Wake Me Up In June

It's that time of year again.  No, I'm not talking about Spring, random April snow showers, Spring Break, or even Baseball.  That's right, it's time for the first round of the NBA playoffs!!!  In case you didn't catch my sarcasm in that first sentence, then please be sure to wake me up in late-May / early-June.  Okay, I am a HUGE basketball fan.  It is easily my favorite sport to watch, play, etc., but that is exactly why I hate the first (and even a lot of the second) round in the NBA playoffs.  Why, you ask?  First of all, the NBA allows more than half of its teams to get into the playoffs (16 out of 30), allowing below-average teams such as the 37-45 Indiana Pacers to play a couple of extra games in the first round every year.  The NBA then had the bright idea in 2003 to switch the first round playoff format from best-of-5 games to best-of-7 games in 2003, thus eliminating almost any possibility of a first round upset by a lower-seeded team.  A best-of-7 series guarantees one thing:  the better team usually wins.  Only once since 2003 has a #8 seed beat a #1 seed (Golden State over Dallas).

Will there be an upset in the NBA playoffs like
Morehead State over Louisville?  Not in a 7-game series.

An NBA best-of-7 series does exactly what the NBA wants it to do: it creates Conference Final and NBA Final matchups with the better teams and the better players.  Do you really think the NBA commissioner was sad to see Lebron James and Chris Bosh leave their smaller basketball-market NBA teams (Cleveland and Toronto, respectively) to join Dwayne Wade in one of the larger NBA markets (Miami) this year?  Did the league allow for the most uneven trade in NBA history to take place with Pau Gasol ending up with the Los Angeles Lakers (The Lakers have not missed the NBA Finals since Pau joined the Lakers in 2008)?  The lowest-rated, least-watched NBA Finals took place in 2007 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Even though two of the best players (Lebron James and Tim Duncan) were involved in the series, its ratings suffered from two of the smaller-market teams getting to the league's showcase event.  Is it any coincidence that the Pau Gasol trade took place the very next season?  I'm just sayin'...

NBA Commissioner David Stern would love
to see a Kobe-Lebron NBA Finals matchup.

The only advantage of the current format of the NBA playoffs is that there is rarely any argument which team is the best team in the league, unlike when Connecticut won the NCAA tournament this year like I wrote about here.  Meanwhile, the NCAA Tournament and the NFL playoff format create for much more exciting games because they are a "one-and-done" playoff system.  If even the "best" NFL or NCAA team has an off-night or makes an unusual amount of mistakes in a playoff game, then they may not have the advantage of letting the better talent or the better coaching between the two teams take over and avoid losing three more times.  Does an NBA team from Indiana (the Pacers) have the same chance to make the Finals as an NCAA team from Indiana (Butler)?  No way!  Will a small-market team like the Memphis Grizzlies have a chance to mimic the success of the much smaller-market team of the NFL (Green Bay Packers) in winning the championship this year?  Not unless they plan on signing Aaron Rodgers for the playoff run...or unless the NBA switches to a "one-and-done" playoff format.  As my brother-in-law put it a couple of weeks ago, there is a definite tradeoff between an exciting playoff format and the best team winning all the time.

Neither Kobe and Lebron has ever had the pressure
of a "one-and-done" playoff format having both skipped
to the NBA directly out of high school.

Don't get me wrong, I was one of the 4 people who actually watched the 2007 NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and the Spurs.  I love watching the NBA playoffs once we see matchups like the Lakers vs. Spurs or the Celtics vs. Heat, or what the NBA commissioner really wants to see this year the Lakers vs. the Heat (By the way, if want to see who the NBA wants to see in the NBA Finals, then just pay attention to which teams are scheduled to play on Christmas Day, which is probably the most-watched regular season games all year).  Unfortunately, the current playoff format elicits boring first and second rounds and a month-long wait for the best teams to be left standing.

Has anyone asked you if you have filled out your NBA bracket yet?  Me neither.

From the USA with Love

Amidst all the interest, intrigue, and media buzz this week surrounding BYU, Brandon Davies, the BYU Honor Code, etc. is an international phenomenon that has made its way all the way to Europe.  And no, I'm not talking about the "epic" and "radical" Charlie Sheen freak show.  I'm talking about the New Jersey Nets and the Toronto Raptors.  That's right, the 18-43 Nets and the 17-45 Raptors are two of the worst teams in the NBA, and in an effort to promote the game of basketball and the NBA, the Nets and the Raptors are playing the first regular season NBA games ever this weekend in London, England.  Really?  The NBA is trying to get England interested in the NBA with 2 Nets-Raptors games!?  Thanks for Harry Potter and the Aston Martin, England, we hope you enjoy this exciting matchup between two non-playoff teams.  Next summer, can you return the favor by sending us the West Bromwich Albion and the Wolverhampton Wanderers (both real English Premier League Soccer Teams) to give the US an exciting soccer game to watch?  In fact, can they play each other twice?  Pleeeease...

The Queen's reaction when she
found out the Nets-Raptors were
going to bring the NBA to England.

In all seriousness, it should come as no surprise that the Nets are one of the teams involved.  The Nets were bought by Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov last year.  Prokhorov has been trying to raise the Nets' international profile (I didn't know they had one to begin with) ever since he bought the team last year.  Prokhorov also helped close the deal for the Nets to move to Brooklyn in the Fall of 2012, including the construction of the new Barclays (a UK-based company) Center, which will be the home of the Nets for years to come.  Prokhorov also led the aggressive charge to obtain Carmelo Anthony prior to the NBA trade deadline.  Although he didn't end up with Anthony, the Nets were able to make a trade for Jazz All-Star point guard, Deron Williams, so they could have a superstar to build their team around for their upcoming relocation to Brooklyn and the World.  The "Nyets" already have a Russian-language website and a deal with a TV network in the country to broadcast games. "We're making big efforts to make the Nets Russia's home team," Christophe Charlier recently said.  Charlier is the chairman of the board of directors for the Nets and is also deputy CEO of the Mikhail Prokhorov-owned Onexim Group.  On the heels of all these efforts, Nets CEO Brett Yormark summed it up for the two people already following the team: "It's a good time to be a (or the) Nets fan."

Deron Williams will be a cornerstone to the
Nets' desire to have an international fan base.

Deron Williams, in fact, admitted this week that he had no idea his new team was going to play in London to play against the Raptors.  Oh well, I guess the NBA is going to have to improve its marketing of these events if these kind of games are going to take place in the future.  In fact, the NBA has come out and aggressively said that the Nets-Raptors series this weekend is the first of many global initiatives to come.  "Building the sport of basketball and the NBA internationally is a priority for the league as a whole, but we're thrilled that the Nets are so supportive of this."  NBA Europe senior vice president Sophie Goldschmidt said about the NBA-England experiment.  Apparently, the Raptors had to go because the flights must have been the cheapest from Canada.

At Least You're Not Baron Davis...

If you know me, you'd think that on a day when BYU decisively beats San Diego State on the road in the biggest regular season game in either school's basketball history that I would want to talk all about Jimmer Fredette and how BYU deserves to have a #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament (and not just because I'm a huge BYU fan).  I'll save that argument for another day, but today, I am glad that at least I'm not Baron Davis.

Baron is excited to go to Cleveland

Amidst all the "Melo"-drama, the surprise blockbuster trade of Deron Williams to the Nets, and the Celtics apparently not wanting to win NBA championships anymore, Baron Davis was traded from the lottery-bound, yet exciting, Los Angeles Clippers to the lowly, record-setting, Cleveland Cavaliers.  Now put yourself in Baron Davis' shoes: You were born in Los Angeles, an all-world high school player from Santa Monica, a Pac-10 Freshman of the Year at UCLA, you have a production company in LA with one of your best friends from high school, you're a member of the Screen Actors Guild (I wonder if they have a SAG chapter in Cleveland?), and in 2008 after 10 up-and-down years of playing for NBA teams in Charlotte, New Orleans, and Oakland, you sign a 5-year $65 million deal to come home and play for your hometown team so you can be close to family and run your production company.  Better yet, the Clippers drafted Blake Griffin, the best NBA rookie since LeBron James, to whom you have been throwing alley-oops all year on fast breaks, off backboards, and even out of the moon roof of a Kia during last week's Slam Dunk contest - in LA.

Now can you imagine the conversation that must have taken place on Wednesday night or Thursday morning between Baron and Clippers' management?

"Ummm, Baron?  You've been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  You know, the 11-47 Cavs who just set the NBA record for the longest losing streak ever at 26 games and who are coached by the guy you publicly feuded with while you were with the Hornets.  Oh, and they also traded 2 of their best players for you and a first-round pick (really for the first-round pick), and you know they don't have LeBron anymore, right?"

But wait, the following was posted on Baron's Facebook page subsequent to the trade:

“I can’t wait to join my new team, bring good energy and help us win games. I’m ready to call The Q (Quicken Loans Arena) home and bring some excitement!!! See you soon Ohio! The Beard is on its way!"

Am I missing something here?!  I'll chalk up Baron's reaction to the "honeymoon" stage that comes when you look for a fresh start after playing for the under-performing Clippers, an owner who has publicly trashed you while sitting courtside at games, and realize that you're now going to play in front of the Cleveland fans and you remember how nice they have been to LeBron since he left (they burned his jersey in the streets!  Of course you're going to want to make nice before you go there).

However, the "honeymoon" will soon be over, Baron will get into arguments with his coach, and will most likely retire after this season (if he makes it that far) so he can get out of the 2 more years on his deal with the Cavs, and go back 2,000+ miles to Los Angeles so he can pursue his family and entertainment interests - which, come on, is the only reason someone would want to go play for the Clippers in the first place.