Posted on 02/19/2024 3:18:03 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Stephen A. Smith called out NBA players following another lackluster All-Star Weekend that ended with one of the worst All-Star Games in recent memory.
The Eastern Conference All-Stars beat the West 211-186, setting a new scoring record for the game. In the past, the stars have been criticized for not playing defense and putting forth very little effort overall. On Sunday night, however, the game seemingly reached a new low with even less defensive effort and even more scoring.
The game was so bad that Commissioner Adam Silver couldn’t hide is frustration during a the trophy presentation.
On Monday’s episode of First Take, Smith slammed the players for what he called a “flagrant lack of effort.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, what transpired last night was an absolute travesty,” Smith said, adding:
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaite.com ...
Every player? No, but a good portion of them fit the description.
The White players are being attacked.
You could watch EuroLeague.
Time for EuroLeague to make a huge streaming deal. Put it on Peacock.
NBA.......Not Basketball League
Oops...Association....
The fans are the show, imagine Euro soccer fans, but indoors.
“The NBA has become so ghettoized and hood-ratted. It’s entirely promoted to the inner-city and hip-hop culture. Every player has a ton of tattoos, dreadlocks, bunch of out-of-wedlock kids, promoting rap songs on the side, etc.”
Saying the reason for the change is about racism and it’s efforts to make money off it is coming short of the overall problem.
The transition of the game from a technical aspect of good ball handling, passing, getting good shots and not just dunks and threes, to the street fight it has turned into is the bad part. The racial part is just a piece of the change that goes with the violence.
I was officiating in high school, national federation, international, FIBA, and college, NCAA, with stints in NBA summer leagues later, from the 1970’s till my health stopped me in the early 2000’s. I watched as contact was considered a foul to the proportion of it being the determination. If you look in the rule book of the main associations you find in the back of the book a statement that basically says, “Just because there’s contact, to include violent contact, doesn’t necessarily constitute a foul.”
And the NBA is a perfect example of the extreme of that determination. If you watch the person with control of the ball dribble besides carrying and traveling that is overlooked, his off hand is being used as a way to hook the defender to get by his opponent, especially in the paint with the post players. And they literally try to shove the defender out of the with shoulders and hips. Is that basketball or a street fight?
I don’t like Steven Smith for his attitude and how he approaches his determinations. But he will have to get out of the way as long as the game morphes into something that has nothing to do with the game in it’s infancies and it’s efforts to put butts in the seats, luxury boxes, and TV contracts.
wy69
The problem in the U.S., is that it's all corporate now so there's no soul in the stands anymore.
Compared to the days of Bob Cousy, the NBA is just a playground shooting contest. Boring to watch.
The 3-Point shot killed basketball.
Injured? It is really quite rare to be injured at B ball. Sprain an ankle? Blow out a knee? I can’t remember the last time an NBA player blew a knee out. Of course I haven’t watched since around when Bird retired.
Can the whole NBA.
Or sell it to China.
Shiftless....
I like the NBA back when D was played and scoring was in the 80’s and 90’s.
All-Star games are meaningless exhibitions in any sport, but in football and to a lesser extent in basketball the potential for injury is real. There is no coach or owner or fanbase in the NBA that wants to see Steph Curry or Luka Doncic or Nikola Jokic getting hurt in some meaningless game that has nothing to do with their post-season chances.
You mean like the ABA?
The NBA killed that competition off 48 years ago.
The NBA should have canceled the all star game years ago. Make it an awards ceremony. The actual game should be replaced by Rookies game.
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