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I love basketball and I love the NBA. But over the last week or so there have been several head scratching news stories regarding the NBA.
Bernie Bickerstaff
The first gem comes from Bernie Bickerstaff, the head coach of the new team in Charlotte. This past Sunday's Dallas Morning News reported Bickerstaff has banned the use of whistles in his team practices.
Huh?!
Apparently, he feels that blowing whistles during practice is demeaning to the players and he doesn't want to break their spirit.
<pause for effect>
This probably is just so stupid it doesn't even merit commentary. But that hasn't stopped me yet. What do you think Bernie expects to happen during a game when one of his players commits a foul or the ball goes out of bounds? Should the refs clap at his players? Or would that be too traumatic? Maybe a golf clap would be appropriate.
It is just so stupid I don't know what to think.
One could argue it is a sporting event and whistles are not only a very common part of sports but one of the more effective tools in sports. So effective that they are one of the few devices used across pretty much every major sport. Wow, actually I may have just hit upon another measuring device for the eternal debate about what constitutes a sport. The whistle factor. Anyway, that's a different topic.
One could also choose to argue that these apparently delicate individuals Bernie is coaching are actually very well paid professionals who should be quite capable of dealing with the trauma of a coach's whistle.
One could argue... Oh, never mind. There's a million reasons why this is just a stupid idea. And yes, I'm sure Bernie, or somebody, would like to point out that "stupid" is too crass of a word and I should find a better way to express my feelings. But then that would just be stupid.
Maybe, instead of whistles, Bernie's staff could pick up some kazoos to use during practice. That would be awesome!
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Spree
A much more publicized bit of stupidity in the NBA was provided by Latrell Sprewell. I suppose Latrell must have been chomping at the bit over the summer since the off-season severely reduced his ability to make silly headlines.
He's provided quite a few doozies in the past. There was the infamous coach choking that would have landed most people in jail. There was the infamous secret hand injury that he hid from his team during the off-season one year and just showed up at training camp with a broken hand. That story got even better when we learned that he broke his hand trying to punch somebody on his yacht. Spree's drawn the ire of his coaches and fans so many times in his career it is hard to be surprised by anything he does. Admittedly, it has managed to stay out of really bad trouble, but he's done his share of stupid stuff.
So, this season finds Spree in a snit because he is on the last year of his current contract and he wants a big fat contract extension. Spree, mind you, is making over 14 MILLION DOLLARS this season. His team offered him a three year contract extension for a total of an additional $21 million.
Okay, so I know enough about math to figure out that offer is for an average salary of $7 million. I'm also good enough at math to figure out that he would be taking a pay cut of just over 50%. But, I know that Spree is 34 years old which is much closer to the end of the line for a professional athlete than the start. At 34, his athletic ability can not be expected to increase each season or even remain the same. He will be less of a player two years from now than he is today. Nothing personal. Just the way it goes. I also know that Spree is arguably no better than the third best player on his team already.
Somehow, he has come to believe that he is actually worth $14 million a year. Somebody should tap him on the shoulder and let him know that nobody is actually worth $14 million dollars. Not even his amazing teammate Kevin Garnett, who happens to top my list of most talented players in the NBA. KG is paid even more than Spree and I don't really begrudge him that. He can get that much money to play basketball, so more power to him. Even more so if he can get paid that much money and not turn into a total jerk.
This leads us back to Spree. AKA Total Jerk. See, the deal is Spree... you can't get that kind of money anymore. You got one big fat contract and made tons of money over the last few years. Next year, you are going to make scads of money too. But it won't be to the tune of $14 million.
But if you dare tell me that $7 million a year is insulting to you. You know who you are: a 34 year-old ROLE PLAYER with a history of trouble on and off the court. Oh wait, you just DID say it was insulting. The really insulting part is that you're excuse for being mad about the contract situation is that you actually used the phrase "I've got to feed my family."
Latrell, I wonder if you will ever realize how many people you stepped on by saying that. To top it all off, Spree was given a couple of chances to recant his statement and he stood by it. So, it can't even be passed off as a misstatement in the heat of a conversation or as a misquote.
Maybe Spree should use some of his money to pay Bernie Bickerstaff to walk along side of him all year long and blow a whistle every time Spree starts to say something stupid.
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Fine
Our final dose of NBA stupidity is brought to you by David Stern and his cohorts.
First off, they scheduled the opening night of league play on the same day as the presidential election. Huh?!
Then, the always talkative Mark Cuban spouts off, about the "genius" who made the scheduling snafu, in an entry on his personal blog.
And then, of course, the league fines Cuban (an unspecified amount of money) for complaining publicly about the scheduling mistake. Seriously people.
I totally support the league's right to fine owners, coaches and players for rules violations. It's not a democracy, it's a league and they have the right to regulate their members to some degree. And I totally support Mark Cuban's right to say what is on his mind about all the silly decisions the league makes. He knows the rules and he knows the price for breaking the rules. Well, the actual amount of each fine seems pretty arbitrary so maybe he doesn't actually know the full price but he should have a pretty good idea that when he complains publicly they will take money out of his wallet.
I think Mark is fine with that. He likes the publicity it generates. Even if it is sometimes bad publicity. Especially for a topic like this where there isn't a really great argument for the other side of the story. Obviously, it wasn't the most optimal time to have the opening night.
But what really bothers me, and this may be Mark's primary beef with the league over all, is that they don't appear to have a better way to deal with this stuff.
Is there some sort of communication chain for team owners to use to get either an explanation for these things or at least some open dialog about how it will be improved in the future? Or are the only options available to an upset owner to 1) keep the problem to yourself and hope you get to bring it up during one of the annual owners meetings (unlikely) or 2) launch your own media campaign and face the fury of the league offices?
Additionally, why doesn't the league have a way of communicating back to the fans about this kind of stuff? I know how to get Mark Cuban's opinion about what the league is or is not doing. But where do I go to find the other side of the story? Am I limited to whatever we can glean from a David Stern press release? Is there not somebody within the league office with a compelling enough personality to setup their own official blog to talk about the league?
I realize that would not exactly be the most exciting blog on the 'net, but it could be interesting at times and could be a great method of communicating with the fans.
Right now, all I know is that Cuban thinks the league is pretty stupid most of the time and every time he mentions how stupid they are they fine him. So, I guess the only conclusion available to the fan is that Cuban is right.
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Posted by on 11/10 at 09:27 PM