ieatcrayonz Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 If the NBA were fixed someone would be able to predict the outcome. You know, like saying in February 2009 that a Celtics player would sustain an "injury" which led to a final pitting the Lakers against either the Hawks or the Magic which the Lakers would win in 5. Did anyone predict that?
StupidNation Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 I've always blamed that on Jordan. Not that it was his fault, but that right around the time that Jordan became a megastar, the NBA went from a league that gave its superstar players the "benefit of the doubt" on calls -- meaning if it was close, the star got the call -- to a league where the superstar gets virtually all calls. Granted, there were refs who wouldnt foul Wilt Chamberlain out of a game, but he and other superstars like Jabbar and Bird and Magic would get the benefit of the doubt, but not almost every single call. Kobe gets that now. It's my opinion, watching a lot of NBA games, that Jordan was the first. I 100% agree. I cannot tell you how many times Jordan went up for a jumper and missed the shot and a foul was called after he missed. Replays would show over and over how the foul was non-existent and the announcers would try to make something up. It was so bad I ended up hating the NBA over it and stopped watching for a time. Jordan ruined the NBA for me. I'm positive that he would not have a fraction of the titles he has, nor finished with 30 points a game if a game was called accurately one game in his life as a Bull. The true nail in the coffin of the NBA was Shaq. Sorry but Ewing couldn't flop (his knees were shot), neither did Robinson, Olajawon (spelling), or the other good centers of the time. They needed another superstar and Shaq destroyed the league every bit or more than Jordan did for me. I've never seen a guy lay so many elbows and throw his body into people, spin, then dunk his way to stardom. No other center before him got away with a fraction of what he did. I do admit that Jordan with the Wizards didn't get as many calls, but the NBA became unwatchable.
Steely Dan Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 The link below has some of the most explosive stuff I've ever read about a sports league. Just amazing. I know to take it with a grain of salt, but its pretty damning. http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-from-...ant-you-to-read And here is some commentary about the excerpts, with anonymous quotes from league execs confirming its truth. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AiEw...o&type=lgns Very little of this surprises me and this is just one reason I'm not an NBA fan. The stuff about stars getting the benefit of the doubt to an outright look the other way isn't surprising to anyone who watches the NBA. The stuff about the league wanting close games and longer series is true because it helps the league's popularity and TV ratings. Does it send that message down in "subtle" messages? I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Since I'm not a big NBA fan can anyone tell me how many championship series in the last 10 years were decided by under 7 games? On a scale of 1 to 100, my surprise at the stuff in that article is a -3. I wouldn't go that far but a 10 works for me. Exactly. People have been talking about that fixed Spurs-Lakers game for years. And the evidence of overwhelming foul discrepancies in certain games and for/against certain players is all recorded in black and white. How often did Jordan ever get called for an offensive foul? Not very. If Donaghy was making this stuff up, why would he have bet the way he did? The guy's wasn't a degenerate gambler like Pete Rose. He was Martha Stewart -- trading on inside information. Best analysis in this thread yet. While he did manipulate the spread and, I think, the outcome of some games he was betting on games he didn't officiate and if there is a proven betting pattern between his bets and other refs then that should be 90% of all anyone needs to know.
Dan Posted November 2, 2009 Posted November 2, 2009 I 100% agree. I cannot tell you how many times Jordan went up for a jumper and missed the shot and a foul was called after he missed. Replays would show over and over how the foul was non-existent and the announcers would try to make something up. It was so bad I ended up hating the NBA over it and stopped watching for a time. Jordan ruined the NBA for me. I'm positive that he would not have a fraction of the titles he has, nor finished with 30 points a game if a game was called accurately one game in his life as a Bull. The true nail in the coffin of the NBA was Shaq. Sorry but Ewing couldn't flop (his knees were shot), neither did Robinson, Olajawon (spelling), or the other good centers of the time. They needed another superstar and Shaq destroyed the league every bit or more than Jordan did for me. I've never seen a guy lay so many elbows and throw his body into people, spin, then dunk his way to stardom. No other center before him got away with a fraction of what he did. I do admit that Jordan with the Wizards didn't get as many calls, but the NBA became unwatchable. This is all one of the primary reasons I don't care to watch basketball. I've tried. I really have. But, every time I try, I see stuff like this. Refs just seem to make up calls at will. And you're right, Shaq was about the worst to watch. Now, I don't realyl watch SportsCenter, but you'd think this would be some huge scandal reported all over the place. IMO, it dwarfs the steroid issue. Sadly, the NFL seems to be heading down this same road. They have entirely too many "judgement" calls that the refs get to make now. There's not a game that you watch that at some point or two or three you're asking yourself "WTF was that?". The game announcers even readily admit they don't know what roughing the passer is anymore.
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 4, 2009 Posted November 4, 2009 No, it wasn't. It was John Y. Brown alone who screwed Buffalo out of a team. True to an extent. From Wiki, FWIW: John Y. Brown met with the Celtics' then-owner, Irv Levin and negotiated a deal in which the owners would swap franchises, with Brown taking control of the Celtics while Levin would get the Braves. Levin was a California businessman, and wanted to own an NBA team in his native state. The deal was brokered by David Stern, the general counsel for the NBA who would go on to later become the league's current commissioner. Following what would be the final season in western New York, the NBA owners voted 21–1 to let the Braves relocate. As Levin wanted, the Buffalo Braves moved to San Diego, California after the 1977–78 season, and became the San Diego Clippers.
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