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.
That's because the moment the clock strikes midnight on the current CBA, all those images and videos of NBA players have to disappear off NBA-owned digital properties. Depending on how you interpret "fair use," the prohibition could include the mere mention of a player's name on an NBA-owned site, though different teams have different interpretations of this particular stipulation.
Over the past few weeks, NBA website administrators and support staff have endured two-hour conference calls and countless planning sessions to figure out how to eliminate all these photos, highlights, articles and promotional features from the sites.
There are additional gray areas that are still up for discussion: What about a photo of a Lakers fan wearing a No. 24 Kobe Bryant jersey? What about a retrospective feature on the John Stockton-Karl Malone Jazz teams? Do tweets from the team's official Twitter feed that mention a player and/or link to an image need to be deleted? How about Facebook posts?
Nobody seems to know for certain the definitive answers to these questions and the criteria seem to be arbitrary. According to more than one team website staffer, the cutoff for images of retired players right now stands at 1992-93 — Shaquille O'Neal's first season in the league. And social media is an area they're still grappling with as the deadline approaches.
ESPN True Hoop: Back to the internet "stone ages" for the NBA
I'm not gonna lie here. I barely ever go to Celtics.com. Unless I'm looking at the schedule or roster for something (like a birthday or home town), there's really not much reason to go there.
They can't announce news at the same speed as other sources because they have to wait until things are official… whereas reporters have sources and even quotes from team officials saying things are going to happen. Teams are just bound by different rules about what they can put on their sites.
And now, they're going to get even more useless because teams will have to remove all mentions of their actual players.
The NBA has built and furnished each team with a website "wire frame" that will take the place of the existing, much more sophisticated site. The wire frame is a rudimentary version of the site, without a lot of the snazzy technology we've grown accustomed to seeing. As a result, each of the 30 team sites will look virtually identical.
“We're going back to the stone ages of the Internet," said one team website administrator. "It's all going to be very dumbed down.”
Congratulations, NBA. Not only are you trying to kill interest in your sport by threatening your season, you're not even going to let fans of teams filter their way through the official sites to re-live some memories to get them through the down time.
This is what the lockout will bring. This is what happens when billionaires fight over money. Stupid things like this.
The rest of the links:
CSNNE: Celtics expected to make qualifying offer to Jeff Green | Johnson, Moore happy to be playing together | ESPN Boston: The skinny on JaJuan Johnson | Johnson ready to attend KG's classes | Celtics free agent options at center | Video: Johnson & Moore introduced | Herald: Staying the same course | Rookies keep in shape | Globe: Draftees took the same path | Bird's ties to Boston still strong | MWDN: Celtics betting on pair from Purdue |
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