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Re: In 20 Days
silver needs to offer up like a million $ reward for winning the dunk contest so we can start getting the stars in it again.Comment
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Re: In 20 Days
All Star Saturday Night should determine the host city for future ASG while ASG should determine home advantage in the finals.
Since 2015 and 2016 are announced already....Lets say 2015ASG we see East win All Star Saturday Night...then 2017 games will be in an east city. And if 2015ASG is won by West,the west team gets advantage in NBA finals.
It won't help increase who is in the competitions,but it'll add importance.
As for dunk contest...they should just announce players earlier so guys have much more time to think of dunks instead of just using the day or two before the contest to think of stuff. How many people really knew about Nate before he won the dunk contest?Even others like Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala weren't really well known names until their dunk contest performance. Proving it doesn't matter about big names so much as it does about performance. Dunk contest is a place for guys to make their name infront of a national audience.
Even Vince Carter...many people prob never saw him play much(only ever saw him probably against their own teams) but they knew what he could do,and he really made a name for himself with the dunks he did. When people think of VC and/or Raptors, that's what they think of.
Dunk Contests just needs good dunks. I'd rather see Jack Johnson vs John Jackson where we see 360 dunk between the legs and stuff over Dwight vs Blake where we just see people throwing the ball in the net over a car and in superman cape.Comment
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Re: In 20 Days
Best : Globalization of the sport of Basketball. Stern is a marketing genius
Worst : Taking Basketball away from Seattle, Making the game less physical, The Chris Paul Trade.
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Re: In 20 Days
1 day left? Will be strange to see someone else in charge cause I wasn't even born when someone not named David Stern was commish of the NBA.
Seems sorta cool to see that in Silvers first NBA draft, it's also a huge draft class. Sterns first season had the big draft with Hakeem,MJ and stuff. And in Silvers first draft we'll have Parker,Wiggins and others.
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Re: In 20 Days
Best: most of the things he did from 1984 to the first lockout in 1998.
Worst: most of the things he did from 1999 through 2014.
He took the league from the gutter - known as a "drug league" and tape delayed Finals - to the best sport in America by the mid 90's. His marketing and globalization of the sport was remarkable.
They say luck = timing + opportunity. That's exactly what Stern got with Magic, Bird and MJ. MJ and Magic are the two most marketable players the NBA has ever had. MJ himself was perfect for Stern, the first NBA guy with a meticulously crafted image. So likable off the court. Every man wanted to be him (hell, Be Like Mike) and every woman wanted to be with him. The guy still makes $60M a year in endorsements he's so marketable. Those pieces were absolutely perfect for what Stern wanted and needed to do for the NBA.
Not to diminish what he did in the 1980's and 1990's, but he didn't hit his first real challenge until after the lockout in 1999. He had built an empire, now he had to maintain it in the face of massive change. For much of his tenure until that point the great storylines had written themselves. The great Celtics/Lakers rivarly, the hated Bad Boy Pistons, MJ's dynasties and the countless rivalries of the 1990's, etc.
Now all of that was gone. The legendary Dream Teamers and guys that entered the league in the early/mid 80's were gone. They were replaced with HS'ers and athletes that had a fraction of the fundamentals, IQ and work ethic. Volume shooters and flashy scorers that never won a thing. The headline match ups featuring Magic, Bird, MJ, Olajuwon, Robinson, Barkley, Ewing, etc were replaced with Iverson vs Carter. The physicality of the 90's increased while the talent level decreased and the league was a mess because of it.
The solution was to adjust the rules to make scoring easier, while simultaneously and miraculously allowing flopping to become rampant in the sport. Still the biggest black eye on Stern's on-court legacy IMO. Flopping made a mockery of the game for nearly a decade. Fans, commentators - seemingly everyone except NBA officials and Stern - saw a huge problem with flopping. Ultimately the flopping fines came but years too late. Then of course we had the Laker/Kings fiasco as one of the first black eyes under Stern. The apparent forcing of a marquee franchise into the Finals to help the league and to help ratings. It was too blantant, nobody was buying it. Then the Seattle mess. Then the 2011 strike for lord knows what real reason. It keeps on going...
It pretty much boils down to two halves for Stern's career IMO. 1984-1998 was great, you can't really find anything to complain about other than over-expansion. From 1999-2014 you can find plenty of things to complain about and most are legitimate gripes. That's why they say it's easier to get to the top than to stay at the top. Stern did a marvelous job of making the NBA an enormously popular and enjoyable product. Once he hit that mountain top though it became a rocky ride."You make your name in the regular season, and your fame in the postseason." - Clyde Frazier
"Beware of geeks bearing formulas." - Warren BuffetComment
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Re: In 20 Days
Here's a nice read on Grantland, that covers this topic nicely:
And yes, the LA Clippers were the San Diego Clippers, who were the Buffalo Braves...
Not that it matters in the context of this topic (Stern), but that was the sequence of events:
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...5-3degheri.pdf
Anyway, Stern:
Good: Globalization saved the league from near extinction
Bad: Possible Lottery tampering / Referee scandals / SEA and SAC /Post Iverson Dress Codes, etc.
New Guy: Clean up the perception of the Lottery and Playoff Refereeing, try to find a way to make the regular season closer in relevance / excitement to "playoff season"...
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Re: In 20 Days
Here's a nice read on Grantland, that covers this topic nicely:
And yes, the LA Clippers were the San Diego Clippers, who were the Buffalo Braves...
Not that it matters in the context of this topic (Stern), but that was the sequence of events:
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journ...5-3degheri.pdf
Anyway, Stern:
Good: Globalization saved the league from near extinction
Bad: Possible Lottery tampering / Referee scandals / SEA and SAC /Post Iverson Dress Codes, etc.
New Guy: Clean up the perception of the Lottery and Playoff Refereeing, try to find a way to make the regular season closer in relevance / excitement to "playoff season"...
I like the dress code now. Back then you had clowns like Joe Forte wearing a Lakers jersey on the bench while he was playing for the Celtics.
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Re: In 20 Days
The problem was people were desperately calling for the league to deal with other stuff like flopping and the referee problem and he just ignored that stuff and kept going for the fluff like dress code and so forth to appease the business ticket buyers and completely swept the issues plaguing the game under the rug.Comment
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Re: In 20 Days
Maybe the dress code was a way to get attention off of other things but I think the dress code has been good for the league. I also don't think it's asking too much to ask guys making that type of money to wear a suit or professional attire to a job.
I don't know how to properly evaluate him but I disagree with someone saying the 2nd lockout hurt his legacy. I don't think it really impacted it. People were not that upset with the NBA going to a 66 game schedule that year and I think they made some necessary improvements to the CBA from it; more punitive luxury tax being one of them. Also I don't agree with people saying the draft is fixed, every team has a representative in the room when they do the lottery drawing before they go on television. I seriously doubt the lottery is rigged."Ma'am I don't make the rules up. I just think them up and write em down". - Cartman
2013 and 2015 OS NFL Pick'em Champ...somehow I won 2 in 3 years.Comment
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Re: In 20 Days
I have no issue with the dress code but some of these dudes always find a way to get ridiculous anyway
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Re: In 20 Days
No matter what the dress code is, there are going to be outlandish exceptions. I'd rather see what we see now, than guys rocking Du-Rags, Fitted hats, tall tees, baggy jeans and Timbs.
Good: Globalization/Branding
Bad: Rigged Lottery/Softening of the game/Superstar accommodation/2002 WCF, 2006 Finals, 2010 NBA Finals Game 7/Referee Scandal/Vancouver, Seattle, Sacramento debacles/Cubs | Bulls | Dolphins | 'Noles
The artist formerly known as "13"
"Heroes get remembered, but legends never die..."
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Re: In 20 Days
Just because the dress code is instilled doesn't mean they have to be wearing t shirts and jeans....and to be honest most NBA players never dressed like that and Allen Iverson is gone.
Dressing like clowns isn't helping either. This generation just throws on anything and calls it fashion.
Coming into the arena looking like a piece of an airplane wing with half tights on is one thing. Do that on your personal time but not coming to work
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