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10-30-2007, 09:34 AM
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October 30, 2007
N.B.A. Preview
Tip-Off Can’t Come Fast Enough
By HOWARD BECK (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HOWARD%20BECK&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HOWARD%20BECK&inline=nyt-per)
In breezier times, before referee scandals, sexual-harassment trials and other varied problems consumed the agenda, Commissioner David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per) often spent his state of the N.B.A. address discussing the mundane matters of basketball.
For a time in the early 2000s, a lack of competitive balance, of all insidious things, seemed to pose the greatest threat to the league. The Western Conference, pumped full of Shaqs and Kobes and Duncans, had taken over the league. The Eastern Conference, post-Michael Jordan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/michael_jordan/index.html?inline=nyt-per), had become a joke with no punch line. And Stern, in nearly every session with reporters, had to fend off calls for realignment, contraction or a playoff reseeding system that would let the Western powers play for the championship.
Given the current state of affairs as the season opens with three games tonight, Stern must feel wistful for the millennium bug, Napster and the old Britney Spears (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/britney_spears/index.html?inline=nyt-per). Never in the N.B.A.’s modern history has the league confronted so many crises, big and small, in such a short period.
The league tried a new, composite ball last season, then scrapped it when players rebelled. Several teams were accused of tanking late-season games to improve their draft position. A marquee playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/sanantoniospurs/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Phoenix Suns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/phoenixsuns/index.html?inline=nyt-org) was marred by a fight and by the controversial suspensions that followed. The N.B.A. finals, presented as a coming-out party for the young Cleveland star LeBron James (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/lebron_james/index.html?inline=nyt-per), resulted in a four-game sweep by San Antonio and the worst television ratings in finals history.
Those matters were soon rendered trivial by contrast. In July, it was revealed that a veteran referee, Tim Donaghy (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/tim_donaghy/index.html?inline=nyt-per), had conspired with gamblers to bet on N.B.A. games. It was, by Stern’s description, the “worst situation that I have ever experienced” in his three decades with the league. The scandal has been tempered by the fact that no other referees were involved.
Finally, just as training camps opened this month, a jury ordered the Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) to pay $11.6 million in damages to a former team executive who successfully claimed sexual harassment.
So when Stern opened his annual preseason conference call last week, he struck a wry and resigned tone. “I’m going to be brief and upbeat at the beginning,” he said, “and open it up to long and downbeat questions.”
Sure enough, 16 of the 22 questions Stern fielded concerned the referee scandal, the Knicks’ trial and other downers (like Seattle’s fight to keep the SuperSonics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/seattlesupersonics/index.html?inline=nyt-org) from leaving town).
To these and other issues, Stern has a practiced response, from the “this too shall pass” school of damage control. And despite everything, he said, the league is having record sales in season tickets and corporate sponsorships, all coinciding with “the largest television contract in our history.”
“Is everything perfect? By sure, not,” Stern said. “Do we have a lot of work to do? Yes.”
The league announced a number of measures to restore fans’ faith in the referees. The N.B.A.’s health, however, will be sustained by the quality of the games. And in that area, Stern may not need his usual hard sales pitch.
A major migration of talent, led by Kevin Garnett (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/kevin_garnett/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s trade to Boston from Minnesota, has revived the moribund Eastern Conference. The Celtics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/bostonceltics/index.html?inline=nyt-org), with Garnett, Paul Pierce and the Seattle import Ray Allen, now have as much star power as any team in the league. The three best teams — the Dallas Mavericks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/dallasmavericks/index.html?inline=nyt-org), the Suns and the defending champion Spurs — all play in the West, but the East is gaining.
“I’m excited about the N.B.A. probably for the first time in 10 years or so,” said Charles Barkley (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/charles_barkley/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the TNT analyst and Hall of Fame forward, “because there is some serious competitive balance out there now. The East is going to be really good this year.”
Credit the Cavaliers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/clevelandcavaliers/index.html?inline=nyt-org). Derided last spring as the worst team ever to make the finals, Cleveland inspired every team in the East to believe it has a chance. http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif
So Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge traded his best young prospects to acquire two 30-something All-Stars, Garnett and Allen. The Knicks obtained a potential All-Star, Zach Randolph, from Portland. The formerly frugal Charlotte Bobcats (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/charlottebobcats/index.html?inline=nyt-org) obtained the star guard Jason Richardson from Golden State. The Orlando Magic (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/orlandomagic/index.html?inline=nyt-org) plucked Rashard Lewis, a former All-Star, from Seattle. And the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org), rather than overhaul an aging core, re-signed Vince Carter (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/vince_carter/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and retained their All-Star threesome of Carter, Jason Kidd (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/jason_kidd/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and Richard Jefferson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/richard_jefferson/index.html?inline=nyt-per).
“We said, ‘We’ve got a chance here,’” said Rod Thorn (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/rod_thorn/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the Nets’ president.
Suddenly, it seems everyone does. The consensus among Eastern Conference executives is that at least 12 teams have a shot at being one of the eight playoff teams, and more than a half-dozen have a chance to make the finals. In the league’s annual poll of general managers, seven teams (Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, Orlando and Washington) got at least one vote to win the East. (Four teams received votes to win the West.)
Still looming is the potential trade of perhaps the league’s greatest talent — Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the disillusioned Los Angeles Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) star.
Barkley said he regularly heard three questions from fans: Can the Celtics win it all? Will the Knicks finally make the playoffs? And where will Kobe go? No one, he said, asks about referees or sexual-harassment trials.
“If this was five officials,” Barkley noted, “we’d be done.”
In January, Donaghy will face sentencing on two felony conspiracy charges. But for now, the game is front and center.
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October 30, 2007
N.B.A. Preview
Tip-Off Can’t Come Fast Enough
By HOWARD BECK (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HOWARD%20BECK&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HOWARD%20BECK&inline=nyt-per)
In breezier times, before referee scandals, sexual-harassment trials and other varied problems consumed the agenda, Commissioner David Stern (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_stern/index.html?inline=nyt-per) often spent his state of the N.B.A. address discussing the mundane matters of basketball.
For a time in the early 2000s, a lack of competitive balance, of all insidious things, seemed to pose the greatest threat to the league. The Western Conference, pumped full of Shaqs and Kobes and Duncans, had taken over the league. The Eastern Conference, post-Michael Jordan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/michael_jordan/index.html?inline=nyt-per), had become a joke with no punch line. And Stern, in nearly every session with reporters, had to fend off calls for realignment, contraction or a playoff reseeding system that would let the Western powers play for the championship.
Given the current state of affairs as the season opens with three games tonight, Stern must feel wistful for the millennium bug, Napster and the old Britney Spears (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/britney_spears/index.html?inline=nyt-per). Never in the N.B.A.’s modern history has the league confronted so many crises, big and small, in such a short period.
The league tried a new, composite ball last season, then scrapped it when players rebelled. Several teams were accused of tanking late-season games to improve their draft position. A marquee playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/sanantoniospurs/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Phoenix Suns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/phoenixsuns/index.html?inline=nyt-org) was marred by a fight and by the controversial suspensions that followed. The N.B.A. finals, presented as a coming-out party for the young Cleveland star LeBron James (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/lebron_james/index.html?inline=nyt-per), resulted in a four-game sweep by San Antonio and the worst television ratings in finals history.
Those matters were soon rendered trivial by contrast. In July, it was revealed that a veteran referee, Tim Donaghy (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/tim_donaghy/index.html?inline=nyt-per), had conspired with gamblers to bet on N.B.A. games. It was, by Stern’s description, the “worst situation that I have ever experienced” in his three decades with the league. The scandal has been tempered by the fact that no other referees were involved.
Finally, just as training camps opened this month, a jury ordered the Knicks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newyorkknicks/index.html?inline=nyt-org) to pay $11.6 million in damages to a former team executive who successfully claimed sexual harassment.
So when Stern opened his annual preseason conference call last week, he struck a wry and resigned tone. “I’m going to be brief and upbeat at the beginning,” he said, “and open it up to long and downbeat questions.”
Sure enough, 16 of the 22 questions Stern fielded concerned the referee scandal, the Knicks’ trial and other downers (like Seattle’s fight to keep the SuperSonics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/seattlesupersonics/index.html?inline=nyt-org) from leaving town).
To these and other issues, Stern has a practiced response, from the “this too shall pass” school of damage control. And despite everything, he said, the league is having record sales in season tickets and corporate sponsorships, all coinciding with “the largest television contract in our history.”
“Is everything perfect? By sure, not,” Stern said. “Do we have a lot of work to do? Yes.”
The league announced a number of measures to restore fans’ faith in the referees. The N.B.A.’s health, however, will be sustained by the quality of the games. And in that area, Stern may not need his usual hard sales pitch.
A major migration of talent, led by Kevin Garnett (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/kevin_garnett/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s trade to Boston from Minnesota, has revived the moribund Eastern Conference. The Celtics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/bostonceltics/index.html?inline=nyt-org), with Garnett, Paul Pierce and the Seattle import Ray Allen, now have as much star power as any team in the league. The three best teams — the Dallas Mavericks (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/dallasmavericks/index.html?inline=nyt-org), the Suns and the defending champion Spurs — all play in the West, but the East is gaining.
“I’m excited about the N.B.A. probably for the first time in 10 years or so,” said Charles Barkley (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/charles_barkley/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the TNT analyst and Hall of Fame forward, “because there is some serious competitive balance out there now. The East is going to be really good this year.”
Credit the Cavaliers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/clevelandcavaliers/index.html?inline=nyt-org). Derided last spring as the worst team ever to make the finals, Cleveland inspired every team in the East to believe it has a chance. http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif
So Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge traded his best young prospects to acquire two 30-something All-Stars, Garnett and Allen. The Knicks obtained a potential All-Star, Zach Randolph, from Portland. The formerly frugal Charlotte Bobcats (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/charlottebobcats/index.html?inline=nyt-org) obtained the star guard Jason Richardson from Golden State. The Orlando Magic (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/orlandomagic/index.html?inline=nyt-org) plucked Rashard Lewis, a former All-Star, from Seattle. And the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org), rather than overhaul an aging core, re-signed Vince Carter (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/vince_carter/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and retained their All-Star threesome of Carter, Jason Kidd (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/jason_kidd/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and Richard Jefferson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/richard_jefferson/index.html?inline=nyt-per).
“We said, ‘We’ve got a chance here,’” said Rod Thorn (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/rod_thorn/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the Nets’ president.
Suddenly, it seems everyone does. The consensus among Eastern Conference executives is that at least 12 teams have a shot at being one of the eight playoff teams, and more than a half-dozen have a chance to make the finals. In the league’s annual poll of general managers, seven teams (Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, Orlando and Washington) got at least one vote to win the East. (Four teams received votes to win the West.)
Still looming is the potential trade of perhaps the league’s greatest talent — Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the disillusioned Los Angeles Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) star.
Barkley said he regularly heard three questions from fans: Can the Celtics win it all? Will the Knicks finally make the playoffs? And where will Kobe go? No one, he said, asks about referees or sexual-harassment trials.
“If this was five officials,” Barkley noted, “we’d be done.”
In January, Donaghy will face sentencing on two felony conspiracy charges. But for now, the game is front and center.