Going into the new season all the talking heads on various radio
stations and podcasts are discussing what the major story lines will be this season in the
National Basketball Association.
Each local market and local sports talk show
personality focuses on what effects their team or their listeners; free agency, off court drama, pending trades or just what their training camp will look like.
Looking nationally, there are only three major talking points heading into the 2014-15 season:
Looking nationally, there are only three major talking points heading into the 2014-15 season:
- can the San Antonio Spurs repeat;
- can Lebron James lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a title;
- and sadly when will the first, second and next crime occur by an NBA player.
The first two questions have been on everyone' mind since
the season ended and since Decision 2.0 occurred. The last one has only arisen
recently with the horrible events and news coming out of the National Football
League.
I am sure commissioner Adam Silver will address the NBA Players’
Association and each team's executives about how not to be like the NFL, if he
hasn't already.
What can Silver do or say that the athletes haven't heard
since they were kids. I am sure most of them understand exactly what is going
on with their cohorts in football. Personally I believe it's only a matter of
time before one player is accused of something and sadly I believe it won't
just be one.
Football and basketball players in America are cut from the
same ilk. In general they come from the same economic and family upbringing.
They have unbelievable talent and desire which they use this to excel in all
parts of their lives. They are treated as special and live a privileged life
were what they want is always given. It is this sense of entitlement that le's
them get away with doing and saying things others couldn’t and wouldn't.
Nothing changes as they get older other than being exposed
to more people, fame and money. Basketball and football players tend to hang
out even more. The women get older, wiser and more conniving looking for that
quick payday.
Let's talk even more honestly. When I said that both sets of
players come from the same economic and family backgrounds what I was really
saying is that most are African-American. People will call that statement
racist or not politically correct but by just using your common sense you will
see what I am saying is true.
So all of that means basketball and football players have
run in the same circles since they were kids. They have the same friends, the
same hanger-ons and the same groupies. So if a trend is prevalent in one set
then of course it is in another.
We all know the ugly behavior of NFL players has been occurring
for years. Therefore we can extrapolate that the same has been occurring in the
NBA. Therefore, only using common sense, we should see the rise of these
incidents, arrests and situations with basketball players this season.
Obviously Silver has a head start, where commissioner Roger
Goodell was blind-sided by the events this off season. We'll maybe he wasn't
blind-sided because I am sure he knew what was going on. Only now with flourish
of social media, camera phones and the public's desire for gossip have we
became as knowledgeable as the people in power.
Basketball and the NBA have done a good job of cleaning
things up in recent years with dress codes, heavy suspensions and so called
social media training. They know the amount of dollars than can be lost with
one simple error or situation. If the association was smart they could use the
fire storm that is happening to the NFL to their advantage. They have an
opportunity to take sponsors dollars away from football.
Silver has to heed the warning signs and nip issues quickly.
He did just that with the help of Larry Bird as they quickly shot down Paul
George's twitter support of Ray Rice. Basketball players in this day and age
believe they can do no wrong and never ever care about how their actions will
influence how others think of them. Why should they? Would you if you were
making a couple of million dollars? If you were I am sure you wouldn’t hesitate
to state your opinion about something.
But with strict guidelines and
suspensions that stupidity is what the association and Silver can control.
What they can’t is what is going on in the NFL. According to
the Federal Bureau of Investigations a woman is battered every fifteen seconds
and two to four million women are abused every year. That is the ones we know
of. So if that happens in the general public, by using common sense that
probably happens in the NFL and NBA. I don’t even want to get into child abuse
because that is a big grey line that needs its’ own discussion.
The NBA needs to have a pre-strategy about what they will do
if something comes up. If a player is accused of something. The association
needs to do the, as the executives of the Minnesota Vikings said thirty
times in their press conference, “right
thing” the first time.
Personally do I want something to happen? Of course I don’t
but do I think something will happen? Of course I do.
This is a turning point in how people see athletes. The NFL
has taken a hit and if the NBA doesn’t as well then that will be a miracle.
Shahab Khan
@schoolboyshebe
