51 replies to this topic

[defqon]

Yesterday's game between the Lakers and OKC Thunder was an insult to fans worldwide. I don't care what team you were rooting for, but anybody with half a brain cell knows by now that the NBA is rigged and that David Stern has an agenda. The free throw differentials, phantom calls favoring Kevin Durant, and the fact that Kobe Bryant did not attempt a single free throw sealed the deal for me. The fact that the refs were paid and employed by the league and that the most trusted "company men", namely Dick Bavetta, Joey "I-challenged-Tim-Duncan-to-a-fight" Crawford, and Steve "I-hate-Allen-Iverson" Javie all have personal vendetta against certain teams, players, and coaches and have the power to dictate free throw attempts and the flow of the game. Granted, Bryant and the Lakers, once the golden child of the NBA, were once at the opposite end of the equation when they beat the Kings in the 2002 Western Conference Final aka one of the biggest disgrace in sports history, but it does not justify what the league is doing to Bryant at this stage of his career. Such manipulation is disgusting and despicable. It is also one of the primary reasons that many longtime fans have become disillusioned in recent years. Stern let Tim Donaghy take the fall while continue to push forward his vision to transform the NBA into a league full of boring, emotionless Uncle Toms with no swagger, authenticity, individuality, Tim Duncan clones, and LeBron James.

I already predicted several months ago when I wrote about David Stern and the media's effort to sabotage, marginalize, phase out, and destroy the careers of superstars Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas, etc through officiating, trades, blackballing, and negative media coverage. The ultimate plan is to make the league revolve around LeBron James and give him the godlike status a la Michael Jordan. All the obstacles along the way must be cleared out. The most popular players are seeing their careers sabotaged one by one while Stern's media cronies continue to spread lies to further the claim that these guys are washed up when they are clearly better than most of the young stat stuffers (Kevin Martin, Monta Ellis, Danny Granger, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant) in this league. As far as sabotaging, the Allen Iverson example was the most obvious since he was not injured like T-Mac and is a lot more popular than Paul Pierce ever has been, but what we are about to witness is significantly more crooked and obvious than the A.I. case. Minor tweaking and sabotaging of marginal players have been going on for decades (Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Isaiah Rider, Dennis Rodman, Ruben Patterson, Bonzi Wells, etc are blackballed out of the NBA while Great White Hope like Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, Mark Pope, Sean Marks, and Ryan Bowen continue to find work.), but the underhanded, intentional effort to undermine superstars' careers in order to legitimize his golden child was largely unprecedented. Stern's brave new world is now onto its last phase: the destruction of Kobe Bryant.

The operation to sabotage Kobe Bryant is the most difficult one out of all. He plays in one of the biggest markets in LA. He is a beloved figure in Southern California, having played there his entire career. He is very marketable, charismatic and, no homo, good-looking. Before his sexual assault trial, he had a squeaky clean image with no off-the-court issues or tattoos. If Allen Iverson symbolizes the anti-establishment during the post-Jordan era, then Kobe Bryant was once the golden child of the NBA and David Stern. Full disclosure: I love watching Kobe Bryant plays the game of basketball, but I never like him the way I like A.I. However, for the integrity of the game and my firm belief that the best players should play, I will not stand by idly while watching the media and Stern sabotage his career the way they did to A.I. I don't believe Stern has what it takes to destroy Kobe Bryant the way he did to Allen Iverson. Bryant will never be asked to leave LA the way A.I. was thrown around (forced to play half-court set and teamball in Detroit. got benched in favor of scrub Rodney Stuckey. playing 8th man minutes a year after having his most efficient season with 27 points and 7 assists in 2008 and led Denver to franchise record in wins. Billups only led them to 3 more wins the year after despite all the accolades.) No matter how the media spin it, Bryant has a home to go to. But it is not far fetched to say that Bryant probably will never win another title in his career as the franchise player.

One has to ask the rhetorical question: What is the point in all this? Why does Stern bother to lash out against Phil Jackson? Aren't marketable players like Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson good for the league? Before we could psychoanalyze Stern, we must recap a bit of his history.

Stern became the NBA commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien. Coincidentally, it was the same year when the famed "Class of '84", consisting of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton, entered the league. At that point, the league was on the verge of bankruptcy. Stern was able to revive the league through the popularity of Michael Jordan, who dispelled the long-held notion that you can't win a championship without a dominant big man. Jordan, who became a global icon, was arguably the most marketable athlete in the history of sports and the NBA's profit increased exponentially. Since Michael Jordan's second retirement with the Bulls in 1998, Stern has been desperately looking for the next MJ as a mean to recreate his battle-tested marketing formula. He was not the marketing genius some credit him to be, but one of the many businessmen (like Nike founder Phil Knight), who profited from the presence of a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Michael Jordan.

In the past decade, numerous efforts have shown that the NBA is no longer what it once was. Aside from the 2002 WCF, the 2006 NBA finals (when Stern let his personal beef with Mark Cuban get in the way), and last year's blatant example during the Cavs-Magic series (it backfired, which resulted in the Cavs acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal and Antawn Jamison. With 3 of the starters from last year's team now coming off the bench, Stern is ensuring last year won't happen again.) The rigging also extends to regular season game, with the most prominent example occurring on March 31, 2010 when the Cavs, Stern's favorite team, defeated the Bucks 101-98 due to a free throw differential of 45-9. It just shows that Stern is willing to do anything to legitimize LeBron James as the next MJ. Other beloved superstars from the post-Jordan era must be trashed by the media and eased out of the spotlight and be replaced by boring guys you can't pick out of a crowd aka Tim Duncan clones (Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Brandon Roy, Joe Johnson, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, Blake Griffin, Greg Oden, Aaron Brooks, Danny Granger, Tyreke Evans, Trevor Ariza, Rodney Stuckey, Rudy Gay, Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, Russell Westbrook, etc) who are better suited to play second fiddle to LeBron James. Except for their hometown fans, fans worldwide will never love these guys the way they love A.I., Kobe, T-Mac, Vinsanity, KG, or even Starbury and Stevie Franchise, which makes their ascents a blessing to the crowning of LeBron James. Why were the media trashing A.I. so hard when he was voted in as a starter even though the Sixers are .500 with him this season and 10-40 without him? Why did Devin Harris make the all-star game last season instead of Vince Carter? It's clear that Vinsanity was the one holding the Nets from falling apart the past few years. Why didn't Vince Carter make the all-star team this year despite being on one of the top teams? Why is the media insinuating that Rajon Rondo is better than Paul Pierce when it is obvious that Pierce is just sacrificing his stats and playing teamball? Why did role player Al Horford make the all-star team instead of Shaquille O'Neal when they are putting up similar stats and Shaq was on a better team and is one of the biggest names? Why does Chris Bosh get a pass for being a perennial loser in his 7 seasons in the league despite a decent supporting cast while T-Mac and Vince get trashed when their supporting casts were far worse? Why did Brandon Roy make the all-star team in his sophomore year ahead of Baron Davis? Why did cheap owner Gordon Gund sell the team a year after drafting LeBron James? Why is LeBron James getting top 4 payrolls in the league and going over the luxury tax every season for the past 5 years despite being in a small market? Why are they calling T-Mac washed up while letting Amare Stoudemire and Jason Kidd to take their time coming back from microfracture surgery? Some of these questions may seem inconsequential, but these are all efforts by Stern and the media to usher out some of the biggest names from the spotlight and introduce/market inferior players as stars and brainwash the fans into believing that.

There has been a lot of talks about Kobe Bryant being washed up and about Kevin Durant overtaking him as the de facto "second best" player in the league in the past couple of months. I don't buy it. In fact, I don't consider LeBron James the best player in the league. Dwyane Wade could probably win a title with his supporting cast. Allen Iverson probably could as well if Stern did not f*ck with his head that much the past couple of years. Hell, Paul Pierce probably could. I'm not a Lakers fan, but it is clear that Kobe Bryant is doing more with less than LeBron James, who kills ball movement with his overdribbling. Say what you want about James not having a "supporting cast", but the Cavs team is a lot more stacked than the Lakers for at least the past 3 years. Why is Kevin Durant getting all these undeserved accolades when he doesn't play any defense and is turning the ball over even though he's not even the team's primary ballhandler? Why does the media have such a huge boner for ballhog Derrick Rose when his team always underachieve and he takes 18 shots to score 20 points? I don't care about his field goal percentage. Guys like Rose and Joe Johnson are the epitome of inefficiency because they're too chicken to draw fouls even though the refs are already favoring them.

Source:
http://bleacherrepor...get-kobe-bryant

Opinions please

[shift]

nice wall of text

[XILLAX]

tl; dr.

[executor]

hilariousssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

get somethin straight, the refs & stern aren't AGAINST anyone (besides few special cases, crawford & duncan for sure but diff story there) and most certainly not kobe. The only reason ppl are dogin is cause kobe used to get THE MOST of these phantom calls, and now refs are callin games straighter ever since the point shaving scandal so kobe isnt gettin the superstar treatment hes used to. Ever occur to you that maybe kobe didnt take the ball to the rim as hard as he normally does, quit complainin that they missed one or two calls on the rapist

this guys an idiot vince sucked in NJ, he was dirty in toronto and now that hes motivated for a championship hes good again in orlando. and AI ducked over his own career he just got old couldnt do the poop he used to, maybe if PRACTICED (we talkin bout practice?) more then he'd still be in the league. The reason why mark pope and those scrubs are still in the league is WORK ETHIC

dont get me started on rajon & paul. Pierce = clutch, take you 1on1 in the 4th when we need a bucket type scorer. Rajon is the 3rd-4th best point guard in the league

[doctorfunk]

Minor tweaking and sabotaging of marginal players have been going on for decades (Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Isaiah Rider, Dennis Rodman, Ruben Patterson, Bonzi Wells, etc are blackballed out of the NBA while Great White Hope like Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, Mark Pope, Sean Marks, and Ryan Bowen continue to find work.)

lol those guys sabotaged themselves more than anyone else, it's true Francis and Marbury were uber-talented but they weren't very good players. When I saw trade Kidd to NJ, Marbury to PHX first thing I thought is NJN is going up, PHX is going down- and NJN was twice in finals with Kidd, while PHX was no8 seed once then they missed playoffs until Nash came. If you talk about stat kids francis and marbury were perfect examples. Isaiah Rider was a wierd guy same with Dennis Rodman and Bonzi Wells - but Dennis Rodman HAD awesome career and wasn't thrown out of the nba, look what he accomplished lol, putting him in same poule with bonzi and patterson is a bit disrespectful - he was for sure best rebounding non-center in the nba ever. Reason why he didn't get as much highlight as other starts of that decade is that rebounds are not as attractive as scoring. Also Rodman had some issues later in his career, he doesn't deny it.

Since Michael Jordan's second retirement with the Bulls in 1998, Stern has been desperately looking for the next MJ as a mean to recreate his battle-tested marketing formula. He was not the marketing genius some credit him to be, but one of the many businessmen (like Nike founder Phil Knight), who profited from the presence of a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Michael Jordan.

This is annoying and it's evident, one of the reasons I find it hard to like Lebron and Durant, they get most favourable calls on any play and they get superstar status right away... I mean guys like Hakeem, Michael, Reggie had to work for their status - Lebron just came to league and everyone was on his dick already- can't say it's his fault or that he ain't good. But you mcan feel the Bias like in those "best dunkers" features - everyone 2mins Lebron James video 4mins... plus his wooden dunks suck ass, gorillas would have same amount of finesse if they ever dunked the ball, can't really compare him to style wad has or vince had. It's also true that Kobe lost his status because of the rape-scandal thing, he was "new jordan" before the rape thing.. but luckily for stern about that time Lebron came to league and all attention shifted to him.

And plz don't diss Tim Duncan he hasn't got any flair but he's one of the best power forwards ever to play the game. Okay he's dull but he totally deserves status he has.

[Button]

YOU NAMED RICKY DAVIS NOWHERE,

[Museki]

nhl is also rigged, not the stanley cup play offs but the leauge

example:

edmonton - carolina

edmonton wtihout many good players + very sucky form against carolina who is on a good run especially away

edmonton had 3.95 in odds and carolina 2 in odds

ALL betted at carolina and guess who won? edmonton won 5-2

kanker rigged sh1t game

note: this happends a lot that the team that 80 percent betted at loses altho they have 100 time better form

It's called 'sport' and weird things happen in it...
Sometimes the favorite doesnt win.

[defqon]

i didnt right this btw it was copy and pasted.

[doctorfunk]

then maybe tell us what you think about it instead of posting this poop

[defqon]

what i think is is that Stern only likes the squeeky clean players. Kobe was supposed to be the face of the NBA and the money making tool for stern until the rape thing. Now its lebron and durant. Carmelo is a very good player but is always overshadowed by Lebron and Carmelo had a DUI and weed problems and so Stern doesnt like him. In their rookie years, melo had better stats than Lebron (besides assits) but lebron still got rookie of the year. Boston gets 2 players while givin up nothin. Why would minnesota get rid of Garnett? He sent these players to Boston so he could make money. And the lakers getting Pau Gasol for virtually nothing. Now Cleveland getting Jamison and Shaq for nothin. Stern wants to make Lebron like MJ and use him as a money making tool. Why do you think MJ came out of retirement? he had so many rings + mvps so why would he want to comeback? Stern needed money and the NBA to get back on its heels. AI imo career was ended by Stern tbh. Stern got people to really hate on AI by callin him a ball hog and jew and it got to his head. He used to shoot around 20 then went to like 10 in Detroit and then like 5 in memphis. And you cant be serious about Conley starting over AI thats just bs AI is probally still very good but he was just takin out of the NBA tbh makin him a bench player and jew. I watched the Lakers game 3 and 4 and I really thought some of the calls were bs. Kobe usually gets a maximum of 2-3 fouls per game. In game 3 and 4 he could have almosted fouled out. If you watch some of the fouls alot of them are bs. Like the four point play by harden in the corner. Kobe didnt even touch him. And in game 4 Lakers had more field goals than OKC but OKC were winning because of free throws. And its not like Lakers werent being agressive. They were going down in the post area and didnt get much calls. Durant isnt really being favored because most of the calls on him are fouls but only a few are bs but that happens. Alot of the other bs calls is just gay. I am a Laker fan and Kobe fan maybe thats why I am so pissed of and jew and this is just an excuse but honestly there is a lot of proof to backup his statement up. We can wait and see if kobe dies out and to see if in the next round Cavs vs Magic who wins. Should be Magic but officiating may cause Cavs to win. and Lebron gets the most phatomest calls ive ever seen.

[maniman]

dude

its a million dollar buseniss.. its full of conspiracys lol

[martijntje]

nice wall of text

[executor]

what i think is is that Stern only likes the squeeky clean players. Kobe was supposed to be the face of the NBA and the money making tool for stern until the rape thing. Now its lebron and durant. Carmelo is a very good player but is always overshadowed by Lebron and Carmelo had a DUI and weed problems and so Stern doesnt like him. In their rookie years, melo had better stats than Lebron (besides assits) but lebron still got rookie of the year. Boston gets 2 players while givin up nothin. Why would minnesota get rid of Garnett? He sent these players to Boston so he could make money. And the lakers getting Pau Gasol for virtually nothing. Now Cleveland getting Jamison and Shaq for nothin. Stern wants to make Lebron like MJ and use him as a money making tool. Why do you think MJ came out of retirement? he had so many rings + mvps so why would he want to comeback? Stern needed money and the NBA to get back on its heels. AI imo career was ended by Stern tbh. Stern got people to really hate on AI by callin him a ball hog and jew and it got to his head. He used to shoot around 20 then went to like 10 in Detroit and then like 5 in memphis. And you cant be serious about Conley starting over AI thats just bs AI is probally still very good but he was just takin out of the NBA tbh makin him a bench player and jew. I watched the Lakers game 3 and 4 and I really thought some of the calls were bs. Kobe usually gets a maximum of 2-3 fouls per game. In game 3 and 4 he could have almosted fouled out. If you watch some of the fouls alot of them are bs. Like the four point play by harden in the corner. Kobe didnt even touch him. And in game 4 Lakers had more field goals than OKC but OKC were winning because of free throws. And its not like Lakers werent being agressive. They were going down in the post area and didnt get much calls. Durant isnt really being favored because most of the calls on him are fouls but only a few are bs but that happens. Alot of the other bs calls is just gay. I am a Laker fan and Kobe fan maybe thats why I am so pissed of and jew and this is just an excuse but honestly there is a lot of proof to backup his statement up. We can wait and see if kobe dies out and to see if in the next round Cavs vs Magic who wins. Should be Magic but officiating may cause Cavs to win. and Lebron gets the most phatomest calls ive ever seen.

agree bout carmelo jew, but man you have no clue what ur talkin about. The celtics weren't just handed KG and Ray allen, they traded Big Al Jefferson (amazing young talent right outta highschool, all star already) to Minnesota and we gave up Wally Sczyberiac, Delonte West, and Jeff Green. Quit blaming the league and Stern for jew that happens, that trade was all Danny Ainge.

[defqon]

Ok thats just celtics and those players they traded are just jew. Why would Minnesota trade Garnett for Al Jerfferson? and what about the other teams. Lakers getting Pau and Cavs gettin shaq and jamison. I know your a celtics fan so your opinion about celtics doesnt change anything for me.

[executor]

Ok thats just celtics and those players they traded are just jew. Why would Minnesota trade Garnett for Al Jerfferson? and what about the other teams. Lakers getting Pau and Cavs gettin shaq and jamison. I know your a celtics fan so your opinion about celtics doesnt change anything for me.

ur dumb if you don't see why teams give up aging, possibly washed up veterans for young soon-to-be superstars with infinite potential. Al Jefferson damn well could be as good as garnett in his prime, hes already puttin up 20pts 10rebs a game. Same with shaq, he's gunna be garbage in a year or two so might as get as much value as you can for him now.

[defqon]

ok but jamison and gasol.

[drnknmnky]

wtf