NBA NEWS

Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks will travel to Miami to play the Miami Heat. Already, lots of people are creating hype about it simply because its against one of the best teams in the NBA. But truthfully, the Knicks already beat the Lakers and the defending champion Mavericks. This is just another game.

Stephen A. Smith, however, commenting for ESPN said that LeBron James and Dewyane Wade and the Heat are really good and so they will, like, beat the Knicks or something. Who are we paying attention to Jeremy Lin? We obviously should be paying attention for the Heat… Except that LeBron James is kind of an a-hole, and the Heat is just a team built in free agency.

Jeremy Lin, on the other hand, came out of nowhere to dominate this season. It’s actually a feel-good story as opposed to a feel-bad story.

True, the Knicks also have Carmello Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, but both of them have been injured lately. (Though Carmello’s injury sure has given ESPN something to talk about in relation to whether he can play with Lin.)

Anyway, regardless of who wins, nothing changes. Lin is still the most popular player in the NBA for the time being, and both the Knicks and Heat are still two of the best teams regardless of the result.

But if the Knicks win, you can be sure to hear how having beaten the Heat (as opposed to having beaten the Lakers or Mavericks), the Knicks have finally proven they can play with the best. If the Heat wins, you can hear how Linsanity ended and how “The Knicks still need to prove they can play with the best.” Thanks, ESPN. Those issues will really be proven in June, not now.

MITCH BLATT

After scoring 89 points in his first 3 games, the New York Knicks Jeremy Lin has created “Linsanity” online not only in America, but also in China. Since the NBA’s Chinese micro-blog account posted a status update yesterday highlighting Lin’s record-setting start, it has been forwarded over 16,000 times. Although Lin is not a Chinese-nation, Chinese citizens take much pride in his Chinese ethnicity, a fact that David Stern is certainly smiling about now that Yao Ming retired. Lin’s Weibo (China’s Twitter) account has 800,000 followers.

Although Asian countries have produced NBA stars before–most notably Yao and Yi Jianli–they have been more noted for their height than their athleticism. Lin breaks that stereotype, as quite a few netizens in both America and China have pointed out.

Yao Ming could put up 19 points per game and 9 rebounds throughout his career, but Americans don’t idolize the 7′ 5″ center. When Yao had the ball in the open court, he wasn’t exactly know for his speed or athleticism.

Keith Chow, a writer and San Francisco Chronicle contributor said in a discussion on sports and race,

It infuriates me whenever I hear criticism of Yao as being “robotic”. I get what analysts are trying to say, but to me, it’s code for “Asians aren’t athletic”.

– Transcript from Original Spin blog

Chow elaborated that, “The assumption of that on the part of coaches or recruiters that Asians are by nature incapable of improvising holds us back.”

Lin received no scholarship offers for college, then made the All-Ivy League Team twice (for whatever that’s worth) and went undrafted. Not being a basketball scout myself, I don’t know whether Lin looked good enough to justify receiving scholarship offers or being drafted highly, but clearly, if he keeps this up, the scouts missed something. Other journalists have certainly pointed to race as a potential factor that kept him overlooked.

This 2009 Time article points to recruiter bias as a potential factor. It also notes Lin typically faced racial slurs in college like “sweet and sour pork,” “Open your eyes!”, and at least one player calling him a “ch*nk.”

The viewpoint about Asians and their perceived athleticism isn’t lost on Chinese netizens themselves. It’s a big part of the conversation, i.e. this discussion at the popular forum Tianya.

Why didn’t he get a chance to play before?
——
There are some unwritten rules. NBA teams first consider whether you can compete aggressively. If you can compete, then you have a chance on offense or defense. The yellow race’s physical character is straight-up viewed as inferior in many people’s minds, so because Lin is Asian, although he was a star in college, they do not believe he can play at the highest level.

– Tianya discussion

Now Chinese netizens are taking pride in his athleticism breaking stereotypes:

Shows that one’s physical quality and one’s race has no relation… Hoping to see the NBA’s first yellow [Asian] superstar.

Not bad, proves that yellow people are also capable [in basketball].

– ChinaSmack

A few commentors said it was a pity he wasn’t a Chinese citizen, and one said, “It couldn’t be the NBA intentionally creating a star, could it…? To attract/capture the Chinese market?”

Jeremy Lin’s emergence runs deeper than just sports, though. That Lin has been heckled with racial stereotypes like “Orchestra is on the other side of campus,” speaks to the discrimination Asians and Asian-Americans face being perceived as nerdy and weak. According to a recent study, students of Asian descent are by far the most likely to be bullied in the classroom (54% for Asian-Americans to 38% for African Americans).

Due to Asian parenting styles, Asian-Americans are typically high-achievers in school and respectful of rules and authority, an attitude stemming from Confucianism.

As Moye at 8Asians notes,

More importantly, our parenting styles are different and occasionally, hold our children back. I speak for myself when I say that Japanese parents are stricter than most non-Asian families. If I ever told my parents about being treated badly in school, they would tell me to grin and bear it.

– 8Asians

Ying Ma wrote the book Chinese Girl in the Ghetto in 2011, in which she recalled growing up in Oakland and having to deal with racism and violent crime targeted against her based on a perception that Asians won’t fight back:

When non-criminal, racist behavior takes place in the ghetto frequently, without anyone batting an eye, one must ask: at what point does this non-criminal racism motivate a racist crime? In my book, I talk about getting into a fight with a Mexican girl in junior high school. I’m sure she wasn’t planning to get into a fight with a nerdy Asian girl like me; she was just being a racist and expected me to put up with it like every other Asian girl at our school. When I did not, violence ensued. So the question is: if you’re a teenager and you grow up in an environment where it’s okay to discriminate against Asian people, are you really going to think twice about punching a “Chinaman” for no reason? Probably not.

– Ying Ma Interview
(Related: A video of a 7-on-1 hate crime spread virally on YouTube in January.)

It would seem these kind of attitudes spread to the basketball court and mark Asians and Asian-Americans as “uncompetetive.” Hopefully “Brother Lin” can make these attitudes change, but, as Fung Brothers Comedy illustrates, a reversal in the opposite direction can also have negative consequences:

SCOTT JACOBS

The world’s worst secret is officially now out in the open.  Stephon Marbury is on the open market.  And I hate to cut the suspense, but he’s going to Boston.  But you already knew that.  Everyone knew that. Scandanavians, and Australians, and any citizens with ‘ians’ attached to their country knew that Marbury was going to go Green as soon as the Knicks let him run free.

But the question is not why New York waited so long to do the inevitable.  The bigger question is why Boston wants this clubhouse cancer, when they’ve established a ‘team,’ you know, where everyone plays ‘together.’

Now few seem to be questioning Marbury’s ego because Boston has already made it work with three superstars who were used to being the focal point of their team.  But with Marbury something seems different.  Something smells fishy.

Is this Randy Moss going to the Patriots?  You know the situation where a great player gets freed from a horrendous team only to land on an elite team and completely revive his career.  No, that won’t happen.  Can Starbury be a nice addition off the bench?  Yeah, on paper he can.

But is the Star Child ready to play second fiddle?  For that matter, is he ready to be the third or fourth option on a team loaded with players who play the game like men?  Is he ready to let his ego leave the building in favor of a chance at a ring?

Marbury could have been king.  In Minnesota he and KG could have formed a potent duo.  We could have been saying ‘potent potables’ and referred to them. But Marbury wanted out after a few seasons and the Wolves dealt him to New Jersey.  Which then dealt him to Phoenix, where he had one great game against the Spurs in game one way back when, and then his 8th seeded Suns disappeared.  After his act got stale in Phoenix they dealt him to the Knicks.

And now, Stephon Marbury’s career has come full circle: he’s back with KG.  Only the team he just signed with is the defending World Champs.  They have 17 rafters hanging up in the Garden.  Their list of hall of famers runs like the credits to a 3 hour movie: forever. They’ve got a few more cracks at another championship or two.  This team wants to win again.

But does Marbury?

Number three has never won a playoff series, nevermind played on a team that’s gone deep in the playoffs.  If he fails to get out of the first round with this team, well then he might want to move to another country.  So odds are he’ll advance past the first round.  But is he that missing piece?  That backup point guard who can offer the Celtics a veteran off the bench? The guy who can be an option in the late stages of a  big game? I’m not fully convinced.

And let’s be real.  No one will ever confuse Marbury for a good defender.

The whole, clubhouse cancer thing, well, let’s just say that doesn’t exactly help his case.

SCOTT JACOBS

So Plaxico Burress apparently shot himself last Friday at some nightclub, when his gun accidentally went off.  I know it’s not funny, but doesn’t a small part of you find it a little humorous how sad and pathetic of a story this guy has become?

In unrelated news, the Giants are on fire, 11-1, and on the verge of clinching the NFC East.  They’ve already exceeded their win total from 2007, the year they uh, won the Super Bowl.  Last year they shocked the world.  This year, well, a lot of people will be shocked if they don’t win it all.

Texas is griping about the BCS.  What’s new?  Nothing.  Interestingly enough there are reports and rumors that even if the Longhorns don’t make it to Miami they can still finish number one in the AP Poll.  Apparently there’s a gigantic gap in the USA Today poll, and the AP Poll.  In the USA Today all voters must put the BCS Championship game winner number one on their final ballot.  Not so for the AP Poll, which has 65 voters who can do whatever the heck they want. In other words, if Oklahoma runs the table and wins it all, and Texas wins their matchup in the Fiesta Bowl, against either Utah or Ohio State, the Horns could feasibly be voted ahead of the Boomer Sooners in the AP Poll.  Round and round we go.

And while we’re at it, does every game really mean something in college football?  That’s the tired line we’ve been fed for a few months now.  That every game is a playoff because of the BCS.  I somewhat disagree.  Tell that to USC (who barely lost to what turns out to be a decent Oregon State team) or Texas (which lost by a hair to Texas Tech on the road).  Every game is big, yes.  But every game is not created equal.  It’s about who you lost to, how they beat you, and when they beat you.  It’s the reason USC isn’t higher in the polls right now.  They were a heavy favorite to beat Oregon State and they lost.  And even though it was super early in the year, and they’ve gone onto destroying everything thrown in their way since, it doesn’t matter.  In fact, I’d argue, that USC may be in the top three right now of the BCS had they lost to the Buckeyes by a field goal at home.  Instead, they whalloped the Bucks and the BCS computers whalloped them a few weeks later after losing in Corvalis.

Other thoughts and bickerings…

My respect for Stephon Marbury dies a little more every day.  In fact, I think I have more respect for Mike Tyson now.  At least he put a giant intimidating tattoo on his head.  Marbury had the gall to tattoo his stupid brand logo on his scalp.  Classless.

I’m sorry but the NFL Network’s coverage of Arizona-Philly last week was beyond overkill.  They relentlessly hit on the same three topics the entire show, which lasted like 2.5 hours!   Donovan McNabb, Kurt Warner, and the Cards chance of clinching the West.  It was really disappointing from a channel that is supposed to be 24/7 football, not 24 hours of reruns.  And the analysis was awful pregame.  When the game did start Bob Papa put me to sleep.  It was the first NFL Network telecast I’ve seen this year on TV, and besides Chris Collinsworth I wasn’t impressed.  Papa has a crazy schedule, but he bores me to tears.  And so did that game, which was well out of hand after Warner and the Cards forgot to show up.

This isn’t super helpful to the good people of Seattle, but the team you lost to Oklahoma City absolutley stinks this year.  By far the worst team in the league, the Thunder recently ended a 14 game losing streak by beating the lowly Grizz.  The Thunder, or Sonic Stealers if it helps you Seattle, improved to a mind blowingly unimpressive 2-16.  But hey, there play matches their look and their owner’s class: very minor league.

But my favorite one has to be this gem:

“I’m really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada,” Dallas Stars player Sean Avery said  recently. “I just want to comment on how it’s become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my (former girlfriends). I don’t know what that’s about, but enjoy the game tonight.”

For that he has been suspended indefinetley.

Really?

Furthermore, the Stars are with the decision to suspend Avery indefinitely. Stars owner Tom Hicks said the following:

“I completely support the league’s decision to suspend Sean Avery,” Hicks said in a statement. “Had the league not have suspended him, the Dallas Stars would have. This organization will not tolerate such behavior, especially from a member of our hockey team. We hold our team to a higher standard and will continue to do so.”

In case you’re wondering, I think Avery just became my unofficial personal hero.  Listen to the “ex’s” he’s talking about:

Elisha Cuthbert

Rachel Hunter

And I’m sure there’s more.  And though hockey may not be big anymore, apparently hot famous chicks still dig it.  So hockey’s at least got that going for them.

During Stephon Marbury’s rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Garnet marveled, “The best thing is that this team didn’t just get a great player when they drafted Stephon. They got a great person, too.” (NY Daily News, 1996)

In 1994, Marbury received a plaque for reportedly being a role model. “It was nice that the older people thought I meant something to the little kids,” he said.

It would be nice if older people still did think he was a role model.

Being the youngest and best of the five Marbury brothers who dominated New York prep school basketball, Marbury obviously got a lot of attention, and that attention seems to have inflated his ego and hurt his NBA career.

Marbury has been kept out of some early games and was suspended for a game when he refused to play during the Knicks’ loss to the Pistons last Wednesday.

Marbury responded by lashing out at his own teammates. He said regarding Quentin Richardson:

“He didn’t care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead.”

Richardson said, “The main thing we want to do is we want to play basketball and win games.”

Marbury, however, is more concerned with other things, like his salary. Already being paid $21 million a year just to score 13.9 point per game, Marbury said:

“D’Antoni knew I was in my contract year and did everything they asked me to do. He’s not trying to help me. He’s trying to hurt me.”

-ESPN

Right, it’s not like Marbury isn’t trying to hurt the team by refusing to play.

Marbury could get out of his latest controversy just by taking a small buyout. Is the economy really so bad that he doesn’t have enough money?

No. Marbury craves the spotlight too much. In 2007, he went AWOL for a few games because Isiah Thomas removed Marbury from the starting lineup. In 2006, Marbury expressed his grievances about Thomas benching him for significant portions of some games.

Look, if anyone has the right to express grievances, it’s the Knicks. When you’re being paid $21 million a year and post mediocre numbers like he did (19.8, 21.7, 16.3, 16.4, 13.9 PPG respectively) then complain about playing time what do you have to complain about?

In 1999, with the Nets, one Nets player said this about Marbury:

“He gets on Kerry Kittles and Keith. He doesn’t respect them as players, and I think that hurts us. I hate to see expressions on guys’ faces now. When they walk into the locker room, their heads are down and nobody talks to anybody.

“He’s a great player. You can’t take nothing away from him. But we see right through him. Maybe it’s not even his fault. They put him in the driver’s seat, handed over the keys and said, ‘Make us go.’ At 22 years old, that’s a lot to ask.”

-New York Times, 1999

Throughout his life and his career, Marbury has been given the keys. He has yet to have gotten any team to go.

It’s tanking any way you look at it, but the LeBron 2010 free agency free for all is being heralded as shrewd , and brilliant.  Why are we being so hypocrticial?

SCOTT JACOBS

This is the song that never ends.  This is the song that never ends.  This is the song that never ends.

LeBron James to New York is the song that never ends.  Not until 2010. Or if he miraculously reaches an extension with Cleveland before he ever hits the open market (better chance of seeing Dane Cook as President).  It’s no secret that he likes New York.  He wears Yankee hats, he’s professed New York as one of his fave five citites.  Heck, he’s probably got a New York tatoo somewhere on his body (okay, maybe not).

The NBA sees the potential of James and the free agency market. He’s the crown jewel.  The man becoming a bigger story than the game.  His potential landing spot in New York makes more news than that of what the Knicks do on the court.  They’ve already cleared money on their salary cap for him, as evidenced by the pair of trades they made last Friday.  But that’s not the issue.  And I’m almost surprised that no one has brought this up, but teams are tanking with the theory of rebuilding around the King.  Teams are trading away good players and breaking up quality units to have the means necessary to try to lure BronBron or another mega free agent to their team.

And it’s just plane wrong!

Interesting media fodder, indeed.  Good for the game, not really.  Good for the action on the court?  Not a chance in… the basketball universe is it good for the game.  The NBA product is suffering as teams break up their core to get contracts that expire soon so they can pursue a man that could flee to Europe when it’s all said and done.  No one’s saying it will, but from a global standpoint it would be borderling comical.  Do you have a plan B?  I’d sure hope so!

LeBron is a fantastic player.  A dynamite athlete, a creative scorer, a very good passer, and a face that the NBA can be proud of.  But he has still yet to win a championship.  He’s yet to change the world.  He wants to be a global icon.  He wants to be a billionaire.  He wants a lot of things.  And a lot of NBA teams (well, almost all of ‘em if you go by the money they’re clearing out for him) want him.

But is ripping apart your team to free up cap space any different then tanking?

Funny how perception changes.  Tank the last 20 games in a season to give yourself a shot at the number one pick and a franchise star, and fans and media chew you out.  “Tank” the season by trading away good players for expiring contracts so you can give yourself a shot at a great free agent and you’re a genius.  Seems a bit hypocritical don’t ya think?

A lot of people claimed the Celtics were tanking the year before they landed KG.  A lot of people felt that the Celtics deserved their crappy lottery look, when instead of getting the top pick or second pick they fell to fifth.  As history will point out it worked out, but the idea that they could have been tanking was scorned on.  So organized tanking is better?  Professing that you have a plan, and getting rid of bad contracts even with a good team is savy management?  Or is it just another way of tanking for a reward at the end of the rainbow.

But, I’ll leave that debate up to you.

In the meantime, think about tanking, and then thinking about “tanking.”

Aren’t we being a bit hypocritical here?  Or am I just missing the tank?  I mean boat.