To the OP, I look at it in a slightly different way.
There are functional clowns running some NBA offices. Some even get raises and promotions. Proof positive of that is that we have Roy right now, when teams wanted AmMo, Sheldon Williams, Tyrus Thomas and Randy Foye instead of him. Some owners are dumb, too. Some think that getting a $3M check is better than having young, cheap talent locked up for 4 years or more.
It makes me happy when my team exploits those people. It makes me sad and frustrated when we lose out to others doing so.