Honestly, I love the sport and count myself as a true NBA fan. But the league has gotten seriously loopy. It's at the point where almost nothing makes sense to me anymore.
- I don't have a hard time believing Donaghy's accusations at all. I also can't believe how dismissive the press has been of this, especially considering how many of these wild accusations end up being true. It's not like he went straight to the press or coming out with a book. He filed this thing in court (for some reason). Not that everything filed in court has to be true, but its not like he's ranting angrily on a call in show or anything. A lawyer must have approved of this at some point.
A court doesn't already have to prove these accusations true. On an aside, this is the most irritating thing about most of the opinion-media in sports; when they say he's innocent until proven guilty. That's true, but its only true in the court of law. This isn't the court of law, this is the court of public opinion. I don't need proof beyond a reasonable doubt and I don't need to give anyone a presumption of innocence. Neither does the media. And there's good reason for this diverging level of fairness in the courts and the public/media. In the courts, someone could be found liable and made to face legal consequences, and thus the system has to be careful about being unfair because there's real consequences. But when the only consequence is the minor slandering of reputation that would happen anyway by virtue of the information being released, we don't need this. The media has to stop thinking of themselves as some moral court. Everyone realizes its just an opinion, they shouldn't have to be so careful about it. Plus, saying someone is innocent because you can't prove their guilty is a cop out and a line of argument that could be used for anything; its a really hard burden.
So when a game has such a crazy result, and an actual NBA official alleges other officials fixed the game and talked to him about it, and allowing that this person has an awful reputation, I don't see why its so dismissed. I don't buy into conspiracy theories generally, but i think the evidence adds up pretty good for this one. And I'm not a court and I'm not sending David Stern to jail, so I don't see why its irresponsible for anyone to speculate that there probably is some truth to the allegations.
- The Pau Gasol trade continues to baffle me. I think there is certainly a smell when, in a league where conspiracy theories are so justifiably rampant, a team sells off a player for well under market value to the league's marquee franchise. The KG trade was fishy too, especially since there were way better offers in the first bidding war. Then somehow Boston came back with a lesser offer months later with no competitors. But, I really don't get at all how the league could meddle in trades. Its much harder to believe than the refereeing (especially the plausible way described by Donaghy). The ref thing could, theoretically, all take place under the table (the league wouldn't necessarily have to say anything directly to the refs, or say anything at all for that matter). Rigging trades, on the other hand, would seem to require a direct conspiracy.
- How is Steve Kerr not yet been killed yet? The guy seems like a wrecking ball of a GM. He had a core of Nash, Marion, Amare with a good supporting cast and a visionary head coach perfectly suited to the team. Then he replaced Marion with Shaq, who ruined everything. Then he got rid of the coach for a guy who was fired by the freaking Bucks. They were in first place last year before the Shaq trade. They could easily not make the playoffs next year. What a disaster. And each of these moves is indefensible at the time it was made. And they're all moves where he's just hiring/trading for his old friends. But Kerr just gets the treatment of a gutsy executive taking worthwhile risks that didn't work out. It's bizarre. Well, until you realize that he's an all around good guy who knows everyone in the media. In reality, he has Isiah Thomas potential, except he's not hated, so he hasn't gotten lampooned yet.
- Speaking of Shawn Marion, I'm not one of those crazy Raptors fans who thinks TJ Ford would snare someone like Marion; but if they put together a package of Ford, and two of Anthony Parker, Andrea, Rasho, and Jamario Moon (Ok, not if the two where Rasho and Moon), the Heat would HAVE to listen, right? But he'd fit into the system perfectly (Jose Calderon, Chris Bosh, and Marion would be the perfect East coast version of Nash, Amare and Marion, and this could really work in the East). Bryan Colangelo was the guy who built the original Phoenix model we're copying, so he likely has a soft spot for Marion. And while you have to put me in the camp of thinking Colangelo might be a tad overrated and not quite the saviour to the Raptors everyone thinks he is, the one incredible talent he has is producing effective depth guys out of nowhere. Really, as long as we keep Jose and Bosh, we could give up anyone else from our roster, and I have faith Colangelo will replace them without missing a step with some unknown from god knows where. Of course, why would Marion ever want to go to Toronto, especially when he was trying to get away from that sort of team in the first place. But still, it would be perfect if it worked.
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