Auburn Hills? Orlando Magic general manager Otis Smith sat in the expensive seats of The Palace, two hours before his team lost to the Pistons on Monday night.
As the man who's solely responsible for the future of the Magic franchise ? as in what happens with All-Star Dwight Howard and his impending free-agency ? Smith certainly didn't look like a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Perhaps because he knew this day was coming. Every GM in the NBA, whether he runs a contender or one with a superstar, knows that payday is unavoidable.
Since the Golden Era of the 1980s, no one has been able to bypass this rite of passage. It's "The Price of Contention" and you can look all around the landscape of the NBA and see which stage various teams are in, as soon as after the season's first week.
San Antonio and Oklahoma City are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but at first glance, one would think they're on the same plane. Both are 5-2 and no one is surprised at either's start. But a closer look shows a far different picture.
The Spurs are on the back end of contention; not only are they paying for it, with a top-five payroll for a team that usually avoids the luxury tax like the bubonic plague, but no one seriously considers them a threat for a title.
Why? Because they're old. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have been great players for a long time, helping the Spurs to numerous title runs, but they aren't the threat they used to be, collectively and as individuals.
Duncan is perhaps the greatest power forward of all-time and has earned every dollar of his $21.3 million salary this season. But he's only averaging 11 points and six rebounds, hardly the standard he's set since entering the league in 1997.
Parker and Ginobili are closer to their respective primes, but were more effective when Duncan was the focal point of their opponent's attention. In the attempt to keep the run going, the Spurs have spent heavily on veteran free agents (Antonio McDyess, Richard Jefferson, etc). It hasn't translated into anything substantive, even after the Spurs had the best record last season. They were bounced by Memphis in the first round last spring and were swept in the second round by Phoenix two years ago. They haven't been real contenders since losing to the Lakers in the conference finals in 2008.
On the other side, Oklahoma City is on the way up, a favorite to make it to the NBA Finals this season. Kevin Durant led them to the conference finals for the first time since moving from Seattle after 2008.
The Thunder appear to have a bright future at the top of the food chain, with Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka in the fold. But other than Durant, all those guys have to get paid when their slotted contracts are up.
And whatever success the Thunder will have between now and then will determine how much those guys feel they're worth. Egos get involved, and Oklahoma City will be faced with breaking up a championship core or losing financial flexibility because they don't want to pay.
San Antonio didn't have a choice; they had to take care of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili for what they've accomplished.
Otherwise the franchise would've gotten a bad rap around the league for not taking care of its own, even if keeping them signaled the end of real contention.
Or they could've been the Phoenix Suns, a team that let guys like Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire walk via free agency and sold off valuable draft picks (Rajon Rondo) in the effort to save money. From those moves, you knew they weren't serious about winning.
They didn't want to pay "The price of Contention."
It doesn't take long to see which teams fall on what side of things. Either a team is competing to win a title or it's trying to rebuild. There's very little, if any, middle ground.
It's easy to see which side Boston and the L.A. Lakers fall on, or here in Detroit. Teams like Miami and, to an extent, Dallas will face that day very soon.
In today's NBA, teams with a bonafide superstar know it has around seven years to build a team attractive enough for a guy to stay onboard for the long haul. With the way the rookie contracts are set up, their first four years are essentially slotted, and until recently, there was no reward for outperforming a rookie deal.
That aspect usually works in a team's favor, as well as the player's likelihood to sign a short extension that carries him to his seventh season, after which the maximum salary ceiling raises dramatically.
In other words, teams know the clock is ticking. Taking calculated risks on free agents or making trades that affect potential championship chemistry is part of the game.
As I left from my short conversation with Smith, I realized why he looked so calm, even when most of us would feel like chaos is all around.
From the day Howard was drafted, Smith knew if Howard was as good as he'd hoped, payday was coming.
It's here, and it doesn't matter if Smith likes it or not.
vgoodwill@detnews.com
Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120106/OPINION03/201060427/1127/rss13
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