1. Josh Smith
2. Hedo Turkoglu
3. Gerald Wallace
4. Mike Bibby
5. Tay Prince or Caron Butler or Lamar Odom
i would pretty much line that team up against any all-star effort in the league, and feel pretty good about the quality of the game, and would not be surprised if my under-rated team took a game out of 3 played against Kobe, LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, and Dwight Howard, for example...another thing that really stuck out while doing the above exercise was something completely unexpected to me, and almost makes me re-think my whole theory on the depth of the NBA, and that is th absolutely appalling number of pretty terrible NBA players are still in the league:
just look through what appears to be the complete list, and explain to me why some really quality college players seem to not be making it in the NBA, i think i am settling on the same argument i have been quasi-making throughout this blog, and that is that the state of basketball is currently out-of-balance by the super-star mentality of the league front-office...case in point is obviously my accurate prediction of Kobe throwing up 30 pointless shots last nite...i mean the dude really must believe he is just that much better than every other human being, that he doesnt see the value of integrating his teammates...
when the referees favor certain players essentially because of the name on their jersey, it not only directly impacts the flow of the game and the quality of the competition, it impacts the livelihood of literally dozens of athletes a year who do not get enough playing time to prove their worth in the league, simply because people like Kobe and Wade have convinced themselves that they are actually entitled to all those damn free-throws...in case you are just picking up on the obvious, i am so frickin sick of it...
i mean i am guilty of it, because it has been so embedded in our understanding of the game, as for example, i was just this evening suggesting that LeBron is almost too good for his own good, as he is such a tough guy to guard that it almost doesnt make sense to kick-out to Delonte West or any other Cav because who is honestly going to stop LBJ?...but if the league were to be run by Joe Dumars, for example, and the referee review process were publicly explained, then we could just allow players to play, and fouls wouldn't be 100% subjective, and would almost certainly be greatly reduced...
scenario that no one wants: 'hey, son, i am sorry we drove 3 hours across Oregon to come see your first NBA game, but maybe in the 2nd half, Oden and Aldridge won't be in foul-trouble, so we can see how they perform...'
i know i am right, i have vetted this little theory out in every single way i can think of, and this blog is actually the culmination of years of sparring with other on-line posters who support the status quo, for whatever reason...it is time for change...this sport is so under-performing, that only the very top players are guaranteed to stay in the league, and ballers like Shannon Brown are at the mercy of someone like Larry Brown, when Damon Jones has a free-pass for a decade...its a joke...
so, back to the all under-rated team, yes i have 3 former Kings on there, i think it is fairly defensible, though Bibby is about to enter the twilight, the hawks just would not be considered ready without him...the others 2 Kings are really my two favorite wing players in the league, and Josh Smith is awesome, and whichever of the 3 at the number 5 pick on my team you choose, i like how they play....
it is a tough exercise to come up with under-rated in the Internet era, as we can get all sorts of info. on anyone, but what i am trying to say with this post is that there are lots of players just as good as Kobe, Wade, and Iverson, and lots of young players that would have nicely added to what Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Joe Johnson have done, but you wouldn't know it, the way the NBA is currently structured to only allow its a imperceptibly narrow view of how basketball is played...
it essentially comes down to my now trademarked line on what the real problem is: you let total non-athletes make the decisions on how best to manage the careers of athletes, and you get a skewed end-product, which is essentially the closest statement to the true nature of the NBA today, that you will find anywhere, from anyone...
0 comments:
Post a Comment