A New Feature: NBA News Column

bobheckler wrote:

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Yesterday I had to go to the back doctor here in Massachusetts. The doctor
I go to happens to be one of the doctors who works on the Celtics. I was joking with him telling him that I was a terrible sleeper and walked around the house all night! I told him I was waiting for the Celtics to finally start. He laughed and said that from all that he we hearing, it will be January before
we see basketball around here.

This is sickening. All the money these guys are making, and they want us to back them???????????? Have any of them given a thought to the fans, who follow their teams right from the end of the season past? I doubt it. Oh well, who am I to question millionaires? right?

Rosalie,

In a way, we have nobody but ourselves to blame. We pay the ridiculous prices to go see a game. We watch them on TV, which encourages advertisers to pay whatever the NBA wants to get their product on TV in front of us (and the cost of that advertising increases the price of the product when we buy it).

I wish someone would say to The Stern Gang "Hey, how about a 10% drop in ticket prices?" Not going to happen because we're not a union like the players nor a franchisor like the NBA, so nobody speaks for us as a fan nation.


bob

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OK Bob; if you're going to keep making perfect sense while getting to a balanced bottom line without an apparent agenda in either direction I'm going to have to stop reading your posts.

Imagine trying to explain this situation to the MAaist guerrillas in Nepal.

Oops. that was Maoist.

worcester wrote:Imagine trying to explain this situation to the MAaist guerrillas in Nepal.

Worcester,

There really are no Maoist guerrillas in Nepal. That's because they run the government now, so who would they uprising against?

I met an avowed Maoist when I was in Nepal (they are the ruling party). He was a successful store owner in Pokhara and a helluva nice guy. I never got into a macroeconomic discussion with him, we stayed on the microeconomic level (i.e. we talked about HIS business and HIS plans for the future). Quite the entrepreneur. I wish now that I had queried how he reconciled that with Maoism.

bob

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The NBA and NBPA are close to an agreement on a new, shorter mid-level exception for free agents, according to a source.

Owners have sought a major reduction in the mid-level, which allows teams over the cap to sign free agents.

The two sides spent almost all of their five-plus hours of negotiations on Sunday on system issues, and not the split of Basketball-Related Income that the players will receive in the next CBA.

Via David Aldridge/NBA.com



My Comments:
The way the difference between the players and the owners on now-infamous basketball-related revenue split comes out to that 2 weeks of missed regular season games = roughly 1/2 of what each are seeking. In other words, one month of missed games wipes out all the gains they are negotiating for. If they can get the more seemingly mundane issues like this out of the way, the $ lost will start to speak more loudly and clearly and will become the only obstacle to be resolved. So, I say, they should continue to invest their time fixing this stuff, because the revenue split will impose its will on all parties with time. Not so with this issues.

I'd still like to punch all non-greenies in the nose just for wasting our emotional energy with this shit.



bob

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What makes me laugh is that all season ticket holders had to start paying for their tickets in the spring. A close friend of mine had his on a payment plan, and they expected all the money before the season was due to start. Now, if
the season is delayed, they will have this money already, just waiting, while he sits and waits for the games he has already paid for to be played.

What a joke.

Reduce the price of tickets? They just keep going up, up, up. When will this
league lose it's following. How many young people can afford tickets to a game? Television will be the only source of following a team soon.

This from espn. If KG and Pierce and Allen want to do something constructive, they should spend the summer talking to D12, not sitting across the table from Mr. Potato Head and scowling.

Dwight Howard conflicted on staying

It's the biggest question about the biggest guy in Orlando's lineup: Will Dwight Howard re-sign with the Magic or continue his quest for an NBA title elsewhere?

In an interview with Esquire magazine, the Magic center, who becomes a free agent next summer, said he feels "stuck in a tough position" between his love for Orlando, where he has played his entire career, and his desire to play in a larger market.

"There's more you can do in a bigger place. I'm stuck in a tough position because I feel like right now, where I'm at, I've done so much. And I just don't know what else I can do. I can't live for everybody else," Howard told the magazine.

"I don't know what decision I'm gonna make as of right now. ... Everybody wants me to come here, come play here, come to our team, do this. It's a great feeling, though, to be wanted, " Howard told Esquire.

But at the same time, Howard knows how much Magic fans want him to stay.

"The toughest part for me is the city -- the people," Howard told Esquire. "They've got burgers named after me in Orlando, they've got a Web site saying, 'Please stay.' I love the people in the city. I've literally sat on the bench with a towel on my head crying, because I feel the passion in the stands. We'll love you too, Dwight, just wear green.

"I just think about what's going to be best for what I want to accomplish in my life. And I don't want that door to close on me, wherever that door is."

When asked about Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, Howard said that he likes him as a person, but has had difficulty with his coaching style.

"The only thing I had a real problem with was the way [Van Gundy] coached," Howard told the magazine. 'It was very tough with Stan, because he yelled a lot, and I don't want to be that guy to yell at my teammates along with my coach. Because they're going to turn it all off. I had to find different ways to motivate my team. Sometimes when you have so much negativity, it's really hard to be positive." Sounds like a perfect fit for Doc, who is a well-known player's coach.


bob

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Redsarmy.com has a couple of articles that are of interest today.

1. Pierce and KG are in LA working out Ricky Rubio. Huh? How about Bradley and our draft picks, guys?

2. Rondo says his elbow is fine. I'll believe it when I see it. That was one hellaciously ugly injury.

3. Rondo says JuJuan Johnson has "KG range". And he's already a defensive stopper. Oooooh. Me likeee.

4. He claims our draft pick, E'taun Moore, is looking good in Italy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6boBNo8zEuw

Slim pickin's in these lockout days, but I'm trying to make some lemonade here.

bob

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AI's (as in "Allen Iverson") agent, Gary Moore is saying his client wants to play again and is particularly interested in playing for Doc Rivers in Boston. He claims his client would be willing to accept a bench role.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Personally, I don't want a ME-baller like Iverson on my team. Could he be effective, especially playing limited minutes off the bench, sure, but he'll absolutely destroy any concept of team play and cohesiveness. Also, a second unit back court of Bradley and AI would be ridiculously short, so Bradley wouldn't see a lot of minutes and that would stunt his growth into a rotation player. Even a back court of West and AI is highly questionable, albeit better.


bob


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Bob---I read this this morning too, and my reaction was exactly the same. There is no way I want that guy in Boston. This could be another mistake
Danny will regret if he does it. I can't believe he would do it.

Never mind worrying about Bradley, if they sign him, forget Delonte. I know the kid is injury prone, but I have always liked this game. He fights hard, and he belongs back here.

How do you like that Baby is trying to work himself into shape? What the heck has he been doing all summer? He should be in great shape if he really
was trying! That article cracked me up.

Bob,

[sarcasm]

Hey, you ought to give it a chance. It could be as productive as the Marbury experiment.

[/sarcasm]

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Bob---I read this this morning too, and my reaction was exactly the same. There is no way I want that guy in Boston. This could be another mistake
Danny will regret if he does it. I can't believe he would do it.

Never mind worrying about Bradley, if they sign him, forget Delonte. I know the kid is injury prone, but I have always liked this game. He fights hard, and he belongs back here.

How do you like that Baby is trying to work himself into shape? What the heck has he been doing all summer? He should be in great shape if he really
was trying! That article cracked me up.

rosalie,

I'm not sure I understand what you wrote above about "if they sign him, forget Delonte". Are you saying you'd rather have Avery Bradley than Delonte West? Bradley has a ton of potential, but he's not anywhere near being a starting guard in the NBA and West has been there/done that on a few teams.

Baby's been in shape all summer. "Round" is a shape.

bob

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Outside wrote:Bob,

[sarcasm]

Hey, you ought to give it a chance. It could be as productive as the Marbury experiment.

[/sarcasm]

outside,

We need to graft some Tiny Archibald into these pint-sized shooting guards.

bob

.

I meant AI. I just don't see them signing Delonte if they stupidly sign Iverson, not Bradley.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I meant AI. I just don't see them signing Delonte if they stupidly sign Iverson, not Bradley.

Rosalie,

If that's the case, we will have one of the shortest backcourts in the NBA.

Assuming there is an NBA.

bob

.

Judging from the news, who knows what the heck will happen?

I asked this question once before, Ray and KG both have one year contracts, are they null and void if there is no season? Why would they be so adamant
about the decertifying if they wanted to end their careers here in Boston.
This whole thing is ridiculous. All those people out of work because these
millionaires can't come to a decision.

What happens to Hunter?

Not to pass up a golden opportunity to puke, this from Yahoo...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Harvard-Business-School-has-a-class-on-the-marke?urn=nba-wp10883

Harvard must really be struggling for subjects to teach, huih?

bob

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Bob, I just sprained my wrist trying to immediately close that page when I saw what it was. I thought it was something innocuous, like a class on the lockout. That should be a Sports Illustrated "Sign of the Apocalypse" item.

Excuse me while I go erase my browser history. I wish erasing that image from my mind would be as easy.

I'm sure Sam has some flossing to do.


Looking at the photo the only thing that comes to mind is...
Remember this from Sesame Street


One of these things is not like the others
One of these things just doesn't belong
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

beat

bobheckler wrote:Not to pass up a golden opportunity to puke, this from Yahoo...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Harvard-Business-School-has-a-class-on-the-marke?urn=nba-wp10883

Harvard must really be struggling for subjects to teach, huih?

bob

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With no offense to anyone here and their alma mater; this fits in with the debate on Ivy League education being way over-rated.