NBA issue
The NBA has a problem, and like truly tricky scenarios, there are multiple layers.
To make matters worse, each viewpoint from each accompanying layer makes a valid point. It's the rare place in which three understandable positions make a wrong.
Tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers go to Oklahoma City. The plan is to sit LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. The Cavs have played four road games in six days, including an overtime shootout in Washington on Monday.
James leads the NBA in minutes played; Love has battled injuries. So the Cavs are planning to sit their big three, theoretically forfeiting the game to the Thunder.
The OKC crowd, however, will not get to watch the nucleus of the NBA champions this year - it's Cleveland's lone visit to OKC - and in most cases, the slotted pricing means fans pay a higher rate for matches against elite opponents. And goodness knows what folks paid on the secondary market.
Yes, there has been talk of limiting the number of players who sit. But that does not make clear sense if you are the Cavs or the Spurs or the Warriors or any of the teams with legit NBA title hopes who sit players knowing to win the Finals in June you have to be as healthy as possible.
If you are a contender, why would you want to sit James tonight and weaken your team, Irving on Saturday and weaken your team and Love the next night and weaken your team. That gives a top-heavy bunch like the Cavs a chance to go 0-3; this secures the same amount of rest and only one for sure loss.
Then there is the TV perspective of this. TNT of course picked this game up from the start of the season, and the lofty revenues for the league and the salaries for the players are in large part because of the TV money.
Well, the Thunder vs. a Love-less, James-less, Irving-less Cavs will rank between root canal and tax audit on the entertainment scale. So, the NBA has an issue in which the fans - in person and watching from home - as well as its TV partners are being cheated by something that makes total sense from the teams trying to win the whole thing.
Adam Silver, to the white courtesy phone. Mr. Silver to the white courtesy phone please.
New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose (25) reacts after being hurt during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the LA Clippers, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, in New York. The Clippers won 119-115. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Speaking of NBA problems...
OK, we normally ignore the Knicks like everyone else in America outside of NYC and the national media.
Seriously, is there a pro organization that gets more attention despite a record of futility that makes the Hawks go,"Dang, that's crappy" over the last 20 or so years? We don't think so.
But the circus that is swirling around the Knicks now is the type of stuff a movie producer would throw out. And that's saying something since a movie studio green-lighted and made that awful movie in which Whoopi Goldberg was pulled from the cheap seats and allowed to coach an NBA team. That team of course was the Knicks, and after this run of ineptitude, it's hard to believe that Whoopi would do much worse.
Stat: The Knicks have played 300 games since their last playoff appearance. They are 108-192 for a .360 winning percentage.
Fact: The Knicks are paying their players more than $102 million combined. For a value comparison, know that the Warriors' total team salary is a smudge under $100 million.
And the capper: Last night, former Knicks enforcer Charles Oakley was arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors after getting into a court-side scuffle with security personal after heckling owner James Dolan.
And this doesn't even touch the fact that Phil Jackson has gone from short-list of best NBA coaches ever to a punchline in his time running the Knicks and that the team couldn't trade Carmelo Anthony for anything more substantial than a rack of basketballs, a new scorebook and some of those really swanky water bottles.
Question: What is the worst organization in pro sports? (Because some where there's a Cleveland Browns fan saying, well, at least we're not the Knicks.)
FILE - In this March 26, 2016, file photo, Chino Hills' Lamelo Ball, left, goes to the basket against De La Salle's Jordan Ratinho during the second half of the CIF boys' Open Division high school basketball championship game in Sacramento, Calif. Chino Hills won 70-50. Ball scored 92 points to help Chino Hills beat Los Osos 146-123 on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) Hoops highlight/lowlight reel
You have probably heard about LaMelo Ball, the California high school star who scored 92 points on Tuesday. Yes, 92.
Ball, whose older brother is a star freshman at UCLA. Well, did you know about this site that lists all the high school basketball players from around the country who have scored more than 47 points in a game.
Ever. (And yes, the names on that are like walking down memory lane.) Couple of stats that we found amazing from Ball's 92-point game:
He had 41 in the fourth quarter of his team's 146-123 win.
He took 61 shots - yes, 61 - including 22 3s. He finished 37-of-61 from the field and 7-of-22 from deep.
The clips we've seen have Ball shooting a bushel and a peck of lay-ups in transition - here's betting he's not up for all-conference defensive player of the year honors - and converting a lot of what we used to call snow-birding (or cherry-picking) back in the day. (Never mind the reports that his team kept fouling to get more possessions so he could score more points.)
Amazingly, the previous high-point total this season in high school hoops was 72 points in a game, which has been done twice this year.
Most recently Matthew Bradley scored 72 on Jan. 11. The other was done in late November by one LiAngelo Ball - LaMelo's second-oldest brother. (LiAngelo by the way also has games of 65 and 60 this season as well.)
Shooters gotta shoot, right. (At least that's what Lee Harvey Oswald says. What? Too soon?)
This and that
- Speaking of crazy stats, the Duke-UNC rivalry returns to center stage tonight. Did you know that in the last 96 meetings between the Devils and the Heels, the teams are 48-48 and have scored the exact same number of points?
- Nice win for UT hoops last night, getting back on track with a home victory over Ole Miss.
- This is not really a surprise, but Chip Kelly apparently has no interest in being Alabama's offensive coordinator. Here's more.
- There are a lot of jobs out there with one fundamental rule right? How about being the team bus driver. Rule 1: Never leave without the team. Apparently the St. Louis team bus driver considers that more a suggestion than a rule as he left the St. Louis players and coaches at the gym after a loss Wednesday night. No es bueno.
- Baseball is looking at some rule changes. There were reports earlier about raising the strike zone and doing away with the four pitches for an intentional walk. Now, reports have the lower level of the minor leagues looking at using a version of the international tie-breaker used by softball teams for games that go beyond the 11th inning. That means each team from the 11th inning on would start their at-bat with a runner on second and no outs.
Today's question
We asked above in honor of the Knicks, what's the worst pro franchises right now?
Who you got?
As for a Rushmore, let's go outside the realm a little bit. Today, according to Twitter, is national pizza day. (The Lil 5-at-10 will be thrilled; that dude eats so much pizza, he cut his hand last week and tomato sauce came out Thank you. Thank you. Remember to tip your wait staff.)
So, in honor of national pizza day, what's the Rushmore of pizza toppings?
Go and remember the mailbag.