lwinston300's NBA Quote of the Day

The salaries are ridiculous.  I can't understand at all why a decent, but never great even when at his peak Allan Houston would EVER be in the $20M range....It makes Jalen Rose's ridiculous contract look decent.

I also don't understand why a guy can retire and still get the full salary.  That should stop, the league should put a clause in all contracts that they must play at least 30 games to get their full salary, otherwise they only earn 50% at 29 games, and 25% for anything less than 20 games.  The remaining 50-75% should go to the schools or charity....

Their salaries are a joke to begin with, and it's ridiculous in all sports that the nearly billionaire owners "own" the team, but the taxpayors pay for the stadiums to be built, and in some cases pay for tickets if they can't sell enough of them...

Just wanted to vent.

It's just frustrating.  I think the guaranteed contracts make the players complacent.  I typically think the Bulls are the exception (last night's, Orlando, and to some extent even the Kings game notwithstanding).  But it is frustrating to see someone like a Chris Wilcox, Tim Thomas, Vince Carter, etc. Dog it until they get traded or come up to a contract year...

It's even more frustrating to know that someone can retire and still receive $20M two years after he officially retired and 5 years after he really did anything in the NBA.

But yes, I know nothing will change.  At least there are top players like Hinrich, Nash, Wade, and even the much maligned Allen Iverson, etc. who play very hard each night.

There are a ton of players who have a tendency not to play hard.  I'll name a few of the prominent ones:

1. Shaq--never plays hard until the playoffs, never comes into training camp in shape.  Dogs in most of the time during the season.
2. Tracy McGrady.  Has a tendency not to work hard in the offseason, which hurts him early in the season, had a few yrs in Orlando where he didn't try.
3. Vince Carter.  Stunk in Toronto cuz he wasn't happy even though he was making $15M or so.  Dogged it like crazy.  He's in a contract year this year so he'll change his typical ways.
4. Steve Francis.  Dogged it so much that he's now not even considered that good anymore.  He's lost his skills and hasn't improved at all due to his work ethics.
5. Eddy Curry.  Could be good if he was in shape.  Look how good he was in his last contract year with the Bulls.
6. Tim Thomas. The poster child of hardly working.  Has the talent to be a multiple all star, but he'll never be one and now he's on the decline.
7. Baron Davis.  Even worse than Thomas above.  A player who could have been great, never plays very hard....
8. Brendan Haywood.  He could be really good, but he rarely tries, when he does he's good, unfortunately he only does that 1-2 times a year (which typically happen when he plays the Bulls).
9. Larry Hughes....he misses seasons due to minor injuries....he can change this impression by finally playing hard for a season this year, but I doubt it'll happen.

And again the list could go on for days.  I know there is far more that do play hard...but still there's far too many that don't play hard.