Don't Be Mad About Inflated NBA Salaries

I have to admit, seeing a guy averaging less than three points a game get $48 million is annoying. I have to admit that seeing Evan Turner get $75 million is infuriating. I have to admit that seeing Mike Conley become the highest paid player ever is downright funny. The first day of NBA Free Agency was amusing at least. For some, it was infuriating.

Don't be mad at these high salaries, this is how a rational and fair economy works. The salary cap is a result of a collectively bargained contract between the players and teams that insures a percentage of the profits goes to the players, the actual product you pay to watch. It rises because the revenue, created by the on-court product, rises. The salary cap is going up from $70 million to over $90 million ($94 million is my understanding). The increase in salaries is due to a better league. The "salary floor" of 90% of the cap insures that the players receive their chunk of the revenue that they create. Those producing product should get a larger share of what they create. This is true in sports as much as anything else.

Does this seem ridiculous- yes. Is it wrong? No. The NBA's increasing salary structure is a good thing, and represents how a rational, fair economic system works. That this means the Sixers will have to pay out $84.6 million is totally fine by me.

The UnReported Story of Hillary's Strength

Hillary Clinton knows better than anyone else that four months is an eternity in politics. She also probably knows that she's ahead. Polling shows her crushing Donald Trump in Iowa of all places, a state that has never really warmed to her like some others. But that's not all:

According to Ballotpedia's battleground poll, Clinton leads Trump:

• 51% to 37% in Florida
• 45% to 41% in Iowa
• 50% to 33% in Michigan
• 48% to 38% in North Carolina
• 46% to 37% in Ohio
• 49% to 35% in Pennsylvania
• 45% to 38% in Virginia

Her leads held at nearly the same margins when Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson was included in the poll. And Clinton led Trump 48% to 37% when all states were factored together. With Johnson included, Clinton led Trump 44% to 34%, with Johnson at 13%.

Yes, Quinnipiac did show the race closer, but the ABC/Washington Post and the NBC/Wall Street Journal Polls both found her comfortably ahead.

Hillary Clinton's common ground in all the polls is that she leads. She hasn't trailed in a national poll in well past a month now. She doesn't trail in any swing-state polls either. Some show the race closer, some show it further apart, none of them show Trump ahead. Maybe this is about Trump's relative weakness. Maybe it's all about Clinton's campaign. Either way- she's strong right now. The argument that Democrats couldn't nominate her because she'd be sure to lose is basically dead. While she's not a lock to win at this time, FiveThirtyEight sets her odds at 79.2%. What should be more telling is that they are setting current state margins for South Carolina, Mississippi, and Kansas inside of 5% for Trump. That is really not good for him.

Obviously you won't read about how Hillary might win a blowout victory. If it's over now, why would anyone care about future coverage, which hurts the media outlets. They won't spite themselves to report the facts, so you'll just have to wait until November 8th to hear about it.

The Over-Hyped, Faux Story of Pennsylvania's Competitiveness

In 2000, Tom Ridge refused to believe Al Gore had won Pennsylvania. In 2004, George W. Bush ran the same campaign model that won him Ohio and Florida, but John Kerry carried Pennsylvania. In 2008, John McCain tried to resurrect himself as the floor fell in by doing so in Western Pennsylvania. Mitt Romney seemed to have the good sense in 2012 to get the point, but Republicans are saying it again- Donald Trump can win Pennsylvania. They even cite the registration changes above. This will end up like the others.

Pennsylvania is won in Philadelphia's suburbs. Yes, the Western part of the state has trended Republican in recent years, but the population there has dropped. Running a "guns and God" appeal to those voters out there does not win the state for a Republican, in fact it hurts them worse in the Philadelphia region, where people are still moving. While the map above should not make a Democrat feel "good" about things, it's worth noting that most of the registration change is just "Reagan Democrats" actually registering as Republicans, like they vote. It's not new registrants switching. Those people were already in many cases voting Republican. There's no beef in this argument.

In short, Pennsylvania will be competitive, maybe even close, as it always is. One of these days, maybe the Republicans will win it, but if that happens, they probably already won the election. It's worth noting though that elections have actually become more lopsidedly Democratic at the state level. In 2002, Governor Rendell won a large victory. In 2004, Democrats won two out of three state row offices and the Presidential race, only losing for Senate and Attorney General. In 2006, Governor Rendell and Casey won blowouts for Governor and Senator. In 2008, President Obama won a blowout and the Democrats won two out of three row offices. In 2012, President Obama and Senator Casey won fairly comfortable wins, and the Democrats swept the row offices. In 2014, Governor Wolf won easily. In 2015, in a relatively new outcome for off-years, Democrats swept all the state judicial races handily. The only exception in which Republicans did well in Pennsylvania statewides recently was 2010, which was a year they did well everywhere. In other words, the PA GOP hasn't done so well in recent years. Donald Trump is not a particularly strong candidate according to polls, and he doesn't have a really strong campaign. In other words, I don't see him flipping Pennsylvania right now. I don't see why people are giving this story legs.

Check back in November.

And When the Sixers Get Good, Give Sammy His Statue...

Young talent. Top of the board picks. The most cap room in the NBA. A ten win team. That is what Sam Hinkie left the Sixers when he left as general manager in early April. Obviously the first three of those things were all good, and the Sixers are better off for it. To hear it be told, it was the last piece that made change at the top of the basketball operation. We don't believe the company line though.

Sam Hinkie got run out by the NBA, guilty of exposing their terrible collective bargaining agreement for what it is. He understood that from the fifth seed to the worst team in the conference wasn't much different, except that the worst team had a shot of getting a super talent in the draft that would make them good. While the Nets and Pacers of the world try to compete and put a second-tier playoff team on the court, Hinkie understands that his team needs to be absolutely terrible- to insure that top three kind of pick that can change the franchise, and free up the cash to go out and actually sign a star that gives them a chance to compete. Hinkie understands that the step before contending for a championship, or at least being in the second round, is to be really bad. He played that system perfectly. The other GM's and owners hated that. They need interest in their second tier teams to be real. Hinkie exposed to the world that there is no reason to be interested in them.

The league hates Sam Hinkie for doing his job right. They hate him for gaming the system they created. They hate him for understanding basketball better than the "basketball guys" do. You need stars to win, and you only get them through lots of salary cap room to sign them, and from drafting them. No one in the league did a better job at lining up those two things. All he did was put a completely unqualified, incapable of winning team on the court. This infuriated the league. I guess they prefer a mess that stays in purgatory, like the Knicks.

Things are about to change for the Sixers. They have not one, not two, but possibly three Rookie-of-the-Year contenders in 2016-2017. They have a ton of money, and as of today can start spending it on free agents. They have a very real shot of going from ten win this past season to a playoff contender no later than next season. From there, they will only grow. As we all enjoy this product, let's not forget how we got it, even if the league is going to try and credit others.