Open for all discussion. I still havn’t figured out how Dallas flamed out in such a spectacular way. Delicious irony. I hated to see it happen to Avery, loved to see the look on Cuban’s face. Shaq, Wade and Miami- poof! What a short dream that was. PHX calls out Spurs as dirty, Nash gets popped, but the 2nd best Sun player gets suspended. Sucks for you Suns, but in sports even stupid rules need to followed, and if you break them, you run the risk of being assessed the consequences. I can’t believe that the Cavs are already in the WCF- shows the impact that one player can have in the NBA. I still think that Lebron is not ready to carry the weight, Detroit could sweep them if they had the ability to focus. Will there be Spurs Vs. Pistons final? I am a Spurs fan, I don’t think that it would be boring at all- Yes, Duncan is coldly efficient, but Manu and Parker are good for some highlights. If wish I never had to see the Barkley/Wade “in my five” commercial or listen to the Pussycat dolls horrible “right now” song ever ever again.
Jordon distorted the league. The commish believes in the bottom of his greedy little heart that superstars make the league successful. He quietly changes rules and officiating to allow the stars to shine. I would like to see basketball played by the same rules for everyone. Why is playing a good defense called ugly. ? Let them work for their points.
The Pistons have had to battle the league for a long time. Purist basketball fans can appreciate good defense. The passerby fans cannot.
I can’t believe anybody even dreamed it. That team had too many injuries and too little motivation. They were playing my team in the first round, but I would have wanted them to lose anyway. It was embarrassing to watch them shrug off the regular season and then expect to turn it on in the playoffs.
Bulls fan talking, but the Cavs also got a big assist from their draw: they started off against a walking-dead Wizards team, and then got a Nets team that was experienced but surprisingly crummy. The Bulls should have had the second spot and blew it, so it’s mostly their own fault - however I will say that I thought the NBA was going to start re-seeding in the playoffs, and I think Bulls vs. Cavs would have turned out differently.
I’ve always liked Duncan, so I’m okay with that matchup. I’ll be very, very surprised if it doesn’t happen.
He’s right about that, too. Superstars sell tickets. Always have, even before Jordan. I just wish the NBA would allow superstars to emerge organically rather than ordaining who the superstars are going to be and imposing that decision through advertising, marketing, TV scheduling and (I suspect) slanted officiating.
Define “superstars”. Ray Allen isn’t selling tickets in Seattle.
Winning sells tickets, not superstars. I agree with you with wishing that the league and advertising execs wouldn’t ordain “superstars”.
This is also where I call Dwyane Wade overrated. It’ll be interesting to see if he can add anything useful to his game.
You probably need to win in the long term, and other factors can counteract a superstar. That doesn’t mean having them doesn’t help the league.
I agree with you up to a point, but you must understand from NBA history that special treatment for superstars did not start with Jordan. Bird & Magic, Kareem, Wilt, Russell and Saint Hondo Havlicek, not to mention Pistons Dumars, Thomas and Laimbeer, all get the benefit of the doubt about refs’ calls too. Just as importantly, if the refs called games the way the rules say then during the Bad Boys’ championship runs the entire Piston team would’ve fouled out of every game.
Well, I never said it didn’t. I just wanted something more concrete for “superstar”. What would be best for the league would be to have a better “product”. Good lck defining what makes a good “product”, though.
All I’ve seen so far is Bad and Ugly. Stern lost me this season. I’m impartial with respect to the Spurs and Suns, but for the Spurs to be rewarded in effect for such contemptible behavior is too much for me to condone. Bowen is a punk, and Horry has lost my respect. No more NBA for me this season—on to baseball.
One has to remember that owners are in professional sports not because of the beauty of the game, but to make money. They put millions and millions of dollars in, in the hope they can make money now, or make money in the future when they sell it. I love watching the Pistons and Spurs play team ball on both ends of the court, but I am a big basketball fan. There aren’t too many like us like that. They have to catch the interest of “casual fan.” The pursuit of this need to court casual and new fans is what leads to the silly hype machine. It is amazing how tolerant of BS I am as long as the Spurs keep winning! Hype the crap out of the Wade, Shaq, GS Warriors, Carmelo, and Lebron for all I care.