Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The NBA in Europe
Remember when all the talk in the NBA was about players going to Europe for exorbitant contracts, no taxes, cars and housing including, and lavish adventures with billionaire European owners? It started with Josh Childress leaving the Hawks to join the Greek powerhouse Olympiacos. Then Brandon Jennings skipped college to play professionally in Europe. Suddenly, the NBA's best were rumored to be heading across the Atlantic as well including Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Obviously, a lot has changed in those two years. The global economy has slowed, Kobe Bryant has one back-to-back championships, and we all know 'The Decision' LeBron James just made.
But one thing, in my opinion, that was very underreported two years ago, is the severe security problems that exist at European basketball games.
Josh Childress is now back in the states and headed for the Phoenix Suns after a sign-and-trade deal was worked out with the Atlanta Hawks (the Hawks still had Childress' rights).
Here's part of what he had to say in his introductory news conference after joining the Suns.
"So we go out to the floor and everybody’s coughing and their eyes are burning. Come to find out that the police had to shoot tear gas in the gym because the fans were so rowdy. So we’re on the floor, everybody’s hurting, their throat and everything so we had to go into the locker room for 20 minutes and wait for the arena to clear out a little bit. We get back out on the floor and we play the first half, five minutes into the second half a group of our fans, I’d probably say about six M80s, they kind of combined them into one and threw them at our rival teams bench. Their whole team was at halfcourt to kind of huddle up together and kind of protect each other and as soon as that happened they just started pelting them with everything you can think of. I mean, chunks of marble, they broke toilets in the arena. One guy I know said he got hit with a bottle of urine and crap. It’s just unbelievable man. It was unbelievable. That was the last game, so you can kind of imagine."
As exciting and innovative as it would be for David Stern to launch his 'European Division' A LOT has to come together in the next 10 years for that to be a realistic possibility. In addition to newer, state of the art arenas, working out scheduling conflicts, and fitting any expansion plans in to the new CBA that's coming next year, the number one thing the NBA will have to contend with is simple security.
The Artest Melee was one of the darkest moments in NBA history in regards to safety and player-fan interaction, but could you imagine seeing something like what Childress described above occurring stateside? The angriest fan base in the country right now is the spurned Cavaliers fans. Could you imagine them throwing things at the Miami Heat bench when LeBron comes back to town?
Talk about the m.W.o.! (God I love this video!)
Obviously, a lot has changed in those two years. The global economy has slowed, Kobe Bryant has one back-to-back championships, and we all know 'The Decision' LeBron James just made.
But one thing, in my opinion, that was very underreported two years ago, is the severe security problems that exist at European basketball games.
Josh Childress is now back in the states and headed for the Phoenix Suns after a sign-and-trade deal was worked out with the Atlanta Hawks (the Hawks still had Childress' rights).
Here's part of what he had to say in his introductory news conference after joining the Suns.
"So we go out to the floor and everybody’s coughing and their eyes are burning. Come to find out that the police had to shoot tear gas in the gym because the fans were so rowdy. So we’re on the floor, everybody’s hurting, their throat and everything so we had to go into the locker room for 20 minutes and wait for the arena to clear out a little bit. We get back out on the floor and we play the first half, five minutes into the second half a group of our fans, I’d probably say about six M80s, they kind of combined them into one and threw them at our rival teams bench. Their whole team was at halfcourt to kind of huddle up together and kind of protect each other and as soon as that happened they just started pelting them with everything you can think of. I mean, chunks of marble, they broke toilets in the arena. One guy I know said he got hit with a bottle of urine and crap. It’s just unbelievable man. It was unbelievable. That was the last game, so you can kind of imagine."
As exciting and innovative as it would be for David Stern to launch his 'European Division' A LOT has to come together in the next 10 years for that to be a realistic possibility. In addition to newer, state of the art arenas, working out scheduling conflicts, and fitting any expansion plans in to the new CBA that's coming next year, the number one thing the NBA will have to contend with is simple security.
The Artest Melee was one of the darkest moments in NBA history in regards to safety and player-fan interaction, but could you imagine seeing something like what Childress described above occurring stateside? The angriest fan base in the country right now is the spurned Cavaliers fans. Could you imagine them throwing things at the Miami Heat bench when LeBron comes back to town?
Talk about the m.W.o.! (God I love this video!)
Off Reb Stats
If you like stats and specifically NBA stats then check out this article on The Null Hypodermic that discusses how the Lakers were able to win Game 7 even though they shot a miserable 32.5% to the Celtics 41%. Definitely an interesting way to tie in offensive rebounding with shooting percentages.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Miami Nicknames
TrueHoop takes a stab at nicknaming the new Miami Heat. None of my personal faves are on there and they all fit the criteria set forth:
Miami Thrice
The Three Miamigos
The Three Kings
Even m.W.o. is awesome but probably wouldn't stick or be announced by the PA guy hahaha.
Reality is Setting In
Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer discusses what the Cavs future looks like (not bright) amid LeBron leaving, even though their owner is still confident.
The good news is they have a lot of draft picks coming in the next few years for the first time since they won the lottery and got LeBron, as well as a massive $14.5 million trade exception that they have one year to use to acquire other players in follow up trades. The bad news is they lost LeBron, lost their chance to sign any other significant free agents in the process, and are tied to a roster that isn't fit for new coach Byron Scott's system.
Free Agency Timing
Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel explains the timing and process involved with the Heat signing more players to join the 6-3-1.
3-mi-egos | LeQuit James
Where all my HATERS at??? 3Mi-Egos T Shirts 6-3-1! These are fantastic, definitely click on the link just to see these things.
My early favorite is the crown t shirt that says 'Wade's Pippen' on it! Hilarious!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Gilbert Strikes Back
Cavs fans offered to pay parts of his $100,000 fine, but he turned it down and told the fans if they want to give, donate to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.
See here in all the Comic Sans glory!
TrueHoop On LeBron
Henry Abbott, from ESPN's TrueHoop Network, summarizes how teams can plot and research free agency but it's weird to us that this time the players did the same thing.
The LeBronization of the NBA
I’m going to take my talents to South Beach and uh, join the Miami Heat. - LeBron James
Although it was an hour-long primetime special, it only took 15 words for LeBron James to announce The Decision. Unfortunately, we were all left with many more questions after The Decision than we had before it. I’ll now spend the next 2,600 words going through those questions and answering some of them.
The first question is how long ago did Wade, James and Bosh decide they were going to play together? Was it in the days leading up to free agency as they’ve maintained throughout the process? Was it in the latter months of the season when it became clear which teams would really have cap room for more than one of them? Was it the 2008 Beijing Olympics when they got their first taste of playing together? Or was it as far back as 2006 when they all resigned shorter contracts with early termination options after three years?
I personally don’t subscribe to the theory that the three of them have long known they were going to play together as the Olympic Pact believers contend. I also don’t believe for one fleeting second that things were really as genuine and unassuming as they appeared on TV the last couple weeks. Let’s take a look at each player’s situation back in the summer of 08.
Chris Bosh was toiling away in Toronto, realizing that while this team may have some playoff runs in them, they were nowhere near competing for a championship.
Dwyane Wade was widely considered to be a lock to stay in South Beach as long some quality help was brought in to get the Heat back to the Finals.
LeBron James must have been thinking long and hard back in 2008 after getting to play with such great teammates on the Redeem Team. In 2008, after the famous playoff battle between Paul Pierce and James, the Cavs front office was tasked with building a championship roster around LeBron, which would thereby entice him to sign a long term contract in Cleveland in 2010.
All of this leads me to believe that during that at the Olympics, the Big Three decided that if possible, they would do everything they could to wind up on the same team in 2010 as long as they didn’t all have to make massive pay cuts. I think they discussed how awesome and fun it would be to end up on the same team, but I don’t believe they truly thought it would happen at that time.
Although it was an hour-long primetime special, it only took 15 words for LeBron James to announce The Decision. Unfortunately, we were all left with many more questions after The Decision than we had before it. I’ll now spend the next 2,600 words going through those questions and answering some of them.
The first question is how long ago did Wade, James and Bosh decide they were going to play together? Was it in the days leading up to free agency as they’ve maintained throughout the process? Was it in the latter months of the season when it became clear which teams would really have cap room for more than one of them? Was it the 2008 Beijing Olympics when they got their first taste of playing together? Or was it as far back as 2006 when they all resigned shorter contracts with early termination options after three years?
I personally don’t subscribe to the theory that the three of them have long known they were going to play together as the Olympic Pact believers contend. I also don’t believe for one fleeting second that things were really as genuine and unassuming as they appeared on TV the last couple weeks. Let’s take a look at each player’s situation back in the summer of 08.
Chris Bosh was toiling away in Toronto, realizing that while this team may have some playoff runs in them, they were nowhere near competing for a championship.
Dwyane Wade was widely considered to be a lock to stay in South Beach as long some quality help was brought in to get the Heat back to the Finals.
LeBron James must have been thinking long and hard back in 2008 after getting to play with such great teammates on the Redeem Team. In 2008, after the famous playoff battle between Paul Pierce and James, the Cavs front office was tasked with building a championship roster around LeBron, which would thereby entice him to sign a long term contract in Cleveland in 2010.
All of this leads me to believe that during that at the Olympics, the Big Three decided that if possible, they would do everything they could to wind up on the same team in 2010 as long as they didn’t all have to make massive pay cuts. I think they discussed how awesome and fun it would be to end up on the same team, but I don’t believe they truly thought it would happen at that time.
By the time this summer rolled around, everyone knew Bosh was leaving to team up with Wade or LeBron, Wade was bolting South Beach if he didn’t get serious help, and LeBron was only staying in Cleveland if he really felt a deep connection to Ohio and his local fans.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Next 'Big 3??'
Quick NY Post article from Marc Berman that talks about some things Chris Paul said at Carmelo Anthony's wedding this weekend in New York. Yes, LeBron was there to hear what he had to say. And for those of you wondering, yes, there is a such thing as an 'extend and trade.' It works the same as a sign and trade only it's for players that sign contract extensions rather than brand new deals. The Knicks finally have some tradeable assets and expiring contracts that they can move for more than just cap space (unlike this last year). In addition to the Felton/Chandler for Parker or Paul trade mentioned in the article, they also have Eddy Curry's giant $11 million expiring contract that could be used in a deal for Melo with Denver, since if Melo really wants out and forces that trade, one would assume Denver would want some sort of cap relief (and young talent, Gallinari and Toney Douglas possibly) back in the trade. They would essentially be starting over so they'd want to move out of the luxury tax and taking back Curry's deal plus younger players on rookie salaries is a way to do that.
Athlete Taxes
Interesting info on the way athletes are taxed and how this relates to LeBron and Bosh taking less money but it being made up for with no state income tax in Florida.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
How LeBron's Entourage Got His 'Decision' on ESPN - Advertising Age - News
Amazing article about how The Decision got set up...
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