angry. Meanwhile enjoy Larry Hughes: Turnover Machine.

     What is happening around us is big business and not just competition anymore. That is no startling revelation I know, but there is the right way to do things and then unethically wrong ways. Having good relationships amongst G.M.'s and highjacking talent for little compensation (Pau Gasol's ears are burning) is not only bad for the leauge but bad for loyal, devoted fans around the world.

    Fortunately enough the Warriors are on the right track, with a blend of younger spark-plugs, intriguing bigs with potentially huge upsides, and a couple of savvy veterans to lead the way. What else do you want from a small market franchise? Look at how the Spurs did it. They drafted their big three and subtle free agent acquisitions have aided them in building a team with unique character and chemistry. More teams should emulate that, letting a squad develop together over the course of a few years so that there is no mercenary feel to your wins.

     People have been crying foul over our treatment of Baron, letting J-Rich go and signing Corey Maggette but these descions are made with the fans in mind. Look at how B-Diddy and J-Rich are doing now. Nostalgia aside they are simply not the same players. The We Believe era, if two years of barely contending for the playoffs can even be considered an era, is over. Letting aging players go in order to secure our young, draft acquired talent is the name of the game, allegiances aside.

      Now we have a product with a solid youthful base that could have contended for a playoff spot if we weren't overtaken and bitten by a swath of injury bugs. A product that cares about each other, their community, and their fans because they know they made a commitment to be along for the long haul. It'll be fun to see how we develop ove the next year and a half before the dawn of the free-agent frenzy of 2010. Chemistry, unlike in the labratory, can't be fabricated.  Remember, we are a small-market team with small- market values. If you're looking for more I'm sure the Lakers would love your donation after trading your soul for a Kobe jersey.