Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
No real links out there today that can develop into an article, so heres a topic for everyone to debate instead…
The NBA has long been trying to force feed its All Star Weekend down the throats of its fans. Never has one event lived off its past performances without giving us any new memories as long as the NBA’s All Star Weekend. Think about it, how many times do we see clips of the MJ dunk contest, the Magic Johnson game, or any other game that most high school or college kids weren’t even alive for? Yes, those are a great part of the history of the game, but when you base an entire reputation of a weekend off something that happened 20 years ago, what does that say about the current product? That’s like Toyota telling us the Camry hasn’t had any issues since 1993, so lets just keep putting the same thing out each year with nothing newer on it than the year. (Oh wait, isn’t that what Harley does to it’s customers?)
This weekend we saw a Dunk Contest that had a guy jump over a painting, when in previous years we had people jumping over cars. We’ve seen SO many renditions of the free throw line dunk that its lost its luster completely, and we give players unlimited attempts at completing a dunk within a specific time frame. The “Skills” competition was abysmal, a course that I think I saw the local YMCA running for its youth program, and those kids actually tried harder (A missed layup by Teague???). And most of all, an All-Star “Game” where the only defense played the entire night was Kobe re-asserting his dominance over Queen James; other than that, ZERO defense played by either side the entire night. The NBA outta be ashamed that they even sell tickets to this event.
Back in the early days of the NBA, the All Star game meant something to the players. They hated the other conference and wanted to prove that they were the superior conference, they played as if it were Game 7 of the NBA Finals, and with that level of talent on the floor I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear the locker room speeches given out to a group of future Hall of Famers. That is what made the All Star games great, having a chance to see the best of the best go up against each other, or team together and play their hardest. Now in a league that is riddled with trades, free agency, and AAU buddies, there is no hatred anymore. The event has become more of a red-carpet event where 85% of the camera time was spent showing Lebron in his Leather Sweatpants, and Blake Griffin in his too tight leather outfit (please don’t let this leather trend catch on).
This weekend was nothing more than an exhibition because quite frankly these guys don’t care about the game, they don’t care about making history, they care about the paycheck. Take a look at the last three years, who are the players that have tried the hardest in each of those games? I’ll give you a hint, one plays for the Lakers and one for Oklahoma City. Why is it that those two are the most widely appreciated players in the game right now, but the superstars with superstar egos such as Lebron, Wade, Paul (in previous seasons) , and Griffin that have turned the weekend into a mockery are so disliked despite their level of talent? Because they don’t care about the game we love. If the NBA is going to continue to pee on our heads and tell us its raining they might as well cancel the event all together like the NFL is doing. There is no sense in trying to force an event to make history all for the sake of making history. If an event is good enough, it will make history on its own, just like its players….
The Links:
Boston Herald: Relaxed KG soaks it in | CSNNE: Passing it down | ESPN Boston: Rapid Reaction: KG at the All Star Game | Globe – Celtics working on a plan
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