We’ve scoured the box score. We’ve generally figured out the best ways to manipulate game logs and lineup data. We’ve worked and re-worked the same numbers, and it’s become abundantly clear that the next analytic evolution will need to be drawn from a new well.

Rob Mahoney, Special to SI.com, “Time to take advanced defensive stats to next level in basketball”

If you haven’t read Rob Mahoney’s piece on SI today, I highly suggest you do so. Even for the non-stat-savvy among us, this piece is worth your time. Rob not only does a fantastic job of outlining how close we are to being able to analyze something as seemingly ambiguous as defensive prowess, but he also lays out how the field of statistical analysis needs to proceed to bring our understanding of defensive basketball statistics to the level of offensive basketball statistics and baseball statistics in general.

To me, though, the most important part of Rob’s piece is how it directly hits the crux of why basketball (and to an extent, sports in general) is so fascinating to many of us: How do you objectively value something that elicits a subjective emotional response within you? No one says “God I love Dirk so much because his PER is off the charts!” But we use metrics like PPG, clutchness, and PER to try to put into facts why we love what we love. That way, when individual passion morphs into competition between yourself and an opposing fan, you’ve got statistical ammunition to send his/her way. You’re right: Your player is awesome, and you’ve got the facts to back it up. Count the ringz? Please. Count the WARP, hijo! Just kidding, but you know what I mean. (Note: I’m only sort of kidding.)

This search for objectivity also puts fans in a unique place when judging player value on another plane: salary. I think most fans can agree that players should be able to earn what they are worth. This worth depends on many factors, three of the most important being how full the talent pool is with similar players (or market size), how much a team needs such a player (for whatever purpose they deem necessary), and how much an owner is willing to invest in such a player (or market value). Owners and GMs have been known to shoot themselves (and the future solvency of their franchises) in the foot with bad bets and arbitrary valuations of players. The fan is also tied up on this end: thanks to my dumb owner/GM, my team is handcuffed to mediocrity and luxury tax for the next 5 years. 

Eventually, I’d like to see these two types of objective valuations (ability and salary) merging. Obviously, salary is already based mostly on ability (among a host of other factors), but if owners and players can come to terms on a rigorously objective methodology to evaluate player talent, how could each side argue in good faith about the fairness of salary composition in either direction? If a player has an O score between 25 and 30 and a D score between 22 and 27, then they could be entitled to a salary in the range of 7-10 million, depending on market size, a team’s 5-year average winning percentage, and whether or not the bidding team is in an income-tax-free state. This completely fabricated scale makes total logical sense, doesn’t it?

Now, in a highly contentious atmosphere–where owners compete against players, owners compete against owners, players compete against players, and agents and lawyers take sides as needed–subjectivity will continue to outweigh objectivity for the foreseeable future. After all, it’s the subjective nature of salary structures and markets that allow all these parties to make their money on the margins: players make the salary, agents take a cut, owners make money on their investments in players, and lawyers step in to keep everyone on their toes. Introducing an objective salary scale might take away all the margins that these parties like. Less risk, less reward, even. But when we risk losing an entire season to something as subjective as ego, it may be worth drawing ideas from another well.

Image via Terry McCombs on Flickr

When it comes to hero worship, American sports fans are pretty well-versed. We like to lock onto certain images of heroes: a buzzer-beater, a touchdown pass, a penalty kick. We focus on the moments that make us warm inside, that instill us with pride. We know that what they did wasn’t done for us, but we were there when it happened, and it made us feel so good, so the least we can do is pay our hero back with some mild idolatry: posters, cards, youtube mixtapes. Anything will do, really, as long as it ties the moment to the hero and us to the moment.

Over the past few weeks, two of my (and everyone else’s) childhood basketball heroes have been prominent in the spotlight during this non-season. Two weeks ago was the 20th anniversary of Magic Johnson’s announcement that he had HIV and that he was retiring from the game of basketball. A lot of NBA writers have talked about where they were, how they felt at that moment, and how basketball and basketball stardom changed from that point forward. I was 6 years old. Most of my knowledge of Magic’s abilities comes from collecting cards and posters, playing video games, and vicariously idolizing what my older cousins idolized. I was aware of the Dream Team and his legacy of winning, but the most lasting effect of Magic’s retirement for me at the time wasn’t so much in relation to basketball, but to HIV awareness. As a first grader, I knew almost nothing about HIV/AIDS, but I was quickly forced to learn about it via Nickelodeon, where a kids news show I watched (“Nick News W5″) demonstrated how to put condoms on bananas. In the twenty years since his announcement, I’ve learned a lot more about HIV/AIDS, as has the rest of the world. I don’t think we’d be in the same place as a society if we weren’t forced to deal with this issue in such a public forum–forced to dispel fears and stereotypes of the unknown and really educate ourselves. In addition to helping build awareness on that front, Magic has been a presence around the NBA and television for years (we tend to highlight his commentating and overlook his poorly-executed TV show), and has been involved in lots of charity work.

The other childhood hero is, of course, Michael Jordan. He’s best known as being the (disputed) greatest player of all time. He hasn’t done much commentating and we’re not as privy to his post-playing charity work as we are to Magic’s, but we do tend to highlight his fantastic line of footwear, his flexible-fabric undergarments, and his golf-outings. He’s been in the press these past few weeks for a wholly different reason than Magic has. As one of the “hardline” owners in the NBA lockout, MJ has reportedly been pushing a very anti-player line; some say he’s being surprisingly hypocritical, while others contend he’s being consistently Michael. Either way, his harsh tone smacks firmly against all the heroic moments of his that we want to cherish, and instead bring to the fore all his negative traits like poor GM-ing abilities and prickly personality that make essays like this seem 100% plausible. I’ll let  @netw3rk take it from here:

He’s been trolling us all these long years; we just haven’t recognized it until now. First it was baseball and the sneaker-buying predilections of the GOP and its supporters. Then it was the Hitler ‘stache and acid wash mom jeans. Now it’s MJ’s role as a hardliner, pushing for the players to receive a 47 percent split of revenue and practically inviting the reference to his famous “sell your team” comment to Abe Pollin during the last lockout. But all of that is in character, you see, because Michael has never cared what anyone thinks; he knows you care and that’s what makes hitting the game-winner in your face that much sweeter. He becomes, arguably, the biggest winner in this morass with his Godfather to end all Godfather moves: putting the last fruitful years of Kobe’s career in jeopardy as he chases that sixth title and legitimate comparisons to MJ.

Jason Concepcion, NBA Lockout Winners and Losers (so far): Michael Jordan Rides Again

Now, it’s not to say that what MJ and MJ did after their playing days ended should influence how we perceive them as players. But hero worship works so much better when you have one set of images to build around. With Magic, it’s pretty easy these days: he’s no longer has a financial stake in an NBA team, and he’s a generally positive presence on Twitter. With Michael, I just hope it starts to get a little bit easier.

Image via ndanger on Flickr

We’re now in what-should-be the fourth week of the NBA season, and we’re still without any basketball. Well, sure, there are charity games. And games in China. And college basketball. But at the risk of sounding too much like Andy Rooney (RIP big fella), there’s something different about being able to come home in the evening and enjoy watching a sport on your couch, without having to pre-determine the promoter’s exhibition schedule, the time zone, the grainy feed, or which grandparents’ alma mater you like more on that day.

But that something hasn’t happened since June. So every morning, I check the interwebz to see if anything has changed from the day before. Then I check back a couple hours later to see if anything changed from a couple hours before. Then I check back a few more times. At this point, I know nothing’s different, but sometimes I’ll get roped into a fun conversation on twitter about NBA athlete allegories to 1990s popular culture. And by “roped into” I mean “unnecessarily start.” But more often than not, it means “interject myself into the conversation uninvited.”

Every day I go through this new routine, pointing my eyes and ears toward New York/Seacaucus, waiting for some news to trickle its way down from beat writers, columnists, and other people whose livelihoods depend on the existence of a sport whose players and owners want to keep lobbing ego grenades at one another. When the blasts clear, all we seem to have is confirmation from sources of lots of talking, lots of disagreement, and lots of waiting.

ESTRAGON:People are bloody ignorant apes. (He rises painfully, goes limping to extreme left, halts, gazes into distance off with his hand screening his eyes, turns, goes to extreme right, gazes into distance. Vladimir watches him, then goes and picks up the boot, peers into it, drops it hastily.)

VLADIMIR:Pah! (He spits. Estragon moves to center, halts with his back to auditorium.)

ESTRAGON:Charming spot. (He turns, advances to front, halts facing auditorium.) Inspiring prospects. (He turns to Vladimir.) Let’s go.

VLADIMIR:We can’t.

ESTRAGON:Why not?

VLADIMIR:We’re waiting for Godot.

ESTRAGON:(despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You’re sure it was here?

VLADIMIR:What?

ESTRAGON:That we were to wait.

VLADIMIR:He said by the tree. (They look at the tree.) Do you see any others?

ESTRAGON:What is it?

VLADIMIR:I don’t know. A willow.

ESTRAGON:Where are the leaves?

VLADIMIR:It must be dead.

ESTRAGON:No more weeping.

VLADIMIR:Or perhaps it’s not the season.

-Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Photo by Alex E. Proimos via Flickr

Erving’s biggest payday by far came in the wee hours Sunday morning when an online auction closed and 144 of his possessions had sold for $3,552,627.

His 1974 ABA New Jersey Nets championship ring fetched $460,741, the highest total ever for a sports ring. Five more of Erving’s rings each exceeded $195,000. Three MVP trophies each exceeded $165,000.

Via “Dr. J Memorabilia Fetches $3.5M In Biggest Online Sports Auction Ever” by Steve Henson

Julius Erving is by any account one of the greatest to ever suit up in the NBA and the greatest to suit up in the ABA. Yet, after this weekend’s auction he has nothing to show for it.

Erving won three straight MVPs as a member of the New York Nets from 1974-1976. The trophy from 1975? Gone for the small price of $173,000. I hope whoever bought it treats it  right. Erving certainly deserved the awards. He averaged 28 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.5 steals and 2 blocks to get those honors.

His 1974 ABA championship ring? Also gone. Same goes for his lone NBA championship ring he got in 1983 with the Sixers. All it took was a nifty $244,000 to fetch that one. Even Erving’s final game-worn jersey from 1987 sold for $88,000.

Julius doesn’t see the fuss over keepsakes and says that it was a planned, celebratory event:

Erving told The Associated Press last month he’s never been a “hoarder or collector,” and planned to donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the Salvation Army.

The 61-year-old Erving said the auction was part of a long-planned celebration of his career. He said most of his cherished possessions were in storage.

I don’t see what could be more cherished than championship rings and MVP trophies. Also, I think we should reconcile Erving’s statement with these reports:

The cash should come in handy for Erving, 61, who was sued last month for an outstanding debt of $205,277.84 to a bank in Georgia. The Heritage Golf Club near Atlanta he bought in 2008 and a $2.3 million home he owns in Utah face foreclosure.

But maybe there is something to what Erving said. The MVPs and rings are merely recognitions for the things that the man did on the court. And as long as there’s YouTube, we’ll always have access to that.

(h/t to chicagobulls92 for the original video. I just really like funk to my dunk.)

Photo via The Modern Encyclopedia Of Basketball

“We went out to San Diego to play the San Diego Recruit Depot for the Marine Corps championship. And we were told ‘If you don’t win, you’re not coming back. You’re going to Korea.’ Now talk about playing under pressure. That is playing under pressure. Fortunately, we won…”

Via Paul Arizin from NBA Basketballography

Years Active: 1951-52; 1955 – 1962

Career Stats: 22.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.3 apg, 42.1% FG, 81% FT

Accolades: 10x All-Star (1951-52; 1955-62), 3x All-NBA 1st Team (1952, 1956-57), All-NBA 2nd Team (1959), All Star Game MVP (1952); 1956 NBA Champion; 2x PPG Leader (1952, 1957), FG% Leader (1952)

Paul Arizin’s Hall of Fame resume began rather inauspiciously, if not down right ignominiously. A native of Philadelphia, Arizin tried out only once for his high school basketball team, during his senior year, but failed to make it. Enrolling at Villanova University as a chemistry major, Arizin continued to play basketball in various intramural, Catholic and independent leagues. Scouting the local talent, Villanova’s head coach, Al Severance, spotted Arizin during one of the games and offered him a chance to go to Villanova. Arizin politely informed him he already attended the school and the next year as a sophomore, Arizin joined the team.

Arizin rapidly progressed to become the nation’s best college player. As a junior he leveled 85 points in a single game. He even topped the 100 point mark in a single game, but the feat isn’t recognized because it came against a junior college. Nevertheless, his scoring average escalated from 11 to 22 to 25 by his senior year when he was declared Player of the Year and selected to the AP All-America 1st Team in 1950.

(more…)

Photo by effekt! via Flickr

Spurred on by a season-high crowd, the Halifax Rainmen hiked their winning streak to three with a 122-104 victory over the Saint John Mill Rats on Friday night at the Metro Centre.

Playing in front of 3,562 fans, the hosts used a prolonged surge beginning in the second quarter to quiet their Maritime rivals, who had come into the National Basketball League of Canada contest on a three-game unbeaten spree of their own.

Via “Haywood drains 26 in Rainmen victory” by Brian Freeman

Halifax Rainmen 122 – Saint John Mill Rats 104

This was my appointed NBL game viewing of the week and, naturally, I was late to the festivities Friday night. Tuning in via webstream midway through the 1st quarter, I found Saint John holding the slimmest of leads, 14-13, over Halifax. The quarter finished in a 27-27 tie. Rainman Eric Crookshank, a 6’6″ forward from Oakland, CA, was a pleasure to watch around the basket.  Post ups and back downs weren’t his calling card on the night, but instead it was fluid, cutting movement to get open for passes and also a spectacular put back dunk on a missed layup while trailing a fastbreak.

As the 2nd quarter opened up, the Rainmen began to apply a frightening defense upon the Mill Rats. Orien Greene on one particular play broke up a Mill Rat fastbreak and took it coast-to-coast the other way for a three-point play after getting fouled converting the layup. That play put Halifax up 49 – 42. Greene summarily converted a 3-point field goal, which was followed by an and-1 play from teammate Taliek Brown. The score at the half was 60 – 51 in favor of Halifax. Crookshank had 12 points in the half and Greene contributed 8 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

The 3rd quarter commenced with a string of great plays from Halifax. A 3-pointer, then a long two, a transition layup and a claustrophobic defense annihilated any chance for a Saint John comeback. The game was clearly getting out of hand and I switched over to view the beginnings of the Oshawa Power and London Lightning showdown.

But not before the Rainmen detonated two exciting plays. The first was a towering baseline finger roll by Brown after he blew past a lunging defender at the three-point line. The second was a fastbreak straight from the Showtime Lakers. Pushing the ball upcourt, a cross-lane pass was thrown to a Rainman who then quickly dropped a behind the back bounce pass as he flowed out of bounds to a trailing teammate who easily converted the layup. The score was 84-63 Halifax. Game. Blouses.

But since I’ve last rounded up the NBL, the Mill Rats did put the first blemish on the London Lightning’s record. Saint John upset the then-undefeated Lightning 96-86 last Sunday the 13th.

Box Score Standouts of the Week

Al Stewart – G Summerside Storm

In the Storm’s 119 – 101 victory over Moncton, Stewart lodged 22 points, 11 rebound, 7 assists and 5 steals in a performance worthy of Denver Nuggets legend Fat Lever. The only drawback was the 6 turnovers, but he did finish 7-8 from the field.

In the same game, forward Chris Cayole finished with 27 points on 11-19 shooting including 5-11 from three-point range.

Anthony Anderson – G Saint John Mill Rats

Anderson put together a fine performance in the Mill Rats’ 91-88 victory over Oshawa on the 14th. Proving particularly potent from downtown (5-10) Anderson finished with 27 points on just 18 shots. He also chipped in 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals while playing the full 48 minutes of action.

In the Mill Rats’ contest with Summerside on the 17th, Anderson again proved the marksman with 35 points  on just 18 shots and in only 32 minutes of action, spearheading the Saint John victory, 106-90.

Ralphy Holmes – G Quebec Kebs

Holmes was highly efficient for Quebec in their Wednesday night matchup in Oshawa. Holmes went 7-9 from the field for 19 points and also contributed 10 rebounds and 6 assists  in 36 minutes of play.

Taliek Brown – G Halifax Rainmen

And we end the roundup where it began, Friday night’s Rainmen – Mill Rats contest. Taliek delivered a stellar performance every point guard should envy. The Rainman finished Friday night’s matchup against Saint John with 18 points on 9-13 shooting while also corralling 5 rebounds and getting his hands on 4 steals. Most impressively though was his 11 assists and 1 turnover on the night.

Photo by bobaubuchon on Flickr

This lockout sucks for a lot of people. It sucks for every fan and everyone whose job depends on NBA games being played. It sucks for the draftees who have been on the court today if they’d stayed in school. It sucks for the fringe players we rarely hear about. But lately I’ve been thinking of the vets: I hate that we’ll likely miss out one of Steve Nash’s final years, I hate that Kobe’s pursuit of rings and records will likely be put on hold, and I hate that I’m wondering if San Antonio will still be a contender when Tim Duncan is 36 and Manu Ginobili is 35. It’s not just the Hall of Famers I’m worried about, though — it’s possible we’ve seen the last of guys like Jermaine O’Neal, Antonio McDyess, and one of my favorite players: Marcus Camby.

I can’t think of Camby without thinking of his early years in Toronto. He was a lanky rookie, but with his shot-blocking ability and the way he ran the floor, pairing him with ROY Damon Stoudamire seemed like a sure bet. As a kid, I loved his dunks and blocks and the fact that when I ran down to the floor area before games at the SkyDome he’d fist-bump me and ask, “What’s up?” For scouts, his ability to cover ground on defense was probably more important.

I saw Camby dunk all over the Sixers when they came to town in his rookie year. In his second year, I saw something slightly different happen in what turned out to be his final game with the team. When he was sidelined with injuries, I argued with my friends who insisted that the Raptors should have taken Shareef Abdur-Rahim ahead of him. Nobody seemed to care that he was leading the league in blocked shots, as they’d heard people calling him “Cotton Camby” and decided he was too soft. No one I knew was upset when he was traded to the Knicks for Charles Oakley.

In retrospect, the move was likely a good for both teams scenario. Still, I’ve had a soft spot for him since those days and felt vindicated when he leaped out of Jeff Van Gundy’s doghouse in the 1999 playoffs. It’s been great to see him transform his reputation — while he was once known as immature, soft, and lazy, he’s now considered one of the league’s most professional people and a steadying influence on and off the court. I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy for a DPOY winner as I was for him in 2007. Last year, though, he struggled through injuries and had his least productive season in years, per-minute and otherwise. On defense, whether it was his age or his health, his rotations weren’t quite as quick as we’re used to. Offensively, he’s never been much of a creator, but his usage rate plummeted to 11.7%. Heading into the last year of his contract in 2011-2012, we were meant to be asking if he could return to his 2009-2010 form and if Portland was going to end up trading him to a contender. Now, if the season is gone, we have to ask if he’ll still even be in the league.

Camby will be 38 at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season. If this lockout isn’t resolved relatively soon, he’ll have just missed out on $12.8 million. As a free agent, he’ll probably be able to chase a ring somewhere, but he might not play significant minutes. At that point, he might just decide it’s time to try to become an elementary school principal. If the next time I see him on TV I’m watching his retirement announcement or he’s struggling to get up and down the floor, it’s going to feel extremely sudden. That would be such a shame.

Photo from byron.manley via Flickr

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to inform you that the Craig Brackins-Maccabi Ashdod marriage is over.

Various outlets (both links in Hebrew) throughout Israeli media are reporting that the forward is done playing in Israel, after 4 league games in which he totaled 55 points and 21 boards. Apparently, Brackins was subsequently offered to Israeli clubs Bnei HaSharon/Herzelia (who have twice seen NBA players get away, struck once by Trevor Booker’s injury and once by J.J. Hickson’s attitude) and Barak Netanya (currently winless in league play), but both teams declined to bring in the Iowa State product. Brackins has reportedly drawn interest from some teams in Spain, but it is unclear whether he will indeed pick up a second home country on his international tour.

The official position from the team is that Brackins’s initial contract has expired, and with former Xavier big man Josh Duncan (whom Brackins originally replaced) returning from a 2 month injury, Brackins was no longer needed. A roughly translated version of the original press release goes:

“Ashdod thanks its player Craig Brackins who came to help the team during the injury period of its player [Josh] Duncan, who is now healthy and ready to play. The team thanks Brackins for his service, on the court and off of it, and wishes him luck in the future”.

Assuming there were no behind-the-scenes issues with Brackins’s behavior (always possible, though I doubt it), this says very little about Brackins and much more about the system in which he played.

Brackins was tied with Josh Carter in second place on the team scoring list with 13.8 a night, but his shooting was wildly inconsistent. He shot 44.7% from the field and 35.7% from three, and only shot 6 free throws in all 4 games combined, for a harsh true shooting percentage of 50.3%. Hardly the  sort of production that one expects to get from an NBA player whose best skill is supposedly at his best shooting the ball. Furthermore, Duncan has already played for Ashdod last year and was very effective in the paint – an area where Brackins, despite his athleticism, has never excelled at.

Israeli league rules dictate that teams can only register 4 non-Israeli players every game. With dynamic Kentucky product Ramel Bradley serving as the team’s best player so far, Alex Tyus in the midst of converting to Judaism which could eventually give him an Israeli passport, Duncan returning and Josh Carter player very well, passing over a player whose long term prospects are in a different league is an understandable move.

In his short Israeli tenure, Brackins was solid, but he wasn’t spectacular – despite the marketing he brings as an NBA name, that sort of return just doesn’t vindicate the effort involved. It’s the same dilemma we’ve seen world round, with the likes of DeJuan Blair, Alonzo Gee, and DaJuan Summers leaving their European foster clubs, and it’s a dilemma we’ll continue to see – alongside imported successes such as Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Nicolas Batum, and whoever chooses to join them – as long as this lockout still lives.

Photo by quinn.anya on Flickr

There’s a numbness that accompanies the regression of a nebulous conflict. Before the next series of events occur, there’s a semi-delusional waiting period that allows for optimism (insert vaguely positive buzzword here) to grow. Opinions are formulated based on tidbits for information. Most articles take into account the various needs and wants of the two negotiating sides (I never want to read the word “negotiating” in association with basketball again), and then juxtapose that against logical causation and further action. Side X wants this, so Side X should or will likely do this, and since Side X and Side Y currently stand at this point, the following will probably happen. Probably.

That period of back-and-forth was relatively blissful for an NBA fan, compared to today’s outlook. There were several things that could happen, and many of them were negative, but at least the possibility of “could” still existed. There was no pre-determination of fate assured, and that made the consumption of information and reports with bated breath at least palatable. Even the fear of the worst outcome allowed for a certain excitability, a rush of air from the lungs. It was like a great, terrible drama presented over and over again, rewritten each time with a slightly different ending.  The “We just don’t know.” statement could still be rationalized against familiar and truth-ringing fear. Eventually, we did know, and the fearful outcome was very real.

Turns out, the problem with this waiting period was its assumption of rational choices and lack of emotional output. Only the fans emotional output took center-stage, until the players stood smiling before delivering rejection. It was a moment symbolic of a likely suspect financial decision but a reasonable moral one. The entirety of the lockout has centered around balancing the mind and heart into a satiable point of equilibrium that allows for the twists and turns of what’s ahead. The shuffling ahead finally became the overture of mayhem it was always destined to be in the moment the players stood together, rejected the owners’ “final” offer, and chose the “disclaimer of interest” path. The current murky future died. A new one was born.

But the new vision of the future is different. Not only is there no prescribed “hope” in the current NBA lockout, there is no interest. The trumpeted false “apathy” that general sports fans were reported to feel about the NBA lockout ultimately found life in reality. Not even the most stalwart NBA fan can gather enthusiasm when the presence of certainty becomes tangible. There can no longer be any moral victory or relief, only resigned resolution.

And so we’ll wait. In a way, the crashing tide of bad news freed the minds of many. The sports mind can only be captivated so long by the news of millionaires and billionaires negotiating business deals. It can be held even less long by a lack of negotiations at all. When there’s nothing left to follow but court proceedings and conference calls with David Stern, it’s a basic choice to simply sigh and slowly remove interest from the situation. If you listen closely online, you can almost hear basketball fans closing their computers. Sure, they’ll watch the occasional report on TV. They’ll keep up with the situation. But their emotional investment will slowly fade (at least for the short-term) in a sport that demands emotional investment.

There are reasons the players chose to reject the owners’ slanted deal, and they aren’t bad ones. Maybe they’ll achieve “victory” during their day in court or negotiations, and maybe they won’t. But I hope the NBA doesn’t expect a warm welcome when it inevitably returns. It won’t even a get harsh welcome. Instead, it’ll receive a far worse, apathetic greeting from many. The NBA will be back. The enthusiasm of many fans won’t.

But that enthusiasm won’t turn sour. It’ll take form as a blank stare.

This needed to be shared immediately. It’s nice to remember that basketball is awesome.

(h/t @seth_rosenthal and @DrewUnga)