A College Basketball Post That No One Cares About…Because It Is Regular Season College Basketball

No one at this blog wrote about the NFL Divisional round which does not really bother me.  I suppose I am frustrated that the brilliance of Alex Smith, a guy everyone doubted accept me, is being underappreciated since Vernon Davis’ tears make him a hero.  I also do appreciate the end of Tebow-mania and the insistence that he played hurt only adding to his aura and/or brainwashing ridiculous Denver fans into believing in him.  Oh and the Editor-in-Chief’s Giants soundly defeated my mistake laden Green Bay Packers resulting in an unfortunate photo of me in a prematurely bought Super Bowl Champions hoodie from 2008 and a huge foam finger.  I hate him.  I hate the G-Men.  I hate non-Packers paraphernalia.  My grip is not with this today.

While watching football, I met someone who believed college basketball was better than the NBA which strikes me as foolish, contrarian, and/or incredibly illuminating to a world that I could not imagine understanding.  For all those who care, the college basketball season recently reached its halfway point punctuated by a Seth Davis Midseason Awards column and a collective yawn.  The big question, for me and for countless other sports fans, is when can we get to tourney time.  This is the biggest issue with the little brother of popular collegiate sports: the regular season is absolutely meaningless, unimaginative, and worst off boring.  While the BCS is loaded with flaws, the excitement of the regular season keeps fans interested while the post season attempts to ensure some good games by putting equally talented (or equal performers) against each other.  College basketball, conversely, does not ensure those match ups.  Most match ups really suck.  Where are the big games that consistently bring in casual fans?  When you need to play a game on an aircraft carrier – though cool- that tells me all that I need to know: the regular season is a sideshow circus.  Hell, the regular season is further upstaged by conference tournaments!  Who gets the conference banner between the winner of the single elimination conference tournament or the best team over the regular season!?  At least we can get good match-ups in these tournaments but those happen towards the end.  Also, who cares if 68 teams get in the ultimate tournament?  We generally know the top seeds and know that only ten schools really have shots to win it all.  We know there will be some Cinderella and that the dance will end in a thud for said team.  Shooting is more iffy, teams more mismatched, and free throw shooting as bad as the Miami Heat in crunch time represent but a few issues with this thing that should be better than the NBA.

While some people can suggest that the NBA regular season is too long and meaningless I push back by saying that seeding matters and on a nightly basis good teams compete against each other.  Part of the reason is that there are only 30 teams (roughly four too many in my opinion) rather than 300+.  Not my issue.  The athletes, usually, are more developed and the play is balanced sans the bottom 10 teams in the Eastern Conference compared to the West.  If the BCS is what the extreme looks like for regular season excitement and fun then College Basketball is the opposite extreme.  Both are not good.

So Syracuse is undefeated.  Great.  No one cares because it means nothing until one loss means the end of the season (re: Packers of Green Bay).  Until the Calendar changes to March, maybe earlier for conference tournaments, college basketball and its greatness will be contained as a secondary entity in our sports minds.  Want a solution that gives me something better than Virginia Commonwealth and Butler in the final four?  (Aside: Is there a more absurd system biased against the consistent best team for awarding a championship than the single elimination mega tournament?  Regular season body of work useless.  UConn, winner of the 2011 Big East Tournament on their way to the National Title was the 9^th ranked team in their conference.  To be fair, the tournament does weight seeding for higher seeds which is nice but still what is the point if the regular season gets you nothing.  Recall: Only once have all four #1 seeds reached the final four and only six times have two #1 seeds reached the final four.)  Cut most of these lesser schools and teams out.  16 team tourney, best of three all the way through.  Gives me an element of fairness, more games between good schools, and fun for all.  Or double elimination, round robin.  Either way is better for me.

Alas, no one cares what I think which is fine by my standards and perhaps good for some in society.  What cannot be argued is that the regular season is deficient in many substantive performance and entertainment levels compared to the NBA.  56 days to March Madness and counting….

Shaq Gets Pranked by Fake Chris Bosh

 

 

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HJygXfVRQ0%5D

What Am I Watching This NBA Season?

The shorten season shines the spotlight on the stars and rightfully so.  This means other critical storylines get put on the backburner, players and themes that frequently alter the course of the season.   At worst, these will be the stories that people most often discuss and totally misinterpret.  Below are the themes and storylines I will be watching over the NBA season!

• It seems clear to me that the West is by far the better conference but will the top heavy East overshadow the depth of the West?  Probably.  Everyone is going to ignore the under .500 teams in the 6^th seed in the east while several teams will be out the playoffs in the West.
• How much defense will be enough for the Knicks to win games?  The elite offense does little to hide the porous defense and the absolute value of Tyson Chandler, the second coming of Kevin Garnett as a defensive force.  Mike D’Antoni’s job is going to be in danger all year long so I am going to be focused on the work of NY Knicks defensive assistant coach…former Hawks coach Mike Woodson.  No wonder people are not listening to him in NYC.
• Will Danny Grainger take a step up or level off to be the best player on a meaningless franchise only to be traded to a contender but not getting any better?
• Can the Toronto Raptors finally find a star to consistently put up on banners to advertise going to Raptors games?
• Will 46% player BRI loving Michael Jeffery Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats’ forward Boris Diaw regain his poetic form of old?
• How many NBA rules and international laws will be broken as New Jersey Nets Principal Owner Mikhail Prokhorov runs for President of Russia, tries to get Dwight Howard to join the Nets, and keep Deron Williams – the second best point guard in the NBA behind Chris Paul- from leaving for nothing?
• Will Christopher Wesson Bosh (a man who went from being a number one player with no talent to a number three player with tons of talent around him, a man who averaged 19 and 8 on 50% shooting, and a man who did show up throughout the NBA finals) finally get some credit respect?  No he happens to not be one of the five best players in the league but 19-8 looks real nice as a third option.
• Will Joakim Noah finally be exposed as the fraudulent, overrated player that he has been his entire career?  When does a “dominant” rebounder (defined as gets boards when no one boxes him out) and defensive presence become a liability at the end of every game?
• Who will lose their voice first: Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy or Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau?
• Mil-town Bucks Center Andrew Bogut: second best center in basketball? (Yes!)
• Will the much unappreciated Rajon Rondo again remind the Celtics that it is foolish to trade him and continue to keep this aging team afloat during the back-to-backs this season?  (Why are the aging Celtics always trying to push him out the door when he is the only solid long term piece they have?)
• Will the flash and skill of John Wall be able to counter the debacle that is Reshard Lewis?
• What will Washington Bullets Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert do when Lebron drops 50 on them leading to Cleveland locking up the most lottery balls in the 2012 NBA Draft?
• How many errant shots will shooter – and sometimes scorer- Ben Gordon take in a ten minute period? (Bonus: How long will it take for the Pistons to organize another mutiny and attempt to get new coach Lawrence Frank fired?)
• While I am personally interested in seeing Atlanta Hawks Forward/Center Al Horford make the jump to a top three center (from a top five center), I need to ask: Joe Johnson?  $119 million?
• Michael Curry is listed as “associate head coach” of the 76ers.  There are also three assistant coaches and of course head coach Doug Collins.  What exactly is Curry doing that is so special to get that title?
• Utah Jazz Forward/Center Al Jefferson, a man that commands a double team when healthy: 20, 10?  (Absolutely)
• Will the Sacramento Kings pump in this level of production value into every win this season to stay in Sac-Town? (Also, to go from the blackout to the pale Jimmer Fredette – nothing but net – was too shocking for my eyes).
• Will the Portland Trailblazers acquire doctors that specialize in knee analysis? (ZING!)
• Do Houston Rockets fans realize that incredibly smart and recently screwed out of Pau Gasol GM Daryl Morey 1) acquired Hasheem Thabeet and 2) moved him from the D-League back to the 2011-12 roster?
• How will NBA Union President Derrick Fisher be received by his fellow players, particularly in the first go around through the league?  (When will Kobe choke out his first teammate?)
• Knows that my World Champion Dallas Mavericks are biding their time to pick up a major free agent next year but why does that mean acquiring perennial loser Vince Carter and the often misunderstood though clearly incompetent Delonte West?  How many shots will Mark Cuban take at David Stern this year (Cuban, of course, voted against the new CBA and vocally expressed displeasure about the Hornets trades)?
• Will new Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson say “Mamma there goes that man” when his mother comes to Warriors games?
• Does the addition of Rudy Gay mean the Grizzlies will be better than an 8-seed in the west?  (NO!)
• Will T-Wolves coach Rick Adleman finally announce that the team is satisfied with their point guard situation? Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubio!
• Steve Nash is finally an underrated player which may bode well for a Suns team cruising under the radar.
• David Stern made the most of the New Orleans situation.  Will the Hornets get an owner this year?  I imagine so!
• Denver Nuggets’ only star JR Smith is live from China.  No wonder the NBA did not blink at the notion of players playing abroad: never made sense and was not feasible.
• I am curious to see Tony Parker regain his footing as a tier two point guard who, quite frankly, never got the respect he deserved during the championship run.
• Despite the slow start, Ric Bucher and I believe Russell Westbrook maybe the best overall player on the Oklahoma City Thunder.  We also think that other players may feel this way so obviously I will be watching to see this dynamic grow between an elite scorer and someone who can be an elite player.
• Clippers Deandre Jordan can become a huge free agent if this year highlights the type of growth he showed last year.  Will year two of Vinny Del Negro lead to player development!?

Now to fix my remote after two Mavericks blowouts to start the season.

 

 

Wild Weekend in Sports (and Monday Too)

The past 96 hours brought a wide range of stories from the world of sports.  Instead of dwelling on one, nothing seems better than picking several and dedicating a little attention to them all.

On the NBA…

I thought it could not get crazier after Commissioner Stern dropped the axe on the CP3 to Lakers deal, a move I supported, until the league continued to spin out of control.  While the Lakers dropped out the running, the Clippers stepped in offering the safe to the Hornets.  The deal on the table was Chris Paul for Chris Kaman, Al- Farouq Aminu and Eric Bledsoe.  Apparently the NBA also wanted the electrifying Eric Gordon and Minnesota’s 2012 first-round pick (formally known as a ticked to a top three pick in the draft).  Personally, I think the Clippers should throw in one or the other – preferably the pick – but not both.  Sources suggest that the asking price is too high but this deal looks even better than the Lakers deal.  Although the deal fell apart today, I would not be surprised to see the Hornets (NBA?) come back and lower its ask to make the move.  Still, give the Hornets (NBA?) credit on finding a better offer and negotiating hard for it.

Another story that struck me involved Chauncy Billups.  Saturday, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported Billups’ made comments telling teams not to pick him up while on the waiver wire because he wants the freedom to pick a title contender.  I certainly sympathize with someone of his talents being tired of mentoring young players and balancing the books on cash strapped teams but teams may need that role to be filled and there is a system in place to do that.

All of this gets back to the reasons for the lockout. We saw small markets negatively react to stars moving towards the big markets and Billups making it clear that he only wants to play in specific places and is willing to sabotage a team to get his way. “I’ve been known as a leader, and I am a leader, but a leader can be as disruptive as he can be productive, especially when you carry a strong voice and people rally around you. This is about me now. This is about me, and teams should know that right now.”  Tensions still in the air about business and labor, no?

On College Boxing and College Basketball…

Xavier and Cincinnati got into a really bad brawl on Saturday featuring both benches being cleared, haymakers, blood, and really soft suspensions.  I actually watched the end of the game live and the first thing I thought about was how bad this looks for young, black athletes.  I never think about these things especially in collegiate basketball.  For some reason, probably more schools, basketball diversity is much greater in college than in the NBA.  To essentially see a group of young, black athletes with tattoos begin fighting just looks bad.  It brings out stereotyping, bigotry, and all sorts of racism that is under the surface of sports culture and society at large.  Myron Medcalf wrote a basketball commentary on this point featuring this point “I figured some ignorant folks would push the “that’s what young black men do” stereotypes. And I worried about words like “thugs” and “gangs” that the same sort of people threw out on the Internet after the brawl.”

What makes the entire situation worse was the Xavier player press conference after the incident.  Tu Holloway specified that Xavier has “a whole bunch of ganstas in the locker room, not thugs…”  To be fair, I would not want to be beat up by Yancy Gates either but the language of distance between where people are from, ganstas, and zippin people up does not help fight the worries of Mecalf.

On Major League Baseball…

After being blown off the map by basketball trades and football talk in general, baseball is back and its not good.  2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun tested positive for a banned substance, perhaps performance enhancing drugs, at the end of last season.  Braun will appeal but if this holds he will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2012 season.  Anyway you spin it, this is not good.  It is why the NBA and NFL do not want extensive drug testing because stigma is damning beyond reality.  If there is anything that can be lauded it is that the testing policy seems to work but cheating is cheating and the only meaningful headlines that stick seem to be bad for baseball.

On The Axe Dropping in the NFL…

No Tebow in this section so be happy.  Tony Sparano fired today after losing to the somewhat full strength Eagles.  I do not like this firing because the players played hard and the team is talentless.  My bigger issue is with the firing of difficult to love Todd Haley of Kansas City Chiefs fame.  Haley, suffice it to say, is a Type A personality but the players there like his grit and toughness.  Players that did not like it left.

Haley struggled in his first year but won the AFC West in his second year (with a healthy team) and has overachieved this year without his pro-bowl quarterback, number one running back, best tight end, and best defensive back.  Those major pieces missing would have most teams struggling.  The Bears have not won without their running back and quarterback because those players are important.  Chiefs CEO Clark Hunter said “”Although there have been bright spots at different points this season, we have not made meaningful progress and we felt that it was necessary to make a change.” (Courtesy of NFL.com)  You know when you don’t have key players it is hard to make progress.  All this represents suits not getting their way and wanting yes men – Haley and GM Pioli at best had a rocky relationship – putting on the field production second to business relations.  It’s why Norv Turner is still employed and Haley is not.

It should be noted that Turner and many others will probably be unemployed after the season.  Possibly eight jobs will be up for grabs and that is the NFL…win now, kiss butt, or get out.

 

 

A Little Politics With Your Hoops…

I always get excited when I can mix politics and sports because I am a political science student who likes sports.  I also like Russian billionaire and Nets majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov.  What is better than a tall NBA owner who literally does not care for rules and does what he wants like taking a team to Brooklyn, talking to Dwight Howard illegally, his lack of regard of privacy in the Carmelo talks last year, and his love of “controlled risk.”  Now the 39th richest man in the world is running for President of Russia against Vladamir Putin.  Can this get any better?  Maybe Mark Cuban will run for President in 2016!

Read more on his presidential campaign and his appeal to the middle class here!

Dwight Howard to the Nets?…Not So Fast

Only a few hours after David Stern nixed the trade that will send superstar Chris Paul from a small-market team to a big-market team, reports emerged that another superstar is likely to be traded from another small-market team to another big-market team. This time around, the superstar is Dwight Howard.

ESPN’s Chris Broussard reported last night that Dwight Howard is on the verge of asking the Magic to trade him to the New Jersey Nets, soon to be the Brooklyn Nets. On the surface, it seems that Howard will inevitably end up with Nets because of several reasons:

 1.The Nets are his preferred destination.

 2. Howard will not return to the Magic after the season and therefore, the Magic must trade Howard to avoid losing him for nothing.

 3. Teams will not trade for Howard if he does not assure them that he will sign a long-term extension.

All those reasons lead to one conclusion: Howard has ALL the leverage in this situation. The team that he wants to play for will be team that the Magic will trade him to and ultimately, the Nets will be that team.

But a problem could potentially emerge. The package that the Nets are reportedly willing to offer the Magic is not appealing. The package comprises of Brook Lopez¹, two first-round draft picks, and probably a few more insignificant players. Also, the Nets are reportedly willing to take back Hedo Turkoglu and his atrocious 3-year, $38 million contract.

The Lakers and the Bulls are other teams rumored to be interested in acquiring Howard and they can offer a more attractive package. Assuming that the trade of Paul to the Lakers will remain vetoed, the Lakers could offer the Magic a combination of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and some other players/picks. The Bulls could offer Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson or Omer Asik, and some draft picks. Those packages are definitely more appealing than what the Nets will offer.

So, what if the Magic approach Howard and ask that he consider going the Lakers or the Bulls?

Apparently, Howard is attracted to the Nets because the team will play in a big market city (the Nets will call Brooklyn their home starting in the 2012-2013 season) and seemingly, the Nets will become a legitimate title contender the minute that he arrives. Well, the Lakers and the Bulls neatly fit into both criteria. Behind New York City, Los Angeles is the biggest market followed by Chicago. With Kobe and Howard, the Lakers will be viewed as a team that can defeat the Heat, the prohibitive favorite to win the championship. Pair Howard with Rose and a healthy Boozer and one can reasonably argue that the Bulls are the best team in the East.

So, I ask again. What if the Magic approach Howard and ask that he consider going the Lakers or the Bulls?

What happens after the question is asked will depend on if Howard is hell-bent on playing for the Nets. If Howard is fixated on playing for the soon to be Brooklyn Nets then Howard will certainly end up with the Nets before the end of the season. If not, then the Lakers or the Bulls are the next most logical destination. As a Bulls fan, I am hoping that the latter, rather than the former, is the reality. At least, in the latter, the Bulls will have a chance to acquire Howard.

¹ As a center and measuring at 7 feet tall, he averaged a measly total of 6 rebounds per game. And this guy is the central piece of your trade proposal? Really? Not to mention, Lopez is a poor defender.

Twitter: Follow @five2pickup

A Defense of David Stern in the CP3 Debacle

Chris Paul is still a New Orleans Hornets superstar.  Paul is still the only player to average 18pts/9ast/2stl through his entire career.  He is the franchise and everyone under the sun is furious.  I suppose not everyone is upset.  Many NBA owners probably think this is a great thing.  David Stern certainly likes the idea of voiding a mega-trade because he did it.  Allow me to make the case for why I am not upset about it and, in fact, like the move for basketball related reasons for the New Orleans Hornets.

The National Basketball Association owned the Hornets and can function as owner of the Hornets despite giving autonomy to second year GM Dell Demps.  It can veto or approve trades with all teams, especially teams it actually owns which, to me, represents the premier definition of conflict of interest.  It never felt good to me and I railed on this issue earlier on my radio show agreeing with Mark Cuban’s disgust in trading Marcus Thornton and straight cash [homie] considerations to the Kings for Carl Landry.  In the article, Cuban felt the trade to be comparable to revenue sharing and unfair since the owners owned the team.  This echoes sentiments expressed Phil Jackson foreshadowing conflict in his repeated questioning of what would happen if Chris Paul wanted to leave for another team.

Well, now we know.  The league wants us to believe that Stern axed the deal for basketball related reasons not owner pressure. “It’s not true that the owners killed the deal,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “The deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons.”  Well Mr. Bass seems like a reliable source but the master of damning emails in highly unprofessional fonts seems to contradict that.  Ladies and Gentlemen Mr. Dan Gilbert’s email, courtesy of Yahoo Sports, expressed outrage over the deal but more importantly suggested that all 29 owners should vote on the deal, that most owners did not like, and focused exclusively on the Lakers. (Aside: Dan Gilbert is a goof. He became a big brat after Lebron left –which is somewhat understandable because I would be bummed and screaming eff  the world too- but has been unbearable on a good day and illogical on a bad day.  Simmons penned a very good piece on Grantland about this failed deal, Stern’s eroding power, and whiny owners that sums up how I feel.)  If I am an owner of another team, particularly an owner that felt like getting shafted by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, I would be mad as hell about the NBA shifting the prospects of basketball in favor of the already rich Lake Show.

For me, however, the issue is the principle.  As I am mad about Thronton for Landry, I am mad about any deal the league-owned Hornets make.  Why?  Because the league’s primary priority should be finding an independent owner for the team so she or he can make moves without a conflict of interest.  That is where all my anger lies.  If the NBA claimed that 2-5 owners wanted to buy the team and the league prevented the purchase because they could get a better deal and/or wanted stability in the new CBA, now is the time to get that owner.  The second that happens, they can make the same move, and it would be approved.  Boom, boom, boom.

While appearances are not reality, they make reality.  What this looks like is the league making a move, having owners backlash, and Stern preemptively taking the brunt of the punishment.  It looks like the Commish with broad power unjustifiably expanding those powers to control Front Office decisions.  People are speculating that he will control all trades to manipulate competitive balance! Conspiracy! Moon landing faked! Grassy Noll! Area 51! This is all overblown because 29 other teams have independent owners.  Get the friggin’ owner and get the trade done.

Let me also quickly address player mobility.  Credit the New Orleans Hornets (NBA?) with wanting to make a move before the season started to avoid the embarrassment of keeping a star who did not want to play in that city.  Some have thrown around the NBA players as slaves metaphor as Paul is being kept against his will.  Suffice it to say that multimillionaires with the ability to make millions elsewhere under contract does not look like a slave to me.  Still, ideally Paul should play where he likes but that should not come at the expense of the other team.  With that logic, major markets would be super huge and small markets would be talent breeding grounds.  Teams should respect player wishes, but should not forfeit the ability to rebuild going forward; if the ideal team does not have trade pieces that fit, sorry but you are not going there.  Seems fair to me.

Finally, let’s go back to basketball reasons.  As in Mr. Bass’ claim above about the league office voiding the deal.  I alluded to the conflict of interest in voiding a deal as a team owner versus voiding a deal as league commissioner but the idea of basketball reason matters given the context.  As many pointed out, the on-court basketball moves look good for all teams.    But league commissioner Stern is still concerned about selling this team to an owner for the highest value and keeping it in New Orleans.  Stern on Bloomberg News said he vetoed the trade because Chris Paul is more valuable in New Orleans.  Basketball reasons vs. value?  No!  Basketball reasons are value.  Keeping Paul may mean getting a better owner willing to keep the team there and spend money.

Or maybe not.  Who and I kidding!  While my biggest gripe are the owner-less Hornets and how it is costing Paul $30 million, this entire thing is absurd.  It sounds illegal.  I cannot in good faith defend this without thinking how crazy it is.  I do think Stern and the league did believe all that I wrote but it makes no sense.

Let summarize:

1)      League owned teams will always bring controversy!

2)      I don’t like league owned teams making trades but if you give control of the team to a person then stop butting in.

3)      Dan Gilbert is an idiot.

4)      NBA cannot stop tripping over its own feet.

5)      Still, the NBA can blow baseball out the water.

WELCOME BACK NBA!

A Defense of David Stern in the CP3 Debacle

Chris Paul is still a New Orleans Hornets superstar.  Paul is still the only player to average 18pts/9ast/2stl through his entire career.  He is the franchise and everyone under the sun is furious.  I suppose not everyone is upset.  Many NBA owners probably think this is a great thing.  David Stern certainly likes the idea of voiding a mega-trade because he did it.  Allow me to make the case for why I am not upset about it and, in fact, like the move for basketball related reasons for the New Orleans Hornets.

The National Basketball Association owned the Hornets and can function as owner of the Hornets despite giving autonomy to second year GM Dell Demps.  It can veto or approve trades with all teams, especially teams it actually owns which, to me, represents the premier definition of conflict of interest.  It never felt good to me and I railed on this issue earlier on my radio show agreeing with Mark Cuban’s disgust in trading Marcus Thornton and straight cash [homie] considerations to the Kings for Carl Landry.  In the article, Cuban felt the trade to be comparable to revenue sharing and unfair since the owners owned the team.  This echoes sentiments expressed Phil Jackson foreshadowing conflict in his repeated questioning of what would happen if Chris Paul wanted to leave for another team.

Well, now we know.  The league wants us to believe that Stern axed the deal for basketball related reasons not owner pressure. “It’s not true that the owners killed the deal,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “The deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons.”  Well Mr. Bass seems like a reliable source but the master of damning emails in highly unprofessional fonts seems to contradict that.  Ladies and Gentlemen Mr. Dan Gilbert’s email, courtesy of Yahoo Sports, expressed outrage over the deal but more importantly suggested that all 29 owners should vote on the deal, that most owners did not like, and focused exclusively on the Lakers. (Aside: Dan Gilbert is a goof. He became a big brat after Lebron left –which is somewhat understandable because I would be bummed and screaming eff  the world too- but has been unbearable on a good day and illogical on a bad day.  Simmons penned a very good piece on Grantland about this failed deal, Stern’s eroding power, and whiny owners that sums up how I feel.)  If I am an owner of another team, particularly an owner that felt like getting shafted by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, I would be mad as hell about the NBA shifting the prospects of basketball in favor of the already rich Lake Show.

For me, however, the issue is the principle.  As I am mad about Thronton for Landry, I am mad about any deal the league-owned Hornets make.  Why?  Because the league’s primary priority should be finding an independent owner for the team so she or he can make moves without a conflict of interest.  That is where all my anger lies.  If the NBA claimed that 2-5 owners wanted to buy the team and the league prevented the purchase because they could get a better deal and/or wanted stability in the new CBA, now is the time to get that owner.  The second that happens, they can make the same move, and it would be approved.  Boom, boom, boom.

While appearances are not reality, they make reality.  What this looks like is the league making a move, having owners backlash, and Stern preemptively taking the brunt of the punishment.  It looks like the Commish with broad power unjustifiably expanding those powers to control Front Office decisions.  People are speculating that he will control all trades to manipulate competitive balance! Conspiracy! Moon landing faked! Grassy Noll! Area 51! This is all overblown because 29 other teams have independent owners.  Get the friggin’ owner and get the trade done.

Let me also quickly address player mobility.  Credit the New Orleans Hornets (NBA?) with wanting to make a move before the season started to avoid the embarrassment of keeping a star who did not want to play in that city.  Some have thrown around the NBA players as slaves metaphor as Paul is being kept against his will.  Suffice it to say that multimillionaires with the ability to make millions elsewhere under contract does not look like a slave to me.  Still, ideally Paul should play where he likes but that should not come at the expense of the other team.  With that logic, major markets would be super huge and small markets would be talent breeding grounds.  Teams should respect player wishes, but should not forfeit the ability to rebuild going forward; if the ideal team does not have trade pieces that fit, sorry but you are not going there.  Seems fair to me.

Finally, let’s go back to basketball reasons.  As in Mr. Bass’ claim above about the league office voiding the deal.  I alluded to the conflict of interest in voiding a deal as a team owner versus voiding a deal as league commissioner but the idea of basketball reason matters given the context.  As many pointed out, the on-court basketball moves look good for all teams.    But league commissioner Stern is still concerned about selling this team to an owner for the highest value and keeping it in New Orleans.  Stern on Bloomberg News said he vetoed the trade because Chris Paul is more valuable in New Orleans.  Basketball reasons vs. value?  No!  Basketball reasons are value.  Keeping Paul may mean getting a better owner willing to keep the team there and spend money.

Or maybe not.  Who and I kidding!  While my biggest gripe are the owner-less Hornets and how it is costing Paul $30 million, this entire thing is absurd.  It sounds illegal.  I cannot in good faith defend this without thinking how crazy it is.  I do think Stern and the league did believe all that I wrote but it makes no sense.

Let summarize:

1)      League owned teams will always bring controversy!

2)      I don’t like league owned teams making trades but if you give control of the team to a person then stop butting in.

3)      Dan Gilbert is an idiot.

4)      NBA cannot stop tripping over its own feet.

5)      Still, the NBA can blow baseball out the water.

WELCOME BACK NBA!