SAS & Windhorst go in on ASG & Adam Silver's NBA

[Killer Instinct]

"Ring culture" has been a thing since the 60's when Russell was beating down Wilt in the Finals, or did we forget Wilt was constantly ridiculed for not winning, in life and in post mortem? Kareem never wrote that article either, huh? MJ was regulary dumped on by fans and the media in the late 80's for not winning. He was deemed a glorified solo act that was still a notch below Magic & Bird because they won championships while he jumped really high and scored points. Hell, at that point in time, the general consensus from fans & the media was that you couldn't even win with a guard that won a scoring title.

And since y'all want to invoke Kobe's name since you're still suffering from PTSD, a lot of you same negros crying today were parroting 6 > 3 throughout the early 00's during the MJ vs Bean debate and placing emphasis on being Finals MVP. It was ALWAYS,

"He'll score 81 vs Toronto, but he'll never win another ring without Shaq."

"Where's the Finals MVP?"

"4 (Shaq Heat) > 3 as a sidekick."


Now you want to rewrite history and throw passive aggressive hissy fits? The tone only shifted beyond ring count in the late 10's once it became 5 > 2 and now that it looks as if it'll be ending 5 > 4. These new cats lacking the motor of players years past & Silver setting the tone of indifference w/ his good cop routine in contrast to Stern's bad cop has nothing to do with what Skip Bayless is talking about on FS1 on a random Wednesday and everything to do with the fact they simply don't care like that because they don't have to w/ the current regime.

 

[Ziggiy]

Its a goddamn exhibition game. I really don’t see why all the whining is necessary.

Lebron went out there playing hard and trying to set a tone and guess what? He got INJURED. Players ain’t trying to suffer season altering injuries during an exhibition game when the playoffs are right around the corner.


Only complaint I have is stars opting out of the Dunk Contest. THATS crazy in my opinion but as far as Damian jacking up 100 half court shots or Ja and Edwards trying to rewrite the laws of gravity that is what it is.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Is the pro bowl good? Do espn employees spend this same amount of energy shytting on the NFL or has espn made doing that a no fly zone?

 

[bzb]

Because 90% of them were going to end the season healthy. Due to changes in how the game is played (larger players going faster and higher, more dramatic joint-wearing moves like crossovers and eurosteps, schemes requiring you to cover more ground on both ends of the floor), injuries have increased significantly every decade and are currently at a crisis point. What are you going to do about it?

Everyone bytches about superstar injuries ruining the playoffs, but then bytches about stars taking measures to save themselves for the playoffs. You can't have it both ways.

In the Lakers thread, Bron haters were saying that he's a clown if he plays in the All-Star game when he's not 100%, because the only thing that should matter is making the playoffs. But then there's people clowning him for taking it easy in the All-Star game and not going 100%. It's a no-win situation.

i get the point about not getting hurt, but that rarely happens in an asg. closest i can remember was dwade breaking kobes nose in 2012. even still, the lack of effort this weekend was terrible and the season being longer is a poor excuse in this case. they probably go harder in regular practice.

neither bron nor giannis should have played this weekend, but they did anyway because thats what fans and nba money machine wanted. their injuries are also relatively minor.

that said, i'm not sure how to fix the lack of effort and interest. dudes used to play for pride and that would be enough. not so much anymore.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

i get the point about not getting hurt, but that rarely happens in an asg. closest i can remember was dwade breaking kobes nose in 2012. even still, the lack of effort this weekend was terrible and the season being longer is a poor excuse in this case. they probably go harder in regular practice.

neither bron nor giannis should have played this weekend, but they did anyway because thats what fans and nba money machine wanted. their injuries are also relatively minor.

Brad Miller was out several weeks with a sprained ankle that came during the all-star game. Deron Williams pulled a groin back when he was in the rookie/sophomore game. Paul George's ugly leg injury wasn't the all-star game, but it was for an exhibition that was about the same thing

They go harder in practice because practice matters. People keep saying OVER and OVER again that the all-star game doesn't....so wouldn't players eventually internalize that?

that said, i'm not sure how to fix the lack of effort and interest. dudes used to play for pride and that would be enough. not so much anymore.

The problem is that like you point out, Giannis and LeBron shouldn't have played. But they are going to play or else fans will freak out (hell, even Bron leaving at halftime pissed off a lot of people). So of course they're going to play with limited effort. And if a few stars with nagging injuries are giving limited effort, then there isn't much room for "pride" to motivate the rest.

So long as you have an NBA season as wearing as this one, where half the stars are out or nursing injuries, then this is going to be a problem. I mean just look at the list:

Zion is out
Steph is out
Durant is out
Towns is out
Giannis was basically out
Kawhi missed the all-star game cause he's been out
AD missed the all-star game cause he's been out
Middleton missed the all-star game cause he's been out
Bron barely played cause he's been out

That's a massive list, and it includes arguably 6-7 of the top 10 players in the game. Not even to mention guys like Embiid, Kyrie, PG13, JJJ, and Ja, who have all nursed injuries. It used to be there would only be 1-2 elite players a year who were unavailable at this point in the season, now it's half of them. That's going to have an impact.

 

[viktordoomsecretwars]

Only one side of the ball is allowed to be played : offense.

Defense is not allowed and the game has become a glorified exhibition style affair.

I know that's hard for younger fans to grasp but its true

 

[Blackrogue]

Should go back to east vs west and whichever conference wins gets home advantage in the NBA finals. That's when they'll be incentive.

This the first all star where I didn't give a damn and just watched highlights. Was gonna watch the all star game highlights then just saw it was iso ball between Tatum and brown.

At least ok let's do 1v1 or 2v2 or 3v3. Let it carry some weight in the standings or playoff race. These players are not trying and I for the most part understand.

 

[DjMe]

NBA has no idea how precarious their position is. First group of billionaires that throw together some squads in big cities (think XFL) can expand internationally overnight and put the NBA out of business in about 18 months.

 

[cobra]

NBA revenue is at an all time high...that's the only thing that matters

ESPN is trying to reduce the TV deal numbers and is using their personalities to attack silver and the league
this is the same network that was too scared to go after the wife beater Dana White

Madam silver is too nice

 

[Elim Garak]

Is the pro bowl good? Do espn employees spend this same amount of energy shytting on the NFL or has espn made doing that a no fly zone?

No one has ever expected it to be any good though lol.

 

[Trav]

Is the pro bowl good? Do espn employees spend this same amount of energy shytting on the NFL or has espn made doing that a no fly zone?

Not for nothing, people stayed shytting on the Pro Bowl til they finally dug all the way in on the exhibition shyt and went full throttle with the skills and flag football matchups we see today.

Why the Pro Bowl overstayed its welcome, and how the new event could be a win for everyone

The NFL can solve the bad optics from less-than-spirited play in Pro Bowl games and potentially offer fans a better experience.

www.espn.com

 

[Dem313wayz]

Rob Manfred and Gary Bettman say hello!

Gary Bettman don't count cuz hockey is irrelevant as fukk. Rob Manfred has at least been proactive in implementing a clock for pitchers to speed up the game and eliminating the shift.

Two of the biggest issues baseball were facing was slow pace of play and lack of scoring. Silver ain't doing nothing to address the issues the league is facing

 

[NormanConnors]

Doing something about the 3 pt shot should be the top priority, the volume is too much, move the line back or eliminate it all together.

 

[Dem313wayz]

Better at what? …he was gifted the most popular sport in America and has fumbled every opportunity to present the league as anything other than a white supremacy haven that tried to deny the reality of football turning your brain into slush …what the fukk has goodell ever done to be considered anything more than a run of the mill commissioner… he didn’t broker any mergers he wasn’t the one that ran the league during social change like integration..he’s a commissioner version of a game manger quarterback…the Alex Smith of commissioners

1. Most important thing was stop issuing the suspensions for players. You don't even hear or see Goodell now except for opening night, 1st rd of NFL draft and handing the Lombardi trophy

2. Settled 2 labor disputes preventing a lockout

3. Made the game safer (I hate the over protection of QBs tho)

4. Negotiated the deals with Amazon and Youtube TV for streaming

That's just off the top of my head. Things ain't perfect. But he learned from trying to do too much when he first came commissioner. Honestly the owners loved that he was going crazy hard on the players at first cuz Tagliabu wasn't doing that.

Goodell can't make the owners hire black coaches. I wish he would stop trying to place a team in London but he's way better than when he first came in.

Silver was gifted the NBA and he has a severe issue with the product on the court. But he aint doing nothing about it. He so focused on the league doing well over seas in Europe and Africa but he ain't addressing the issues here domestically.

The fans are starting to get pissed at the product. But yet he says there's no issue with load management.

The marketing is bad. Saturday night primetime games should have been played. Idk what the league will look like once Lebron and Curry retire. THere should be more of an emphasis on selling teams instead of individual players cuz these new up and coming players don't look like they can carry the league

 

[Rayzah]

I just think because of how we view players careers even if you were the player that goes hard at every player and busted their ass in the all star game or even during the regular season. That's not moving the ranking of how we view that player.


Can he get out of "whatever round" in the playoffs. We just moved away from any other metric

Yea in all of sports this idea that you have to get a ring to be considered great is just unrealistic. I think the ring talk should only come up when you’re talking about the GOAT. And that conversation shouldn’t be had as often as it is.

But ultimately the blame is on the players for only caring about themselves and their bag. The blame is on the culture that they are creating with all the load management shyt just to still get eliminated in the first round.

The players are treating this like a job and not like a sport they love. These dudes like KD who abuse free agency and trade clauses because he realizes he isn’t the man or he can’t win makes it hard to be fans of certain teams. Dudes like kyrie who is only focused on basketball as long as he has nothing else better to do are the reasons the regular season don’t matter. I would be pissed if I spent $1,000 dollars on a ticket just to find out one of these nikkas is load managing or is sitting out because of some BS social cause or because he was suspended for posting a documentary.

The stars are too much like divas now and they make it hard to be fans of them.