The Phanatic Magazine
There are conventional ways to build a championship in any sport.
You know the drill -- good general managers can use trades, free agency and the draft to build the core of a title contender.
In the NBA, you can add another avenue -- the buyouts of veteran players, which seem to increase every year, give true title contenders the ability to rent experience for a couple of months and fortify a rotation for the postseason.
The defending champs were the first to pounce this year. Despite watching his team cruise through the regular season, Celtics chief of basketball operations Danny Ainge has been tormented by the lack of experience on his bench.
Ainge would rather have P.J. Brown back to bolster his frontcourt but will make do with Mikki Moore, late of the woeful Sacramento Kings. Meanwhile, the C's had a wink-wink deal in place for weeks with the enigmatic but oh-so talented Stephon Marbury, and quickly secured his services after the Knicks finally caved and jettisoned the former All-Star.
Now the other title contenders are jockeying for the opportunity to bring in a group of players that were freed from the shackles of mediocrity for a chance at glory.
A number of sources have reported Joe Smith, formerly of the Oklahoma City Thunder, has a Marbury-like, under-the-table deal in place to rejoin LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after the former No. 1 overall pick clears the waiver wire.
The Lakers and Hornets, envious of the solid minutes Smith could contribute off the bench, aren't listening to those reports and may try to steal the former Maryland star by offering an extra year with substantial guaranteed money, certainly a valuable commodity for a veteran that can see the career finish line.
If Smith decides to move somewhere other than Cleveland, don't expect Danny Ferry to give up. Another former Cavalier, Drew Gooden, who was just released by the Kings, could be a fallback option. Gooden, however, is also pitting a couple of Southwest Division rivals against each other, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks.
Phoenix, which is currently on the outside looking in at the Western Conference playoff race, is hoping to add underachieving power forward Stromile Swift, while the Miami Heat are one of "about a dozen" teams that has inquired about guard Luther Head, according to his agent Mark Bartelstein. The sharp-shooting Head received a buyout over the weekend from the Rockets and now is playoff-eligible for another team.
So, what gives? Why are teams willing to wave goodbye to solid contributors without compensation?
Money, of course, is at the root of the NBA's buyout bonanza.
When a player like Marbury agrees to a buyout, he is reducing his guarantee in exchange for being released. For instance, "Starbury," gave $2.2 million back to James Dolan and Company and enabled the Knicks to slice their luxury tax obligation by twice that ($4.4 million.)
The Kings saved nearly $2 million for allowing Gooden to walk, and Oklahoma City saved the remaining guarantee on Smith's salary of $4.795 million.
Nothing to sneeze at in today's economy.
In fact, the NBA is beginning to mirror the United States' current economic problems.
It's class warfare, and the rich keep getting richer.
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