Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen “The Heatles” dictate their arrival to Miami and Carmelo Anthony steer himself to New York from Denver.
Those moves have been orchestrated by players determining their fate and attempting to hold their old old teams hostage unless they can arrive at new teams in bigger markets.
And according to Chris Bosh, one of the Miami players who arrived by those means, the owners of smaller franchises .
Bosh told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the lockout was orchestrated to enable the teams to retain control and end future players from leaving in similar fashion.
“I think so,” he said.
But Bosh added that the efforts to block such an approach are misguided.
“I mean, if you look at the free agents coming up in the same situations, with Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, they can control their own fate,” Bosh said. “They have the power to control that and I think that’s a great thing. In any job you want freedom to negotiate.
“With us doing what we did, and Carmelo going to the Knicks, I think that has a lot to do with it. Hopefully we can keep that and guys can come and go and make the deal that’s best for them and their family.”
It’s a ticklish situation. Players want the ability to play for who they want. But the NBA would like to find a way that small markets have a chance to be competitive for a championship.
And considering the Spurs are the only small-market franchise to claim an NBA title in the last 30 years, the current model currently isn’t working.
The players have control.
Bosh is right. It’s not surprising the owners tried to grasp control of their game back, by whatever means are necessary.
It’s unfortunate that the fans suffering through the lockout are caught in the middle of it.
