FanPost

Should the Wolves be Contracted?

More below the fold.

The reason I ask this is based primarily on Bill Simmons' work about the lockout. For years, he 's floated the idea of contracting teams as a partial fix to NBA owners' supposed profitability woes. Today's column named names:

I think we should contract/merge several franchises until we settle at 27 teams; I think Seattle should have a team; I think Chicago should have two teams. I don't think that the L.A., Chicago and New York teams should pay to keep struggling basketball teams afloat in Charlotte, Indiana, Sacramento, Milwaukee, Minnesota and New Orleans.

Now, as the question in the title indicates, the question isn't "Do you want the Wolves to be contracted?" For the majority of you, I know that answer is no. But this seems like a good place to explain why or why not it's a possibly good idea.

Here's my take: contraction seems about as necessary as cutting off a dog's paws to avoid clipping his or her nails. As for the franchises he's chosen, it's a simplistic and bullshit answer to include the Wolves. I can't speak for others, but as a Wolves fan, I truly believe my only power to get Glen Taylor to shape up is by voting with my wallet and not buying season tickets/not going to a lot of games. I still refuse to go to a Celtics game if KG is on their roster because I don't want to reward Papa Glen for fucking up KG's Wolves career. Does that mean fans like me should have their team taken away?

Here's my threshold: 1) if the team makes the playoffs, are their home games sold out? 2) Has the owner been actually losing money despite spending below the luxury tax and having a perennial winner? 3) Can the team do well with regular-season attendance if the team is in playoff contention but doesn't have big name stars? If the answers are no, yes, and no, then they could be considered a viable candidate. To me, the Wolves would be the opposite. However, there are a lot of teams that wouldn't, and to me, those are the franchises that should be in trouble.

Anyway, should they be contracted? Are there points of mine that you question? Which teams did Simmons leave out? Which ones did he get correct?