Thanks. Who do you follow?

 

My favorite is @HPBasketball and then chris Broussard, Rick bucher, Kenny Berg(I think). They all have good info.

There's been a lot of doom-and-gloom reporting over whether or not we'll have a season as of late, but we really are starting to get close to the fail-safe. Yahoo's "Ball Don't Lie" blog had a good piece on this today that I think is worth reading.

 

The Players' Association's Not-So-Tough Decision

 

It's a simple, almost insulting way of describing the ongoing NBA lockout, but we're sticking with the premise. The lockout is the owners' fault. They failed to use the last two collective bargaining agreements to their advantage, they spent unwisely, then battled against the players to save the owners from themselves.

 

But if the 2011-12 NBA season is lost? Then it will be the players' fault.

Can a mod change my thread title, it was obviously not accurate. :irked:

Here's how I know I actually do miss the NBA: I was just reading an article on some players over in Europe and throught -- with no sense of irony -- "If Euroleague games were on ESPN at night, I'd watch them." And I would.

 

Yesterday Partizan Belgrade (feturing Nikola Pekovic and Acie Law) beat Real Madrid (featuring Rudy Fernandez and Serge Ibaka) in an 80-79 scorcher of a game... and I wish I'd watched it.

 

I want my NBA back.

I don't want to insult anyone's basketball knowledge so I'm not even going to get into this debate. Not what this thread is about.

 

I admire your restraint. Kudos. :thumb:

Lots of grumbling from players who are not happy with Billy Hunter.

^ The thread title caught my attention, and I was concerned. This content has since relieved said concern. Therefore, I move forward.

 

I gotta say RP...your string of posts from "Whew...that was close" gave me a good laugh.

 

As for the NBA, I hope they get a deal and play. I'll watch some of the bigger games and probably watch some of the playoffs, but I won't feel like something is missing if they don't play. Were I still a single man, I would likely feel different.

I didn't go back and quote all the posts, but in response to NBA sucks and response to what HT said I will say this....

 

 

People hate on the NBA because they like College basketball more and that is about it. They want the NBA to be like the college game and because it isn't NBA sucks because they don't play defense and they are thugs. Truth of the matter is when you watch the NBA you are watching the greatest basketball players on the planet and that is evident. I watched almost every televised Heat game last season and you could not watch one of those games when they were playing another one of the NBA's upper echelon teams and say its not good basketball. The things and plays guys like Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Rose, Amare, Durant, etc. make during games are unreal and if you truly appreciate basketball you must appreciate how good they actually are. I mean last year I even got caught up in that thinking wow these guys are sooooo good at basketball it is ridiculous.

 

I can understand if you don't like the 82 game season, the pace of the game, the offensive/defensive philosophies, etc. But don't hate on the NBA and say it's not good basketball, thats just not the case.

^A 2 year limit would only hurt UK, so from that perspective I hope it doesn't change. It would probably help the league though.

 

I assumed it would help UK. Can you explain why it would hurt in your opinion? I'm very curious. I think along the lines of having A. Davis for 2 years, Kidd-Gilchrist etc..., so instead of reloading yearly it would be 2 year cycles.

^Right now, UK basically gets 4 studs every single year (or 8 in a two year period). Under a 2 year system they'll get 4 studs every 2 years. The other 4 that they would've got, now go to direct competition (UNC, Duke, KU, Zona, etc., etc.)...So yeah you have 2 years with the 4 studs you get, but the total talent pool is much more spread out to the other schools.

 

As it's set up currently, UK has a major edge with recruiting that no one (save UNC), can really match. If it goes to a two year system it takes away a good chunk of that edge IMO.

^ I'd also assume that with two years there's probably some greater risk of the top guys attempting to jump to Europe for a couple years, but that may be overblown. There should be a minor league or a rookie league for professional basketball, just like in baseball.

^ I'd also assume that with two years there's probably some greater risk of the top guys attempting to jump to Europe for a couple years, but that may be overblown. There should be a minor league or a rookie league for professional basketball, just like in baseball.

 

They have that it's the NBDL and it doesn't work at all. Guys like Davis and other huge recruits would have zero benefit by going to play in the NBDL.

^ Agreed. It doesn't work. But by the same token, what did John Wall get out of playing Ole Miss? Or Kevin Durant from playing Iowa State? And the benefit is that they'd get paid to play ball for a living.

^ Agreed. It doesn't work. But by the same token, what did John Wall get out of playing Ole Miss? Or Kevin Durant from playing Iowa State? And the benefit is that they'd get paid to play ball for a living.

 

The rule isn't for the players. It's to protect the dumb owners from making terrible draft decisions. Like you said before if they want to get paid they can go to Europe. I think they would be better off going to college for a year.

^ I definitely agree on your last point. College for a year is better than Europe for a year. Those leagues aren't built for talented 18-year-olds to make a name for themselves. And they can get lost in the shuffle over there if they're not careful. Being a high-profile college recruit will keep you on the radar for that entire year. I can't help but think that it's a waste of these players' time to take English 101 and Finite Mathematics instead of working on their game all the time. I understand the premise... but what's the point of one year of college? It just seems like wasted time. Talented American soccer players shouldn't waste their time in college and talented American baseball players shouldn't either.