Well, here we are only two months into the season and Herr Stern is up to his double chin headaches. Even he must be wondering if his 12 mil a year is enough to put up with these "professionals". The NBA has seen fights, suspensions, huge trades, ballgate, garment control, poor attendance and a just lot of crap play.
I've got to start with the Denver-N.Y. fight and suspension. How is it when baseball players clear dugouts, go into stands and throw at each others heads its almost seen as funny. Giancreco will often end the local sports with it. In hockey we demand fights as the price of admission. A no fight game makes one feel cheated. But get a group of inner city blacks making huge bucks start fighting and the phrase "out of control" is usually employed. Hard fouls are part of the game. Wilt would routinely kick ass and was never even thrown out of a game. Stern's obsession with controling young black men is in order for the rich white customers to not feel threatened. The Herr was in a jam in this one. Melo was clearly the aggressor with the cheap shot. But Stern needs Melo-he is one of the key players in the future of the league. In fact the NBA did a lot to help the Melo image with his addition on Team USA and marketing. Stern needs Denver to make the playoffs to feature Melo. 15 games cuts it close.
The A.I. trade was a desparation move. Two 30 pt scorers will not work in this age. Way too many strong personalities on this team. Melo, Al and don't forget Kenyon. Al has the most to prove. Will his legacy be years of declining Philly teams or a serious run with Denver. Al will look for redemption with his play until his rebellious attitude takes over. He didn't get along with Larry Brown and won't with Karl. With all Al's talent he sat idle for 10 days. He was picked up because of the Melo suspension to keep them in contention.
Don't give me "at least Stern decided to listen to the players in bringing back the old ball back" shit. It was clearly his idea to make this assinine move in the first place. Only he has the juice to make such a serious move. Has he ever played ball? This takes into question bright this guy really is. You can change a lot of things, but the ball? The players would have been more outspoken, but alas they would have been suspended.
More Herr Stern fascism. Garment control! Watched a Miami and somebody game last week and saw Shaq looking like fool in a suit. More attempts to control the brothers and take the "ghetto" out of their look. Appear white-safe. Stern completely misses the boat. Yuppies find street cred vicariously through these ballplayers. They're not going to go to the south side to find it. They can absorb the NBA lifestyle and absorb it. No longer says the Herr.
Finally, attendance is just a hair over 18k. This is the lowest since 1992. Many reasons including dilutive talent, poor play and poorly manufactured superstars. There are way too many teams that simply don't belong- Charlotte, Toronto, Memphis etc. They can't compete and they don't have the fan base. Stars drive the league and nobody has truly stepped in for Mike, Larry and Magic. Lebron, Kobe and Melo are great, but each has a flaw. In addition, the influx of foreign players has hurt the U.S. marketing. No one can relate to these guys. Kids at the park don't pretend that they are Nowitzki.
The NBA has reached parity- the West is great and the East sucks. Not one team at .500 in the Atlantic. What a joke! Doesn't matter anyway because everyone makes the playoffs. I feel the NBA has peaked for now Stern must go back to the basics. Let players be themselves and "stars" will be born. Manufacturing creations will backfire on Stern- that's why A.I. is the NBA's lifeline to the streets; he doesn't listen to authority.
