A complex question in all this is what it means for a trade to be "fair" to both teams. Obviously a very talented, experienced owner should not take advantage of a less experienced or frankly less skilled owner who doesn't have a good grasp of how to build a competitive team. But to what degree is it acceptable for an owner to use trades to expedite his team getting worse? Is there a point on the deliberately-awful spectrum that raises hackles and ignites grievances?
I'm wondering if we could develop some critieria to guide these processes, or at least some standard diagnostic questions to ask in discerning whether a trade, team management pattern, or committee decision falls within the realm of reasonable and appropriate, even if not everyone likes it.
This is a great discussion point and right on part with what I asked originally about Bird: what is a fair trade? There is no absolute fair trade where teams are getting equal value. This is pretty similar to the NBA as well as some businesses in general. The trickiest part here is that we KNOW what happens to the players.
Take my Bird example... at this stage in his career (85-86), he looks like the GOAT. Now, we all know that he has two elite seasons after this one but then hurts his back, sits out a year, has 1 meh (by his standards) season & 2 partial seasons.
During my scenario, it was the 84-85 version about to begin the 85-86 offseason (all of the above still applies). If this were RL, I could easily have gotten the #1 pick for him as well as multiple future picks & players, because IRL people wouldn't know that a) he's going to hurt his back and b) Karl Malone is going to play for 20 years and be an absolute stud in them.
Because we DO know the future with these guys, it complicates things a bit further. It makes many aspects much less subjective. Since we know what happens to Bird & what Mailman is going to do, there is no combination that makes is even close to fair in a Bird for the #1 pick (Mailman), as there is nothing I could add to Bird to equal value of what Mailman is going to bring to that franchise (don't forget! Mailman isn't going to turn that franchise around in 1 season, so that team will likely have another solid guy to pair with him!).
It's a double edged sword, though. Since we do know the future, we know there's no debate between LBJ, Wade, Melo & Bosh, for example. We know there's no debate between Shaq & Zo. That's helpful knowledge in making fair & balanced trades.
I could go on at length about some things, but I want to wait for discussion from others. So far, all I've really brought up are problems; not solutions. It's too late for me to go down that rabbit hole, so, I'll hop back into this tomorrow, hopefully with some input from others!