Now that the NBA draft lottery is done, we can all begin our favorite annual activity: making completely unjustifiable statements about our favorite inadequate management, our favorite players going pro, and our favorite conspiracy theories. With that in mind, I will now attempt to channel my inner Nostradamus and foresee what horrid fate will befall each tortured fan base.
Starting at the bottom…
Now that Michigan’s loss in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has settled for a day, I feel prepared to process what happened. That’s not to say that this process is an easy or comfortable one, but it is one that I feel is necessary.
Christmas Day, 2011 was a special day, not just because it might be the last Christmas ever, but because the NBA resumed games. And fans were treated to quite the set of games. We got to watch some fantastic stars play some fantastic games and while making judgments based on such a small sample size is always flawed, it is always entertaining as well. With these ideas in mind, here is what we learned about 10 key players on 25 December 2011.
When something shuts down for an extended period of time, its use typically drops off a cliff after it is functional once more. I would not think that professional basketball in the United States would be any different. Especially at this critical time when the NHL is putting out a high-quality product, soccer is seeing an all-time high in interest, and the NFL was just able to resolve its own labor situation, it would seem that the NBA should do everything in its power to avoid losing a season; its competitors could potentially devour its former viewership and cause serious damage to the product.
But is it all bad? Doesn’t every cloud have a silver lining? In this case, the obvious silver lining is that the players and the owners will eventually return to a situation that both sides are at least reasonably pleased with, and that the level of talent in the NBA will remain essentially the same (at an extreme high). This post isn’t about that silver lining. This is about the other results of the lockout.
Sushi in Utah 