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NBA 2013-14 Season - Page 174
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a176
Canada6688 Posts
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AgentW
United States7725 Posts
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lamprey1
Canada919 Posts
On February 02 2014 01:40 AgentW wrote: I'm still trying to figure out how he managed to reach the rim. Vince Carter loaned him his year 2000 sneakers. on his way down Ross stuffed Faried in Samuel L. Jackson's Raptor bag. | ||
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
A lot of people didn't like the commentary piece it seems, but I did. I do feel Whitlock is speaking more from a point of view as a fan in/from the US, as opposed to globally though. | ||
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lamprey1
Canada919 Posts
He fucked Vancouver harder though. even a "great wonderful guy" in charge of a large organization has to be an absolute total asshole sometimes when making tough decisions. Stern has that part down pat. its intertwined right into his DNA. Despite Stern fucking TO and Vancouver.. Canada is slowly turning away from hockey.. and 1 sport Canada is turning to more and more is basketball. Stern deserves some credit for this shift. Not for Canadian minor hockey's clusterfuck.. but for making basketball attractive. 30 Years ago Canadian parents warned their kids against playing American tackle football because of the severe injuries. This is now happening with hockey. The head injuries are just too frequent and too severe. and destroying your opponent with a huge body check is still glorified at all levels of the game. its what every defenseman must do to "make a name for themselves". Overall, Stern deserve some credit for Canadian kids picking up Basketball in favour of hockey. Basketball is cheaper with a far smaller chance of catastrophic head injuries. Stern's no-nonsense approach to fighting in basketball was a great move. the NHL is still grappling with the "fighting issue". Its a non-issue in the NBA and Stern deserves some credit for it. Overall, in totality, Stern did a good job. But, he had absolute power and if you got in his way he'd roll over you like you were nothing, and he'd get a full 8 hours sleep that night as though nothing happened. Some of the people who got run over are not happy wtih him. He really swept the corrupt referee issue under the carpet. it was clear others were involved and that 1 guy was far from an "isolated guy" working alone. Inherently, Basketball is a great sport. Stern merely allowed it to shine at the top level. It's not like he invented the game or anything. | ||
Jibba
United States22883 Posts
Read the Grantland article for a far better take on Stern's legacy, which rightfully points out Stern's serendipity with Magic and Bird, and some of the other key figures that helped the NBA shift its image in the 80's. It does a much better job highlighting his major mistakes (blaming him for not convincing Kobe to attend Duke is fucking ridiculous) and both the positive and negative repercussions from his actions. Drug-use went down because the league got a new labor agreement which penalized them severely for it, and a lot of players who couldn't adjust were basically kicked out of basketball. And that's Stern and Fleisher and the other people talked about in the Grantland article. I doubt Whitlock has a clue who Larry Fleisher is. So, handed a remarkable turn of fortune that he helped engineer, what did David Stern do? Well, he grew the brand, as the marketing people say, and he grew it astonishingly well. The value of the franchises has increased tenfold. There are four television networks broadcasting NBA games worldwide. He has managed to stay ahead of the curve technologically, moving the league into the digital age more smoothly than was the case with many other American industries. The players make gobs of money. David Stern’s work here is done. However, it has come at a price. By marrying the NBA to its “corporate partners,” and by doing it so thoroughly and so well, Stern has cost the league much of its soul, in the fullest meaning of the word. Both the 1998 and the 2011 lockouts were stupid and unnecessary and seemed more than a little like they were more about control and the authority of Stern’s office than they were about money or anything else. (In 2011, Stern gave preposterous interviews in which, channeling his inner Bud Selig, he maintained that 22 NBA teams were losing money, which, I guarantee you, was not something he was telling his corporate partners, or his good friends over in China. This wasn’t Larry O’Brien and Larry Fleisher operating in rare good faith.) He presided over — and indeed, celebrated — the unconscionable hijacking of a franchise from one of the NBA’s most loyal fan bases in Seattle because the city wouldn’t give in to ensemble blackmail and build the team a new arena. The specter of the days when the NBA was thought to be “too black” never has been far from his decision to knuckle Allen Iverson about rap music and to create and enforce a silly dress code that was applauded by great swaths of the nation’s boring people, and to make a buck off the softer side of hip-hop culture while remaining terrified of its tougher precincts. There is an essential cowardice in all authoritarians, which becomes more obvious as they tighten their grip. In the long view, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that the more the NBA prospered, and the more tightly it bound itself to the corporate money that swarmed on that success like bugs on honey, the more nervous it got about how wealthy it had become. The more luxurious the palace, the deeper the moat. And David Stern’s primary job over the past two decades has been to dig the moat. He has been the vehicle of the deep insecurity that has come with the NBA’s headlong success. He has made the league gleam, but he has sanded off its edges, and let that be his legacy. He made a product that people will buy. He has sold the NBA in Qatar, and the guy behind the counter was happy, and so there’s that, and nobody throws pizzas at David Stern anymore, just roses by the handful http://grantland.com/features/a-commissioners-legacy/ | ||
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
On February 02 2014 06:37 Jibba wrote: I think Jason Whitlock is a racist moron, and in that piece he's just being a moron. He's not making any points All he says is "we had Jordan, Magic and Bird - basketball should've been bigger!" Well that's just all you got out of it... It's actually a well written opinion. The main part I didn't like is how he writes about what he thinks of the NBA writers in the times of the 70's, though I am not discrediting him (just didn't really like that included). edit: you added some other stuff after I posted this which I am not interested in tbh. I just wanted to point out that article. I have my own thoughts on Stern. | ||
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Jibba
United States22883 Posts
On February 02 2014 06:44 MassHysteria wrote: Well that's just all you got out of it... It's actually a well written opinion. The main part I didn't like is how he writes about what he thinks of the NBA writers in the times of the 70's, though I am not discrediting him (just didn't really like that included). No, I think Whitlock is outright wrong. The league went after hard drug users, just as it went after in-game violence. http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/29/sports/nba-will-ban-drug-users.html Stern was the VP at the time (he took over in '84) and that was his main project. It's not like there's been that many, but '86 was the first year a player got banned for drug use and there were like 5 or 6 more in 2 years. That's why the drug use dropped, not because the media framed it differently. Maybe it could save college basketball more, but it's difficult when the NCAA is killing itself and refuses to make changes. Meanwhile the NBA is by far the best league in terms of technology, and has the best global reach of any American sport. All in all, despite his authoritarianism, screwing over certain teams and cities and the corrupt ref issue, Stern has done very, very well for the NBA. | ||
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
That's all I wanted to hear. Your previous post was wrong (before you added some other stuff) though so I felt I had to call you out on it, that's all. EDIT: I am not trying to argue anything about Stern, if that is the way you took it. I expressly wrote that I think Whitlock is speaking from the point-of-view of someone in/from the US and not globally... EDIT2: And you know 1984 is 4 years into the Magic-Bird era right?? He took over 4 years into it. To add some fire, let's add Jordan into the league a few years later. hehe he got no breaks. | ||
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Jibba
United States22883 Posts
It'd be like saying Steve Jobs didn't meet expectations because he let the iMac and PowerPC dwindle. Those are just minor strategies, on his big strategies he was very successful. On February 02 2014 06:56 MassHysteria wrote: Yeah but that only further stresses that it wasn't just about media perception. The league's drug/brand turnaround happened later because of policies. EDIT2: And you know 1984 is 4 years into the Magic-Bird era right?? He took over 4 years into it. To add some fire, let's add Jordan into the league a few years later. hehe he got no breaks. | ||
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Jibba
United States22883 Posts
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
I have also posted on here how basketball is the fastest (or maybe 2nd fastest--need to relook it up--) growing team sport in the world. And Stern does have edit: correction (ty JimmyR) | ||
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lamprey1
Canada919 Posts
On February 02 2014 07:50 MassHysteria wrote: I have also posted on here how basketball is the fastest growing team sport in the world. And Stern does have a lot to do with that. I didn't want to get into the global stuff though. you think he had "a lot" to do with it? i mean.. r u saying Stern is ~70% of the reason BB grew as a global sport? i think Stern definitely had a positive impact on BB growing as a global sport. He had "some impact"... like somewhere betweeen 10% and 40%. I can only give really rough #s for such a thing... because its such a huge generlization. But, a big impact of it growing is how inexpensive it is to play and how you can get a game of 2-on-2, 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 together that is fun ... is sorta similar to the 5-on-5 official BBall. Stern has nothing to do with that. Its in the nature of the game. I guess if you'd credit anyone for that.. it'd have to be Naismith. hell even wheel chair basketball sorta resembles 5-on-5 regular basketball. again.. i guess u'd have to credit Naismith for that.. or just total luck. The ease of getting together a pick up game of any size really helps nourish BBall at the grassroots level. What i liked most about Stern was that he knew when the lay down his iron fist on important matters. We'll never know for sure, but i suspect Jordan's mysterious foray into baseball was an unofficial suspension by Stern as punishment for Jordan gambling on his own team in NBA games. But, we'll never know the truth about that one. I don't think Jordan suddenly "got an itch" to play baseball. He never really went back to baseball after he rejoined the NBA. | ||
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Doraemon
Australia14949 Posts
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
Stern had some to do with it. You are right. Pacers signing him is a great move. Specially if something prevents Oden from playing down the line. | ||
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Jibba
United States22883 Posts
The lazy/headcase talk reminds me of with Sheed. | ||
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Ace
United States16096 Posts
His stupidity about the NBA and NCAA working to keep kids in school is total crazy talk. | ||
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lamprey1
Canada919 Posts
Imagine adding Aldridge to this current squad. Basically, Colangelo's decision to take Barn instead of Aldridge cost him his job. | ||
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DystopiaX
United States16236 Posts
On February 02 2014 08:22 Jibba wrote: I know he's not the same player, but there's got to be something left. At least as an insurance policy for Hibbert getting into foul trouble. The lazy/headcase talk reminds me of with Sheed. People were also saying he might sign with the Heat so that's another thing the Pacers get from this. | ||
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Ace
United States16096 Posts
On February 02 2014 08:28 lamprey1 wrote: Imagine if the Raptors had drafted Aldridge instead of Barn. Imagine adding Aldridge to this current squad. Basically, Colangelo's decision to take Barn instead of Aldridge cost him his job. I think the big extensions to Bargs were the real killers. After seeing him play his first few years why wouldn't you let him walk? Colangelo also had a host of other bad moves that finally got management to get rid of him. Dumars has to be next to go though. He is really, really awful. | ||
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