The Off Day: All-Star Weekend

For the Bobcats, this is a quiet weekend. Matt Carroll will be the only representative in Los Angeles and that’s as the team’s player rep in discussions leading to the new CBA. I’m sure all the other big guys will be there, front office types but there are no participants in any activities. No one in the Rookie/Sophomore game, no 3 point, skills, slam dunk contestants. And there is definitely no one in the big game itself.

The East team is half Boston/Miami. Maybe that’s the way it should be, they are tied atop the conference. Gerald Wallace got in last year off of his gaudy rebounding numbers and the Bobcats surprising record. This year, no one stood out. The Bobcats record has them on the outside of the Playoffs at the moment. So it sort of feels like we’re the bastard step children along with teams like Cleveland, Washington and Indiana.

The big news this weekend will be about the upcoming CBA, Blake Griffin and the upset superstar. What complaint can Carmello have? Really? He’s one of the starters if I’m not mistaken, Denver is solid. What’s the big deal? “I don’t want to be here and won’t be next year.” So Denver has to trade him or get one of those trade exceptions once he gets into a sign-and-trade in the off-season that no one can seem to get rid of.

What a crock! Ken Berger of CBSSports.com had an article today saying “this might be the last All-Star weekend of its kind.”. Like that’s a bad thing? What about putting the game on display in its best form for the whole world to see? Who needs these drama queens drawing attention to themselves to try and get a better deal and to get exactly what they want?

I had a thought reading Berger’s article, that these guys are teaming up because people like LeBron and Kobe will always be compared to Michael Jordan and they need the championships like MJ had. The other night against Chicago, MJ and Scottie Pippen sat together on the sideline. Now, I’m 29 and remember the Bulls first championship vividly. It was one of the first times I remember watching an entire playoffs. All the way through, MJ never said “I need more talent around me.” He never had handlers or his reps or any of that leaking that he was unhappy. Pippen never hated his role as second fiddle or Robin to Jordan’s Batman.

Dennis Rodman joined up with MJ and Pippen at one point. Oakley joined up after his time with the Knicks. There were agents and not agencies and Worldwide Wes whispering and lining things up against the owners and the fanbases of the time. It came about with guys like Iverson and Marbury when they saw the way Jordan went about it, with the endorsements and shoe deals. They suddenly had people behind them leaving high school, steering them and then the big shoe companies held camps for them and before you know it a basketball player becomes a cottage industry.

It wasn’t too long and the big Hollywood agencies saw the opportunities to bring sports into their fold. My point in all this is it’s not going to be a bad thing to roll things back. Players are going to be pissed. I mean mega-pissed. It will be salary rollbacks and hard-caps. If you signed a contract a year ago for $20 million a year and suddenly, there are people negotiating you losing $2 of thos future millions to disappear. Suddenly, teams like Miami are no longer possible because of a hard cap. TIGHT! Whoa! It would blow my mind too.

If these guys become human again, it will draw in more fans. If they can hold their head up and not have the false bravado that pisses so many fringe-fans way off. If they are suddenly not the cash cows and publicity whores that enable guys like Worldwide Wes and Lebron’s buddies to be legitimized as voices at the table and whispers to the “insiders” at the networks. How could that be bad for the casual fan? How could it be anything but good for the sanity and stability of the fans, bloggers, writers and commentators.

I look forward to it all being about game and not the vapor surrounding it. Get the ball rolling on the talks this weekend, Matty C et all. Make the concessions to avoid a work stoppage. Most of all step aside and let the on-court product speak in LA, not ‘Melo-drama.