Posts

Are The Dubs Done?

/63 Comments/in /by

Last night I was too tired, and half asleep, so did the unthinkable and semi-hijacked Rayne’s thread with a shout out to Punaise and Molly Pitcher regarding the Golden State Warriors demise. Punaise has not showed up yet, but Molly’s response was pretty spot on:

Yeah, bummer of a birthday for Mr Pitcher. We had to turn the sound off in the second half.

I think Bob Myers made some head scratching decisions prior to this season, and at the Allstar break. Why did they keep Iguodala, whom I love, but is definitely beyond his sell-by date?

Why was so little done to find some sort of replacement for Wiseman? The lack of a mobile Big really crippled us. Loony was a rebounding machine, but he cannot handle the other Bigs in the league.

The Warriors have some serious thinking and greatly needed action ahead of them, starting immediately. Steph, Klay and Dray need to take pay cuts so the Warriors can bring the needed talent to support them, now that the NBA has monkeyed with the salary cap rules to keep Joe Lacob from just ponying up the salary cap tax.

Draymond has recently said he wants to play 4 more years and retire as a Warrior. Both Kerr and Tom Izzo have said that not only is Draymond the smartest basketball mind they have ever met, but he is one of the smartest guys they have ever met. If Klay and Steph still want to compete as much as they have claimed, they can still get another Championship, but only if they have the supporting cast that has been missing this year. And Jordan Poole needs to be traded yesterday, there was a reason Draymond punched him in camp.

Think that is right. So, are the Dubs done? Dunno, but they do have some impending salary cap issues under the NBA’s ever more byzantine guidelines. If Golden State keeps the big threee together, they are going to need some help. Jordan Poole thinks he is Steph Curry, but he is not Steph Curry, does not play defense that well and appears a bit of a cancer in the locker room. Loose Poole. Ike is wonderful (and a former Arizona great), but he is done. Keep the big three, get a little help and keep Wiggins healthy, and you still have an elite team.

The Suns are kind of in the same boat. Have Booker and Durant, and that is as dynamic a duo as there is in the NBA. Yet Chris Paul is old, slow, and never managed to be there come playoff time even when younger and faster. Deandre Ayton is just a puzzle. Has every physical skill and factor in the world, but doesn’t seem to care. The sun is setting on Ayton’s time in Phoenix. If anybody will take him. The NBA Western Conference is not what it once was. Change is afoot.

Impoverished Teachers Or The Rich Bitches Of Professional Sports?

/164 Comments/in , /by

Which side are you on? I have been an avid, if not rabid, sports fan since I was a little kid. Still am. It would be great to have sports back on a full scale.

But at what cost? How important is it really?

The NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL are all demanding daily testing, even when they are, as Amy Trask has coined it, “enbubbled”.

Not all the athletes are millionaires, many are not paid near that and are just trying to hang on and make a living for themselves and their families. That is a good thing. But even the common professional athlete makes many times more than a teacher.

Who is more important to society in the long run? The league personnel and athletes are getting tested and traced relentlessly in their bubbles and training camps because billionaire owners, TV platforms and gambling lobbyists demand it. They are tired of their gravy train being interrupted. An understandable thing if in their shoes. But 99.9% of the citizenry is not in their shoes.

Teachers and their schools are being ordered to open with nothing in place for their, or their students’, safety. How many teachers in Florida could be tested in Florida if the insane capacity being expended in the Magic Kingdom on the NBA were reallocated to a better benefit? How will that play out with that which is allocated to the NFL, MLB and NHL were reallocated across the country?

Where are the real priorities in a time of pandemic this country, and this world, has not seen in the last 100 years?

I want to reemphasize, would love for all the sports to be back. That would be wonderful. Especially when we all are sequestered unnaturally in our own homes.

But maybe teachers and their students….our children….and the future of all are more important than the current demand for sports.

The Covid danger is real, it is not a joke. It is not partisan politics. Here is a heartbreaking story. This man ran through my neighborhood to a win. The young and strong are in danger, not just the old and infirm.

Maybe, at least temporarily, our priorities ought change. Maybe LeBron James and Tom Brady should give their daily test to a teacher.

Trash Talk: The NBA’s Insane Money Grab Scheme

/77 Comments/in /by

I really don’t have a lot for this week, but there is this: The National Basketball Association is desperate to join the Grand Reopening. And boy is it a doozy. Via ESPN:

“the NBA’s board of governors overwhelmingly approved a proposal for 22 teams to return to play, starting July 31 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
…
Before the NBA can come back, teams must reassemble in their home markets. That means bringing back players who left for their hometowns — or, in some cases, home countries — while the league sorted out its plans. Players who return from overseas are likely to be subject to a two-week quarantine upon arrival, under current federal rules.
Teams will continue to hold individual workouts in their facilities. A training camp will start June 30 and last a week. All teams will fly to Orlando on July 7, three weeks before the restart of the season. They will likely have to quarantine for some period; Florida law requires people flying in from some states, including New York, to quarantine for 14 days.”

Orlando you say? Yep, they are all going to DisneyWorld to live and play in a “bubble”! The 22 teams include six, including the Phoenix Suns, that were not in playoff contention when the season was stopped. Why, you ask? Well it is literally as simple as more teams equals more games to broadcast, and therefore more money to make for the plantation owners of the NBA. A group that is all white with the exception of Charlotte’s Michael Jordan, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, who is Indian and Joseph Tsai of the Brooklyn Nets. The players they are summonsing to live and play in the bubble are, of course, about 75% black.

But there are some problems, of course. One is the players:

“In a string of tweets on Wednesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski outlined conversations that were taking place over the last couple of days including a large group of “several dozen” players who believe resuming play in Orlando is a bad idea.

According to Wojnarowski, because of the dissenting views, the NBA and NBPA are likely to agree on a provision in which players would not be required to join their respective teams for the restart of the season. The two sides are working toward an agreement that would not include disciplinary action for players who choose to stay home, though they would lose a portion of their salary for games missed.”

Yeah, while players want to play theoretically, who wants to live in a bubble far away from home, with limited, if any fun, friends and nightlife so the league can rake in some bucks off of TV revenue? And probably little to no family contact. There will, of course, be no fans and players and coaches will be Carona tested every day. Older coaches may not be allowed, which would be horrid, and, frankly, probably a violation of age discrimination protections.

There are a LOT more issues too, starting with how Covid secure will “the bubble” actually be? It might work. It might t not. There are a lot of moving parts on that. As to those parts and all the other problems, this article by Zach Lowe at ESPN is really good, and I urge you to take a read of it.

It will be really interesting to see how this plays out. Were I an NBA player, I think I’d take a pass on this harebrained scheme and say see you next year guys.

Well, that’s it. The Zach Lowe piece really is a worth a read to get the full picture. Today’s music is, of course, Roundball Rock, one of the best sports theme songs ever. Yeah, I know, it is John Tesh, but with a full big band, and it is pretty good. Hoop it up folks!