Free Agents End Fan Loyalty

July 10, Detroit

A city's sports fans are usually hurt when one of its best players leaves town as a free agent. And this week Detroit lost its best basketball player, Grant Hill, to the Orlando Magic.

Of course, this city never really took to Hill. He was never rugged enough to satisfy the working-class fans here. And his teams were never good enough to gain the notice of a community that only turns out for winners.

But despite the lack of respect he received here, Hill is the only reason the Pistons have made the playoffs at all in the last six years. The team he leaves behind will be decimated by his loss.

Orlando, on the other hand, has been waiting for this off-season. The team dumped a lot of salary, and on draft day, traded players away to free up $18 million in an effort to sign some of the year's top free agents, including the best three available: Hill, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, and Toronto's Tracy McGrady.

Then came the courting period. Teams have July to court players before being able to sign them on August 1. Hill traveled south early on and decided he would join with the Magic.

Orlando also entertained Duncan (who now looks like he will be staying with the Spurs for at least another year), while McGrady expressed his desire to play for the Magic, as well. "Once Grant and I get here, the East is locked up," McGrady told the media.

And he's right. I doubt New York or Indiana could compete with a team that included these players. And it would probably be good for the league to have an inter-conference rivalry, as opposed to having the Lakers dominate the league by themselves for the next five years.

While the rivalry helps the league provide the spectacle of teams winning, this way hurts it more. The Lakers are, and the Magic will be the sign of the times in the NBA. The way to win today is not to build a team through the draft, but to sign free agents.

And thanks to that, there is so little team loyalty, not among players, but among fans. Because the truth is, the Magic gave up on the last two seasons. And instead of drafting a young nucleus of players, they sold off their players so they could afford expensive free agents.

Teams don't build toward championships the way the Pistons and the Bulls did. Chicago may have signed free agents, but look at the core of the team: Jordan and Pippen were drafted, and Bulls fans watched them learn to play together. And when they did, it didn't take long to eclipse Detroit. These were teams we can remember growing into champions.

But the other truth about basketball is that one player can always nullify the five on the other team. Opponents couldn't keep up with Jordan the way they can't keep up with Shaq today, and the importance of having that one great player is enough to make teams throw outrageous sums of money around.

With the talent pool stretched so thin, one superstar turns a so-so team into a good one, and two puts them deep in the playoffs.

So few of the NBA's best young players are with the teams that drafted them. I can count four: Duncan, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Vince Carter. (If you have other suggestions let me know at mlm77@columbia.edu).

Because of the way basketball's salary structure works now, Hill gave up almost $50 million to sign with the Magic.

And you can look at that and say, "See? He only wants to win." And the truth is, Detroit never deserved Grant Hill.

But if Hill and McGrady and the Magic meet the Lakers in the finals next year, what will they have proved? Only that the organizations know how to attract free agents and sign checks.

Fans have lost interest in the NBA because with so much player movement in free agency, the process of team building has disappeared.

The Orlando Magic that left the floor in April of last year will bear little resemblance to the team that suits up in November. The continuity is gone. NBA champions today seem so undeserving. And most sports fans have a big problem with undeserving champions.