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- The Grip -- THURS 3.8.18
The Grip -- THURS 3.8.18
The NBA’s evaporating middle-class
3.8.18
Written while listening to The Pharcyde’s Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
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LAST NIGHT'S SCORES
Jazz 104, Pacers 84Rockets 110, Bucks 99Bulls 119, Grizzlies 110Raptors 121, Pistons 119Pelicans 114, Kings 101Cavaliers 113, Nuggets 108Lakers 108, Magic 107 [Conference Standings]
Somewhere in Vermont…
A five mile’s drive outside of Burlington, a stoned Bernie Sanders stews inside his picturesque log cabin home. He’d be able to hear the deer playing and the birds singing if it weren’t for his decaying ears and cable news pumped to Vol. 100.
He’s just stumbled upon an infographic on ESPN while flipping between CNN and Fox that has all 30 NBA teams, ranked in order of their records.
He notices a horrifying thing.
There’s no middle-class in the NBA.
His snugly rolled joint drops from hand to ground, right next to season three of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Blu-Ray edition—his 67th birthday present.
End scene.
OK, so there’s no middle-class except Charlotte. And maybe Detroit. Who knows what the Knicks are up to. The point is, right now there are 30 teams...
Eight of which (Orlando, Chicago, Memphis, Dallas, Phoenix, Sacramento, Atlanta, Brooklyn) are within two games of the worst record in the league. The first seven are tanking. The Nets have no interest in tanking because Paul Pierce, but are still in the NBA’s lower-class.
There are 16 teams that are currently in the playoffs (duh), and all have some sort of direction. (I.E. There is no team happy to squeak in and get their doors blown off.) Every general manager of those 16 teams could sit down and provide you with a competent blueprint to the next 10 years of their franchise. Some will work. Some will not. The point is, as with the tankers, there is a direction.
That leaves six teams (Charlotte, New York, Detroit, Utah, and both L.A. teams) to make up the league’s theoretical middle-class. But we can cross off Utah (smart owners, front office and coach with a rising rookie fighting like hell to make the playoffs) and both the L.A. franchises (one with a good core of young guys, the other freed of Blake Griffin’s contract, both with massive salary space in an attractive market).
Now we’re looking at the hopeless flounderers: Charlotte, which has drafted Adam Morrison, Frank Kaminsky, Noah Vonleh, Cody Zeller, Brandon Wright and D.J. Augustin in the top-10 since 2006; Detroit, which redefined swinging-for-the-fences with the Blake Griffin trade; and New York, a dumpster fire of a team so stupid it actually tried to make the playoffs in the final year before 2019’s lottery reform.
In 2004, perhaps the worst year on record in the Eastern Conference’s inferior history, fourth-seeded Miami was 42-40, No. 5 seed New Orleans was 41-41, sixth-seeded Milwaukee was 41-41, seventh-seeded New York was 39-43 and eight-seeded Boston was 36-46(!).
Miami won the title two years later, New Orleans hasn’t won a playoff series since, Milwaukee remained medicore until Giannis showed up, and the Celtics…….
To have a team ten games below .500 with one mid-tier star make the playoffs shows where the league’s conscious was in 2004: Just get in and see what happens. (The Great Tankathon of 1998 for Tim Duncan came and passed and, for whatever reason, didn’t shake up the landscape the way one might think.) For virtually the entire current NBA, it never would have gotten to the point it did for the 2004 Celtics; 40 games in, a re-evaluation would have happened. Paul Pierce may have been traded, the coach would have been dumped, an asset sale would have happened quickly. Ricky Davis? Gone. Chucky Atkins, Mark Blount, Vin Baker, all gone, for anything besides nothing.
Instead, that Boston team won six in a row after the all-star break and talked itself into the playoffs, only to be laughed off the court when they did. (They were swept by a 61-win Indiana team.)
Even stranger: The general manager that season was Danny Ainge, in his second year. He stood for one more year of mediocrity the next season—this time losing to the Pacers in seven games—then sat Pierce as a healthy scratch in ‘06-07, bottomed out, and turned a top-five pick in 2007 into Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. He won a championship, then had the gall to blow it all up in 2013 when he correctly felt mediocrity coming.
It could be argued that his 2013 heist of Brooklyn set the tone for the league’s current direction-driven format. Since, the NBA has endured Sam Hinkie’s if-you’re-not-first-you’re-last philosophy, a reluctance with the super-max, advanced analytics, and this logical mess we’re in now.
The coming draft reform, which will decentivize teams to flat-out suck, will change all of this. But Adam Silver can’t do anything this season, so enjoy the truly strange marvel of teams anchoring themselves to rock bottom in hopes of becoming the next Golden State, while Golden State fends off the elite.
Kevin Love is wearing his heart on his (shooting) sleeve
Kevin Love wrote a Players’ Tribune article in 2014. It was called “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Bored yet? He talked about the expectations of being a new superstar on the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was a dull article that wasted our time. The only insight he gave us was that he binge watches Seinfeld. Welcome to the club, Lil Kev.
Fast forward four years and he’s an NBA champion, a Banana Republic model who’s dating supermodel Kate Bock, seemingly living the perfect life. Out of nowhere, he turned to the Players’ Tribune again and this time delivered an honest, open article about suffering from anxiety, offering critique on the way our society approaches mental illness.DeMar DeRozan, who inspired Love to speak out by tweeting his struggles, has sparked a non-basketball discussion in the NBA landscape that lots can benefit from. Having these role models show human flaws despite the fame and money might show some that it’s okay to talk about it.
The Houston Rockets have won 17 games straight, an NBA season high.
New Orleans blew out the Kings last night, bringing its win streak to 10.
DeMar DeRozan had an absolutely bonkers dunk on the entirety of Mo-Town last night in a surprisingly fun overtime game between the Raptors and Pistons.
Kawhi Leonard broke the awkward silence between him and the Spurs yesterday. He said he wants to stay with San Antonio for his entire career and is eyeing a return this year.
Unnecessary and random shot at Vince Carter: The Raptors won their 47th game last night in their 64th try, tying the most wins a Carter-led Toronto team ever had. Here is every year he spent with the Raptors:
JuJu Smith-Schuster is pretty funny:
Shaq, who had his mama on the TNT set last night for his 46th birthday, showed Steph Curry serious love during this segment.
Dirk Nowitzki is shooting a career high 43.9% from three point range in his 19th season in the NBA.
According to this hilarious courtside interview, Allen Iverson lives in Charlotte?
Lebron James went off in the final minute in a win against Denver. Here are the highlights.
The NBA’s mission isn’t to stop tanking. It’s to stop anyone from talking about it.In the final season with the current rules in place, more teams than ever are doing everything they can to lose. While the Nets are only among those nine teams because they aren’t any good, as opposed to having draft pick incentives to play for, the other eight — the Bulls, Mavericks, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks — all know that every loss these days is a long-term win. The NBA knows it, too. They just don’t want anyone to acknowledge it.To read more, Tap Here.
The rise of Anthony Davis [Tap Here]
A fun look back at the time the Hawks beat the Heat without ever scoring a point, sort of. [Tap Here]
A LOOK AHEAD Here are the must-see games of the weekend.
Thursday 3/8The Boston Celtics (45-20) visit the Minnesota Timberwolves (38-28). 8 PM EST - TNTThe San Antonio Spurs (37-27) visit the Golden State Warriors (50-14).10:30 PM EST - TNTFriday 3/9
The Houston Rockets (51-13) visit the Toronto Raptors (47-17).7:30 PM ESTThe Golden State Warriors (50-14) visit the Portland Trailblazers (39-26).10 PM ESTSaturday 3/10The San Antonio Spurs (37-27) visit the Oklahoma City Thunder (37-29).8:30 PM EST - ABCSunday 3/11The Golden State Warriors (50-14) visit the Minnesota Timberwolves (38-28). 3:30 PM EST - ABCThe Indiana Pacers (37-28) visit the Boston Celtics (45-20).7:30 PM EST
