Venti Quattro
05-02-2011, 12:06 PM
The NBA actually wants a Memphis-LA Western Conference match-up. This will be good in a few ways...one of which is the Lakers, the biggest money-making machine the NBA has, makes a lot of money for the NBA, like always.
But the second, much more subtle, goal is to finally vindicate Memphis for the ABSOLUTELY horrible, egregiously severe case of straight-up COLLUSION they took part in in the Pau Gasol trade of 2008.
If you recall, the Lakers gave up chump-change, a RETIRED Aaron Mckie (i think), and a little known Euro-center MARC Gasol in that deal. (And some draft picks.)
There was a HUGE deal made about this, including comments from Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich, all around the league, mainly because the Grizzlies could have gotten a MUCH better deal for what they gave up (an All-Star Center) from SEVERAL other teams, including the Chicago Bulls. (They would've included like a BOATLOAD. I think Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas, who I still maintain was just lacking in proper coaching, among others, were in serious discussions/possibility.)
But the Grizzlies, with an under-the-disguise-of-semi-official-"unemployment" Jerry West (former Laker Legend) acting behind the scenes, orchestrated an under-the-table OUT OF ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOWHERE deal that landed Pau Gasol in L.A. juuuuuuust after they recently lost Andrew Bynum for the season, basically. Bynum would eventually come back and the tandem of Bynum/Gasol/Odom would be THE MAIN REASON why the Lakers would be in prime position for a three-peat...this year.
Let's get back to the Grizzlies. They were left the laughing-stock of the NBA for a while. But the League's wheels are ALWAYS spinning...Over the next few years, they'd land key after key player, culminating in the Juggernaut (aka Zach Randolph)...and NOW, with an improved Marc Gasol, who is still just a fraction of the player his big brother is, is primed to render all "collusion" talk mute. If you're a chump who believes in The Man all the time, that is.
Let's go to Chicago. Now, I KNOW, they raised all kinds of hell for being shafted like no other. So what happens? They land key player after key player until now THEY are primed to make serious noise for years. Crying, shafted, "less-favorite" son appeased.
Let's take a trip to San Antonio -- the adopted, from-a-previous-marriage son who never pleased his parents the way they wanted him to. Now, they've ALWAYS been shafted, but they've somehow ALWAYS found some random-ass player from some random-ass league in some random-ass country to fill roles with a (relatively) broke-ass owner, who's finally trying to sell the house, the barn, EVERYTHING to battle and win against ALL ODDS yet again. Not to mention, they've NEVER followed protocol when it came to acting in accordance with King Stern.
(And seriously...they almost NEVER land a marquee free agent or mega-trade. EVER.)What happens to them?
They somehow figure out a way to get the best record in the Western Conference but, conveniently, due to some super bad luck they suffer some injuries towards the end of the season. BUT this opens a golden opportunity for the NBA to face them off against these so-called "up and coming" Memphis Grizzlies. NO WAY the NBA lets this opportunity pass them by. They're ensured a loss to the suddenly seemingly randomly appointed Memphis Grizzlies.
Oh, but it isn't so random. Not in the NBA.
Let's go back to Boston, a few more seasons ago. How'd they get their "Big Three"?? Kevin Mchale, a former Celtic Legend, is the GM of Minnesota, the team that had Kevin Garnett. And waddaya know...they send him to Boston in a seemingly, borderline-barely fair deal that nets them a bunch of borderline-barely good players. That trade single-handedly saved the Celtics. And where's Minnesota? You tell me.
Now...all this is pretty straight out of my head right now and I haven't had the time to REALLY research and bolster this and make it all shiny and polished. (Not even a single Google search, actually, so I don't know if i even have the very general facts straight here.) But IF I were to do this, and I got paid to do so...like the slightly-better-than-mediocre writer, Bill Simmons, I'd be an ESPN writer in no time. And getting death-threats from David Stern himself.
BUT. Even without this "golden" Lakers-Memphis match-up, by taking down the top-seeded Spurs, Memphis has already made the required statement for the NBA that it needed to make. All they have to do is take OKC to 6 or 7 games and that'd suffice in Stern's eyes, I'm betting.
But you never know....OKC has some pretty prominent San Antonio connections too...
Bottom-line: The NBA is a for-profit MONEY-making machine first and foremost. You think ANYONE who's running a business as lucrative as this would NOT do things to ensure it makes the MOST money? You'd almost have to be crazy to just sit there and "watch good basketball" play out. No...you want to make money at all costs, you do whatever it takes to make the most money. At all costs. And that's what they do...while trying, unsuccessfully in my eyes, to walk that precarious tight-rope between manipulating the masses and keeping their faith. As ALL for-profit businesses do.
BOOM.(I realize this isn't THAT revolutionary. But I think I can put this together much better in a way that no article I've come across has. But...I don't get paid for this. So I probably won't.)
_________________
Go Cal Bears! Go USC Trojans!
But the second, much more subtle, goal is to finally vindicate Memphis for the ABSOLUTELY horrible, egregiously severe case of straight-up COLLUSION they took part in in the Pau Gasol trade of 2008.
If you recall, the Lakers gave up chump-change, a RETIRED Aaron Mckie (i think), and a little known Euro-center MARC Gasol in that deal. (And some draft picks.)
There was a HUGE deal made about this, including comments from Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich, all around the league, mainly because the Grizzlies could have gotten a MUCH better deal for what they gave up (an All-Star Center) from SEVERAL other teams, including the Chicago Bulls. (They would've included like a BOATLOAD. I think Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas, who I still maintain was just lacking in proper coaching, among others, were in serious discussions/possibility.)
But the Grizzlies, with an under-the-disguise-of-semi-official-"unemployment" Jerry West (former Laker Legend) acting behind the scenes, orchestrated an under-the-table OUT OF ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOWHERE deal that landed Pau Gasol in L.A. juuuuuuust after they recently lost Andrew Bynum for the season, basically. Bynum would eventually come back and the tandem of Bynum/Gasol/Odom would be THE MAIN REASON why the Lakers would be in prime position for a three-peat...this year.
Let's get back to the Grizzlies. They were left the laughing-stock of the NBA for a while. But the League's wheels are ALWAYS spinning...Over the next few years, they'd land key after key player, culminating in the Juggernaut (aka Zach Randolph)...and NOW, with an improved Marc Gasol, who is still just a fraction of the player his big brother is, is primed to render all "collusion" talk mute. If you're a chump who believes in The Man all the time, that is.
Let's go to Chicago. Now, I KNOW, they raised all kinds of hell for being shafted like no other. So what happens? They land key player after key player until now THEY are primed to make serious noise for years. Crying, shafted, "less-favorite" son appeased.
Let's take a trip to San Antonio -- the adopted, from-a-previous-marriage son who never pleased his parents the way they wanted him to. Now, they've ALWAYS been shafted, but they've somehow ALWAYS found some random-ass player from some random-ass league in some random-ass country to fill roles with a (relatively) broke-ass owner, who's finally trying to sell the house, the barn, EVERYTHING to battle and win against ALL ODDS yet again. Not to mention, they've NEVER followed protocol when it came to acting in accordance with King Stern.
(And seriously...they almost NEVER land a marquee free agent or mega-trade. EVER.)What happens to them?
They somehow figure out a way to get the best record in the Western Conference but, conveniently, due to some super bad luck they suffer some injuries towards the end of the season. BUT this opens a golden opportunity for the NBA to face them off against these so-called "up and coming" Memphis Grizzlies. NO WAY the NBA lets this opportunity pass them by. They're ensured a loss to the suddenly seemingly randomly appointed Memphis Grizzlies.
Oh, but it isn't so random. Not in the NBA.
Let's go back to Boston, a few more seasons ago. How'd they get their "Big Three"?? Kevin Mchale, a former Celtic Legend, is the GM of Minnesota, the team that had Kevin Garnett. And waddaya know...they send him to Boston in a seemingly, borderline-barely fair deal that nets them a bunch of borderline-barely good players. That trade single-handedly saved the Celtics. And where's Minnesota? You tell me.
Now...all this is pretty straight out of my head right now and I haven't had the time to REALLY research and bolster this and make it all shiny and polished. (Not even a single Google search, actually, so I don't know if i even have the very general facts straight here.) But IF I were to do this, and I got paid to do so...like the slightly-better-than-mediocre writer, Bill Simmons, I'd be an ESPN writer in no time. And getting death-threats from David Stern himself.
BUT. Even without this "golden" Lakers-Memphis match-up, by taking down the top-seeded Spurs, Memphis has already made the required statement for the NBA that it needed to make. All they have to do is take OKC to 6 or 7 games and that'd suffice in Stern's eyes, I'm betting.
But you never know....OKC has some pretty prominent San Antonio connections too...
Bottom-line: The NBA is a for-profit MONEY-making machine first and foremost. You think ANYONE who's running a business as lucrative as this would NOT do things to ensure it makes the MOST money? You'd almost have to be crazy to just sit there and "watch good basketball" play out. No...you want to make money at all costs, you do whatever it takes to make the most money. At all costs. And that's what they do...while trying, unsuccessfully in my eyes, to walk that precarious tight-rope between manipulating the masses and keeping their faith. As ALL for-profit businesses do.
BOOM.(I realize this isn't THAT revolutionary. But I think I can put this together much better in a way that no article I've come across has. But...I don't get paid for this. So I probably won't.)
_________________
Go Cal Bears! Go USC Trojans!