Its not such a 'Wonderful Life' in NBA

First appeared on December 28, 2013
in The Lebanon Reporter

Outside of therapy or a Phil Jackson locker room meditation ceremony, there’s no better exercise for centering one’s self during the holidays than watching It’s a Wonderful Life. The film, best viewed in black and white, sharpens ones focus and encourages a reevaluation of priorities.

So as Adam Silver takes the wheel from departing NBA Commissioner David Stern, he does so in a very despondent George Bailey kind of way. Perched nervously on a bridge outside the NBA headquarters, a blurry eyed Silver curses the heavens while lamenting the league for what it is now. With only three teams in the Eastern Conference mustering winning records to this point and a disappointing Christmas Day bonanza, the NBA equivalent of an NFL Thanksgiving, that saw five games finish with an average margin of victory in double figures, including one 29 point blow-out, trouble looms on the horizon.

Silver can curse SportsCenter and the way Americans lap up its spectacular dunks night after night not unlike the hard drinking husbands of school teachers who haunt Martini’s Bar. And while it still remains largely foreign to those drawing steady paychecks, he can blame a video game culture altogether familiar to owners laboring to appease this younger crowd by filling out rosters with ultra-athletic racehorses well versed in the business end of an alley-oop. All this is done while gambling these still generally underdeveloped talents will work diligently to develop their skills (see George, Paul). In the meantime the quality of play and overall skill level within the league continues to deteriorate.

Silver nervously gazes past his toes at the icy water below, knowing full well games are both sloppy and sluggish at times while consistent refereeing remains professional basketball’s white whale. He realizes even the league’s marketing has grown stale as the Christmas Day jerseys, Grinch shoes and scantily clad cheerleaders in Santa hats only made fans forget temporarily they were watching a wholly substandard product.

And then, just at the moment Silver is ready to give up and throw himself into the frigid black water, something altogether amazing and strangely predictable occurs. Appearing amidst a blizzard of fake snow, clutching a dog eared copy of the NBA Rule Book, is David Stern, his guardian angel.

Stern takes Silver on a guided tour of what the NBA once was. And unlike the somewhat laughable Clarence who was yet to earn his wings, there’s no better figure to guide a pretend tour of the league’s past than the man who oversaw its resuscitation and piloted it to its height of popularity.

Along the way, Silver discovers strong rivalries made the league. Rivalries like Detroit/Chicago, Boston/LA, the Knicks and well, OK maybe we’ll just leave the Knicks out of this since the Thunder’s road win total alone bests New York’s overall victories this season.

A wide-eyed Silver marvels at the league’s most successful days, days built on the backs of likable Superstars like Michael, Magic and Larry seasoned with the occasional rise of a spunky underdog like Reggie Miller who tried his best to stick a finger in the eye of big market viewers everywhere.

The unfortunate thing for Silver is, just when he’s seen enough to climb down off the bridge, no Hollywood ending awaits. There is no culminating scene with Silver running through the streets screaming “Merry Christmas you old referring scandal!”, instead he’s left to clean up Stern’s mess while reshaping the league on his own. This will prove a tall task, even one that can't be solved by the town of Bedford Falls bursting through his door while scrambling to unload their pockets to help save his new league.

© 2013 Eric Walker Williams

This Just In-Brad Stevens can Coach

First appeared on December 11th, 2013
in The Lebanon Reporter

Those of us with Midwestern roots are ingrained with certain inalienable virtues. And be it Rome, Tokyo, numerous careers of varying success or simply crossing the county line, these tend to travel well wherever we go. Webster’s would define these as “taking pride in hard work, maintaining a no-nonsense attitude and knowing when it’s cold enough to start using the buttons on your jacket”.

So it was Brad Stevens announced in July that he was leaving Butler for the NBA and, while those close to the program were rocked to their core, the talking heads declared it one of those rare occasions where both parties involved had made a colossal mistake. For Stevens, leaving Butler appeared a disastrous move. The Bulldogs were entering a new conference which meant new opportunities and wider exposure. All of which figured to reap stronger recruiting classes and the possibility of challenging once again for that elusive National Title he’d already been so close to snatching up from his tiny perch at Butler.

For the Celtics, it meant hiring a coach with no NBA experience and one that had been leading a Mid-Major program for only 6 seasons. His introduction to the NBA would include piloting a roster comprised largely of castaways and project players destined to wilt in the shadow of two cornerstone stars who’d bolted, chasing another ring out of town.

Stevens was walking into a meat-grinder. The NBA would slap that boyish grin from his face before he could call his first time out. He’d be a shell of his former pragmatic self by Thanksgiving. But when the Celtics took the floor last week and completely dismantled the New York Knickerbockers and their high priced roster 114-73, there they were; taking pride in hard work and approaching things with a no-nonsense attitude.

Of course all this should be prefaced by the fact the NBA’s Eastern Conference is a disaster unlike anything Professional Basketball, and more pointedly, professional sports has ever seen. Coming in to Tuesday night there were three teams in the entire Conference with winning records. I’ll pause to let that soak in. Still the reenergized Celtics had recorded 10 wins with what was really supposed to be a rudderless team reeling without Rajon Rondo (man, that’s a lot of R’s).

Seriously, who are these guys? Vitor Faverani, Phil Pressey, Kris Kardashian-Humphries? Bleeding 10 wins from this roster is enough for Stevens to walk away right now. Go try to hit a baseball for a while Brad, there’s nothing left to prove here. You’re obviously really good.

In fact, forget about Baseball. There are far more opportunities hocking whatever pixie dust Stevens sprinkled on the Boston roster before the season began. To this point the Celtics have been that movie the wife dragged you to that you just knew would be awful and you sit down, glancing around to make sure nobody within your inner circle of most trusted man-friends sees you in the theatre, only to discover it’s a surprisingly good film.

Much remains to be seen obviously. Can Boston sustain their winning ways until April? Will the impending return of an All Star caliber player in Rondo serve as a shot in the arm to a roster already light years ahead of the majority of the Eastern Conference? Or will the return of Rondo spawn a cancer that spells doom for the Celtics and Stevens?

One thing’s for sure, if the Celtics continue to take pride in outworking opponents and approach things with a no-nonsense attitude, the sky’s the limit; well at least in the Eastern Conference it is.

© 2013 Eric Walker Williams