Bob Johnson and other small market owners ask for NBA help

[dvdbumpus]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/basketball/nba/charlotte_bobcats/16725836.htm


Apparantly big Bob thinks the NBA should provide more money for his franchise and others because of the team losing money.


Hey Bob, I have an idea, why don't you spend money to make money?

[ziggy]

Spending a few more bucks would translate to more wins on the court which would lead to more fan interest, product sales and add to the overall value of the franchise.

Makes sense to me.

[King Taharqa]

Spending money wont guarantee squat in this market. I think thats a copout for people to be critical of the team and the ownership. George Shinn used to "spend money" on guys like Derrick Coleman, Glen Rice, etc all the time. All the while Hornets attendance steadily decreased every year and fan interest waned. I want the Bobcats to build a good team more than I want them to "spend money just to spend money to make me feel easy".

[ziggy]

Spending money wont guarantee squat in this market. I think thats a copout for people to be critical of the team and the ownership. George Shinn used to "spend money" on guys like Derrick Coleman, Glen Rice, etc all the time. All the while Hornets attendance steadily decreased every year and fan interest waned. I want the Bobcats to build a good team more than I want them to "spend money just to spend money to make me feel easy".
Not spend just to spend... But spend when the opportunity to improve arises.
Take for example last years draft where the Suns were basically selling their 1st round draft pick to whoever showed them some cash. With our cap space, we should have jumped all over that opportunity.

[King Taharqa]

Not spend just to spend... But spend when the opportunity to improve arises.
Take for example last years draft where the Suns were basically selling their 1st round draft pick to whoever showed them some cash. With our cap space, we should have jumped all over that opportunity.



I feel you, but maybe the FO valued having cap space for later down the road more than they did a late 1st round pick. I just dont see many opportunities we've had to improve that we've passed up. The FA pool last year was weak as hell. Big Ben was the biggest name out there, and the Bulls gave him a fortune. We see how well thats worked out for them this year. :D I have no doubt in my mind the team plans to spend dollars when the right situation arises.

[ziggy]

The proof will be in how they handle this summer

... On a side note, Nice pic in your signature, DAMN!

[dvdbumpus]

Not spend just to spend... But spend when the opportunity to improve arises.
Take for example last years draft where the Suns were basically selling their 1st round draft pick to whoever showed them some cash. With our cap space, we should have jumped all over that opportunity.



I feel you, but maybe the FO valued having cap space for later down the road more than they did a late 1st round pick. I just dont see many opportunities we've had to improve that we've passed up. The FA pool last year was weak as hell. Big Ben was the biggest name out there, and the Bulls gave him a fortune. We see how well thats worked out for them this year. :D I have no doubt in my mind the team plans to spend dollars when the right situation arises.


I certainly hope you're right about this summer. I want the team to actually pursue free agents, and not "land" people like Othella Harrington, trade Melvin Ely for cash and nothing, etc etc.

I mean spend wisely to contend. I hate how we're last in salary when there have been a few oppertunities for us to improve dramatically.

[dav7z]

Spending money wont guarantee squat in this market. I think thats a copout for people to be critical of the team and the ownership. George Shinn used to "spend money" on guys like Derrick Coleman, Glen Rice, etc all the time. All the while Hornets attendance steadily decreased every year and fan interest waned. I want the Bobcats to build a good team more than I want them to "spend money just to spend money to make me feel easy".

The Hornets atendance decreased . I was thair we had seven years of sold out games a league record. Shinns down fall was two things . Leting ZO go and the threats about the up town arena. Bob has to gain Charlottes trust . That means hes going to have to try to win and let the fans know this . And i think a big first step would be spending money on the right players. Its not Charlotte, look at Panthers sta. 7o k ever week . That makes you think its the organization.

[King Taharqa]

The Hornets atendance decreased . I was thair we had seven years of sold out games a league record. Shinns down fall was two things . Leting ZO go and the threats about the up town arena. Bob has to gain Charlottes trust . That means hes going to have to try to win and let the fans know this . And i think a big first step would be spending money on the right players. Its not Charlotte, look at Panthers sta. 7o k ever week . That makes you think its the organization.


I disagree, it is Charlotte. This is a HORRIBLE sports market. You cannot underestimate that. Why does Bob still have to gain Charlotte's trust? Dude wrote a 250 mill check so that we can have a professional sports team with our city's name on their jersies. We have 1 of the top 3 arenas in the country. And yet, Bob still has to convince people he's serious about this team? Come on man, you really believe someone's gonna dump that much cash into something and not want to win? And the Panthers prove my point exactly. Just 5 years ago when the Panthers were 1-15 you couldnt get 10,000 people in BOA. After going to the Super Bowl yes they've sold out every year (even though we know fan attendance is not 70,000 every week ex:Pitt home game last year), but let them have another 7-9 or 8-8 year next year and attendance will go down again. This is a town of followers & bandwagoners. And dont get me wrong, its not that I dont want us to spend money, I do. But I think the notion that if we dump cash on some FA all will be well is misguided.

[Dead_Real]

The Hornets atendance decreased . I was thair we had seven years of sold out games a league record. Shinns down fall was two things . Leting ZO go and the threats about the up town arena. Bob has to gain Charlottes trust . That means hes going to have to try to win and let the fans know this . And i think a big first step would be spending money on the right players. Its not Charlotte, look at Panthers sta. 7o k ever week . That makes you think its the organization.


I disagree, it is Charlotte. This is a HORRIBLE sports market. You cannot underestimate that. Why does Bob still have to gain Charlotte's trust? Dude wrote a 250 mill check so that we can have a professional sports team with our city's name on their jersies. We have 1 of the top 3 arenas in the country. And yet, Bob still has to convince people he's serious about this team? Come on man, you really believe someone's gonna dump that much cash into something and not want to win? And the Panthers prove my point exactly. Just 5 years ago when the Panthers were 1-15 you couldnt get 10,000 people in BOA. After going to the Super Bowl yes they've sold out every year (even though we know fan attendance is not 70,000 every week ex:Pitt home game last year), but let them have another 7-9 or 8-8 year next year and attendance will go down again. This is a town of followers & bandwagoners. And dont get me wrong, its not that I dont want us to spend money, I do. But I think the notion that if we dump cash on some FA all will be well is misguided.

I concur

[CaptainCrunch]

I agree with you Johnson has to spend more money in order for this team to take a step forward

[sc0Nes]

I disagree, it is Charlotte. This is a HORRIBLE sports market. You cannot underestimate that. Why does Bob still have to gain Charlotte's trust? Dude wrote a 250 mill check so that we can have a professional sports team with our city's name on their jersies. We have 1 of the top 3 arenas in the country. And yet, Bob still has to convince people he's serious about this team? Come on man, you really believe someone's gonna dump that much cash into something and not want to win? And the Panthers prove my point exactly. Just 5 years ago when the Panthers were 1-15 you couldnt get 10,000 people in BOA. After going to the Super Bowl yes they've sold out every year (even though we know fan attendance is not 70,000 every week ex:Pitt home game last year), but let them have another 7-9 or 8-8 year next year and attendance will go down again. This is a town of followers & bandwagoners. And dont get me wrong, its not that I dont want us to spend money, I do. But I think the notion that if we dump cash on some FA all will be well is misguided.

i don't think bob wants a winner. i'm not gonna lie, bob does have some things to prove and he better prove them soon. ok, he spent a lot of money to own the team. so? there are plenty of millionaires willing to spend that much money to own an NBA team. i didn't mind the bobcats not spending money when they had a restricted salary cap, but it's about time to spend money and try to make this franchise a winner, not keep saying "oh there weren't any FAs to help us" or "oh our young players just have to develop." bob is a businessman, and businessmen are always wondering about the bottom line; well the bottom line is that i don't think he cares if the team is a winner. i think he just wants to make money. if you want to make money, put a damn good team on the floor. because there are only a few towns where you can have a shitty team and still make money (LA, NY, DAL). none of this "oh charlotte is a bad sports town" because 90% of the sports towns in America are bandwagon towns. how do you think portland is doing this year? filling up the their arena? how about golden state? how about orlando? milwaukee? these teams can only sell tickets if they have a good team, so bust out the checkbook and make something happen BOB.

ps -- when the hornets were selling out every single year, they were selling out the charlotte colisseum, which is about +7,000 seats than the uptown arena. and why should the arena give more credit to bob? he didn't pay for it. a good arena doesn't sell tickets, a good team does.

[King Taharqa]

i don't think bob wants a winner.

Its funny you pick tonight of all nights to make this statement. Bobcats are on a 3 game winning streak and just pulled of a HUGE road win. Im sure Bob is pissed. :D


i'm not gonna lie, bob does have some things to prove and he better prove them soon. ok, he spent a lot of money to own the team. so?

If its so easy, why didnt you put up the 250 mill? Why couldnt Shinn get an uptown arena built if it was so easy? Bob has nothing to prove to ANYONE. If he doesnt give Antwan Jamison 80 mill this offseason you're convinced that means he doesnt wanna win? Great logic there. Talk to any New York Knicks fan. Their starting backcourt (Marbury & Stevie Francis) makes more than our entire roster combined. Ask them how spending big dough on FA's is working out for them. Like I said, Im all for bringing in guys to help us get better but this whole "Bob needs to spend money to prove he's not the evil owner tryna rip us off" logic is PARANOIA at its finest. You might not realize this, but Bob is a BILLIONAIRE. He didnt get in this to "just make money". He's already got money! Very few NBA owners use their franchises as their primary source of income. Its also very difficult to turn a profit in the NBA. The Maloof brothers experienced sellout crowds in Sac-town (another small market) for the greater part of this decade and still are losing money.

The Hornets sellout crowds came at a time when there were no other pro sports teams in Charlotte and the most exciting thing to do here was go to Carowinds. When the Panthers came to town what happened to Hornets attendance? People love to throw out the early attendance records but totally ignore the paltry 10,000 a night (an NBA worst) the Hornets were drawing their last 2 seasons here. Those were playoff years by the way. Great sports town indeed. :D

[walkerl]

I can understand both sides of the argument. But I do agree, that spending money doesn't guarantee wins. There are some many teams throwing money around on subpar players. Then they get stuck later trying to dump these contracts. If you look at the last off season, there wasn't a player worth a max deal. I think the cats will spend the money, but only one right players, which is okay with me.

[rallydurham]

The last few posts have been right on.

I admire the way the Bobcats have been so frugal and have VALUED their cap flexibility.

There is nothing worse than a team that ties up its money in marginal (or even terrible) players then cries that its over the cap when its apparent that 1-2 quality players would make them a upper tier team.

It scares me that un-informed fans and poor box office results will force the Cats to panic and throw their money at the next Dunleavy, Sczerbiak, etc that hits the market.

If we had panicked the past few years and signed Ben Walllace, Peja, Bobby Simmons, or Al Harrigton you'd all be whining and moaning about how we stink and wasted all of our cap flexibility on crappy players...

For once a team tries to build a winner the right way and people can't even appreciate it. Go become a Knicks fan if you want to do things the Isiah Thomas way.


P.S. There is nothing wrong with Bob Johnson fighting for small market teams. It's called lobbying. Everyone lobbies for their financial interest. And as Bobcats fans, the more revenue sharing the better. Everyone relax with the conspiracy theories, please.