Little bit, I say a little bit of tension in LongSufferingLand. Its going something like this: £ won't resign with the "Sufferers" until teammate Tristan Thompson, who uses the same free agent as £, signs and the T.T. negotiations have "stalled."
£ wants the whole band back together next year and that means pawn shop owner Dan Gilbert is going to be penalized, pretty severely, by the National Basketball Association's so-called "luxury tax" on spending that goes over the league's salary cap. So, if Gilbert's payroll this upcoming season is $100,000,000 he will have to pay an additional $100,000,000 in "taxes." $100 mil here, $100 mil there, pretty soon you're talking real money!
It was this same issue that became the beginning of the end for £ in Miami. To save himself $17 million in luxury taxes Costa Concordia owner Micky Arison waived player Mike Miller and then "reloaded" for the championship defense by signing two guys whose future endeavors lie in the field of professional pizza delivery. The "Heat" got blown out in that year's, 2014's, Finals and James blew that popsicle stand to Suffer. Serious mistakes by Arison there, hoo-doggie.
The conventional wisdom is that Gilbert will swallow the bitter nettles and make T.T. an offer he cannot refuse and then resign James for one more year. The c.w. is correct; £ has no other reasonable choice. Dan Gilbert knows that, too. That is the reason negotiations with T.T. have stalled. For one year, Dan Gilbert has the power over £. He does not have to give T.T. a blank check on pain of losing £ now. And you know what else Dan Gilbert is thinking? Gilbert is thinking "I don't want 'that man' around here after next year." If the "Sufferers" win a championship next year Gilbert is not going to resign £ to a long-term contract: too much anxiety, too much money and, "Hey, I got a championship! Take your fucking talents elsewhere, bitch." That is the championship complacency that led Micky Arison down the pitted path to frugality.
Next year better end in a championship for the "Sufferers."
£ wants the whole band back together next year and that means pawn shop owner Dan Gilbert is going to be penalized, pretty severely, by the National Basketball Association's so-called "luxury tax" on spending that goes over the league's salary cap. So, if Gilbert's payroll this upcoming season is $100,000,000 he will have to pay an additional $100,000,000 in "taxes." $100 mil here, $100 mil there, pretty soon you're talking real money!
It was this same issue that became the beginning of the end for £ in Miami. To save himself $17 million in luxury taxes Costa Concordia owner Micky Arison waived player Mike Miller and then "reloaded" for the championship defense by signing two guys whose future endeavors lie in the field of professional pizza delivery. The "Heat" got blown out in that year's, 2014's, Finals and James blew that popsicle stand to Suffer. Serious mistakes by Arison there, hoo-doggie.
The conventional wisdom is that Gilbert will swallow the bitter nettles and make T.T. an offer he cannot refuse and then resign James for one more year. The c.w. is correct; £ has no other reasonable choice. Dan Gilbert knows that, too. That is the reason negotiations with T.T. have stalled. For one year, Dan Gilbert has the power over £. He does not have to give T.T. a blank check on pain of losing £ now. And you know what else Dan Gilbert is thinking? Gilbert is thinking "I don't want 'that man' around here after next year." If the "Sufferers" win a championship next year Gilbert is not going to resign £ to a long-term contract: too much anxiety, too much money and, "Hey, I got a championship! Take your fucking talents elsewhere, bitch." That is the championship complacency that led Micky Arison down the pitted path to frugality.
Next year better end in a championship for the "Sufferers."
