Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA. It’s not as close a race as most people tend to make it out to be. However, the NBA is a master of its craft and right now they are selling the Lakers All-Star short because he is no longer the flavor of the week.
They are instead, choosing to crown Lebron James in Cleveland as the heir to Air. What sets this scenario apart from when they attempted to crown Vince Carter or Allen Iverson is that it is actually working.
All the ‘Witnesses’ out there are eating this hoopla as if they have been stranded on an island with nothing but fig leaves for 100 years. The idea that King James is the court’s supreme ruler is ludicrous.
What has he done to deserve such a high platform amongst MJ and Kobe? Hmm………….can’t think of anything?
The NBA is a Master of its Craft
The NBA sells players/match ups/team images and all the made-for-blog/TV/radio drama that accompanies such a scheme. They are unlike any other American professional sports league in one facet – the league brass has complete image quality control.
Do you think the NFL would have liked to stuff Ocho Cinco’s antics like the NBA did Ron Artest’s? You better believe it, but they couldn’t because doing so would have meant controlling 85’s on-field performance (to warn him that the league has “you under control”) like the NBA did/does with Ron-Ron by dishing out technical fouls and giving him no television air time.
The NHL took notice and swiped a page out of the NBA’s book when they suspended Sean Avery for comments he made about his ex-girlfriend on air. The comments were completely unrelated to hockey, but the NHL knew they had to squash the beef immediately. They suspended him for six games and he hasn’t made a peep to the media since returning to the ice.
NBA is Taking it a Step Further
It is known the NBA’s superstars get favorable foul calls and the home team will receive more trips to the line, but right now, from an unbiased viewpoint, it looks as though the NBA has gone a step further to ensure quality control.
A 'quality' Finals for the league would be Lebron against Kobe. Anything else would not be up to the level NBA Commissioner David Stern expects. So, Stern’s league may be forced into taking care of match ups.
The league has been pumping Lebron v. Kobe Finals propaganda for weeks…… for months……..for years even. Casual fans don’t have to be ESPN-hawks to see the commercials, the signs, the posters, the Internet ads.
So, when the referees start giving phantom calls to their superstars one has to wonder, is the NBA doing this because they so desperately want a Cavs-Lakers Finals showdown? Are they manipulating games because one team gives them a better revenue stream and public image?
Orlando Magic vs. Refs
Take Game 3 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers at Orlando Magic. The series is tied at 1-1, but the discrepancy between how, why, and when the foul calls were made was absurd.
The late call in the first quarter when the ref waited for James’s ball to fall off the rim, the Hedo Turkoglu “slap” to James’s head that never occurred, and one of the worst foul calls of the entire postseason: Dwight Howard’s block on James as he attempted a three point shot in the waning moments of Game 3. Replays clearly showed Howard’s hands were no where close to LBJ’s.
Is it a surprise when the referees favor the Cavaliers on Orlando’s home court? No, the Cavs ran into a road block with Orlando and the league is frightened. The Magic match up unbelievably well against the Cavaliers and it terrifies the league. The thought of having a Lebron-less Finals is the unthinkable.
So, they did what any corporation on the verge of losing out on a merger (between Kobe and Lebron) - that would result in a profit netting them hundreds of millions of dollars - would do. They panicked.
Climbing Back to the Top
Once upon a time the NBA was king. Now, due in large part because of referee Tim Donaghy being charged with fixing games, a lack of support from the older generations who feel the game has gotten soft, and the NFL’s dominance on mainstream America, the league has suddenly been cast into the shadows.
However, with the arrivals of Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, James, Howard, Deron Williams, Brandon Roy and the mainstays Shaq, Tim Duncan, KG, Kobe, Dirk Nowitzki, and Ray Allen, the NBA's popularity is back on the rise.
The Celtics-Lakers Finals showdown in 2008 was a dream match up and the league has the same hopes for a 2009 Laker-Cavs series. However, Denver and Orlando stand in their way so if they have to manipulate a few calls than so be it. After all, they are masters at one thing – quality control.
