spurschick
02-19-2006, 04:24 PM
HOUSTON — Four Pistons could enter the NBA All-Star Game at the same time tonight. Waiting could be five international players.
The contrast was there last June, too, when the mostly American Pistons lost to a Spurs franchise with a strong global influence. Then a few things were said, mostly in private, with the issue below the surface.
But what if the NBA drew a clear line for this game? What if the league did what hockey once did, choosing All-Star teams by passports, adding both pride and some nastiness to its February weekend?
Then maybe the All-Star Game would mean something.
As it is, this weekend is a sponsor-driven, merchandise-wielding, party-crazed celebrity theme park. Sensory overload is not optional. David Stern calls this event "a celebration," but the weekend celebrates seemingly everything but the game. It's more about Lil' Flip than it is about Flip Saunders.
The shock isn't that Tony and Eva put on two parties here, but that neither introduced a sneaker. Michael Jordan did (it wasn't a sensible loafer for today's retired billionaire), and Kobe Bryant and LeBron James followed with their own shoe lines.
James didn't stop there. Upper Deck released a new set of LeBron figurines with rare promotional flare. "The first-ever urban vinyl sports action figure," the company said.
Who knew?
All of which would be fine if 24 real-life action figures showed up tonight to actually play a game. They will instead jog down the floor, leap for the occasional lob and try, as Shaquille O'Neal said, "to do something the fans will remember."
Fat chance. The Daytona 500 draws about twice the TV ratings because those motors run hot. These stars will instead defer to each other (Kobe wants Tracy McGrady to be the MVP), and the coaches will encourage fun.
For example: Avery Johnson, the defensive voice behind the Mavericks' rise, told his West players Saturday that he wants them to shoot for 135 points.
You love this game? "I hate the game," Larry Brown told reporters recently. "I love the reward and I love the fact that coaches select seven players on each team and the fans are involved. But the game really turns me off now. It's not a game, and that bothers me."
One change would cure everything, and Tony Parker likes the idea. Why not pit a team of American All-Stars against the rest of the world?
The international team would need to add a few players; the East this year, after all, consists of only Americans. But add Manu Ginobili, Andrei Kirilenko, Boris Diaw, Peja Stojakovic and Andrew Bogut to the five already here, and the international All-Stars would have a flexible and deep team.
Steve Nash and Parker would certainly hold up as point guards, as would Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Pau Gasol on the front line. "I think we would be competitive," Parker said Saturday. "But I wouldn't want to do it every year. Maybe every two or three years — make it like the Olympics."
After Athens, just what the Americans want.
Similar angst was there last June, too, when the Spurs were beating the Pistons. "These uppity foreigners do not just ask for the ball in the crucible of a tight game," a columnist wrote then with considerable humor. "They now domesticate our desperate housewives. They win NBA titles."
But there was a serious side then, too. From the Washington Post: "At least three players not playing in the Finals spoken to this week on condition their names not be used — black players whose NBA jobs are being outsourced — desperately wanted the Pistons to beat the Spurs. For no other reason than, as one of them candidly said, 'We gotta put some of these guys back in their place.'"
The same sentiment would come out in an All-Star Game divided by borders. The international players would likely come together, unified to prove they belong, and the Americans would have no choice but to defend their honor.
Either way, wouldn't people get angry?
"That's OK," said Parker, smiling.
It would be OK. Anger would mean, for once, players and fans cared about this game.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA021906.01C.harvey.2e2e258.html
The contrast was there last June, too, when the mostly American Pistons lost to a Spurs franchise with a strong global influence. Then a few things were said, mostly in private, with the issue below the surface.
But what if the NBA drew a clear line for this game? What if the league did what hockey once did, choosing All-Star teams by passports, adding both pride and some nastiness to its February weekend?
Then maybe the All-Star Game would mean something.
As it is, this weekend is a sponsor-driven, merchandise-wielding, party-crazed celebrity theme park. Sensory overload is not optional. David Stern calls this event "a celebration," but the weekend celebrates seemingly everything but the game. It's more about Lil' Flip than it is about Flip Saunders.
The shock isn't that Tony and Eva put on two parties here, but that neither introduced a sneaker. Michael Jordan did (it wasn't a sensible loafer for today's retired billionaire), and Kobe Bryant and LeBron James followed with their own shoe lines.
James didn't stop there. Upper Deck released a new set of LeBron figurines with rare promotional flare. "The first-ever urban vinyl sports action figure," the company said.
Who knew?
All of which would be fine if 24 real-life action figures showed up tonight to actually play a game. They will instead jog down the floor, leap for the occasional lob and try, as Shaquille O'Neal said, "to do something the fans will remember."
Fat chance. The Daytona 500 draws about twice the TV ratings because those motors run hot. These stars will instead defer to each other (Kobe wants Tracy McGrady to be the MVP), and the coaches will encourage fun.
For example: Avery Johnson, the defensive voice behind the Mavericks' rise, told his West players Saturday that he wants them to shoot for 135 points.
You love this game? "I hate the game," Larry Brown told reporters recently. "I love the reward and I love the fact that coaches select seven players on each team and the fans are involved. But the game really turns me off now. It's not a game, and that bothers me."
One change would cure everything, and Tony Parker likes the idea. Why not pit a team of American All-Stars against the rest of the world?
The international team would need to add a few players; the East this year, after all, consists of only Americans. But add Manu Ginobili, Andrei Kirilenko, Boris Diaw, Peja Stojakovic and Andrew Bogut to the five already here, and the international All-Stars would have a flexible and deep team.
Steve Nash and Parker would certainly hold up as point guards, as would Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Pau Gasol on the front line. "I think we would be competitive," Parker said Saturday. "But I wouldn't want to do it every year. Maybe every two or three years — make it like the Olympics."
After Athens, just what the Americans want.
Similar angst was there last June, too, when the Spurs were beating the Pistons. "These uppity foreigners do not just ask for the ball in the crucible of a tight game," a columnist wrote then with considerable humor. "They now domesticate our desperate housewives. They win NBA titles."
But there was a serious side then, too. From the Washington Post: "At least three players not playing in the Finals spoken to this week on condition their names not be used — black players whose NBA jobs are being outsourced — desperately wanted the Pistons to beat the Spurs. For no other reason than, as one of them candidly said, 'We gotta put some of these guys back in their place.'"
The same sentiment would come out in an All-Star Game divided by borders. The international players would likely come together, unified to prove they belong, and the Americans would have no choice but to defend their honor.
Either way, wouldn't people get angry?
"That's OK," said Parker, smiling.
It would be OK. Anger would mean, for once, players and fans cared about this game.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA021906.01C.harvey.2e2e258.html