Tag: basketball

Settling on second best

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I know baseball just started today, and naturally the Braves begin the season with a loss, in spite of a pretty impressive pitching duel being Julio Teheran and Noah Syndergaard, but if there was one sports headline that caught my attention more than anything else, it was the announcement made by Georgetown University, declaring that the next coach of the once-vaunted Hoyas, would be none other than Georgetown alum, and former NBA player, Patrick Ewing.

I know that Patrick Ewing basically carried the Hoyas to their only national championship back in like 1984, so I get why they think that he has the pedigree to lead the school’s basketball program into a renaissance, but I don’t really think that they really thought about what his career amounted to after he left Georgetown. 

I won’t deny that I was a gigantic Knicks fan back in the 90s, and at one point I even had a Patrick Ewing jersey.  But there’s also no denying the sheer amount of failure endured by Patrick Ewing throughout his professional career; losing the 1994 NBA Finals, the missed finger roll in 1995, watching the Knicks flourish in his injury absence in 1999 and making the NBA Finals, only to lose as soon as he was reactivated to play, and about the 766 times he was tormented and owned by Michael Jordan and/or the Chicago Bulls throughout his career.

Make no mistake, there’s pretty much nobody in the history of basketball that symbolizes failure, falling short, dashed expectations and broken dreams more than Patrick Ewing.  I wanted Patrick Ewing to get an NBA ring more than anyone back in those days, as a member of the Knicks.  But year after year, the ring never came, and the window of opportunity opened and shut in the span of my formative years.  I watched MJ crush his hopes, then Hakeem Olajuwon, then Reggie Miller.  And then Tim Duncan showed up and emerged to stamp nails into his Knicks career before he started bouncing around the NBA to teams like Seattle and Orlando.

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No ring, no shit

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Owned: owner of the Golden State Warriors Joe Lacob’s feelings are hurt when Michael Jordan is on record saying that the recent record-setting 73-win season by the Warriors doesn’t mean (shit) because they failed to win a championship

Classic MJ here.  Absolutely refuses to give credit to anyone that did something better than he did, and in this case, it’s the 2016 Warriors that trumped his 1996 Bulls, by winning 73 games.  But Jordan has a point here, because although the Warriors broke his Bulls’ 72-win record, they failed to finish the season like the Bulls did – with a championship.

It doesn’t matter if you make it to the NBA Finals with 73 wins or 48.  If you fail to win the Finals, all the wins prior to it are rendered completely meaningless.

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LeBrowned

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When I was a kid doing a lot of growing up in the 90s, Charles Barkley was one of my favorite players.  I loved that he was this kind of undersized, pudgy bald guy that still dominated the power forward position with an innate ability to both score and rebound.  But I also loved that he was an outspoken rebel of some sort, in an era where MJ, Magic and David Robinson were these saints of positive PR, regardless of how trite and scripted it might have sounded.

But now that I’m all old and shit now, Charles Barkley is still a guy that I’ve always enjoyed, and I have to give him credit for managing to be known and relevant to this day, despite the fact that he stopped playing nearly two decades ago by now.  Whether it’s ragging on referee Dick Bavetta to the point where they actually had a televised foot race during halftime at a game, to randomly showing up on a variety of internet videos celebrating his gluttony or paying him to try and shoot three-pointers while inebriated, to his endless criticisms of today’s players compared to the guys of his playing days, Sir Charles has inexplicably managed to stay relevant for years.

It’s the latter that has occurred at such a frequency that Barkley’s been crossing and leaving behind the line that divides him as a tough guy from an era long past, to sounding like a bitter old man, seemingly jealous of the evolved athleticism of today’s game compared to when he played.  To some degree, I agree that it’s a different game, a little softer than it used to be, with personalities rampaging way out of control in comparison, but it’s also a whole different world surrounding the game as well, and everything is related in the broader picture.

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Grayson Allen and the double-standards of athletics

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Impetus: Duke basketball player Grayson Allen suspended indefinitely by the team for intentionally tripping Elon player (and then proceeding to throw the biggest temper tantrum this side of Christian Bale)

What is the risk when a college basketball player deliberately trips another player on a hardwood court?  Broken bones, contusions, concussions, among other types of injury.

What is the risk when an ordinary citizen deliberately trips another ordinary citizen on the street, in a hallway, at the store, at school, or any other location?  Broken bones, contusions, concussions, among other types of injury.

The difference is that when a college basketball player does it, although it is seen on television and by thousands of spectators, they get a whole lot of scrutiny, criticism, disdain and blown up on social media, but when an ordinary person does it at any other ordinary location, they are classified as committing assault, and are subject to arrest, among other criminal punishment.

It goes without saying that this sort of double-standard is troubling as far as society is concerned.  Just because Grayson Allen is a talented basketball player for one of the most recognized sporting teams in its entire sport doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be punished like an ordinary citizen for his dangerous actions. 

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Oh, why not one more?

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Because that’s a great idea: The Atlanta Hawks’ new developmental team, to get, wait for it . . . wait for it . . . a new stadium!

Everything about this is a bad idea.  For starters, the NBA is a joke of an organization, bastardizing a pure game with hip-hop, flash and no substance, and the repeated degradation of a sport enjoyed all across the world.  But to swindle taxpayers into creating an arena nobody wants for a D-league team??  Now that’s just some bull shit, if I’ve ever heard it in my life.

The D-league isn’t like minor league baseball; contrary to what the NBA wants people to believe.  People end up in the D-league, because they’re simply not good enough to make it into the NBA, and the D-league is more or less a holding cell for mediocre players, with organizations hoping the cream of the crop will rise, into becoming a useful backup player for the big squads.

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The end of an NBA era

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Impetus: Tim Duncan announces his retirement after playing 19 years in the NBA

I wax poetic about professionals occasionally, in the spirit of writing about professions.  Chris Benoit was a wrestler I loved to watch.  David Ross is a baseball player that I love.  Kobe Bryant was the successful successor to Michael Jordan.  Etcetera, etcetera.

In the right context, I can appreciate damn near anyone.  I’m under the belief that under the right context, anyone can appreciate anyone if glazed in the appropriate words and descriptions.

Tim Duncan was one of my all-time favorite players, ever.  Full stop, period.

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LeBron James actually did it

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The funny thing about sports is that seldom does the likely ever actually occur; especially when it comes to championships.   When was the last time a team favored to win it all from the start of the season actually win it all?  How many times do we see a college football juggernaut, ranked #1 from the start, falter and fail to even make it to the championship game?  How many athletes have we witnessed state their intentions to succeed and make promises that they have little chances of fulfilling?

I remember the rise of LeBron James.  Hearing about this kid in Ohio who was an absolute physical freak of nature, even whilst in high school.  He was a decade ago, basically what Bryce Harper was just a few years ago, this teenage phenom that was destined to easily succeed in the professional ranks of their respective sports.  LeBron was anointed a Next Jordan in a time when doing such was the equivalent of a career kiss of death; but that’s just how much of a sure thing he was believed to be.

I remember when the Cavaliers drafted him following the 04-05 season, it was the start of a truly storybook story, of the hometown kid being drafted by franchise in his state.  He said he wanted to “do his best” to bring a championship to Cleveland.  In his first regular season game as a Cavalier, he nearly had a triple-double.  I was impressed at how good he was from the onset.

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