Don't Be a Menace in the NBA While Refs Screw up the Game

Rajon Rondo has just been suspended for excessive passion, and caring about the outcome of an NBA game.  If you didn't see The Celtics Game 1 against Atlanta, toward the end of the 4th quarter referee Marc Davis awarded a questionable foul call in the Hawks favor when it seemed that a jump ball might have been the better call.

I don't really want to debate the merit of the specific call, as much as the NBA's reaction to Rondo.  The call was close, could have gone either way, thus the anger and heat of the moment reaction from Rondo.  First he got in Davis' face, presumably using some naughty language which earned him technical foul number one.  Upon receiving the first technical Rondo's mood escalated leading him to lightly chest bump into Davis, at which point Davis did every refs favorite move, the over enthusiastic "you're out of here" point/maneuver.

Davis was in the heat of the moment just like Rondo, so I blame him a little less than the NBA in this whole scenario, but all the same I think the job of the ref is to have a cool head especially when the players don't.  In a league where lack of passion, effort, and enthusiasm is the main gripe from detractors, why are we punishing a competitor like Rondo for losing it a little bit during a big time playoff game? Shouldn't we want this, don't we all long for the golden days of the bad-boy pistons, or Jordan's relentless intensity, or the hate fueled Celtics-Lakers rivalries of the 80's?

Davis may have been obligated to toss Rondo for making contact with him, so really this comes down to the way the league deals with such issues.  Not only did Rondo get tossed from a big game, but now the league punishes him, his team, and all NBA fans by suspending him for game 2.  And for what?  I know the league feels a necessity to protect officials, but unless Davis is secretly a Faberge Egg, he wasn't in too much danger from Rondo's chest graze.  

Adding to the insult here is the indignation the league acts with as if refs are absolutely beyond question, and forever without fault.  This is the same league that not long ago had an official betting on games that he was reffing.  Ref Joey Crawford once ejected Tim Duncan from a game for smiling and laughing at a bad call from the sideline. Excuse Rondo and the rest of us for daring to challenge the holy brotherhood of NBA officiating.

The larger point here is that a little common sense would go a long way.  If Rondo reared backed and Metta World Peace'd Davis in the back of the head then of course a suspension would be warranted.  But a snap reaction that resulted in nothing more than some profanity and minimal chest bump does not a suspension warrant.  There's a pretty obvious line between a guy getting excited over a call, and losing his mind and becoming a danger to others.

In other Words, David Stern, passion is good, violence is bad, and the difference is fairly obvious.

NBA Fantasy Draft Ranking

With the All Star Game not too far in our rearview mirrors, I wanted to take a look at the franchise players in the NBA, to rank the players that you would want to build a team around with the central goal of winning championships.

Age of course will be a factor in this discussion.  For example, Kobe Bryant will rank lower on the list not because he isn’t still great but because his window of greatness is smaller than, say, Chris Paul’s.  Moving down the list, preference will continually be given to younger guys, so if you’re ancient, you better be damn good.  When thinking about team building, you have to make decisions like: Is twelve years of Brook Lopez going to be better for my team than three more years of Tim Duncan?  Clearly it’s inexact, but it’s meant to engender conversation, debate, and it was really a fun list to make.

Cream of the Crop: With a couple of nice pieces around just one of the top ten guys, you’re at least a playoff team.  Give them a really nice supporting cast and you bring home a ring.  These ten players are young enough to have at least 5-7 prime playing years left.

1. Kevin Durant

Plenty argue LeBron James should be in this spot.  That’s fine, but here’s how I defend Durant’s placement.  First, and this is rather minimal but still significant enough to be mentioned, Durant is four years younger than James.  The real reason I rank him higher though is because Durant is the easier player to build around.  With James, you absolutely must have the correct pieces in place.  James can’t spot up and shoot, he can’t post up, and he has to be the main facilitator on your team to be fully effective.  In essence, surrounded by a pile of crap in Cleveland, James reached his highest potential—averaging 30, 8, and 8 for an entire season—because he got to dominate the ball, make all the decisions, and shoot when he felt like it.  Now you see James in Miami where he too often gives the ball to Dwyane Wade and then just stands around like, “This is your possession. I’ll take over next time.”  James, despite having the repertoire of a Swiss army knife, is limited in his half court offensive arsenal and thus demands a certain type of roster around him.  He needs spot up shooters, no-talent rebounders (look at Anderson Varejao), and a true back to the basket post up man.  Because James can’t shoot a consistent jumper and can’t own his man on the block, his natural size and athleticism advantages only really help him in transition and dribble drive situations, which typically do not occur much against good teams in the playoffs.

On the other hand, Durant has no need to dominate the ball.  He is a scorer, plain and simple.  He is the focal point of your offensive game plan, not as a facilitator, but as the guy who makes buckets.  And the best part is, he doesn’t need the ball at all times; give it to him anywhere on the court and he’s effective.  He can catch and shoot, post up, curl off screens, use dribble isolation, and or get to the foul line whenever he feels like it as evidenced by taking the most free throw attempts in NBA history last year.  And oh yeah, he makes about 90% from the stripe, 50% from the field, and 40% from downtown.  Put anybody around Durant and you’ll still get 30 points and 7 rebounds from him in a high percentage fashion all while getting your opponent in foul trouble.  You also won’t incur all the hatred as a team, which James brings with him because of his antics and general jackassery (dancing before games, tweeting nasty things about the Cavs, hour-long ESPN specials, etc.)

Durant is the Duncan of this generation: coolly efficient, smart, focused solely on winning, and the perfect player to build around.  Durant’s game works against any team, whereas we’ve seen James shut down by a defensive-minded unit like Boston.

2. LeBron James

James is a bit like Wilt Chamberlain in that he is weighted down by insane expectations despite putting up ridiculous numbers, and I’m not sure James will ever escape that.  Even though James has been nothing short of incredible with Hall of Fame numbers and leading bad Cleveland teams to great seasons, it’s still possible that he’s falling short of the hype because by nature, hype has no limits.  People can dream up anything in the world of expectations, “Oh man, this James kid is so good.  He’s the next Jordan.  He’s gonna be better than Kobe.  He’s gonna win six rings.”  Fair or not, that’s what people thought when he came into the league, so the fact that James has zero titles after eight years in the NBA starts to weigh on him.  I think that explains his move to Miami.  He thought, “I better get a move on this championship thing or I won’t even be in the same breath as Kobe or MJ.  I might have to settle for Steve Nash territory.”  But what James didn’t understand was that going to Miami (A) wasn’t really a good fit for his skill set, (B) was only going to drive up expectations, yet at the same time diminish any accomplishments he did achieve because of his superstar teammates, and (C) make every road game tougher because everybody now hates the Heat.

James is also a bit like Scottie Pippen or Grant Hill in that he’s a great, all-around player that can pass, handle the ball, see the floor, defend, and jump out of the gym, but he doesn’t have that go-to-move on offense or the killer instinct to say, “I’m the guy on this team.  I take the last shot and I don’t give a damn if make it or miss it because I’m the man.”  The closest we ever saw James to being the take-charge guy he needs to be was in the 2005 playoffs against the Pistons when he scored 20 some straight points and willed his team to victory, but we haven’t seen it since.  James is a great player, but it’s the mental makeup that decides championships, and I’m not sure he has it.  James cares too much about what other people think.  In part, James was actually asking, “What should I do guys?  What do you want from me?”  Michael Jordan and Bryant didn’t give a damn what anyone thought, they didn’t want to be likeable, they didn’t want friends.  They wanted rings.

Remember that Pippen led the Bulls, sans-Jordan, to a 55-win season but couldn’t beat Patrick Ewing’s Knicks in the playoffs.  That’s what a great all-around player with no killer instinct and no true scorer’s mentality will get you: a great regular season, but no results come tournament time.  The regular season is a long haul where teams forget about defense and effort all together.  But in the playoffs it’s a new story, everything must be earned.  Every defense amps it up.  That’s why a player needs the midrange game and the post game, because drives to the bucket either won’t happen or will get you decapitated.

James is also a bit like Dr. J. as a guy so athletic that he seems a generation ahead of his time.  When we see that athleticism, awe-inspiring speed, and the hops, we think he should be the best player of all time.  But maybe in James’ case, he’s just a tremendous talent that isn’t quite the best player of all time.

One other consideration is, since James’s shooting and offensive tool kit is a little unrefined, you have to wonder how he will adapt when he’s 32 and can’t run like a greyhound or jump like kangaroo anymore.  Bryant and Jordan already had the midrange game, the full tool box before they started to decline athletically, but “The King” hasn’t developed it yet.