Quagmire
The thread killa strikes again
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2004
- Posts
- 527
- Reaction score
- 84
Posted by Paul Shirley: March 20, 2005, 9:30 p.m.
Since I do not play much, I have some time on the bench to think about the things that are going on around me. By the end of any game, I will usually have scouted the crowd for the most outlandish outfit being perpetrated upon those in attendance, rated the looks of each member of the dance team, and come up with life stories for half of the first row. Today’s game was no different. Three random observations from this afternoon:
The Grizzlies may very well have the best announcer in the NBA. He has a knack for making everyone’s name sound intimidating. I wonder what he could do for a guy that has a girl’s first name as his last name?
While the audio presentation at FedEx Forum is strong, the visual side is a little shaky. I will just say this: The Suns’ dance team is much better…-looking; I am not really qualified to judge dancing ability.
Reserve forward Paul Shirley filed his second rambling from Memphis.
(NBAE Photos) I am afraid Memphis may get kicked out of the league. I could be mistaken, but I think they started three white guys— three American white guys at that. I am pretty sure there is a rule against that somewhere—some kind of quota, I think. Maybe I am wrong. I guess we will find out soon, when they have to bring back the Cincinnati Royals to fill the void the Grizzlies leave behind.
As I watched our game today, I realized that I was observing a Good vs. Evil match-up of sorts. I grew up watching the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird. (Not surprising, given the fact that my first basketball experiences came while honing my skills on a gravel driveway in rural Kansas.) When my father and I could watch an NBA game, we would watch the Celtics. Without knowing why, I loved the way Bird and his teammates played the game. At the time, I only knew that they were fun to watch. Now I understand why I was drawn to them. The Celtics, along with other teams of the era, played the game the right way. They played with reckless abandon, not caring whether they looked cool doing it. Unfortunately, that style of play quickly faded.
We are something of a test-case for a return to the 1980’s-Celtics-and-Lakers style of basketball. A test case because no one knows if that kind of game can still be played or, more importantly, succeed. At some point after the Bird-Johnson era, something changed in NBA basketball. Whatever it was alienated most of the people I know. No one in Kansas watches professional basketball. They first grew disillusioned with the me-first, style-before-substance attitude, but that was not really the reason they stopped watching. They stopped watching because the game itself was no fun. Coaches had tightened their grip, and basketball had become a slugfest. The emphasis switched to defense as the powers-that-be realized that anyone, no matter how limited in ability, could win if they stopped the other team from scoring. Consequently, players were taught that it was more important to learn how to play defense than to learn how to shoot a basketball. By the late 1990’s I, and most everyone I know, could hardly sit through an entire NBA game.
Which brings us back to today’s game. The Grizzlies are a fine basketball team, to be sure. But, they are limited. They do not have the offensive firepower that we do. They rely on making the game ugly with the hopes that they can pull it out at the end. We have players who are multidimensional. Nearly everyone on the court is a threat at any given time—which is how it should be. I think every one of our games should be televised nationally, if only so people can see how much fun the game can be when we play it. Basketball is not meant to be like football. It is a game of reaction, not planning. It is not supposed to look like two guys slogging it out in the lane while eight stand around watching. We are what it is supposed to look like—players moving, sharing the ball, shooting when they are open and, most importantly, playing together. It has taken some time for this brand to re-emerge (call it the Nowitzki-Stojakovic Effect), but when it does, and the game takes this form, it is fun to watch.
Because I had a three-month break from the Suns, I have a unique perspective from which to analyze. I was very excited about this team after training camp. Even after I was kicked to the curb, I was rooting for my former teammates to succeed, because I loved that I had been a part of such an explosive, high-powered team that seemed to be truly excited about playing the game together. Two months into my second stint of the season, I see much of the same. However, I also see a team going through the same struggles as any team that is new to success, especially one with such young personnel. I see players who might be starting to believe what they read about themselves and who are beginning to become convinced of their own importance. It is a little scary because I have high hopes for this team and want to see it succeed. (And, really, what is more important than making me happy?) It is no secret that we are not playing our best basketball at the moment. Because we are getting close to the end of the regular season, I believe that this puts us at a crossroads of sorts. I do not want our team to go in the more negative of the two possible directions as the season winds down. Fortunately, we have some smart people at the helm, and I think they have an eye on the road ahead. Plus, things are looking up—Good triumphed over Evil today, 97-91.
Since I do not play much, I have some time on the bench to think about the things that are going on around me. By the end of any game, I will usually have scouted the crowd for the most outlandish outfit being perpetrated upon those in attendance, rated the looks of each member of the dance team, and come up with life stories for half of the first row. Today’s game was no different. Three random observations from this afternoon:
The Grizzlies may very well have the best announcer in the NBA. He has a knack for making everyone’s name sound intimidating. I wonder what he could do for a guy that has a girl’s first name as his last name?
While the audio presentation at FedEx Forum is strong, the visual side is a little shaky. I will just say this: The Suns’ dance team is much better…-looking; I am not really qualified to judge dancing ability.
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Reserve forward Paul Shirley filed his second rambling from Memphis.
(NBAE Photos) I am afraid Memphis may get kicked out of the league. I could be mistaken, but I think they started three white guys— three American white guys at that. I am pretty sure there is a rule against that somewhere—some kind of quota, I think. Maybe I am wrong. I guess we will find out soon, when they have to bring back the Cincinnati Royals to fill the void the Grizzlies leave behind.
As I watched our game today, I realized that I was observing a Good vs. Evil match-up of sorts. I grew up watching the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird. (Not surprising, given the fact that my first basketball experiences came while honing my skills on a gravel driveway in rural Kansas.) When my father and I could watch an NBA game, we would watch the Celtics. Without knowing why, I loved the way Bird and his teammates played the game. At the time, I only knew that they were fun to watch. Now I understand why I was drawn to them. The Celtics, along with other teams of the era, played the game the right way. They played with reckless abandon, not caring whether they looked cool doing it. Unfortunately, that style of play quickly faded.
We are something of a test-case for a return to the 1980’s-Celtics-and-Lakers style of basketball. A test case because no one knows if that kind of game can still be played or, more importantly, succeed. At some point after the Bird-Johnson era, something changed in NBA basketball. Whatever it was alienated most of the people I know. No one in Kansas watches professional basketball. They first grew disillusioned with the me-first, style-before-substance attitude, but that was not really the reason they stopped watching. They stopped watching because the game itself was no fun. Coaches had tightened their grip, and basketball had become a slugfest. The emphasis switched to defense as the powers-that-be realized that anyone, no matter how limited in ability, could win if they stopped the other team from scoring. Consequently, players were taught that it was more important to learn how to play defense than to learn how to shoot a basketball. By the late 1990’s I, and most everyone I know, could hardly sit through an entire NBA game.
Which brings us back to today’s game. The Grizzlies are a fine basketball team, to be sure. But, they are limited. They do not have the offensive firepower that we do. They rely on making the game ugly with the hopes that they can pull it out at the end. We have players who are multidimensional. Nearly everyone on the court is a threat at any given time—which is how it should be. I think every one of our games should be televised nationally, if only so people can see how much fun the game can be when we play it. Basketball is not meant to be like football. It is a game of reaction, not planning. It is not supposed to look like two guys slogging it out in the lane while eight stand around watching. We are what it is supposed to look like—players moving, sharing the ball, shooting when they are open and, most importantly, playing together. It has taken some time for this brand to re-emerge (call it the Nowitzki-Stojakovic Effect), but when it does, and the game takes this form, it is fun to watch.
Because I had a three-month break from the Suns, I have a unique perspective from which to analyze. I was very excited about this team after training camp. Even after I was kicked to the curb, I was rooting for my former teammates to succeed, because I loved that I had been a part of such an explosive, high-powered team that seemed to be truly excited about playing the game together. Two months into my second stint of the season, I see much of the same. However, I also see a team going through the same struggles as any team that is new to success, especially one with such young personnel. I see players who might be starting to believe what they read about themselves and who are beginning to become convinced of their own importance. It is a little scary because I have high hopes for this team and want to see it succeed. (And, really, what is more important than making me happy?) It is no secret that we are not playing our best basketball at the moment. Because we are getting close to the end of the regular season, I believe that this puts us at a crossroads of sorts. I do not want our team to go in the more negative of the two possible directions as the season winds down. Fortunately, we have some smart people at the helm, and I think they have an eye on the road ahead. Plus, things are looking up—Good triumphed over Evil today, 97-91.
I wish we could get more of this all year.
