They complain because it directly impacts the quality of other players that the team can afford to sign. Therefore, players salaries have a direct impact on the quality of the team and its ability to win. That is why fans care about salaries.
It is an important part of every sport that has a salary cap. NBA fans worry about salaries, and NHL fans also worry about salaries because it directly affects their teams success.
It does and it doesn’t.
This team was in a position even with Dez and Crawford’s cap number to be significant players in free agency this season. Our cap may look tight this year but it’s a mirage especially when you consider the flexibility we have next season.
This team chooses not chase the “quality” you speak of not entirely because the salary cap but mainly because they don’t think it’s good business to overpay for a player that another team that knows them best decided they were not good enough to keep around.
I’m not saying it’s right...but even if we could free our hands of Crawford right now with no dead money, I doubt we would’ve pushed any harder for any free agent.
Just like I doubt we make a push next season unless it’s a player we really like even though we will have flexibility.