WMC 24-25: BUMP TIME!

my wmc: accidentally recorded the kevin hart broadcast...and...my lord...respect the professionals.

 

I accidentally turned that on at the start.... ran as fast as I could to find the right game. Even Doc was more tolerable than that show

 

i can't believe anyone thought this would be a good idea. hart's not even trying to be funny; he's trying to demonstrate basketball knowledge that he clearly lacks. and then he's got three lackeys who also know zero about the game just sort of randomly mumbling about how they're real or something. totally bizarre concept, horribly executed.

 

Being a 4 time NBA Celebrity Game All Star MVP isn't sufficient qualification?

I think it would've worked if you had him as the co-host and have him bounce off the retired NBA player. They tried to do the Manningcast thing, even had a commercial of them walking him through how to do it, but they're not exactly the same.

This would have been a great vehicle for Kobe, the Manningcast thing. And maybe that would've been where he settled at on TNT. If you all recall, he was set to join the Inside crew but he wasn't keen having to be in Atlanta so often and away from the family. Between the proof of concept of his game tape breakdown for the NBA fan in his Details series + the success of the Manningcast could've opened that lane for him to do remote. Then you could've have someone like Kev be his #2, they could've bonded over Philly and their Eagles love.

This is also something Bron could do after he retires while he gets his Vegas bid together (not sure how quickly that'll come together). He watches all the games anyway. Dray would definitely be his #2.

 

Ok, so I think it's cool we won the tourney and I'm glad for those low salary players who get an extra $500k and all. I even think the tourney itself was a nice idea to spice the start of the season a little bit, and it does seem like it worked....


BUT

I consider hanging a banner of this in Staples Center is an absolute embarrassment. I'm sorry, but I absolutely hate it. I've been the first to laugh at teams (hi Clips) for hanging division titles, which felt absolutely ridiculous... but I'll be the first to say that actually winning the division is much more relevant than this tourney... and we're hanging it there? Forever? Next to our incredibly valuable 17 championships?

An absolute embarrassment and you can't convince me otherwise.

 

anything we can do to celebrate Lebron's greatness while we have him is good with me.

 

My WMC is that the IST made me feel, for the first time, that there are too many games in the season. I'd previously sneered at this notion since 1) I love watching Laker games so the more the better, and 2) there is a 0% chance the league is going to surrender all that revenue anyway, so moot point. But after watching the that championship game and observing a Laker team that looks thoroughly unbeatable, I can't stand the fact that we have to now white-knuckle it through 60 MORE GAMES praying AD and LeBron don't get injured, while holding our breath EVERY TIME one of them falls to the ground. And it just highlights the fact that 82 games is a lot of opportunity for players to get injured before the 2-month season that really matters. Start the playoffs TODAY! Please! While we still have crazy-face AD and not Groin-O'-Glass AD.

 

I don't like the idea of putting the banner in the vicinity of our real banners. AT ALL. The opposite end of the arena maybe with something .... anything .... to indicate a "lesser" level of importance while still giving due to the not that easy of an accomplishment, would be fine by me.

EDIT .... just saw this below. Come on this doesn't suck, even if it's at the same end of the arena, IMO now. The main thing is the indication it is at a lower level of importance and it's a different color and would be a cumulative single banner. That the team busted its a** to win, if this IST is here to stay.

"The banner will be a different shape and color than the Lakers’ championship banners. Should they win future IST championships, those years will be added to the single banner. LA is aiming to acknowledge the IST while preserving the distinction from a championship banner."

 

Did you guys really think any team would get away with not hanging this thing? This is Silver's baby. Not saying he demanded it, but 1000% there was a strong suggestion to put this thing up somewhere that can be seen by fans and panned to during a telecast.

The fact that the Lakers and Bron won the first one and treated it seriously and celebrated like it mattered (a concern the league had according to Haynes) went a long way to legitimizing this thing. It's not going anywhere. Sure there will be needed tweaks, but it proved to be a good thing and let's keep on winning them.

The fact that it's one banner and not one per year and looks clearly different from the 'ship banners, i don't have a problem with it. I imagine the one banner vs one each win is the team's discretion. A team like NO who never has and never will win anything, you bet your a** they'd populate the rafters with a dozen of these if they could.

 

Fine. Then hang it in the new Clippers arena. A much more realistic goal for them.

 

yeah, you can't not do it. i hadn't really considered it ahead of time, but at this point, i don't know why i or anyone else would have expected anything else.

now...if the IST flounders later, is that thing coming down? probably.

 

Seems pretty reasonable to me: you hang one banner and if you add more it gets added more to it rather then a new one.
One reason I think it's reasonable is the inaugural IST was a hit at least with NBA fans (did you see that Pacer crowd vs Boston, they went bonkers!). So just like there is a chance the tournament will be flash in a pan, i think it's more likely it will be like the FA cup in English soccer and it will actually grow in prestige

Single-elimination tournaments are fun and basketball has a great history with it.

I forgot where I read it but adjusting the timing of the Vegas game so more away fans can come is a good idea. Maybe a little more delay so fans have a chance to book travel would be a good way to go

 

Right. I hadn’t thought about it much either but it seems pretty obvious now. If the league wants this to catch on it needs buy in at all levels.

That includes the front offices. The players bought in. many of us fans came around once it got going. Now ownership must do the same.

 

My one fix to the IST would be to stretch it out a little longer and not have it conclude 22 games into the season. Maybe do it at the halfway point? If that comes too close to the All-Star game, fine. Maybe at the 30-35 game mark. But this final felt a little premature to me.

 

I was thinking that at the beginning for sure but it really did take a completely boring part of the season and make it important. It was way more competitive than any game at that point would have ever been. Without this tournament I am betting we would still be wondering IF this team could turn it around in time. Betcha we would be around .500 in games. Now, we know what we are capable of, we know what our strengths are and how we need to play to win games. We know we are a defensive team first and last. We can hone it now, work with what we got and quit trying to create an identity because we squarely have one now. That is pretty big for us now, without the tournament, I think we would still be unsure of any of it.

 

I’m not saying they should have started it later. I agree it made games meaningful in November and I genuinely loved the group play. But maybe make Friday night games IST games (rather than Tuesday AND Friday) so that the knockout tourney comes a little later.

 

yeah, there is zero chance the lakers would embarrass themselves like this. this is 100% the league telling them to hang the banner in order to legitimize the IST

it's too bad a team like the clippers or suns who don't have any titles didn't win, because the memes and jokes would've been amazing