to cheer him -- by the sellout crowd of 41,981 each time he stepped into the batters box. "They have their reasons to do what t

If youve found this free-agency period -- with its fractured long-term relationships and newly formed ominous alliances -- to be unsettling, maybe its because your concept of the NBA doesnt fit the NBAs concept of the NBA.The NBA sent out a definition of itself last week. It was at the bottom of a news release about the new, high-tech shot clock. At the end of many news releases is a paragraph called the boilerplate, a one-paragraph summary describing the team or company. Think of it as the corporate equivalent of a detailed Twitter bio. In this case the boilerplate read:The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Womens National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2015-16 season featured 100 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digitals assets include NBA.com and the NBA app, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV. The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with more than one billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.Notice it didnt read: The NBA comprises 30 teams featuring the worlds greatest basketball players who compete through an 82-game regular season, then four rounds of a best-of-seven playoff series format to determine an annual champion. Thats how we view the league. The NBA has moved far beyond such limited terms. This is about content, merchandising and property.A global sports and media business with heavy internet traffic, vast social media reach and, yes, societal impact (see Adam Silvers stance on LGBT rights in North Carolina). Given that scope, the minor details of who plays on what teams are the equivalent of those terms of agreement that you click past without reading when you download software. Brand takes precedence over ball.The NBA is consumed with perception and PR more than anything else now, a team executive texted me during the playoffs. They follow social media and articles, always taking the [temperature] on their popularity.When the NBA isnt describing itself in press releases, it implicitly lets you know its priorities during collective bargaining negotiations with the players union. The owners know they are on a collective bargaining winning streak and are confident theyll get what theyre after. They also realize they must make compromises to reach an agreement. So they hold the line on what matters most to them. And they care about the money a lot more than they care about competitive balance. (Repeat: global sports and media business.)The owners went after the revenue split during the 2011 lockout and successfully drove the players share of leaguewide income from 57 percent down to 50 percent. They stopped short of a hard salary cap, which would have made player movement more difficult and/or forced talented teams to dismantle before they could form a dynasty. The players agreed to take less money collectively to preserve individual opportunities. That created the structural framework for Kevin Durant to join the Golden State Warriors -- and created all of the wailing that followed the move.Saying that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird wouldnt have made that move is pointless because Magic and Bird couldnt have made that move until unrestricted free agency entered the NBA in 1988 -- after they had won eight rings between them and had no need to leave to pursue championships. And dont forget, the collective bargaining agreement back then was designed to facilitate stars staying with their current teams -- hence the nickname The Larry Bird Exception for the rule that allowed teams to exceed the salary cap when one of their own players re-signed.Changes to the CBA as well as changes in players attitudes brought us to the player movement weve seen in recent years. Increasingly shorter contract lengths, implemented so owners wouldnt get stuck with bad contracts, also increased the turnover rate for stars who couldnt be locked up long term anymore. And the maximum contracts instituted in 1999 minimized the difference between staying and leaving. Yes, there would still be a benefit to signing with the home team, but it wasnt enough to keep Dwight Howard with the Lakers or LaMarcus Aldridge with the Trail Blazers or Durant with the Thunder.The owners chose cost certainty over asset control. Trying to legislate parity was too elusive a goal to burn capital to chase. Near the end of the last lockout, a Western Conference owner said the proposed agreement wouldnt help his team beat the Lakers (who were just a year removed from three straight trips to the Finals), but he was willing to sign off on it to get the season started.Every time theres a dramatic free-agent shakeup, it reminds us there isnt a parity scheme the players cant subvert because of their willingness to take less money. Its interesting when that is or isnt considered noble. Notice how you rarely hear praise for stars taking less money to move to a new team, only when they take less than market value to help their current team bring in new players. Part of that is due to the NBAs success in creating such a character-driven sport -- a superhero, comic-book world, Durant called it at his Warriors news conference. So the analysis focused more on the reflections of Durants moral fiber for leaving Oklahoma City to join a superior rival than the actual logistics of how the new-look Warriors would function. As much as analytics have reshaped the methods of team construction and game strategies, storylines still sell the league to the public at large. A global sports and media business.And such is the business model that at some point it puts the onus on the players to make the financial sacrifices in pursuit of victories. They do so despite the warning that the money is guaranteed, the results are not. For Dirk Nowitzki, taking hometown discounts has brought him respect but no more rings since he brought the Mavericks a championship in 2011.Things worked out better for Tim Duncan, who went to the 2015 All-Star Game on a $10 million salary -- about half the going rate for stars, and half of what he made during his peak earning years in San Antonio. He made two more trips to the NBA Finals in the late stages of his career and got another championship. He also has made almost $240 million in salary over his career. Then again, if money meant nothing to him, he would not have sued a former financial adviser for over $20 million in misplaced investments.Money always matters. Especially when it counts against a salary cap and luxury tax. Thats why Dwyane Wade is no longer a member of the Miami Heat, a once unfathomable concept. Neither he nor Pat Riley were willing to make the financial sacrifices to keep their union together.The economic landscape of the league and the players increasing awareness of their power make the concept of the long-term, single-team career seem outdated. It makes for a nice story, but remember that Durant said comic book, not fairy tale.Or maybe the proper tale is a cautionary one. Other teams saw what it meant for the Lakers to give Kobe Bryant both his money and the opportunity to finish his career with the Lakers. Yes, Kobe and Lakers fans got their fond farewell, with a 60-point performance in his final game followed by a mic drop at half court. But the rebuild was paused for two years -- and the missed chance to hunt for bargain free agents in the retrospectively cheap summer of 2015 looks extra painful now amid the free spending of 2016. Meanwhile, the Lakers just finished with the worst record in franchise history.Then again, the Lakers also sold more than $1 million in merchandise on Kobes last night.One thing we do know about the league is that the NBAs global sports and media business has never been better. Off White x Air Max 90 White . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Fake Air Max 90 White . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. http://www.outletairmax90cheap.com/outlet-air-max-90-ultra-cheap.html . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Undefeated x Air Max 90 White Solar Red .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Air Max 90 Outlet .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week.SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Lincecum pounded the strike zone with a consistency and confidence that looked a lot like The Freak of old. He only hopes this outing will carry into the next, and the one after that. Lincecum ended a three-start losing streak, Andres Torres hit a two-run homer and the San Francisco Giants beat Melky Cabrera and the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 on Tuesday night. "I was able to hit my spots more often and more consistently, mechanically I felt sound and things just kind of got better," Lincecum said. "It definitely feels good but weve still got a lot to do, a lot of work to do. Ive said it before, Im not jumping up and down right now, Im just happy with what we did today. Tomorrows another day for work." Cabrera had two hits in his return to AT&T Park with Toronto for the first time since his 50-game suspension for a positive testosterone test last Aug. 15. Lincecum (4-5) allowed Edwin Encarnacions first-inning solo home run, then retired the next 14 Blue Jays in order. Coming off his shortest outing of the year of 4 1-3 innings last Wednesday in a 9-6 loss to Oakland, Lincecum allowed three hits and one run, struck out six and walked one in seven impressive innings. "That is more the Timmy that we know," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We needed it." The Giants handed Josh Johnson (0-2) a loss in his return from the disabled list. Torres connected for his second homer in the second, and he also made a couple of nice catches in left field behind Lincecum. The struggling right-hander looked more like his old self after losing four of five starts and five of his last six decisions -- in which he had allowed 27 earned runs in 42 1-3 innings for a 5.74 ERA. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner quickly regrouped after Encarancions 17th home run and found a groove. Cabrera apologized to the Giants and their fans during a dugout news conference before the game. He was eligible to return for the NL championship series, but the Giants decided in late September 2012 to keep him off the post-season roster the entire way. Cabrera, the 2012 All-Star game MVP who produced a 51-hit May last year, received his World Series ring when the Giants visited Toronto last month. Booed -- with no sign of the "Melk Men" who used to cheer him -- by the sellout crowd of 41,981 each time he stepped into the batters box. "They have their reasons to do what they did. I just play my game," Cabrera said. Cabrera went 2 for 4 with a leadoff single in the first and another base hit in the sixth but flied out with the tying run at first for the first out in the ninth. "A guy like that, when youre getting boos, you know its for a reason," Lincecum said. "HHe was a good player for us, and now hes not, so youre going to hear that here.dddddddddddd" The Blue Jays missed a chance in the sixth. With Johnson aboard on a walk and at second following Cabreras single, Jose Bautista hit into his second double play of the game with a liner to Pablo Sandoval at third base. Sandoval fired to second and Marco Scutaro made the play but dropped the ball as he tumbled forward, bringing Blue Jays manager John Gibbons out to argue. Lincecum, knocked out of his only other start against the Blue Jays after 3 2-3 innings in 2007, pumped his fist as he walked off the mound. The pitchers recent problems raised speculation of a possible move to the bullpen like the one last fall that was so successful for the clubs run to a second World Series championship in three years. Jeremy Affeldt pitched the eighth and Sergio Romo finished for his 16th save in 18 chances to end the 2-hour, 16-minute game. It was the Giants fastest game of the year. The Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak with Sundays win at San Diego, but dropped their seventh in 11 overall Tuesday and ninth of 13 on the road. Johnson looked strong in his fifth start of the year and first back from since being sidelined April 22 with right triceps inflammation. He struck out six in seven innings and didnt walk a batter, but dropped to 0-4 in eight career starts against the Giants. "We missed him," Gibbons said of Johnson. "You watch a performance like that, thats what Josh Johnson is. And then Lincecum, we got on the board in the first and he did a heck of a job of shutting us down." Sandoval was back in the Giants lineup after missing three games with a strain in his left foot, while centre fielder and leadoff hitter Angel Pagan sat out for the ninth straight game with a strained left hamstring. But Sandoval was replaced late in the game by Joaquin Arias. The plan had been for him to play six or seven innings, and Bochy said Sandoval was a little bit sore but should be available Wednesday afternoon. NOTES: Lincecum had been 0-4 in his previous five interleague outings. ... Toronto also activated OF Rajai Davis from the DL and he grounded into an inning-ending double play as a pinch-hitter in the eighth against his former team. Fellow ex-Giant Mark DeRosa had a pinch-hit single. ... The Blue Jays are 5-5 vs. the NL West and fell to 1-6 all-time at AT&T Park. ... An MRI on injured Toronto pitcher Ramon Ortizs right elbow showed no significant damage after the 40-year-old righty was hurt Sunday at San Diego. ... The Giants beat the Blue Jays for just the second time in the last seven meetings after struggling with the bouncy turf in Toronto in ugly 10-6 and 11-3 losses May 14-15. ' ' '