So Mark Cuban wants to move his Mavericks, the Spurs, the Rockets and the Pelicans to the Eastern Conference, replacing them in the West with the Bucks, the Bulls, the Pacers and the Pistons.
And as he predicted after making that suggestion to New York and Dallas reporters as he did one of his StairMaster workouts Wednesday night, his idea will turn into “headline porn.”
As a publisher, I get what he means. If I publish “The 10 Hottest NBA Cheerleaders” it will do 100 times the traffic as “The 10 Best Rookies.” Maybe 1000 times the traffic. That is where basketball journalism has gone. (Luckily for our readers, I know where it is going in the next five years).
As for Cuban’s plan, Doesn’t matter if the idea has legs, or makes perfect sense or no sense at all. It is something to be debated, and the porn stars at ESPN, Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless in their dueling Dirk Diggler roles, will be all over this one for the remainder of the season. If I was a gambling man, I’d put money on the two of them screaming at each other. Ever wonder why ESPN’s best writers don’t appear on TV very often? Because they do not scream. They are reasonable guys (and gals, haven’t forgotten about you, Ramona), and they were raised in the school of playing things down the middle, seeing both sides of the story, staying objective and then being passionate without being pugnacious.
Those on the TV side at ESPN come from a different school, the one where you get paid by the decibel. The more you yell, the more money and fame you achieve. Doesn’t matter if you have a clue what you are talking about. It is a dumbing down process that has been taking place for the past decade, and not just in sports. Anybody who watched Fox News or MSNBC can attest to this.
We yell and we yell and we yell, and nothing gets accomplished except further polarization. It is a shame, both for journalism as a profession, and for society at large. How many people read the entire grand jury report about the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo. before making up their minds as to who was at fault?
But back to basketball.
Cuban’s plan make sense in a lot of ways, but the balance of power shifts over time, and a band-aid that seem sensible in the middle of this decade might look ridiculous 10 years from now. C’mon, Indianapolis in the West? Folks in that town are about as West Coast as Nedicks.
Here’s a better idea, one I have been espousing for years.
The top eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs, then are seeded 1 through 16 regardless of conference. No. 1 plays No. 16, No. 2 plays No. 15, etc … and you get a mix of East vs. East, West vs. West and West vs. East. Why is it that we have to go from the middle of April to the beginning of June to see a team from the East play a team from the West?
Anyway, y’all are here for MVP rankings. So let’s get right to those. Yes, it is early. But the season started in October, we are now almost finished with November, and before be know it December will be coming to a close and we’ll have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook back in the picture. If one/both of them can lead the Thunder from the Western Conference cellar to a Top 4 seed, they will get serious consideration for this award.
1. Marc Gasol, Grizzlies (Last week: 1). Took 50 shots over the past week and made 31 of them. Went for 30 twice. Has grabbed double-figure rebounds in three of his past four games. Will be carving up Robin Lopez and Chris Kaman tonight when the Grizzlies, leading the West at 13-2, travel to Portland to play the Trail Blazers, winners of 9 straight. Memphis is a 3 1/2 point ‘dog. You won’t see that too many more times this season. They are 9-0 vs. teams from the West. The Gasol headline porn for this week: “Future Knick/Laker leads 2015 Free Agent Rankings.”
2. Stephen Curry, Warriors (Last week: 2). His ‘Dubs take a 7-game winning streak into tonight’s game at Charlotte, perhaps Steve Clifford’s last as head coach of the Hornets. And when Curry goes into North Carolina to play ball, he is a motivated man. When you were passed over by both Duke and North Carolina (not to mention N.C. State) and ended up playing your college ball at Davidson, you tend to feel a bit slighted. So after going 8-for-11 from downtown against Miami and 6-for-8 from long range against Orlando, it would not surprise me to see something along the lines of 9-for-11 tonight. The headline porn, of course, will be “Stephenson benched in 4th quarter again.”
3. Anthony Davis, Pelicans (Last week: 3). Did you realize he is No. 2 in the NBA in scoring, trailing only Kobe Bryant (my preseason prediction to finish as the NBA’s scoring leader, and my pick for one of the Top 5 players of all time, no matter what Bill Reiter of FoxSports Radio in L.A. thinks). Does it all — except shoot 3-pointers (though he has the range). Top 10 in scoring, (2nd), rebounding (5th), steals (fourth), blocks (1st) and FG percentage (9th). And as I mentioned last week, as long as the Pelicans remain on the proper side of .500, he remains a fixture on this list. Headline porn: “Davis showing Asik what it’s like to play alongside dominant big man.”
4. DeMarcus Couins, Kings (Last week: 4). Still sitting on that one single technical foul. (His goal is five or less). Trails Eric Bledsoe (4), Tony Allen, Aaron Brooks and the newly unemployed Sebastian Telfair (3 apiece) by a good margin in the HotHead race. Leads the league in rebounding and is sixth in scoring, and his NoCal team enters the weekend three games above .500, trailing the Phoenix Suns (10-6) by just a half-game for eighth place in the West. Has one fewer double-double (12) than Nikola Vucevic, who should be starting the for East at the All-Star game. Leads league in fouls with 70, a dozen more than second-place Larry Sanders. Headline porn: “Cousins boogieing with 70:1 tech to foul ratio.”
5. Jimmy Butler, Bulls (Last week: 5). What do I hate most about the NBA? Reading injury updates, especially guys who break down more than a GM ignition switch. What do you think the ratio is of words written about Derrick Rose’s injury vs. words written about Butler’s improved play? Just another small thought on the evolution of basketball journalism. Here’s something you may not have known. Only two NBA shooting guards, Courtney Lee of Memphis and Dwyane Wade of Miami, are shooting a higher percentage than Butler’s 50 percent. “Headline porn: Rose’s injuries propel Butler into MVP race.”
The next five: LeBron James, Cavs; Klay Thompson, Warriors; James Harden, Rockets; DeMarDeRozan, Raptors; LaMarcus Aldridge, Blazers.
Chris Sheridan, publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com, is an official NBA MVP voter. Follow him on Twitter.
With all respect to Demar, the MVP of the Toronto Raptors is Kyle Lowry.
Kyle puts the ball into the net much more efficiently – he scores almost as many points (26 vs. 28) on far fewer attempts (19 vs. 23). He is a strong defender at his position, while Demar is maybe average. And virtually anyone close to the team will tell you he is the heart and soul of it.
If you want to know what Toronto is doing so well this year, look no further than Kyle Lowry.