Jack’s Blog

Salaries for professional players have skyrocketed beyond anyone’s beliefs, except for agents.  The justification for the mind boggling pay these guys get is that the owners are making money and they’re the ones who are making it for them.  Good point - but let’s delve a bit further.

Basketball players’ contracts are good to look at because they’re guaranteed.  Sure, tickets are sold out but with today’s economy, nearly all of the tickets are being purchased by corporations so they can entertain their clients in the most fashionable of ways.  Winning is considered more fashionable than losing and the guys at the end of the bench aren’t usually contributors so, in the business world, they’re referred to as non-producers and would be cut loose.  Some average fans-on-the-street are still buying tickets when they can afford them - but they’re going to see the best players, whether they play for their team or the opponent.

Another source of income is apparel.  The replica jerseys that are being sold are those of the stars, not players 8 through 12 on the team.  Heck, sometimes not even players 3 through 7.  Parking and concessions are revenue streams for the owners but once again, that money can be traced back to the best players except for maybe, when the game is a blowout and the kids say, “Hey, dad, the scrubs are going in.  Can we get something to eat now?”

The greatest money is made through the television contract and who do you think is driving that baby?  Did you ever wonder why you never get to see the Wizards against the Pistons on Christmas day?  The NBA Players’ Association, through the media, let it be known how much money the owners make.  “On whose backs do they make all that money?” the union leadership and the agents cry.

The answer?  Not on the backs of the many.  On the superstars.  NBA basketball is a team game but it is, without a doubt, a stars driven league.  Plus, if the owners want to play their trump card, all they have to say is, “Who takes all the risk?  When a guy signs a multi-year deal for nine figures and then spends more time in the training room and on the sideline in some sweet game time swag than he does on the floor, how about he give back a percentage so I can cut my losses?”  Just a hunch but I’d venture to say the Players’ Association would be against that proposal. 

When salary negotiations between teams and the players’ agents commence, the latter can take a lesson from the least basketball-looking guy ever, Buddy Hackett:

“As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.”

Sure, the NBA has a great rivalry in the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers but that only occurs when they meet in the NBA Finals.  OK, a regular season game between the two is exciting but everyone knows it’s nothing more than a preliminary to the real games, i.e. if they play in the finals.

If other good teams play each other, there is a modicum of interest, e.g. Miami vs. any of the top clubs but that’s due more to the players than the teams.  Well, the NBA has a true rivalry now and it doesn’t matter who’s playing for which squad.  The New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets.  For those people who aren’t from that area, New York City is composed of five boroughs: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.  Ask residents of each and they’ll tell you they’re from New York (as in New York City).  All except the guys from Brooklyn.  They’ll say they’re from Brooklyn.  Kenny “The Jet” Smith (a native of Queens) acknowledged as much last night on TNT’s studio show.

Another former Tarheel point guard, Raymond Felton said he felt the Knicks-Nets rivalry could become like UNC-Duke.  He said the Nets talk “a lot of blather.”  This type of comment is not heard from anybody about any other team until the playoffs - and when it’s said then, it just seems to be a rallying cry to somehow squeeze out a victory.  The Nets and the Knicks make it personal because living in NYC (Brooklyn or elsewhere) hardens guys.  Or crushes them.

There are other states in which there are multiple teams but while Houston, San Antonio and Dallas all have winning franchises, Texas will always be a football state.  Florida has a clubs in Orlando and Miami, both with very good teams for years (save last year’s debacle in DisneyWorld), but Florida is a place you visit.  Although people are now from Florida, their parents (definitely grandparents) are from somewhere else.  That’s a similar situation to California, the only state that is home for four pro basketball franchises (only because Kevin Johnson governs with the same never-say-die attitude that he played with).  The Kings, and for that matter, the Warriors, haven’t been good enough to warrant a rivalry with anyone.  Those guys are struggling for survival, hoping to snatch a playoff spot (and exit after round one).

LA has two very good teams but the overall atmosphere is too laid back.  Besides, the Lakers have been king for so long and Clips have been bad for so long that the Clippers resurgence is just now being recognized.  As a matter of fact, the Lakers had better recognize it real quick or they’ll lose the tie breaker (which may or may not be significant) since they already dropped one to the Clips earlier in the season.  Right there is the difference between NY and LA.  In New York, if one team beat the other, fans of both would know it.

In New York, things are different.  People from New York are . . . from New York.  Their parents and grandparents too.  Maybe their great- or great-great-grandparents weren’t from New York.  If not, they were from Europe.  NY fans show before the tipoff, not LA style, are loud knowledgeable, intense, sarcastic and obnoxious.  Basketball is not just a game - it’s something that’s taken much more seriously.  It’s one of the items discussed at every bar, restaurant, barber shop (not hair styling salon) and dinner tables.  Depending on the time of year, maybe the only one.

What about college ball, you ask?  That is supposed to be a religion in New York.  It is.  So is high school.  The basketball is what’s worshiped.

Someone very close to me said there would only be one other NBA rivalry fans would love to see as much as the Knicks and the Nets:

“It would be the Washington Wizards  . . . but only if the Harlem Globetrotters had a franchise.”  

When I speak with people connected to the NBA, to a man they tell me a lockout at the conclusion of this season is inevitable. I’m not so sure that a lockout wouldn’t be beneficial to owners, coaches, players and fans alike.

Subsequent to the infamous “The Decision” by ESPN, Jim Gray and, of course, LeBron James, the NBA has seemingly changed, as has the fans’ attitude toward it.  First of all, the better players (the word “superstar” is bantered about a little too loosely) talk more than ever about enlisting their “boys” and deciding to join forces to create a “power” team - like LeBron and Chris Bosh did with their friend, Dwyane Wade.  That move hasn’t been a riveting success - to date.  Side note: I wonder how Eric Spoelstra’s feelings have changed from the day of The Decision until now.

Secondly, while teams of ultra-talented guys blending on one team seems like an interesting concept - maybe even “must see TV” - the question remains, as I’ve blogged in the past, what about (the majority of) the teams that get shut out?

A couple cases in point: I watched a game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings a few days ago and, as far as pure basketball entertainment, it wouldn’t qualify as time well spent - although the game that preceded it (between the Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards) was much worse.  The two were part of a TNT doubleheader.  Studio analyst Kenny Smith referred to the first fray as “el gar-bage.”  He got no argument from either of his partners, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson.

The Clippers-Kings battle was a contest between one team that has the current front-runner for rookie-of-the-year, Blake Griffin, a player worth watching in Eric Gordon and a solid rookie, albeit one who ought to be coming off the bench so his skills can be developed, rather than throwing him in before he’s ready, in Eric Bledsoe.  The remaining Clippers, mostly, are not much more than upper level D-League players.  And that team was the attraction!  Side note 2: Griffin is remarkably skilled as in terms of running, jumping and dunking, but what makes him stand out is that he tries harder than the other guys.
Sacramento, however, played as though they didn’t care who won or who lost - or who did much of anything else for that matter.  Because NBA players are obscenely compensated individuals (in comparison to the rest of society), they ought to have the decency, if not the pride, to give the people who in essence pay their absurd salaries, a legitimate effort.  Perhaps a sense of entitlement has invaded the professional ranks?
Another game between the Wiz and the Golden State Warriors was similar to the Clippers-Kings fiasco, a game played between two clubs in which the outcome is of little to no consequence.  Which is exactly what it was.  These players know which teams have a chance to make the playoffs.  I wonder if the uninspired play of NBA players on teams going nowhere isn’t due to this new “let’s take our talents to ______” attitude.  The conclusion I’ve come to is that a lockout might be the just the remedy the NBA needs to shake up its members.
All this may sound like jealousy from someone who wishes he were part of such a lucrative business.  Not true in the slightest.  As someone who’s about to retire in a couple of years and whose entire adult life has been associated with basketball in one way or another, I’d love to be able to spend being entertained by the best athletes in the world.

As for those who say that the NBA is at the height of its popularity, I remind them of the late President John F. Kennedy’s quote (which had nothing to do with hoops):

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”

John Wall recorded his first triple double of his career last night and even the Wizards can’t mess up this gold mine.  With his youth, naivete, freakishly good skill set and, of course, his Dougie’s, Wall might be not only the face of the Wiz but the cover boy for the entire NBA.

After the summer of “The Decision” and the anti-climatic way it’s played out (so far), the young, hip crowd might just be turning to what has defined the new breed: individualism.  Wall’s enthusiasm and exciting play - he’s more entertaining turning the ball over than many of the so-called stars are scoring - make him a crowd pleaser and “must-see” basketball.  Just wait until the stats come out that show what the attendance figures are when he goes on the road.

Washington is an absolutely miserable ball club, allowing Wall to be at his creative best.  It’s not like a bad game here or there will keep them out of the playoffs.  John Wall’s major problem is not the arenas he plays in but the Arenas he plays with.  It was reported that Wall and Agent 0 have been hanging out 24/7.  Separating them 24/7 would be a far better strategy.  Arenas is more like Agent O (standing for Orange) than Agent 0 (which many feel is the amount of good sense he possesses).

For the past month, every time Gilbert Arenas opens his mouth, it’s only to change feet.  Most in the know have said the only reason he’s still in Washington is because the team couldn’t find any takers.  The hope was, in this past election, he’d be ousted but, apparently, he ran unopposed.  The Wizards next hope is that Turkey calls, offering whatever it takes to bring him in as a foil to their latest treasure.  Why not?  There are so many questions about Arenas and Turkey now has the Answer.

If Wall and Arenas can co-exist on the same team, Flip Saunders ought to be named our next ambassador to the Middle East.  Rather than try to do what everyone believes is impossible (at least I haven’t heard anyone - who’s not crossing his fingers when he says it - claim otherwise), Arenas should, in regard to John Wall, take choice #3 of Thomas Paine’s famous quote:

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”Â

Pundits said time and time again that with LeBron’s”Decision” people were talking about the NBA during the summer, heretofore something they’d never done.  Well, the season’s upon us and opening day brings us Miami at Boston, Phoenix at Portland and Houston at LA against the Lakers, the defending champs, determined to three-peat.  Wow!

The following day has Detroit at NJ, NY at Toronto, Atlanta at Memphis, Sacramento at Minnesota, Milwaukee at New Orleans and Indiana at San Antonio.  Somewhat of a letdown after Day 1.  And there are seven more months with a combination of those teams - plus squads like the Wiz, Clips, Cavs, Sixers, Charlotte and Golden State.

There are numerous ways to look at anything and we have are (at least) two options.  You, the fan, has to decide which one you like - and I’d love to find out how fans feel now, and how they feel near the end of the season:

“The glass is either half full or it’s half empty.”

Another year goes by and the worst team in the NBA does not get the #1 pick in the lottery.  How in the world can this occur year after year?

As a math teacher, I’ll let you in on the reason.  While the team with the worst record in the league has the greatest number of ping pong balls, it still has only a 25% chance of “winning.”  Which means that there is a 75% chance that one of the other teams’ ping pong balls comes up.

How, then, can the Washington Wizards, with only a 10% chance of hitting the jackpot, come up roses?  Listen carefully for the answer: BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS TO WIN!  Sure, the Wizards beat the odds, but whatever team that won, including the New Jersey Nets, would have beaten the odds.  If someone asked you which group had a better chance of winning, the one with 25% of the ping pong balls or the one with 75%, which would you choose?  Well, that’s who won - and will usually win.  Three out of four times, anyway.

People claimed there was hanky-panky when the Knicks, a franchise the league desperately needed at that time (and it doesn’t now?) to be successful won the lottery and got the rights to Patrick Ewing.  Then we were supposed to believe that it was a coincidence that the Cleveland Cavaliers just happened to win the lottery the year that Akron’s LeBron James was the prize? 

Was the fix on for this year’s NBA lottery?  The late Abe Pollin, the long-time Washington Bullets/Wizards owner (and one of the true gentlemen in the NBA), died earlier this season.  With all the problems that franchise has encountered - all of its own (players) making - doesn’t it make for a nice story that the Wiz caught a break and his widow could be there to celebrate winning the (apparent) John Wall sweepstakes? 

Maybe, but if you are one to subscribe to conspiracy theories, I can’t say I know you’re mistaken, but if you ask me how, over and over, the team with the greatest number of chances to win doesn’t, my answer is:

“Do the math.”�