Boss on Deck

Runnin' Game

Posted 08/14/2007 at 7:52 PM  |  1 comment/s

I'm on a roll so lemme just jump into it. As we start moving into our fall issues, can't help but have the NBA and the Grizzlies on the brain. (You try planning sports pages for the winter months - if it ain't football, it's basketball, 'cause, seriously, who plays hockey?) Anyhow, so I'm a day late on this one, but I'm pocketing my dollar 'cause after mulling some NBA shit around all day yesterday, I started to get the sinking suspicion that this year's Draft Lottery was definitely fixed, and not just 'cause the Grizz lost out on both Oden and Durant.

Lemme take you through it, and let's start with the biggest story of the lottery: Boston's slip to fifth pick. After a horrible season that started to feel like the end of a franchise or at least the beginning of a new dark age (and just for the record, Beantown bawlers, try rooting for the Knicks this millennium), the Celts throw the rest of the season in the hopes of landing the first, or at least second pick, and a new franchise player as a result. The result? Fifth pick. Stern ain't playing that shit. Can't have teams, especially ones in major/storied NBA markets landing rewards for hardly showing up for the second half of the season. It'd set a horrible precedent and just give even more stones to the NBA's critics (magnets, anyone? I mean, point shaving?). So the Celts are spanked to the back end of the league's elite losers and forced into crisis mode, which fortunately led to some interesting trades and should keep things interesting in the East at least until they realize they have no bench (and, in fantasyland, Penny makes the Heat, somehow learns how to play D, and watching games in South Beach gets rocketed up to whole new level - again, fantasyland).

Then you've got the Grizz and the Hawks, two teams that completely by accident (well, the Hawks by birth) managed to have horrible, horrible seasons. Looking at the math, the Grizz and the Celts were damn near locked to lock up Oden and Durant. No dice. Grizz slip to fourth, the Hawks grab third, and here's why: neither city has a strong NBA fan base. For whatever reason, the Hawks can't bring people out to games, even though the city is flourishing in a way it never has before. Maybe folks would start going to games if they could put a winning team on the court with a marquee player at the helm? Maybe? But after years of failing to bring anyone out to the games, why would the league even want to risk it? Oden goes to the Hawks and no one goes to the games anyway cause everyone's saving their money to go see the Falcons (or at least they were until Vick let the dogs out, but how was Stern supposed to see that coming?). And as for the Grizz - here's a franchise that's also suffering in the attendance category, but honestly, more because it's unclear whether the local economy can support a professional sports franchise. Folks ain't particularly well-off in the M, and tickets aren't particularly cheap, which is why the Titans ended up in Cashville and not the Home of the Blues. Now don't get me wrong, Memphis folks love their ball, and if there was a winning squad on the court, I'm confident folks would rob and steal to find a way to get into the games. But the city doesn't have an NBA legacy, it has a basketball legacy, particularly a college basketball legacy (again, what up, Penny? And what up pre-season #1?!?), and with rumors already swirling about possibly relocating the Grizzlies yet again, well, that's not a market where the league wants to bank on their next 10 years, either.

All of which leads us back to Seattle and Portland, the least probable teams to land the second and first picks, respectively. But of course, that is what happened, mainly because they're both rich cities with thriving local economies - plenty of money in the Northwest to purchase plenty of season tickets (gotta love the Internets). Both cities have storied NBA legacies, and fans who will troop out to support a winning squad, without a doubt (even with a horrible team, Portland was still posting solid attendance records). And then there's the Sonics' push for a new stadium to the point of threatening to leave town if one doesn't materialize. If Durant lives up to the hype, my money says they get their wish.

de.licio.us digg Furl Reddit YahooMyWeb

Trackbacks

Trackback url for this entry: http://blogs.vibe.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/819

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:

Add a Comment

You must log in or register to post comments.

Comments