courtesy of Detroit Pistons Offical Fan Myspace

Just because Mason has spawned a rallying cry that has helped to unite and engage Pistons fans doesn’t mean that (over)officiating needs to play as much a role as it does in dictating the pace of the game, and seemingly providing to keep it close down the stretch.

Look I understand the NBA had a problem back in the mid 90’s, talent level was way down and fan apathy with the “points cost pain” style of play Pat Riley mastered with the Knicks was at an all time high. The game had degerated into big men backing inside for monster dunks inbetween hard fouls on anyone who wasn’t 300LBS inside the paint. It was time for a change…

I guess I just don’t agree than manufacturing drama/excitement/adverstising revenue by havitually sending star players to the line 20 times a night was the way to go.

While I won’t go as far as to say the refs intentionally or deliberately swung it to the Cavs, I’m sure Stern was rooting for them to beat us with LeBron as the media darling. So yes, the NBA is an entertainment industry now more so than ever.

Each year some team unveils a new jersey in hopes it will buoy sagging sales. Detroit’s change in public address announcers from Ken Calvert to John Mason and its subsequent success is a shining example of the NBA providing more than just the game. The popularity of Inside the NBA is unmistakable. Fans are just as likely to stay up late to tune in for basketball information as they are to see what comment(s) will be produced from the inimitable chemistry between Ernie, Kenny, Charles (and sometime guest). It’s entertainment, and personally, I’m fine with it. I don’t think that its spawned any particular subterfuge in how games are called. I do think guys (Sheed) who rub officials the wrong way get shafted here and there. And I do think they ought to revisit their stance on technical fouls, as I’m sure most here agree. But aside from Stern’s decision on how to address the non-sports gambling refs this week, I really have no beef with the NBA brass.

This idea that he wasn’t going to bend NBA rules for the Phoenix/San Antonio incident in order to protect the integrity of the commissioner’s office/rules of the game, but yet he would gladly shift rules when faced with the prospect of disciplining numerous referees strikes me as pathetic. My uncle used to say “Consistency is for the small minded”. Apparently Stern takes after him. My uncle wasn’t right and neither is Stern in this case. If I were a Phoenix fan I’d be just as pissed as a result of the events this week as I would’ve been immediately following the suspension of Amare & Bell.

What happened to fantasy b-ball?

Something tells me Stuckey is mentally and physically tough. I mentioned on this board before (it blows me away) that Stuckey’s ranking back in 2004 on the Rivals 150 was 131. Here’s some underwhelming Big 10 players ranked slightly higher than Stuckey in 2004’s HS class for perspective: MSU’s Goran Suton (123), Minnesota’s Spencer Tollackson (118), OSU’s Matt Terwilliger (111). Yes, this isn’t a science and BC’s (now the Nets’ first-round pick) Sean Williams was 104, and new TrailBlazer Taurean Green was 105. Even borderline 1st round pick for next year’s draft, UT’s Chris Lofton was behind Rodney at 146! Ironically, Afflalo, also of the 2004 class, was ranked 26th in the Rivals 150 that year. The point is that Stuckey wasn’t highly touted coming out of high school.

College scouts didn’t see anything special in a guy like Stuckey. He only had offers from the schools in his home state, but when he chose Eastern Washington he ended up CARRYING the squad (no one even finished within 10 ppg of Rodney last season) his two years there. To me, from this evidence, the guy apparently knows how to work hard to get past obstacles. Long story short, I don’t see this injury posing a real mental or physical deterrent to the guy.

On a funny note, Sheed touched on something I’ve rationalized as to why I’m such a proponent of allowing his emotional reactivity. According to a McCosky article, Sheed was quoted Wednesday as saying “This game ain’t basketball anymore, it’s entertainment. It’s starting to get like the WWF.” I agree that it is entertainment, except that basketball will never quite get like wrestling since wrestlers suffer way more pain and have no offseason and their contests are blatantly fixed and most importantly since most avid wrestling fans (except for myself and my friends of course!) are morons.
But if I didn’t get enjoyment out of Sheed’s antics I wouldn’t condone the guy getting $12 mil./year from us. From my eyes, he definitely earns about $2-3 mil./year of his deal just for being funny. Sorry for getting on a defending wrestling high horse there, but we have to admit that pretty much everyone loved when he bought a replica WWE World Heavyweight Title Belt for every member of the squad when we won the title. Now we can all agree wrestling is good for at least something.

And yes watching him get pushed out in that wheelchair is comedy at its finest.