Bigger Problems: What If...Contraction

The current lockout of the National Basketball Association by its owners has current implications on the NBA season, however the cancellation of the NBA season of 2011-12 will change where the NBA plays basketball in the future. What does this mean? Definitely the loss of the season will mean the loss of at least one franchise, if not its relocation to another market reluctant to accept the team under the current tension between owners and players.

1. Sacramento Kings: Last season, the city of Sacramento and Kings' fan throughout northern California raised enough money and support to keep the Kings in Sacramento for another year. As long as the lockout continues and the doors to ARCO Arena remain locked, the life of the Kings franchise in Sacramento will dwindle toward contraction and dispersal.
2. Toronto Raptors: I'm a Raptor fan, and the idea of basketball leaving Toronto scares me to death. Rumour has it there is a bias among ESPN and various sports network in the States toward Toronto franchises, but I can't verify that from here. Without a marketable superstar or reason for American audiences to tune in to watch Raptor games post-Vince Carter, I fear for the future of the Toronto Raptors after the lockout.

Those are my two major victims of NBA contraction should they cancel the 2011-12 season. Here is a small list of teams that could also fall away as the league reduces from 30 largely mediocre NBA teams to a manageable 24 teams.

• New Orleans Hornets: They don't have an owner, so it is a convenient sacrifice. The NBA could send Chris Paul to a large market team to generate more buzz. Get it? Hornets, buzz, Hornets, buzz :) I just saw that :D LOL
• Portland Trail Blazers: A good young team in the cash-strapped Pacific Northwest :( Maybe they can make it work; I hope they do.
• Los Angeles Clippers: I don't like how they are run from an organizational perspective.
• Phoenix Suns: They are my dark horse for relocation/contraction. Glendale is spending a considerable amount of taxpayers' money to keep the Coyotes of the NHL, so who knows how the Suns will manage post-lockout.

Call Me a Noob, but...

I didn't cover the NBA Championship, much less the Playoffs this year (I'm not going to call it the FINALS! There is only one FINAL now! I don't care!)

Since the Miami Heat, who boast Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh in their lineup, entered the second season I boycotted the playoffs until some fortunate NBA team eliminated them from the playoffs. So far, the Heat are in the NBA Final against Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. I think Game 3 is on now, but so far the series is tied at one game apiece.

If the Miami Heat win the championship, I don't know what I'll do next year. This will prove the NBA championship can be bought, if you can arrange to play for the same team within six years of meeting at an Olympic-level basketball event, and lie to your fans about your commitment to the basketball team, city and surrounding communities.

Go Mavericks...I never thought I would be saying that o_O

NBA...Playoff...Madness?

The Nba Playoffs began this weekend with a bevy of playoff upsets! Keep in mind this isn't the NCAA tournament, where you lose one and you're done, and you must win 15 more games against four different teams before being crowned champions of the basketball world (preferably at home, during primetime, in front of big TV numbers, and on a national broadcast).

However, now isn't the time to be losing your head...or your shoes o_O

Goodbye Kings?

No, not the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, but of the National Basketball Association. I can't do the troubled Sacramento basketball franchise justice by adequately writing about them, but Yahoo! blogger Dan Devine does a really good job talking about them in his latest post about the team's final (?) home game of the season.

When I wrote about contraction in the National Basketball Association back in February, I did so in passing. When you live in a big market city like Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, or any major city with proud, stable franchises it is easy to take these things for granted. Discussing ideas like contraction or relocation is easy because they are 'ideas', and not 'reality' in the safety and security of the big market major cities. However, I failed to take into account the lives of the people they touch, not just the fans, but the concession stand owners, broadcasters, and boosters. Those small-market teams, which albeit the media brands under one brush, are overlooked by many, but to the city at large they are a part of the family. Without the team, the city loses its relevancy and identity in the eyes of the sports world; relegated from national headlines to the ESPN Sports Ticker, and then from the big red bar at the bottom of the screen to a place on a map or the back of an outdated Trivial Pursuit card, there aren't many more places for cities like Winnipeg, Quebec City, Seattle, and now Sacramento to go.

During the current economic climate, it is easy to dismiss these cities because they lack 'a new building', 'superstars', or 'a good team' and write them off for relocation or contraction. The talent pool in the NBA is too diluted, and the ability to draft marketable playmakers in the days of Bird, Magic, and Jordan are gone. If teams contract, what message will that send? Forget expansion, do not extend the borders of the sport, and play safety first? When teams relocate, as they often do in today's world, what is the overall message? When the going gets tough, get moving to where the money is? Keep growing no matter the cost?

What if the Los Angeles Lakers moved (again)? What if the Bulls took their name, colours, and Michael Jordan statues to Paris to start another playoff campaign (no knock against France because that country is a HIP place)? The answer to that question is "that would NEVER happen because there is too much invested". Sacramento invested 'too much', Seattle invested 'too much', Vancouver invested 'too much'; does being a small-market team dilute the investment of the supporters? I certainly hope not!

If money is a concern, why not adopt a system similar of promotion/relegation by divisions a la the European soccer leagues? Teams that do not perform are relegated to lower divisions within the NBA banner, and those that rise to prominence join the ranks of the elite in the First Division. Throughout the year, hold an all-inclusive league championship, so each team has another trophy to play for on top of their league commitments. In England, for example, the twenty soccer teams in the Premier League play for the League title, but they are also in the national cup competition along with all of England's professional and semi-pro football clubs in an annual knockout tournament. The idea would take some getting used to, and it would change the long-term economic landscape of professional sports in North America, much less in basketball, but all levels of political and economic power must work side by side to make it happen.

I'm sorry to see another NBA franchise go the way of the dollar bill, and I worry Toronto, too, may be forced down this road as well. Nevertheless, as long as the current state of affairs remains the way it is, scenes like the following will be played and replayed all over basketball stadiums in North America.

THE PHOTO THAT HAS THE BASKETBALL WORLD IN A TIZZY!

What is going on here?! This is so outside the realm of what basketball is all about! I am so confused! o_O Quick, get me a DVD of Vancouver Grizzlies' bloopers, and a leaflet of the Vancouver Grizzlies' Greatest Moments! Ah, that's better... ^_^

D: WHY! WAA!

Good old BUTLERRR walked onto the court for the NCAA 2011 Collegiate Basketball Championship with the hopes and dreams of an entire nation looking for its first great underdog story since Villanova in '85, and left the court with the shattered hopes and dreams of Tonya Harding one day returning to figure skating.

What made Connecticut's eventual and abysmal 53-41 victory in the penultimate game even worse was the fact both Connecticut and Butler, which are known for good shooting and team play, showed a complete lack of both. If Butler won, then I would feel better about the "great defensive showing" by the Bulldogs, as no doubt the pundits would put it. Take the same game and plant it in the 1960s with the short shorts, no shot clock, no three point line, no dunk attempts, no Twitter, and lack of national and international coverage of the game and you have a classic! -_-

Butler's shooting percentage of 18.8% during the contest is the worst for any game in NCAA tournament history! If I knew this would happen (again), I would come up with a cheer for Connecticut. Maybe something like..."Connecccctiiiiiiiiicuttttt!" My teeth hurts saying that. >_<

I'm very upset with the game of basketball right now!

(For more on this game, check out THE NEW YORK TIMES' Lynn Zinser's hilarious take on the game)

Just One Thing

BUTLERRR! :D

New URL

Hey everyone, Tell your friends: "Cut the Peach Basket" has a new URL. It is pwcutpeachbasket.blogspot.com; this is better than the old URL, which was pwcutthebottom.blogspot.com. Plus, this one makes more sense...well, almost o_O Now, a special treat for basketball fans out there: MICHAEL JORDAN BUZZER BEATERS! Cleveland fans may want to switch to something else...

Reliving the Madness, Part 2

I apologize for this taking three more days than I thought it would, but as a writer of many blogs and having a personal life things got out of control. Public speaking on Sunday, Writing a personal message on my personal blog on Monday, coordinating the computer wires to various gadgets on my Superdesk on Tuesday, and editing a friend's term paper on Wednesday. Note to Self: I can't do all things well; Duh!

1. Number One seeded teams: Should I chant "over-rated" now or later? Is it possible the talent pool in collegiate basketball is so that ranking teams based on regular season record and/or conference championships is as baseless and irrelevant as picking a winner at an apple pie contest at the county fair? In the end, we are all winners, except for the winner (munch munch, pass the whipped cream).
2. Congratulations to VCU on reaching the Final Four in this year's competition. They more than defeated Kansas on the court as well as on the runway. Take that, Times New Roman! You ain't got what WE got!
3. Come on, you know you want to. Just say it! Say it! SAY IT!
4. BUTLERRR! Yea, baby! BUTLERRR!
5. I laughed at my Mom's office pool tournament bracket. Tons of X's where Mom hoped there would be checkmarks. I never saw it this bad, but this year was funny, because at least every person in her office picked a number one seed to progress to the Final Four. What really makes Mom's picks so funny is who she picked in the Final: Ohio State vs Louisville! When I found out Morehead State ruined Mom's weekend, I did a Flair Flop, LOL and ROFL. She doesn't like when I "LOL and ROFL".
6. I'm forgetting someone: VCU, BUTLERRR, Conneticut and...Kentucky! One program that bought a way to win, another program that only recently found a way to win, the third program will study to find a way to win, and the fourth found out the way to Houston was a lot shorter than they thought ^_^ Guess who is who; I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
7. BUTLERRR!
8. I hope it is VCU vs Butler in the Final because I like both teams, but I also hope it isn't VCU vs Butler in the Final because I like both teams. The laws of physics denied Butler against Duke in last year's championship, so redemption is on their minds. VCU is our generation's Villanova, and victory can only mean prestige for the school and ratings for the networks.
9. ESPN is going to air "The Fab Five" documentary during the tournament. I remember that starting lineup for Michigan from the 90s: Ray Jackson, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, and Jimmy King. They were brash, hardnosed, arrogant gamebusters; it should be a good movie. Too bad they couldn't win when it counted...or should it be "count when it win-ned"...or "won"...couldn't count when it won...so they did win? I'm confused o_O
   
10. I don't have too many times to say this: BUTLERRR!
    

Reliving the Madness

I decided to wait until the start of March Madness to resume posting to The Peach Basket blog. For an opening weekend, the action lived up to expectations. Yahoo! has a great blog dedicated to college hoops called "The Dagger"; don't ask me why it is called "The Dagger", for that would be similar to asking me why I called this blog "The Peach Basket" o_O

After every weekend, I'll run down ten things I noticed from the previous weekend's action and try to add some colourful commentary. Speaking of commentary...

1. Charles Barkley: The outspoken former NBA all-star and basketball commentator moves from the comfortable, colourful of "Inside the NBA" to the family oriented, clean cut, sanitized world of college hoops. The input of Barkley, and fellow fish out of water commentator Kenny Smith, is alright but the lack of insight leaves me feeling like I did not learn anything new from watching. Greg Gumbel is at his annual best holding the show together; the experiment of four networks showing college basketball is a success, but the patient is in serious condition. Here is hoping it gets better.
2. Guess That School: Every year, there is a new school entering the national spotlight of the NCAA Basketball Championship that no casual basketball fan outside of the school's campus town knows about. I know where GONZAGA and BUTLER are, but what about DRAKE (I love the DRAKE!), XAVIER, and GEORGE MASON? I remember AMERICAN from last year; now that is a trick question ^_^
3. Did I Miss Something?: Apparently, the tournament started on Thursday with second round playoff action...If I got the memo, as it appears everyone else on Earth did, then I would know the four playoff games held prior to what I thought was the "first round proper" were part of the "first round proper". So, I was wrong...again o_O
4. I Just Like Saying The Name: Imagine you are Captain Kirk in the nexus in the 1996 film, Star Trek: Generations, and your pet dog from nine years previous walks in the door to your log cabin. In a guttural voice, you smile and call out his name: BUTLERRR! ^_^ Say it with me, BUTLERRR!
5. Pyramid Scheme: According to my younger sister, who helped my Mom pick teams for the office pool tournament, teams with more vowels than their opponents have a higher chance of winning. So, ARIZONA should beat TEXAS, and PITTSBURGH fans shouldn't get their hopes up...! Hey, what do you know? o_O
6. BUTLER: BUTLERRR! LOL :) !
7. Fashionistos, baby: Something the marketing geniuses in the NBA, and even the NHL, should take notice of: Nice Uniforms. No ridiculous piping coming and going from all angles, no multi-coloured garbs that detract from the action on the court, and a grand total of two (or three?) jerseys per team! Everything else is a FASHION CRIME!
8. Underdog stories: I love hearing about the underdog stories that come from obscurity, flirt with greatness, and then disappear into the night. It keeps you on your toes, and makes the game exciting ^_^ Any chance we could see another "Villanova def. Georgetown" again? I hope so... ^_^
9. Did He Jump or Was He Pushed?: I don't like commenting on coach firings in a sport I am not as comfortable with, in a level of play I only care about come March. I do know there was some improper conduct leading up to the tournament by former Tennessee Volunteers basketball coach Bruce Pearl, and he did apologize for it. However, the school chose to go in a new direction. From what I read of Ryan Greene's article in "The Dagger", Pearl did a good job with the school up until the incident; I wish him the best going forward.
10. Alright, One More Time: BUTLERRR!

I hope you enjoyed this look back ^_^ See you next week!

Well that was expected -_-

CB4 came to town with his new team, the Miami Heat, and B4 he left blowing kisses to the crowd they won the 'grudge' game against the Toronto Raptors by the score of 103-95.

I'm impressed with the effort the Raptors put forth in playing the game for four quarters, and while I wasn't expecting any miracles, I'm glad they kept it close...for the most part.

The Boo Birds were out in full force, yet I couldn't help thinking that the Bosh chapter of the Same Old Story sounded so similar to the Vince Carter and Damon Stoudamire chapters from the same book.

I mean, we lost!

With that out of the way, Torontonians like me can focus on what is important: The Maple Leafs, the weather, and the snub of Justin Bieber by the Grammys (I'm just kidding...no one really cares about the weather). Now, a song by Justin Bieber to calm your nerves ^_^



If you like to read more about this game, check out REUTERS for their synopsis of the game. That is where I got that photo of Bosh...and Bieber...!

Bosh is Back, alright?

No, I'm not talking about the Backstreet Boys; I'm talking about former Toronto Raptor Chris Bosh and his new team, the Miami Heat, coming to Toronto for a first time since CB4 said "C YA" via Tweets to T.O.

As I said before in my Lebron blog posting in December of last year, I'm not too upset by what Bosh did. Letting the wrong word slip on Twitter, and misleading your city until you announce on a national broadcast you are going to Florida are two different things (or are they?).

Click here to find out what I wrote about Lebron. This blog will be here when you get back...>

Toronto has a history of booing players that leave the beloved Big Smoke for the opportunity to play for the Big Prize, Big Money, or both: Damon Stoudamire, Tracy McGrady, and even Vince Carter felt heaps of criticism for "walking out" on "Canada's Team". As for me, my "laissez-faire" attitude concerning Chris Bosh is in sharp contrast to the feelings of most Torontonians, who will be at tonight's game at the Air Canada Centre, and all but a few Cleveland supporters that believed Lebron was the "Second Coming".

1. The Team

My expectations for the Toronto Raptors were low, at best. I knew they wouldn't choke, but I knew they wouldn't do miracles either. Although, the 25-point comeback against Detroit at the Palace was a nice surprise...! Anyway, I don't go out of my way to watch the Raptors play because the return would not equal the amount of time I invest in the team. This would be unfathomable years ago, when Vinsanity hit the Raptors: I believed we had a chance in EVERY game, and we usually won more than we lost. I don't get that vibe this year, nevertheless I admire the Toronto Raptors for playing, which is more than I can say for other teams that take up the cross for their city, and mail it in on the road (Insert team name here:___________)

2. The Conference

If you have a sub-500 record and you are seventh in your conference, thank your lucky stars you are in Eastern Conference team.

3. The League

I'm not going to bore you with a expository piece on why I think the NBA is a scripted event. Instead, I will just put up bullet points...

a. If the Spurs score more than 100 points, I am convinced Tim Duncan will have a heart attack! Watching the San Antonio Spurs play basketball is like watching paint dry. You know they will drain buckets, but they will milk the clock before they do (how come they won four championships doing it?!).
b. NBA Finals: Lakers versus Heat/Celtics. The dream championship for any or all media outlets. If the Lakers get home court advantage, you know the series is going six/seven games.
c. There are some games and teams you can just write off, not just season by season, but game by game. I would be open to the idea of contraction, as long as the talent pool is there and it is done right. Toronto may be on the expendable list, but don't quote me on that o_O

In conclusion, Toronto had a history of players bolting the Raptors for a better deal. Bosh is just another player for fans to boo in an effort to take the focus off the current state of the team.

What is he going to do in response: Rebound?

Remembering Len Bias

If you know about the sport of basketball, then there is a good chance you know about a college player named Len Bias: The product of the University of Maryland with great skill, potential, and awesome promise. Drafted by the Boston Celtics in the '86 Draft just two days earlier, his life and career took a tragic turn when he died of heart failure stemming from a drug overdose.

Whether your passion is basketball or something else, it is something every player or future player should watch because it is a story of how success can be mishandled. The title of the film is "Without Bias", directed by Kirk Fraser. As the hall-of-fame Georgetown basketball coach Chuck Thompson said, there are not many stories of success in today's culture, so it is important to make the right choices in life, how they affect those around you, and why.

I am taking on more responsibility in my new occupation, and leadership isn't too far from my mind. No one hears about the right choices made in the business world, just the poor or ill-advised ones (see Lehman Bros., Bear Stearnes, Martha Stewart, etc). The right choice may not be the smart one, in terms of economic value, but there are things in this life that are worth more than dollar bills in your wallet or points on a scoreboard.

I recommend you see Kirk Fraser's film; I hope you will take something tangible from it. There are a series of articles form the Washington Post website about the Len Bias story here...