The NBA season was supposed to open in Tuesday night, and it seemed that the outcry that we all were expecting never came. There were a few people out there complaining that the arenas were still dark but overall….it was crickets. With this in mind, I started to think about all the ways the NBA was really hurting itself outside of the obvious financial losses they are going to suffer from not playing games.5- Ruining any kind of momentum they had coming off of last season
The NBA was at easily a 10 year high coming off what was a dramatic and highly rated Finals in June. All the talk in sports was LBJ, Dirk and will the Heat win EVER. The TV ratings were high; interest was peaking with the prospect of a very intriguing summer of free agency and team building ahead. What were the Knicks going to do? Was Dwight Howard going to end up with Kobe in LA? Will the Heat add another piece? What about Chris Paul? All these questions that I’m sure the casual fan has forgotten about by now, would have been answered in the perfect off season to follow up the best NBA season since Jordan left Chicago.4- About that potential off season, delaying the rebuilding and reemergence of the New York Knicks.
Entering this off season, the Knicks were poised to make the one or two moves that would bring them back to prominence in the NBA East. With the Heat having the Big 3 in Miami, and the Celtics having their Championship team, the Knicks had to make a move towards improvement after years of futility, and they did that by first signing Amare Stoudamire, and then acquiring Carmello Anthony during the season. But the Knicks are still a piece or two away and there was to be a few big fish swimming in the free agency sea this off season, but that is now over and the Knicks and the NBA’s momentum is now halted because of greed and immaturity. The Knicks becoming a contender coupled with the season the NBA just had, and the teams that were on the cusp of contention emerging, the NBA was set-up for a new age; finally a solid post-Jordan era. Now the defining moments of the post-Jordan era will play out off the court instead of on it. Nice move.
3- Robbing Clippers fans of a prime time season of Blake Griffin
Blake Griffin is the single most exciting player in the NBA right now. His power and hard work are exciting to watch night in and night out. How many times have you ever said, or heard that said about a Clipper. NEVER! It’s a shame that the Clippers will only have this great player for a short amount of time (because the Clippers inevitably blow situations like this) and we are wasting it in conference rooms and soon, court rooms, with this money grab that continues well into its 120th day. Not only are Clippers fans missing out, but all NBA fans are missing out. Pro basketball players are only in their prime physical condition for 10 to 12 years, and for Griffin (who’s already lost a season to a major injury) needs to be in top physical form to play his brand of above-the-rim type ball, and we are being robbed of one of those seasons by this greedy “grab every dolla (that’s right I said dolla) you can” behavior on both sides. It’s disgusting.
2- Robbing NBA fans of one of the last great seasons in Kobe’s twilight
It’s almost the same argument as #3 on our list. We are in the process of wasting one of the last prime seasons of one of the NBA’s greatest players, Kobe Bryant. Bryant was set to begin his 16th season after a very bad playoff loss to the eventual champs, Dallas Mavericks. Kobe, who began to show some age last season, is right on the edge of his prime if not out of it already. He’s still a Top 15 player, and possibly the most clutch player since Jordan, but he doesn’t have much longer. A lot of NBA fans feel jipped by Jordan’s decision to go play baseball for a few years in the middle of a dynasty; that was his choice. Kobe is literally standing on the sidelines looking to play somewhere; even China. CHINA! Do we want one of our legends playing in china instead of LA? Get it done NBA, you greedy bastards.
1-Reminding regular people that NBA players are just greedy money grubbing millionaires, and that the fans just don’t matter at all.
Really there is just no more to be said. NBA fans, those of you who practice Advanced Fandom for your Knicks, or your Lakers or your Hornets; you don’t matter. Those of you who just love the NBA brand of basketball and buy the satellite dish packages and watch every game; you don’t matter. Those of you who follow the games, buy the tickets, and actually put your ass in the seats; you don’t matter. All of the above reasons I’ve given you is proof that they don’t care about you, and they never have. These sports should ALWAYS be about the fans; not the players or the owners. Should owners make money? Yes. Should players make money? Yes. They provide a quality service at the highest level and deserve what they get. But that can go the other way too. For these acts of greed and their flippant disregard for the fans, the NBA will get what it deserves as well. Ask baseball how a prolonged strike/lockout worked for them in ’94; it took them 10 years to get near the level they were at in ‘93. Ask the NHL, who still hasn’t fully recovered from its season lost, how their strike/lockout played out with the fans. With the passing of opening night, and the arenas being dark, the NBA has now done damage to its league, its product and most importantly its fan base that it will NEVER recover from.
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