Old School vs. New School: How To Rank Greatness

It seems as if this week is the week in which former NBA players decided to defend their eras and their players. You had Stephen Jackson who was on the 2006-2007 Warriors that beat the top seeded Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs as an eighth seed. Then, you have NBA legend Oscar Robertson saying this. You have Isaiah Thomas saying this, too. So, this week was the week in which former NBA players, some all-time greats, told us how they really feel.

People are putting Stephen Curry in the category with all-time great point guards already. Former players are complaining. He’s having fun with the whole thing, though. This is not anything new. In many sports, when a generation of players retire and the new generation of players reach their primes, the old generation tends to complain. They want to hold on to their spot. They feel the need to remind the fans that were either very young or not born at the time of their primes of how good they were. Some take it to the extreme and don’t just say they were good back in the day, but that they are good now after retirement. This is not an NBA dynamic. This isn’t just a player dynamic either. This is a dynamic in all of sports.

You guys ever argue with an older person about sports? You already know how it goes, (unless you are an older person reading this, don’t stop reading though). The first thing you are going to hear about is how good the players back in their day were. Stats not even something that is brought up. You are probably going to bring up stats before them. All they would talk about is impact and what they saw with their own eyes. This is something that is very important. I personally feel that statistics hold too much weight in the sports world today because statistics could be deceptive sometimes. However, they’re going to use feelings, memories, and “vibes” to discredit the current players of your generation. The next qualifier that older fans are quick to bring up are rule changes. For the NFL, it got softer. For the NBA, it got softer. For the MLB, the game was much better back in the day because guys were better; more home runs. “But, they were on steroids. That’s why.” “Steroids don’t make you make contact with ball, trust me I’ve been watching the game since you were a baby.” On and on and on, you guys know how it is. Legitimate facts and claims might be brought up. This is a fundamental aspect of every good argument/debate. Both sides must bring up legitimate facts that both parties can agree on in order to argue about what they don’t agree on. Rule changes do change the way sports are played making the games different. However, if both sides were to be honest, there’s just a generation gap. You will never fully understand how great the former players were despite how many YouTube videos you saw of them because you weren’t alive or old enough when these players were playing. The older person may never fully understand how great this generation of players are despite rule changes because they’re so used to seeing a certain style of play, seeing how great their generation of players were, or stubborn. It’s different when you experience greatness at the time when they were great because you understand the impact. However, anybody can over or underestimate people.

Now to Stephen Curry.

He’s on pace to break several offensive records this year and he has his team on pace to win the most games in NBA history. The team that they might surpass for the most wins in NBA history is the NBA champion 1995-1996 Bulls. This is a win total that many people didn’t think would be passed for a long time. Some teams have won 67 games, but nobody has even reached 70 since the Bulls set the mark at 72 wins 20 years ago. In other words, Stephen Curry and the Warriors are having a historic season.

How do you discredit a person’s greatness when the numbers show you how great they are? You discredit everything else surrounding them. Their team was really good, he or she was just along for the ride. Or in Stephen Curry’s case, the league isn’t as good anymore and the rules changed so its easier to play the game. THEY COULDN’T PLAY IN OUR DAY! Numbers do lie sometimes. It feels like every year, a different quarterback throws for the most yards in a season. Out of the top 15 seasons for most passing yards, 12 of those seasons were had in the last 5 years. A statistic like that will show you why having the most passing yards in a season is probably not the best indicator for how good a quarterback is historically. The increase in passing yards are directly correlated with the rule changes in the NFL that make it easier for offensive players to produce.

However, the decrease in home runs over the years due to the fact that guys aren’t using steroids anymore (at least most guys). This decrease does not mean the players are worse now than they were back then. They just don’t cheat…as much. Are rules in the NBA different than they were back in the day? Yes. No hand checking. The definition of a flagrant foul has changed. However, the skill level of the competition is not the same as it was back in the day. Today’s NBA has more athletes. Today’s NBA athletes are better shooters and I know that Oscar Robertson doesn’t like that. OK, let’s be real. It was never OK to hit people in the face as they are shooting. In any era, that’s a foul. This is what you would have to do in order to stop Stephen Curry from making a three and even then it’s not promised that he is going to miss. I have literally seen Chris Paul have his hand on Stephen Curry’s chest as he’s shooting and he still made it and he turned around a looked at his coach Doc Rivers and basically told him that he had his hand on his chest so he tried his best. I think it was the same game that this happened. Shooting the basketball is shooting the basketball and I find it hard to believe that guys aren’t getting up in the best 3 point shooter in NBA history’s face to try and make him miss, despite what the legend Oscar Robertson says.

The generation gap is real. The generation gap in sports doesn’t just affect fans. It affects players, as well. When you have an NBA legend discrediting your career and accomplishments, it can hurt your career. It may not prevent you from winning rings, but it can prevent you from being thought of as highly as you would like to be at the end of your career because knowledgeable voices have influence. It can even prevent you from making halls of fame, ask Terrell Owens. I believe that in our society, we need to emphasize how influential generation gaps are in our perception of sports. Think about it, if Kobe didn’t start his career while Michael Jordan was playing and several years after like around now, maybe people wouldn’t be calling him this generation’s Michael Jordan, but the next Michael Jordan. Maybe Kobe played to close to Michael Jordan’s era so his impact was still fresh in the minds of NBA fans back in Kobe’s prime. Who know’s? Comparing players is fun is fun for fans and analysts. That’s part of what makes sports interesting. But, when well-respected former players start publicly discrediting current player’s accomplishments and the whole league, that might be a little too far. We, fans and players young and old, need to understand that we cannot completely and fairly judge a person’s career until after it’s done. Doing that might prevent us from recognizing that we are watching the best player in history, or fool us into thinking that we are watching the best player in history. While a player is playing, all we can do is speculate.

No Love: Disrespect for the NBA Coaching Position

2013 seemed to be a significant year for NBA coaches. There were 12 coaching changes in the summer of 2013 with most of the changes being coaches being fired or not resigned. That summer seemed to set the tone for coaches that we see today.

Earlier this year, Kevin McHale, the coach of the Houston Rockets was fired EARLY in the season. Not even a quarter of the season went by. They went to the Western Conference Finals last year and ran into a brick wall called the Golden State Warriors. However, they were off to a disappointing start this year. Then, David Blatt, the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers gets fired. The Cavaliers went to the NBA Finals last year with a team full of key injuries and ran into a brick wall called the Golden State Warriors (you see a trend here?). He got fired right before the All-Star break and the team was first place in the East. The coaches of the two first place teams usually coach their respective conferences for the All-Star Game. The interim coach for Cavaliers coached the All-Star Game having only coached for 3 games this season. These are the types of things that are going on in the NBA.

Five coaches have been fired this year and we are at the “halfway mark” of the season which is right after the All-Star game despite the fact that more than half of the season has passed. I would say that coaches are on a short leash, but a guy like Lionel Hollins, who has been successful as a coach in the NBA before, only lasted 1 and 1/2 seasons with the Nets. That’s another level of short. I would say you would have to win quickly as a coach in the NBA, but David Blatt got fired while his team was at the top of the East. The only logical reason that I could think of that coaches jobs are constantly on the line like this is a lack of respect for coaches in the NBA.

Analytics plays a factor in this, as well. We are in a new era of NBA basketball. Math has invaded the game. General managers are looking for today’s coaches to take into account shot percentages when they are coaching offense. I don’t mean that the general managers want them to tell their players to take high percentage shots. I mean that LITERALLY want the coaches to coach players to take shots that go down at a higher percentage using the advanced statistics that are available to teams. For example, if your team makes threes at a higher rate than layups, today’s general managers are going to look for you to coach your team to jack up threes and turn down layups. This newer way of coaching with an emphasis on numbers and not just traditional offense has resulted in people looking away from older coaches despite having the numbers. Many older head coaches lament this new focus by general managers due to the fact that a coach might have the results and it still might not be good enough. This is why the Memphis Grizzlies fired their successful head coach Lionel Hollins and signed rookie, analytics focused Dave Joerger as head coach. Although, even his job isn’t all too safe. This why the Houston Rockets only score from behind the three point line and close to the basket, nothing in-between.

But, it’s more than that. You cannot tell me that coaches are having their teams at the top of the NBA, still getting fired, and there not be anything deeper going on here. Stan Van Gundy is one of the most well-respected coaches in the league and he just got his first job since getting fired by the Magic at the end of the Dwight era. It seems as if Gregg Popovich, Rick Carlisle, and Steve Kerr are the only head coaches that are untouchable in the NBA and I only say Steve Kerr because the Golden State Warriors might have the best season in NBA history. There is a lack of respect for the coaching position in the NBA.

Job security is important in all career fields. If a person constantly works with the pressure of one mistake costing them their job, they are probably not going to do their job well. In coaching, your job security is dependent on how other people do their jobs. It is supposed to (emphasis on supposed to) be that if the players play well, then you keep your job. However, when you look at head coaches like Scott Brooks from the Thunder, David Blatt from the Cavaliers, Tom Thibodeau from the Bulls, and others, then you see that may not be the case in the NBA. Even if your team isn’t doing well, you have to give a coach time to really implement what he wants to implement with a team. A coach has to get to know their team. One year is not enough to do this. Two years might not even be enough to do this. Look, I’m a Knicks fan and even though a lot of fans wanted him gone, and I’m not saying that they are wrong in saying that or that the Knicks are wring in their decision, I cannot be totally outraged if Derek Fisher didn’t get fired this year or even came back for another year…………… OK, that extra year might be pushing it, but my point is that teams have to allow coaches to work and work freely. In the previous eras, coaches were given time to work. If a coach has a bad year in the 1990’s, or even two, unless it’s historically they’re not going anywhere. They have time to develop an identity with their team and see if they are the right fit for a team. In addition to finding the right fit, giving the coach a few years gives the general manager time to figure out if an underachieving team is underachieving because of the players or the coach.

Who’s more important: the player or the coach? Really think about this. Gregg Popovich and the whole Spurs organization are what general managers want. They want the perfect coach, the perfect system, and players who take discounts. So, in an era where people have no patience in general, are general managers giving coaches no real time to prove themselves because they are in a rush to look for the next Pop. Or, are they blame deflecting on the coaches anytime a team doesn’t live up to the expectations of the public.

The NBA is a player’s league. If you don’t have good player’s, you cannot win no matter what system you run. Yet, organizations hold coaches accountable for a team not doing well. Part of the reason for this is that general managers choose the players so if they blame the players, they are really blaming themselves. Another reason is that general managers invest a lot of money in players so trading players, even if that may be best for the team, means that the general manager wasted their money by signing this player in the first place, so they rather stick with the player, hope that the team suddenly starts to play well, and fire the coach to look like you’re fixing the problem. These are people’s livelihoods that teams are playing with. You literally have guys like Doug Collins, Jeff Van Gundy, and maybe even Mark Jackson that do not want to coach in today’s NBA because of what they would have to deal with. They rather stick to being commentators. At the end of the day, from what I’ve noticed, these teams usually set their teams development back by firing coaches quickly so to the teams that fire coaches quickly…

Who Wants To Be A Multimillionaire: Insane Contracts in the MLB

In the early days of baseball, before the MLB existed, there was the National Association of Professional Baseball Players . This is basically the same National League that exists today because after the National League came the American League and the two, over time, merged and today we have Major League Baseball (MLB). However, in the days when the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was the major destination for all baseball players, players used to just hop from one team to the next. I know this sounds crazy and some of you reading this may think, “Yea, that’s free agency.” No. Imagine if Clayton Kershaw left the Dodgers and joined the Mets when the Dodgers got down 3-1 in the playoffs last year. I’m not sure how the playoffs worked for the National Association back in the day or even if they had any, but it was that easy for guys to leave their teams when they wanted to because they weren’t under contract. It wasn’t until the National League was formed that players weren’t allowed to leave their team. But when I say they weren’t allowed to leave their team, I mean players were bound to their team for life. The rule that allowed this was reserve clause. The reserve clause basically allowed teams to keep players for life by renewing their contracts when they wanted. It went from one extreme to the next. It wasn’t until over a hundred years later when the fight against it led by Marvin Miller (creator of the Major League Baseball’s Player’s Association), Curt Flood (who sued the MLB over the reserve clause and lost in the Supreme Court), Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally (players who challenged the rule in the 70’s and won free agency for the players) was the backlash against the rule taken seriously. However, these pioneers are the reason that the MLB caught up with the other sports leagues in America and that free agency exists today. They are the reason that Ryan Braun is supposed to make $145,500,000 through 2020.

 

Baseball is notorious for their contracts. When you talk about the top players you talk about hundreds of millions of dollars, per player. Not just the money, you talk about the length, as well. Players get signed for close to, or in Giancarlo Stanton’s case more than, a decade. This is unheard of in any other sport. Players get a lot of money in the NBA and NFL particularly the star players or quarterbacks. However, getting committed to a contract for most of your career (let’s be honest, if you sign a contract for more than a decade, that’s most of your career, I don’t care what sport it is), sets you and your family up for life. This type of security is almost unheard of for the even the top players in basketball.

The contracts are this huge for 2 reasons: the longevity that is possible in the sport and the limited quality of star talent in sports. Baseball is not basketball. It is not hockey. It is not rugby. It is not football, neither of them. Depending on the position, the sport tends not to be physically taxing on your whole body. Pitchers have to worry about their arm (although pitchers back in the day used to pitch double headers and complete games like it was nothing, but that’s another issue). Catchers have to be in an uncomfortable position for a long time. Besides that, infielders and outfielders run every now and again. It can get physical, but it is not typically a physical game. For this reason, general managers and owners do not mind making long-term investments into their star players, even if the player might be turning 40 at the end if the contract. Now, think of sports as a capitalistic business, which it is. If a product is productive at its purpose, then the more rare it is, the more valuable it becomes. At that point, it’s about who’s willing to pay the highest price to acquire the product. Each star is one of the best at what they do and may do it differently. Basically, there’s only one Giancarlo Stanton. There’s only one Mike Trout. There’s only one LeBron James. There’s only one Aaron Rodgers. There’s only one Henrik Lundqvist. I know that it may bother a few of you reading this that I am talking about sports players like their smartphones, but when a general manager trades away a player that the fans love from a team they have been on for their whole career without notice, then you know that this is exactly how these general managers and owners see these players.

You cannot become a billionaire by playing for a team in American sports. That financial status is reserved for the owners. If the athletes made so much money, then the owners wouldn’t even bother owning the team. This is the definition of rich people problems. However, think about the principle. Do not think like a fan while reading this paragraph. I repeat. DO NOT THINK LIKE A FAN WHILE READING THIS PARAGRAPH. In baseball, the top players are not making millions, but hundreds of millions of dollars, They are the ones that are bringing in the money for the team, not the owners. There are hundreds of players and less than 50 owners, 30 teams. Yet, all the players combined are bringing in around 50% of the revenue. And, you still have guys being set for life with their 10 year/$100 million dollar contracts. This just shows you how much money baseball and sports in general are making because you have guys making near $30 million a year and that’s nothing for the teams.

These are just some of the names of the players in MLB history who never lived up to their contract. This happens a lot. As a Mets fan, I remember Jose Reyes having his best year of his career during his last year with the Mets. Once he got his money from the Miami Marlins, he stopped playing at the level that got him the money he was getting. That happens a lot, as well. You can think like a fan again. How often do you hear fans complain about how much money a guy on their team is making and about how the money spent on him could be spent on someone else, or 2 other lesser known guys. This is the state of the MLB. If you have a few good seasons, you can be set for life. Is it worth it, though?

From a business aspect, it’s worth it, but from a team development aspect, it’s overrated. With stars, you can underachieve and still have the attention and excitement around your team. Nobody wants to underachieve (unless you’re the Sixers), but being bad with players that nobody knows is a recipe for relocation. But when you look at the teams that are winning championships or are contenders every year, the Cardinals, Giants, Mets, Royals, they build their teams through their farm systems. They may sign a free agent, but they don’t really on them for success. I think that giving a guy a lot of money for a long time might be ideal for some teams, but every team doesn’t need to be committing so heavily to baseball players. As far as the length of the contracts? Unless your hitting home runs like this guy in the video below (and no steroids in 2016), then I don’t think paying someone for a whole decade of production in advance is worth it, considering how many people don’t live up to the contract. But hey, it’s the market.

 

All-Star Discrimination: Voting and Centers in the NBA

These are the starters for the NBA All-Star game in this year, which is going to be held in Toronto. The left side is the Western Conference team and the right side is the Eastern Conference team. So, there were many stories that surrounded the All-Star lineup this year. Zaza Pachulia almost started. If you don’t know who he is then you should already see the problem there. Stephen Curry is an automatic shoo-in every year now since he has become the NBA’s most popular player over the last 2 years. Some people are questioning if Kyle Lowry deserves to be starting, but not that many people too mad at him starting and how would it look if the host city didn’t have representative from its team starting the game. Some people are mad that Kobe is in it at all and definitely shouldn’t be starting despite this being his last year due to his performance this year and his team’s poor record. However, those are mostly Kobe haters. Besides that and annual conversation of who got snubbed, there hasn’t been much conversation about who’s starting. When you look at that list, you think to yourself, “I guess all those people deserve to be there. However, when I look at that list, I see one glaring issue: no centers. There are absolutely no centers in the All-Star game. Why is this you may ask? This is due to the voting format.

That is Andre Drummond, the starting center for the Detroit Pistons. These are his stats this year, so far.

That is Demarcus Cousins, starting center for the Sacramento Kings. These are his stats this year, so far. This was actually soon after the All-Star starters were named. So, that is how he responded to not being named a starter.

Andre Drummond plays in the East and Demarcus Cousins play in the West. So, it works out that both could have played and would not be competing against each other for votes. There are other people that got snubbed. There is Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls that’s having a career year. There is Damian Lillard who is having a very underrated year, as well. There is no doubt that everybody mentioned so far will make the All-Star team as reserves. The fact of the matter is that there are only 5 people in each conference that can start. Therefore, to Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard, oh well. However, for Demarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond, it’s different. They aren’t starting not because there were other people in their conference and their position that were better than them, they aren’t starting because they are centers. Period.

Originally, the NBA All-Star voting was done by the position. You vote in a point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Then, the NBA realized that most players are able to and do play 2 positions. So, they changed the format to 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a center.  Two seasons ago, the NBA changed their format to the format that we have today. They completely eliminated the center position from the voting process. Now, you vote in 2 back court and 3 front court players. This is why you have 3 small forwards starting in the East. The game of basketball is changing. The Warriors are the face of that change. They don’t shoot threes because the defense makes them. They want to shoot them. Positions 1 to 5 are above average three point shooters. They embrace spacing. And, argument can be made that their best lineup is a lineup in which Draymond Green is starting at the center position and he might be shorter than their starting shooting guard. However, Demarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond are undoubtedly the best players at their position in their conference. Can anybody really say that they do not deserve to be starting in the All-Star game.

Let’s be real. The All-Star game is a popularity contest. The most popular players always start because the fans vote for who they like and the most popular players tend to be the most liked. However, the most popular players tend to be the best players, as well. Their skill level, numbers, and success get them noticed and the better they play, the more popular they become. However, there is an issue here. There is only so much that a good center can do as far as exciting a crowd. Most (almost all) centers cannot handle the ball well enough to break somebody’s ankles. Most centers, although that is changing, cannot hit threes like guards. The traditional elite center has post moves that make them elite at scoring in the paint. The traditional elite center garners the hearts of fans by fooling their defender with posts moves like Hakeem Olajuwon. Traditional elite centers can dunk on you. The absolute, undisputed best centers possess all these skills. Demarcus Cousins and to a lesser degree Andre Drummond do. However, the best guards and forwards possess those skills as well in addition to their ability to cross you up, shoot threes, and make fancy passes. So this AUTOMATICALLY puts the center at a disadvantage in All-Star Voting. Centers can still be voted in because they are categorized as front court players. But, can Andre Drummond, a guy that is incredibly productive but in a limited way, become more popular than Carmelo Anthony, a guy that is productive as well but in a more exciting way. Unless he is dunking, Andre Drummond will not entertain you with his rebounds, but Carmelo shooting over 2 people and making the shot will. I am a Knicks fan. Carmelo Anthony has been playing very well recently (keyword: recently) and has looked like the superstar that he is. However, he does not deserve to be there over a guy who has been the best center in the Eastern Conference all year and if it had not been for this voting format, he would not have been. Carmelo only had 360 votes more than Drummond who was leading him for months. Plus, the effort put forth by his team alone should make him a starter in the All-Star game. Look at this.

And, he still didn’t make it. My point is this. If you are the best in your position, you should start in the All-Star game for your team. This is basically discrimination by the NBA against centers. The center position, despite the lack of scoring from most teams at this position, is still very important to the NBA. Centers are extremely important to a team’s defense. If you can’t rebound well, it makes it extremely hard to win a championship. Their importance to the game alone should warrant them still having a position on the All-Star ballot. It is true that the game is changing and most centers either shoot threes or get rebounds and defend. However, the best centers are still traditional in playing style. You might see Demarcus Cousins take a three point shot here and there, but his game is based off of his dominant post play in the paint. He is not a combo center/forward or whatever you want to call these new age centers. Andre Drummond is not shooting threes. Hassan Whiteside is most likely not going to take defenders off the dribble with elite ball-handling skills. But, they are the best at what they do. Most centers cannot decide to play a back court position if they want to for most of the year. But, Kobe, one of the best SHOOTING GUARDS in NBA history, is a frontcourt player this year. This is another unfair advantage. Demarcus Cousins might have to win the NBA Championship and get the Finals MVP if he wants to make an All-Star team just because he is a center despite being the best one in the NBA and that is wrong.

Sinking Ships: Tanking in the NBA

The following video is going to highlight the Spurs and their bench more than talk about the Sixers, but pay attention to the score.

The official meaning for the word ‘tank’ does not have anything to do with sports. You will not find the most common use of the word in any official dictionary. However, when you search for the definition on Google, it gives the official definitions, but incorporates the ‘slang’ definition, as well. The definition basically says exactly what the Philadelphia organization has been doing for the last 3 years which is basically losing on purpose. Now, when you tell non-sports fans about this concept, the first thing you will almost always hear is: Why would a team want to lose on purpose? This is important to recognize because the fact that this question comes up speaks to the fact that tanking goes against our very nature as human beings and therefore there might be something fundamentally wrong with it.

This is how tanking happens in sports: particularly in the NBA. In the NBA, you either want to be the best or the worst, as crazy as that sounds. The reason for that is that if you are the best, you can win a championship. If you are the worst, you have a better chance of getting the first pick in the NBA Draft, where the best college basketball players get selected by NBA teams. If you are just alright, then you’ll make the playoffs most likely but we all know that you’re not winning the championship because you’re just not the best and you’re too good to get a high pick in the draft so you’re basically stuck there trying to provide false hope of a championship to your fans and no future pretty much. An example of a team like this would have to be the Atlanta Hawks from around 2007-2011. They were good and had some good records to show for it, but they weren’t knocking LeBron out of the playoffs and the fans knew this because they would have decent attendance, but most of the fans were rooting for the other team. Many people thought that this was because you have so many people from other states that move down to Atlanta, but that might not be the case because we saw how excited the fan base could be when they feel they have a legitimate chance to do something in the playoffs last year and to a degree this year, as well.

Other leagues have drafts, as well. However, tanking isn’t as big of a problem in the other leagues due to the nature of the sport. I had an argument over Christmas with my cousin. He was born and raised in Jamaica, as almost all of my family was, as a HUGE soccer fan. When he came to America, he started to follow basketball a little bit more and decided to become a LeBron James fan. So, he saw all The Decision mayhem and he saw him go back to Cleveland, as well. Basically, as a soccer fan, he was used to seeing superstars join each other’s teams and dominate so he said he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. My position was that basketball is a different sport by nature so you can’t compare the two and that there’s something to be said for being THE reason why you win a championship in a sport where one guy can change the whole direction of an organization. It was a long argument. That being said, it is true that one or two guys can single-handedly change the whole direction of a franchise in basketball and it is hard (not impossible) to say that about football, or soccer, or hockey, or any other team sport. This is why there is more parity in the other sports, as well. Therefore, the moves being made by a team’s front office in other sports are almost always about improving the win percentage in the next season. In the NBA, who’s beating LeBron and whoever else is on his team? Notice, over the last 20 years, it’s almost always the same handful of teams winning the championship. The Bulls won 6 in the 1990’s. Kobe has 5, Wade has 3, the Pistons, Celtics, Mavericks and Warriors (to date) won one, and Duncan has 5. That’s all in the last 17 seasons, but there’s 30 NBA teams.

So now, you have the NBA draft. In other sports where tanking isn’t as common, the rules of the draft are very similar to the NBA. However, this might not be common to say, but the NBA Draft rewards tanking. Tanking is illegal in the NBA, but it’s hard to enforce a rule when you can’t really prove that a team is breaking it. The 76ers have come the closest in NBA history to show without a shadow of a doubt that they are tanking. I have never met an athlete in my life that has played a game with the intention of losing. Although, it has happened.

It is the front office that makes roster changes that directly hurt the team. Philadelphia has done nothing but make losing changes and here’s a list of them. The worst trade of all was trading away their most promising rookie in a long time who people thought they were tanking for in the first place. Now, all Philadelphia does is lose. They consistently get high draft picks though and this what they want. Is this wrong or just how business works in the NBA.

This can’t be right. That initial first reaction when you explain tanking to someone is what let’s you know that. First of all, I’m a Knicks fan and my team tanked last year and this year we look pretty good and are improving every game. I feel for the Philadelphia fans. They have tanked for so long that losing is a habit over there and it might take them a while to shake it. There must be a way in which Philadelphia can look at other teams or other leagues for guidance on how to develop a good team. The fans don’t deserve it and the city doesn’t deserve it. After all, this legend played there.

The Stephen Curry Effect

Did you see some of the shots that this man was taking? He did whatever he wanted out on the court.

For those who are not in tune with popular culture in America, this is Stephen Curry. He is the greatest shooter of a basketball that the planet Earth has ever seen and I am not exaggerating as you can see from these highlights from a game earlier this season. There have been many great shooters in NBA history, but Stephen Curry stands out. His shooting prowess has caught the eyes of the sports world and really all of America as the NBA All-Star Voting results from last season showed.

All basketball fans know that when a basketball star captivates the hearts of America, people tend to emulate them while they are playing basketball. Particularly, fans tend to emulate them. Particularly, young fans tend to emulate them. We all know someone who thought that they were Allen Iverson and we all know people who still think that they are Kobe Bryant (this may or may not be to the detriment of your team whether on a recreational court or during an organized game). Basically, NBA stars change the way that the sport of basketball is played here in America and internationally and if you don’t think that NBA stars change the way that basketball is played internationally, just look at Stephon Marbury. The emulation increases when the star wins an NBA championship and when the player’s stature is more closely related to that of somebody that doesn’t play in the NBA than somebody that does and Stephen Curry is 6’3”, 190 lbs, and won the NBA Championship last season.

But the Warriors won the championship though…

Despite Charles Barkley saying it in a very interesting way, many people who are well-respected in the professional and collegiate basketball community share the same opinion that Charles does about jump shooting teams. Many people feel that if you just shoot the basketball like crazy (especially from the 3 point line) that you cannot succeed in the NBA and many other levels of basketball. But the Warriors won the championship though…

No disrespect to the Golden State Warriors. They do more than just shoot the basketball. They are one of the most intelligent teams in the league and they play very underrated defense. However, you cannot deny the fact that their offense is concentrated primarily on the 3 point shot with the king of threes running the offense: Stephen Curry. So now when you consider the success that Stephen Curry has had, the fact that he makes it look effortless, and the fact that most guys are near his height so most guys aren’t too small to attempt Stephen Curry-esque shots, you realize that a lot of people are going to try and emulate him. It’s a given. But, not everybody can be Stephen Curry. You can’t shoot like him. If you’re reading this and you can, I will probably see you on Hoop Mixtape or Ball is Life pretty soon. So what kind of effect is Stephen Curry having on the NBA? Enter Mark Jackson…

It’s interesting that Mark Jackson is the one that is saying that because Mark Jackson is the reason that the Warriors are good. He was their coach for a few years and took them from a team with a below average record to a team with one of the best records in the West in a very short time span. An argument can be made that Steve Kerr took them to another level and Steve Kerr was the guy who replaced Mark Jackson, but at the time that he was fired, he was doing a very good job and the players loved him. So with all that love that exists between the coach and his former team, it’s surprising that he said that. However, two things have to be acknowledged. 1. Mark Jackson did not mean those comments maliciously and meant that Stephen Curry is indirectly and unintentionally hurting the game. 2. He may have a point.

Yes, this top ranked high school player is 7 feet and still opted to shoot the three after he broke the defender’s ankles although he kind of had the lane (or could make a lane at that height in high school). The fact that he was able to break his ankles at that height is impressive. If you have 7 footers looking for threes, you’re definitely going to have 6 footers pulling them like crazy. Is Stephen Curry to blame for this though?

The NBA is changing and Stephen Curry and the Warriors are the face of that change. The 3 point shot is the most dangerous shot in basketball. A series of 3 point shots can cut into a big lead in seconds. The Warriors have mastered this. Stephen Curry has become the best player in the league in the eyes of many. Everybody wants to be the best but, can you really blame the man for doing what he does best and what works for him. The incredible passing and floor leadership is very evident in the video in the beginning of this post. However, like Mark Jackson said, people don’t notice that though, they notice your biggest strength. Kids aren’t going to look to emulate Stephen Curry’s defense, footwork, or leadership too often. What is undeniable is that many people are going to try and get the 3 point shot to work for them like it does for him because of height comparisons.We cannot deny that Stephen Curry has effected the game dramatically and the basketball world will feel this effect for years to come.

But if you are going to shoot a lot of threes? Don’t do this.

Parity in the NBA: Super Teams and the Eastern Conference/Western Conference Beef

(This was originally written in December of 2014. Does it still apply this season?)

Who remembers The Decision? LeBron James single-handedly put the NBA on hold for half the summer of 2010 and the eyes of the sports and, even the entertainment world, were all tuned into ESPN on July 8, 2010. He had almost every NBA fan on edge that night because the speculation about where he was going to go was all over the place. I remember that day. I was home all day with nothing to do but watch ESPN. It was as if his free agency was a marathon. The team that was in first place would change from week to week, day to day, and even hour to hour. However, on July 8, 2010, the race started to heat up, the team in the lead was changing every minute, and the finish line was near. At one point, the Bulls were the team that was in the lead. At one point, the Knicks were in the lead and there was talk about a team with new superstar addition Amar’e Stoudemire and LeBron James being a possible tandem. As a 15 year old Knicks fan, I couldn’t be more excited at that point. However, around an hour or two before The Decision, Chris Broussard, whose claim to fame was during this summer covering free agency, started to report that sources were telling him that LeBron was probably going to choose Miami. I couldn’t believe it. Chris Bosh had agreed to sign with the Heat at this time and I never thought that I would see three stars in their prime, and arguably the top two players in the game, join together to play on the same team. It was almost unheard of in the NBA. Yet, everything was still relatively up in the air and Knicks fans like me, Cavaliers fans, Lakers fans, Bulls fans, and basically all NBA fans could still be optimistic. Then, this happened.

He shook the NBA. At the time, the anger in Cleveland was what the media focused on and rightly so. However, a lot of NBA fans felt led on and angry at him for the whole television special, not to the extent of Cleveland fans but still angry. The Heat automatically became perennial favorites to win the championship. They did not get off to the start they wanted, but still ended up with a top seed in the East and ended up in the NBA Finals. Then, something interesting happened.

They actually lost. The NBA Super Team lost. And this is important to highlight as well, a Western Conference team once again won the NBA Championship. The Heat did go on to beat the young, up and coming, yet inexperienced Oklahoma City Thunder team and then if it weren’t for this shot the Heat would have lost in arguably the best Finals series’ of all time.

The Heat were on the top of the world and changed the NBA in a sense by showing a different way of winning. Not winning through developing a team through the draft, but winning through free agency. They were on top of the world and looked on paper and on the court unstoppable. Then, they lost by a record margin in the most recent NBA Finals and LeBron has gone back to the Cavaliers and started up a new Super Team with two young stars in Kyrie Irving, who was already in Cleveland, and Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The way the Spurs played in the NBA Finals to win the championship as well as the way the team was formed made just as much of a statement as the Heat’s championships two years before. They became America’s team for a period of time because of their ball movement and lack of superstars. Sure, they had players who were stars at one point in time and an aging star who was playing like he was 10 years younger than he was, but the scoring was so balanced and they were so connected on defense that you got a sense of team and not stars. Their championship made just as much of a statement in the NBA as the Heat’s championships two years before. Not just about how to play the game of basketball, but about the Western Conference, as well.

The Spurs let people know that the fundamentals of the game that worked in the era of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain still work today. Ball movement and good team defense still works. Good scouting and drafting, whether it be overseas or late in the draft, still works. Not only does it work, it works against anyone even juggernauts like the Heat. Both the Heat and the Spurs changed the NBA because the Spurs gave small market somewhat less attractive teams hope and the Heat gave large market teams in big cities a blueprint to success. Not only that, but the Spurs showed the NBA that any team can be beaten no matter who is on your team. These NBA Super Teams are not a threat to parity to the NBA. However, in the eyes of many, conferences are.

Yes, it is true that I just said teams like the Heat are not a threat to parity in the NBA, but they might be a threat to parity in their own conference. For most of LeBron James’ tenure on the Heat, there was one maybe two teams that were considered competition to them in the Eastern Conference. Now on the Cavs, the same seems to hold true in this early NBA season. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference…

That was the first and arguably toughest round for the Spurs in the 2014 playoffs. It went 7 games. That team almost didn’t make the playoffs with THIS RECORD. They were good enough to give the eventual champions a run for their money in the playoffs, but were barely good enough to even make the playoffs. It is well known in the amongst NBA players, fans, general managers, and coaches that the Western Conference is the stronger conference of the two meaning that the Western Conference has the better teams and if you go by the team overall records, it’s hard to argue against that. Meanwhile, the Heat and Pacers who were the top two seeds played sub-.500 teams in the playoffs. These two teams were so much better than everybody else in their conference that it was disturbing meanwhile 50 wins in the Western Conference does not guarantee you a playoff spot. Personally, I thought that a Western Conference team was the only team that can beat the Heat in the playoffs, but I thought that a lot of Western Conference teams could beat them. When the Knicks were struggling last year, I didn’t totally give up on them because they still had a chance to make the playoffs and almost did with a 37-45 record. Things like this have caused many to call for doing away with the conference system which has been a part of the NBA for years altogether. However, the strength of conference moves in cycles. In the Jordan era, the Eastern Conference was an extremely strong conference and although Jordan ruled the 90’s, his championships did not come easy. So, maybe getting rid of the conference system is an overreaction to a system that will fix itself in time; but, this is bad.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been accused of tanking the last two years to get good draft picks, which they have. However, they are playing at such a low level that many find it unacceptable what front office has done to their team. However, what they can’t be accused of is not planning for the future. They can go for free agents and try to rebuild that way, but have decided to go with rebuilding through the draft and only time will tell if these two seasons were in vain. What cannot be underestimated is the role that the conference that they play in plays into their rebuilding. If the conference remains this weak, maybe even the slightest improvement can get them into the playoffs where anything can happen. Will they ever have a chance to win a championship in the near future with the high level that these Western Conference teams play at every night? Who knows. Can they win with no superstar and good drafting? Who knows. Coaching was not mentioned one time in this blog post and that is representative of the general underappreciating of coaches in the NBA. However, coaching is key to championships in the NBA. When all is said and done, success in the NBA does not begin and end with the amount of stars a team has. Super Teams/Big Threes are not as big of a threat to parity as once thought, but the conference system might be. Who knows.