The NBA... It's Fantastic!

I love the NBA. I do. I love it so much that I’ve spent the last six months trying to convince everyone I know that they should love it too. In some cases it has worked and I count that as a victory. Still, there are stories that while peaking the interest and imagination of anyone willing to listen have really dragged down the NBA this season. I’ve decided to take out the trash, nail off all the topics that are on the minds of ESPN and the like and help us all move on to the playoffs quickly before anyone notices in retrospective how bad this season really was. Here goes.

-Duncan vs. Crawford-
Stern spent the entire off-season talking about how referees were going to be harsher and that whistles were going to come faster. The refs were not to tolerate a lack of respect by players for their position. Joey Crawford goes out and does exactly what he is told to do. What does Stern do? He throws Crawford under the bus and suspends him to protect one of the league’s most important players and then, like many issues he has faced over the last couple years, refuses to talk candidly about it and instead deals with it politically.

Listen, I’m a Suns fan, so you can question my motives all you want, I won’t be offended. The fact of the matter is that Crawford was trying to do his job, he thought Tim Duncan was undermining his authority and he dealt with it the only way he could by throwing him out. I won’t pretend to know what exactly happened, but I will say this – if that was Rasheed Wallace and not Tim Duncan, this is a non-story. For that reason alone, the suspension was unacceptable.

The main argument to warrant a suspension from Stern is that Crawford asked Duncan for a fight. No one is mentioning that it’s possible the "Do you want to fight me?" line was taken out of context. Crawford more likely meant, "Do you want to test my authority?" I don’t assume that a 56-year-old man wanted to fight a 6’11” 260 pound professional athlete, but he’s feisty, so I could be wrong.

So now we’re going into the playoffs with angry referees out to prove their authority and players who feel like they’ve gotten their right to whine and complain back. Oh, and we’ll also be missing one of the best refs in the game and someone who has had a part of every finals since 1986. Goody.


-Tanking Teams Reaching for Lottery Picks-
Houston tanking to win the first pick in 1984 might be the reason why the lottery was created, but the lottery has proven to solve nearly nothing. In probably the deepest draft since that same year every team is doing whatever it can to improve its draft status. Honestly, I would too. Kevin Durant could turn out to be one of the best pure scorers of his generation and Greg Oden has the ability to make the kind of difference right away that we’ve only seen in Shaq, Duncan, Olajuwon, Chamberlain, Russell and David Robinson. That’s a pretty good list to be on. So let’s stop crying foul for teams tanking. They’re not hurting anyone but themselves.

Honestly, I have more of a problem with teams mailing in games after locking up their spots and seeds in the NBA playoffs. Have the teams earned the right to rest their players? Of course they have. Should they? Of course they should. Is it bad for the game? YES. It's a disgrace to the integrity of the game. The Warriors and Clippers are still fighting it out for the eight spot in the West. The Clippers have to play two-time MVP Steve Nash and all the other starters on an elite Suns team. The Warriors have to play eight guys not named Dirk, Jason, or Josh. While this is smart, it’s not fair to the teams still competing or the fans that have spent good money to see a team like the Mavs come to town. Let’s vilify these guys instead.


-The Most Valuable Player Race-
I don’t know what more I can say on the subject. Instead, I’m just going to run a Bill Simmons quote and then fill in the gaps.

“Statistically, Nowitzki submitted superior seasons in 2005 and 2006, and his 2007 stats ranked behind Larry Bird's best nine seasons, Charles Barkley's best 10 seasons and Karl Malone's best 11 seasons. Nowitzki's shooting percentages were remarkable (50 percent on field goals, 90 percent on free throws, 42 percent on 3-pointers), but his relevant averages (24.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists) look like a peak season from Tom Chambers. He can't affect games unless he's scoring, doesn't make his teammates better and plays decent defense at best. If you're giving the MVP to someone because of his offense, he'd better be a killer offensive player. You can't say that about the 2007 Dirk Nowitzki.”

If you’re using the exact acronym then the MOST VALUABLE PLAYER is Steve Nash. Has to be. He’s worth over 50 points a night with his assists and points added up and his shooting percentages are actually better than Nowitzki’s above. He’s having the best season of his career and most importantly, he makes his teammates better. Nowitzki is awesome. He has been my number one pick in every Fantasy Draft I’ve been in and I’ve never regretted the decision. Still Simmons is right; he doesn’t make his teammates better. He also has a more complete supporting cast and his team has proven that they can win without him. The Suns don’t have the same luxury.

That’s it. Those are my opinions. I’m done with those topics. Tomorrow I’ll break down the potential NBA playoff match-ups for the Western Conference. Until then, enjoy the final games of the season.