NBA 24/7 365

Just a few days ago I posted the best game of Darius’s NBA career; a 47-point outburst at the Pepsi Center (Denver for you n00bs).  I hope you enjoyed watching that as much as I do–it’s a personal favorite–because I’m back with his third-best effort!  If I’ve got any regular readers who also happen to be hardcore Blazer fans… sorry to keep bringing you back to this era.  Now, I’ve watched a whole lot of guys drop 30 points… it happens all the time.  Hell, according to Wikipedia Wilt once did it 65 times in a row.  As ridiculously dominant and ahead of his time as Chamberlain was, I doubt that even he ever dropped 10 Hamiltons as casually as D-Miles did on the 31st of March, 2004…

Box score.

Amazing.  At no point in the video does it look like he’s even trying.  Probably because he wasn’t!  Yeah, I hear you.  All jokes aside, nobody drops 31 in an NBA game without trying.  I think Darius was just so fluid in the way he moved… it created an incredible appearance of ease.  Take note of the coast-to-coast drive and finger-roll finish at the 3:57 mark.  Talk about smooth… that sh!t was butter!  Not my favorite play in the video, though.  The crossover and dunk at 56 seconds?  That was… excuse me as I search my vocabulary… astounding?  Nah.  I can’t even come up with a word that does the play justice.

I love how you can tell Tommy was gettin’ a little heated ’cause Darius was stylin’ on his Celtic pride. [insert pimp emoticon]

Gerald Green scored 18 points on 6-15 shooting in the CBA’s season opener, but his team, Foshan, lost big to Shandong.  Green’s 18 points matched former Charlotte Bobcat Alan Anderson of Shandong for game-high honors, but he didn’t shoot particularly well and he turned the ball over four times.  Turnovers and failure to rebound the ball appears to be what killed Foshan… they coughed it up 21 times while giving up 22 offensive boards; certainly a losing combination.  Shandong’s second former NBA player, Othello Hunter, was the main man responsible for the work on the offensive glass… 10 of his 21 rebounds came on the offensive side of the floor.  Hunter also had 11 points to make it a double-double, although he only shot 4-12. 

I actually tracked down some highlights from this game, but the goddamn website won’t let me stream them in my region.  China, do you want your basketball league to recieve attention or not?  Anyway, based on the recap that I put through the online translator, it appears that Shandong got the early lead, but every time it started to grow towards double digits Foshan made a run.  However, it doesn’t seem that Foshan was ever able to get over the hump, and playing from behind all night eventually took it’s toll on them as they fell way behind late and took the double-digit loss.

I find this game to be an odd selection for the season’s opener.  Sports leagues typically put marquee teams and players in the spotlight on opening night, but this game featured two teams that failed to make the playoffs last year or make one of the big-time NBA signings in the offseason.  I’m sure there are reasons for the choice that I’m simply not aware of, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the outlook of these teams.  Last season, Shandong went 14-18.  They didn’t make the playoffs in the previous season either, and that was with the league’s leading scorer, Andre Emmett, and a second All-Star, Stromile Swift.  Alan Anderson and Othello Hunter will put in work against CBA competition, but I doubt that they’ll be as productive as Emmett and Swift were.  Unless there are some new Chinese players that have made the team significantly better then I don’t expect much from them.  As for Foshan, they were even worse than Shandong last season, finishing up at 11-21.  Gerald Green is a solid addition, but I don’t think they’ll be a very competitive team either.  The real opening day is tomorrow; 14 teams will be in action, including a matchup of Guangdong (Singleton, Brooks, Yi) and Zhejiang (JR Smith). 

This post will be updated with videos if I can ever figure out a way to beat the system, or find another site that will show them to me.

UPDATE: I don’t quit until I find what the f@ck I’m looking for.  You can try to stop me, China, but I’m relentless…

Reason why the lockout sucks #1,976: no media day.  At least the CBA appears to have had something similar, and it produced some pretty interesting photos.  I only chose 16 to post here, but you can find more at osports.cn and sports.sina.com.cn… that’s where I got ‘em all.  Good luck navigating those sites, though… it’s all in Chinese.  Took me hours to gather these photos.  Click the images to view their full-size version.  Right click and choose to open ‘em in a new tab if you want to stay on the page.

Excellent detail shots of JR and Wilson’s ink.  Hilarious pose from Steph.  The CBA may not be anywhere near the NBA’s level when it comes to basketball, but they’ve got this media day thing all figured out.

The 2011/12 CBA season actually tips off in just a few hours.  Foshan, Gerald Green’s team, will be facing off with Shandong, Stromile Swift’s former team (feels bad man).  Full ’11/12 CBA schedule courtesy of NiuBBall.com.

Make NBA247365.COM your place to go for CBA coverage all season long!

Well-known NBA blog The Basketball Jones recently posted an entertaining video in which they ask a few NBA players what they’d change their names to if they ever decided to go the Ron Artest Metta World Peace route.  Various players, such as Nate Robinson, Kevin Durant, and Josh Howard, came up with some pretty interesting answers.  Check it out…

How cool would it be if the NBA actually allowed Kevin Durant to put “Dark Knight” on the back of his jersey? How ’bout Jamal Crawford breakin’ ankles in a “J. Crossover” jersey? That would be [surfer dude from Spongebob]AAAAAAWWWEEESSOOOOME!![/surfer dude from Spongebob]. I really love Crawford’s choice because it’s got a direct connection to his game… that’s why he got the title nod.  You’re the man, Jamal.

Back in the ’70s, the NBA may have actually allowed Crawford to be “J. Crossover.” I don’t see why not… the back of Pete Maravich’s Utah Jazz jersey read “Pistol,” and streetball legend James “Fly” Williams went by his nickname during his time with the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis…

^That’s got to be one of the coolest jerseys in the history of professional sports. My collection will never be complete without it–as well as a Rasheed Wallace Hawks jersey.

Unfortunately, I realize that what happened in the ’70s will never happen again. Hell, Stern doesn’t even allow headbands to be worn upside down anymore. It could be in the NBA’s best financial interest to allow certain nicknames to be used on the back of jerseys, though. As the interviewer in the video pointed out, “Dark Knight” Durant jerseys would fly off the shelves. I understand that putting “Pistol” on the back of a jersey wouldn’t fly in 2011, and if KD were to execute his Batman plan he’d probably be sued or something, but why not “J. Crossover?” It’s harmless and basketball oriented. Take a minute to mull it over, Stern. You must be tired of thinking about the lockout.  Maybe allowing nickname jerseys would even score you and the owners some points with the players, helping a new CBA agreement to be reached!

Just a few examples to demonstrate how much potential this has/how great it would’ve been over the past decade…

Note to TJ Ford: putting “Jordan” on the back of your shirt won’t help you play like MJ, or even TJ Ford from 5 years ago.  Nice try, but sorry.

I’ve got a ton of free time on my hands right about now, and I decided to use some of it to watch a couple of this week’s games in their entirety.  With some assistance from my friends over at Insidehoops.com I was able to find quality streams with english commentary, and while it wasn’t the NBA on a flat screen, it was damn nice to see some professional-quality basketball.  I’ll begin by recapping the two games I watched, but before I begin I would just like to clarify something: I don’t include all games in my Euroleague/CBA recaps.  I only include the games where current or former NBA players do something of note.  For more detailed stats and recaps of all Euroleague games, visit their website.

KK Zagreb 80, Zalgiris Kaunas 78: On Wednesday, Sonny Weems, Ty Lawson and company (Zalgiris) travelled to Croatia to play then-winless Zagreb.  They’re not winless anymore.  My main man Sonny Weems, who was averaging 20 PPG in Euroleague competition, laid a serious egg in the two-point loss.  He played alright early on, but he simply couldn’t get the open shots to fall.  He appeared to get a little frustrated as he forced a few bad shots before completely disappearing.  He finished up with 5 points on 6 shots, and did nothing but throw the game-sealing turnover down the stretch.  Ty Lawson had 4 points and 2 helpers on five shots.  He played 16 minutes, but he was pretty much invisible out there.  He didn’t even look like the same player that suits up for the Nuggets… no pushing of the ball, driving to the rack, catch-and-shoot triples… nothin’.  He appeared to be simply going through the motions for the majority of his time on the floor.  The guy who single-handedly kept Zalgiris in the game was Paulius Jankunus.  This dude only averages 7/5 in Euroleague competition, but he exploded for 24 points and 9 OFFENSIVE boards.  A couple of defensive rebounds made it a double-double.  Extremely impressive effort from that young man, but he was pretty much the entire Zalgiris attack.  One of their other bigs–I think his name was Rakovic–moved well without the ball and put in some work as they briefly appeared to be getting their sh!t together in the early part of the second half, and a native Croation by the name of Marko Popovic knocked down three triples, but the NBAers simply did not deliver. 

For Zagreb, former NBAers Sean May and Mario Kasun (their leading scorer) were more impactful than their Zalgiris counterparts, but they didn’t lead the attack.  It was Krunoslav Simon who played some agressive ball and scored a team-high 22 points.  Kasun did make five of eight shots and probably would’ve been more productive had he not been in some foul trouble. 

Although I was disappointed by Sonny’s individual performance, this was a pretty exciting game.  It went down to the wire and some of the European players for each team really impressed me.

Real Madrid 104, Anadolo Efes 84: This game was far more exciting than the 20-point differential indicates.  First of all, on Euroleague standards, this was a high-scoring game.  To give any of my unfamiliar readers a little perspective, this was the only week five game (out of 12 total) in which a team topped 100.  Hell, only two teams reached 90.  This was a European shoot-out, and it was a dandy.  Efes tried to press Madrid for much of the contest, but with little success.  Sergio “Spanish Chocolate” Rodriguez took care of the basketball and played an excellent game (10 assists to 2 TOs, 5 points on 2-3).  He and another energetic guard named Sergio Llull did an excellent job of breaking the press and getting the team into their offense.  The ball was moving all game long and sharpshooters Rudy Fernandez and Jaycee Carroll capitalized to the tune of seven triples on 50%.  Carroll was absolutely on fire early on (19 points), and Fernandez closed out the game with back-to-back long balls and one of his two alley-oop slams.  Efes was actually making a run late… they had the Madrid lead cut down to seven at one point… but Fernandez was the guy who really took over and put it out of reach. 

For Efes, Ersan Ilyasova was quiet for much of the game, but the majority of his 14 points came during that aforementioned run.  Sasha Vujacic flopped a lot while contributing next to nothing.  No Efes player really had an exceptional individual showing.  I thought Madrid out hustled them, too.  That dude Llull was all over the court, diving for loose balls and everything. 

Very entertaining game to watch.  I enjoyed it at least as much as the two-point game between Zalgiris and Zagreb.

CSKA Moscow 77, Unicaja 66: Andrei Kirilenko earned himself his second weekly MVP by leading CSKA to an 11-point win with his 17 points (on THREE shots), 9 boards, 2 assists, 6 steals, and 3 blocks.  AK47 has been a force throughout the season… he’s Euroleague’s leader in both rebounding and ranking (a simple mathematical formula that essentially adds up everything you did correctly and then subtracts everything you did wrong).  Fellow NBAer Nenad Krstic pitched in with 12 points.

Fenerbahce Ulker 85, Bennet Cantu 83: Thabo Sefolosha was Fenerbahce’s second-leading scorer in this nail biter.  His 14 points and 7 boards on 5-9 included a key tip in during the extra period.  Check out the highlights; some dude gets mashed on…

Olympiacos 91, SLUC Nancy 78: Last week’s MVP Nicolas Batum scored just 9 points on 8 shots as he turned the ball over 3 times in a losing effort.  Batum has played some superb ball this season, so this was a surprisingly poor performance by the young man.  Vassilis Spanoulis did 26/6 for Olympiacos.  He had 9 TOs, though.

FC Barcelona 70, GS Medical Park 66: After scoring 12 points in this one, Barcelona’s Juan Carlos Navarro needs just 13 more points to become Euroleague’s all-time leading scorer.  The league was founded in 2000, and former Murray State shooting guard Marcus Brown is the current scoring leader.

Montepaschi Siena 84, Asseco Prokom 73: It came in a losing effort, but seven-foot first-round NBA draftee Donatas Motiejunas’s line of 26/9 on 10-16 strikes me as rather impressive… especially because four of his baskets were threes.  I’m not gonna sit here and act like I know anything about this kid other than that he’s seven feet tall, was born in 1990, and can apparently shoot from range… but based on that alone Houston Rockets fans should feel pretty excited.

Partizan 69, Emporio Armani 65: I’ve got no details, but I read that the guard half of Partizan’s two-headed NBA monster, Acie Law/Nikola Pekovic, got hurt in this game.  No matter, Pekovic led them to victory with his 15 points and 6 boards.  The Rooster dropped 14 for Armani, but he clunked 6 of 9 shots.

Top plays…

Restricted free agent (Suns) Aaron Brooks has signed a one-year deal with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the CBA.  He’ll be teaming up with James Singleton and Yi Jianlian, making Guangdong an apparent powerhouse.  Via RealGM.com…

Aaron Brooks has agreed to a one-year deal with Guandong of the Chinese Basketball Association, according to sources.

Brooks is a popular player in China due to his tenure as a teammate with Yao Ming on the Rockets.

Brooks is a restricted free agent in the NBA and therefore will be able to fulfill his contractual obligation to play in China for the entire season.

Brooks was traded to the Suns in February.

Brooks has signed just in time, as the CBA’s 2011/12 season tips off on the 19th of this month.  Without Yi, Singleton, and Brooks (with Marcus Haislip and Fred Jones) Guangdong won the title last season, as well as seven of the last eight titles.  Kenyon Martin’s signing with last season’s runner-up, Xinjiang, has given them a formidable opponent, but the signing of Brooks has to make Guangdong the clear favorites once again.  James Singleton was the most consistently dominant American during the preseason anyway… yes, more so than JR Smith, Wilson Chandler, or K-Mart. 

Brooks has kind of slid under the rader over the past year or so, but don’t forget about his strong performance in ’09/10 season (82 games played, 19/5 averages), as well as the 17 PPG he posted in the ’08/09 playoffs, helping to take the Rockets to a seventh game agasint the eventual champions, LA.  He’ll surely be a force in the CBA.

Guangdong’s first game of the season is on the 20th against Zhejiang (JR Smith’s team).  No word on whether or not Brooks will be ready to roll for the debut.

You can choose to look at Darius’s career night in one of two ways: it was a fluke, or it’s what could’ve been.  Me?  I sincerely believe it’s the latter.  Fourty-seven points is obviously an unusual explosion for a player of any caliber, but had Darius really, truly given a damn about reaching his full potential on the court… maybe it remains his career-high, but it wouldn’t be such a blatant outlier; that’s for damn sure. 

Fluke or not, it’s a performance that’s worth a watch.  Be sure to ball your fists and touch your forehead after each of his scores.

Box Score.

Some of those dunks… Lord have mercy!  If I may quote the great Chuck Swirsky, “that rim’s going on the injured list.”  F@ckin’ video should begin with a violent content warning the way he’s dropping the hammer on ‘em.

Fun Fact(s): Darius Miles scored 30+ three times during his 446-game career.  Two of the three 30-pointers came during a three-game stretch that bridged the ’04/05 and ’05/06 seasons.  He scored just 8 points in the middle game (’05/06 season finale).  Only once did his point total in the follow-up game amount to half of the 30+ he’d just scored in his previous outing.

I think I’ll pair him up with the word “inconsistent” next time I do another batch of NBA dictionary entries.

My hometown of Bar Harbor, Maine is a tourist-driven community.  The place is crowded with vacationers from late May through the end of October, and business booms.  Most everything gets boarded up after that, though.  Many full-time residents of Bar Harbor, including myself, make a living catering to the so-called “summer people.”  Since I was old enough to walk I helped out at the motel that my grandfather bought like 30-some years ago.  My family recently let the business go, so this summer I spent my time serving Thai food to Indian people instead.  It was an… interesting experience, that’s for sure.  Anyway, the summer people… you’re happy to see them show up because it means the warm weather has arrived, but even though their departure marks the coming of winter, you’re always ready to see them get the f@ck out, too.  When they get the f@ck out, that means I can get the f@ck out!

Every November I make a five-or-so hour trip to Mendon, Massachusettes, where I spend the Holiday season feasting on my mom’s home cooking.  Although it’s not too far from Boston, there’s not a whole helluvalot to do.  That’s fine with me, though.  As a matter of fact, I like it that way.  It’s a goddamned good excuse to plant myself on the couch in the basement and absorb NBA basketball on a daily basis. 

I made my annual journey to Mass this morning… but, obviously, it’s totallty different this time around.  About an hour and a half after my arrival, the clock struck 7 PM.  Not a single NBA basketball game to be found.  No league pass music, no fantasy lineups to set, no NBA Game Time at 1 AM… no nothin’.  I went out to eat with my mom and her husband instead.  I wasn’t hungry, so I just ordered a piece of cheesecake, which was absolutely scrumptious.  It was good to see my family, and I’m sure any of my “normal” readers would consider cheesecake and socialization a far more exhilerating night than one spent stapled to a basement couch trying to watch three or four basketball games at the same time.  With all due respect to my mother, and cheesecake… it wasn’t, though. 

So… it’s 10 o’clock.  Everyone else in bed, but my body clock says this day doesn’t end for about another four or five hours.  What in the hell do I do now?  I’m in a completely unfamiliar predicament.  It’s November 15th, I’m in my basement, I’ve got my little bottle of red Gatorade and some knock-off Cap’n Crunch in the cupboard… but there’s no f@ckin’ basketball.  For the first time, this lockout has really hit home. 

Desperate for some semblence of NBA basketball, I resort to Youtube.  Thank god for Youtube!  I begin with a video of Larry Hughes showing off his Lamborghini, which apparently sparks memories of former Maverick/Raptor/Spur/Rocket/Hornet Pops Mensah-Bonsu… not really sure what the connection is there, but no matter, my problem was solved for the night: I would spend this Tuesday evening reminiscing about Pops Mensah-Bonsu–and other favorite fringe players–ballin’ in the NBA’s Vegas Summer League (which we were robbed of in 2011 due to the lockout).

My fascination with basketball was peaking around the summer of 2006.  I’d just come off my first season with access to NBAtv and NBA League Pass… and sh!t, I recall feeling like life had been completely redefined; like I’d found a secret key that unlocked this magical basketball universe where the ball never stopped bouncing.  I remember being a little sad when the regular season ended, and then when the Finals wrapped up, but nice weather and a bounty of pickup games that I could actually participate in dried those tears real quick.  Oh, and this realization: 

NBAtv has basketball in the summer, too?!

Kobe and LeBron may not have been there, but I ate that sh!t up regardless.  I’d play basketball until the Dallas Mavericks came on, watch that sh!t, then head back to the court where me and my brother would be the Rawle Marshall and Pops Mensah-Bonsu of our dusty, concrete domain.  That’s right, Rawle Marshall and Pops Mensah-Bonsu.  Those two made the Dallas Mavericks my favorite Summer League team back then.  Pops dunked every ball as if it was his last, and Rawle Marshall… I guess I just liked the way he scored (27 in one game!).  I recall likening some of his ball handling tactics to personal-favorite Jamal Crawford.  Exactly how on point that comparison was, who knows… I was still in high school… not really that smart.  Anyway, you can catch a glimpse to the dynamic duo in the following video.  You’ll also see exciting players like Jason Maxiell, Gerald Green, Shannon Brown (bet you forgot he was once a Cavalier who rocked braids!), and Sebastian Telfair ballin’ in relatively unstructured games.

The 2007 version featured Rudy Gay and Nate Robinson, among others…

Did you see that one-handed windmill by Pops?  Have you ever seen anything quite like that from anyone else?  The man is a complete freakazoid at 6’9, 235.  His lack of a well-rounded game has, for the most part, kept him out of the big boy league, but man, he used to wreck house in Vegas.  Come to think of it, he used to do some crazy sh!t in garbage time with the Raps, too.  I can honestly say that Pops Mensah-Bonsu is the only player who’s games I’ve ever tracked in hopes that his team would be put away very early on every single night.  A few years back I used to watch Toronto’s score like a hawk.  If they got down big, I switched over to watch Pops do his thing…

Despite his inability to do much other than jump really high, I’m surprised there’s not a spot on a team’s roster for Pops.  He plays really hard, and he’s obviously an extremely unique athlete.  He was crazy popular with Raptor fans because when he actually got the chance to contribute he typically pitched in, and did so in his typical exciting fashion.  In addition to being a freakazoid, he was a solid hustle guy off the bench.  I certainly feel that there’s many less-useful players who ride some team’s pine year after year.  As far as I can see Pops isn’t even playing pro ball at all right now; according to his wikipedia page he’s a free agent.  That’s a damn shame.

I’ve gone off track here, haven’t I?  What was talking about?  Oh yeah, the Vegas Summer League back in ’06 and ’07.  Let me just wrap this up by emphasizing how much fun it was watching those games.  Nate Robinson, Lou Williams, Rodney Carney… talented, explosive athletes were tearing that league apart night in and night out.  It was truly a blast.  The Knicks were probably my second favorite squad.  I don’t give a f@ck what anyone says, Ranaldo Balkman can ball (always wished George Karl would free the poor guy).  Hell, how ’bout some Greg Oden?  Ol’ dude had some of his best post-college moments.

I don’t know about you, but I’d certainly tune in for some of that action if it was live on my television right about now.  I was gonna say I’d settle for it, but I don’t even feel like I’d be settling.  Summer League was the sh!t in ’06/07.  Awesome memories!  NBA-less night #1 well spent.

First of all, let me discuss Rajon Rondo; his lack of swag, to be more specific.  You can spot him to Derek Fisher’s left standing next to fellow overrated point guard Russell Westbrook.  Let’s take a closer look…

Firstly, those glasses… c’mon son.  Kobe’s wearing sunglasses inside and doesn’t look half as lame.  Those damn things look like they belong to one of the officers from Reno 911.  Secondly, your shirt resembles the table cloth at a pizza place.  Thirdly, you are simply exhibiting an extreme lack of all-around swag.  I suppose this may be taken as a compliment in the fall of 2011, but you look like a nerd.

Official –Swag-O-Meter– Rating:

2/5

I’m not noticing any other blatant sins against swag, so I’ll get right down to business…

Although David Stern hasn’t canceled any further games yet, let alone the whole shabangabang, I think it’s safe to say that the 2011/12 season is in pretty serious jeopardy.  The players have elected to decline the owners’ latest offer, putting an end to negotiations.  The next step will be a court case as the players will file an anti trust lawsuit against the NBA… or something like that.  I’m not going to sit here and act like I’m an expert on this mess, because I’m not.  All I can tell you is that legal battles typically take time.  Time… it’s running out real f@ckin’ fast.

The 1999 NBA lockout wrapped up on the 20th of January.  It resulted in a 50-game season without an All-Star game.  Today is the 14th of November.  Commissioner David Stern has stated multiple times that the season will not begin until 30 days after an agreement is finalized.  If the players had accepted the owners’ deal today then the season would’ve started on December 15th.

At this point you may as well consider the three-game Christmas day lineup canceled.  If there isn’t a deal in place pretty soon–like within a month and a half, maybe–then you can forget about professional basketball on this continent until next fall.

Assuming that this predicament remains unresolved until it’s simply too late to salvage the season, the losses will be permanent.  Aside from the arena workers and parking attendants who are out of a job, the two groups for whom I feel the worst are the fans, and the players who haven’t really had a voice in all of this.  I feel for the fans because they miss out on a full year of their favorite player or team.  I feel bad for the low-key players because they’re forced to forfeit a year of paychecks.  Yes, even low-level NBA players make a very nice yearly salary, but their window for earning that kind of money is extremely limited.  The average NBA career doesn’t last 10 seasons.  As a matter of fact, it lasts less than five.  So, I’m sure the Players Association’s decision to decline the owners’ latest offer doesn’t represent the preference of a lot of its members.  Hell, I wonder if it even represents the preference of the majority of its members.

Thinking about it like that almost makes me, as hardcore an NBA fan as you will ever find, feel guilty for fretting over the potential loss of a season.  Although this lockout will certainly effect the growth of my blog, I can’t say that I’ve lost my day job or that I’m missing out on any substantial amount of money.  That would really suck… but losing the following forever sucks pretty bad too.

Blake Griffin’s sophomore season

While Griffin probably won’t reach the prime of his career for three or four more years, he’s most definitely in his athletic prime right now.  If the season is lost we won’t see Blake again until about six months before his 24th birthday.  As a basketball player, he’ll still have his best years ahead of him.  As an athlete, he’ll have lost one of his finest.  The same goes for his teammates DeAndre Jordan (hoping he’ll re-sign) and Eric Gordon.  There’s no substitute for the excitement that youth injects into a basketball team… not even winning, as crazy as that may sound.  As of right now, the sky’s the limit for my favorite trio in the league.  A season is missed?  They’re all in their mid-20s and it’s time to show and prove right damn now.  What fans will have missed is a relatively care-free season of slam dunking and eternal optimism.

What may be Kobe’s last shot at number six

Love him or hate him, he’s one of the best to ever lace ‘em up… but he’s 33 years old, and father time spares nobody.  It’s my opinion that the Dallas Mavericks slammed LA’s window shut by sweeping them in last season’s semifinals, but I’m sure many would disagree with me.  What I think we can all agree on is that we’d like to watch Kobe, Mike Brown and company prove me right or wrong.  Looks like we might be stuck arguing about what might have happened instead.  If the season is canceled, Kobe loses one of his final seasons as an elite player and returns for the 2012/13 campaign at the age of 34.

Dallas’s chance to repeat

This isn’t meant to be a knock on the Mavs, but I have my doubts anyway.  I mean, Jason Kidd is 38.  Jason Terry is 34.  Tyson Chandler’s overrated ass is a free agent.  Dirk Nowitzki had one of the most incredible individual postseason runs of all-time, and the Miami Heat straight up folded.  For them to do it again in ’11/12 would be… well… I guess I said they couldn’t do it the first time either.  For them to wait a season and try to repeat, though?  It ain’t happening.  In addition to massively-damaged chances of a repeat, Dirk misses out on a season that could potentially be one of his finest.  I figure his confidence must be sky-high after single-handedly dismantling most of the NBA’s upper echelon teams on his way to becoming a champion.  He’s getting up there, though; he’ll be 34 by the time the ’12/13 season rolls around

A season of LeBron/Wade/Bosh in Miami

This is similar to the Kobe situation.  The Heat are polarizing; you probably love them or hate them… but assuming you have any ability to objectively analyze the game then you can recognize the significance of what we’d be missing here.  It’s not often that you can argue that the league’s top two players suit up for the same damn team.  Throw in a perennial All-Star for a third option and you’ve got one of the most interesting teams ever to collectively step foot on an NBA floor.  How many titles will they be able to gather?  You can automatically knock your guess down by one if the 2011/12 season is lost.  Oh yeah, this may strike you as a bit of a surprise, but D-Wade will be 30 at the start of the 2012/13 season.  Time flies.

I repeat, time flies.  That pretty much sums it up from a fan’s point of view.  The NBA’s clock ticks even faster than the one on the living room wall due to the fact that athletes have such a limited time frame to capitalize on their incredible physical gifts.  It’s a damn shame to speed it up even more.

A damn shame.  That’s what this decision is to arena workers, minimum-contract players, aging superstars, and fans.