Baseline Cut's

Back-Flips: A modern epidemic evolved from ancient symptoms. July 5, 2009

Swine flu is officially a global pandemic. Turn on your TV and media is going crazy because a person living in a iron lung, almost dead anyway, just died from swine flu (ps no disrespect to any of the families who lost members to Swine Flu – i’m having a go a media sensationalism, not the dead) and now we should cower in the cellar living off tinned SPAM and army food while waiting for deliverance. Swine flu is like normal flu. In fact, it’s hardly changed. In fact, it’s no more deadly the “normal” flu. It’s just a hell of a lot more contagious. That’s all. THAT IS ALL. This type of contagion is analogous to what we’re seeing in the NBA at present. I’m not referring to players having kissing parties and then leaving with a minor viral infection (that’s college, not the NBA), I just mean there is an “epidemic” of sorts in the NBA at the moment that’s highly contagious, and has evolved from something deep in history. I’m talking about “back-flips,” or players agreeing to deals here, then not telling anyone and SIGNING there.

What do JOsh Childress and Swine-Flu have in common?

Its hard to call the NBA some sort of ethical competition, at least now in mordern times when players only show loaylty to the “benjamins” and constantly quote supposedly reasonable diatribes like “I gotta get paid“. In fact, forget the benjamins, as Josh Childress showed last year, players are now chasing the euro, the yen, and anything else they can get their hands on. And us, the fans, are left here wondering why these crazy things are going on. But I’m here to tell you, this current ”epidemic” of players chasing the $$$ is only the product of something that’s been going on for ages. It’s only now that the “symptoms” have manifested themselves into a disease. Let me explain…

Last year we sat gob-smacked when Josh Childress, one of the best 6th men in the NBA, went to Europe to play because he didn’t get the “love” he thought he deserved from his Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta Hawks thought he was “option-less” having turned down offers from other teams, so they offered him a minimum salary. Childress then played his ace in the hole, and made off for Olympiakos, Greece. The Greeks were smiling while the Atlanta Hawks and the NBA, were not.  Childress’ behaviour that off-season was nothing new. Plenty of NBA players have toyed with the Euroleauge and its salary cap free management style. Only 2 season ago Sarunas Jasikavicius turned down an offer similar to his expired contract to go back to Spain. We raised no eyebrows then, but why? Didn’t Jasikavicius do the same thing as Childress? Yes, BUT, Jasikavicius if from Europe and not the NBA, he didn’t attend college, and his isn’t American. Ok so Americans are racist and self-centred, what’s new-  this still doesn’t explain the Childress move. The answer is, Childress simply went chasing the $$$. Nothing more, nothing less. For him, basketball had morphed COMPLETELY into a job and he saw nothing inethical in taking the highest offer possible, even if it meant playing in a less competitive league. The attitude behind the Childress move is disturbing. It questions the fundametnal reasoning why we play sport, and whether professional athleticism is more professional, or more athleticism. To understand why such a genetic mutation of thinking has become normailty we must first take a history lesson:

JR Holden never dreamed of this kind of success after leaving college undrafted

Jon Robert Holden is an American with dual Russian/American citizenship. He played college ball at the small Bucknell University where he dominated at the PG position. He was undrafted, graduated with a business management degree and went into “the real world” to get a job. Holden got a knock on his door (or it could have been a phone call, I’m not 100% sure, but we all know that “knock on his door” is metaphorical… Metaphors should seldom be explained… Anyway…) from a Latvian basketball scout and 6 months later Holden was playing basketball in Latvia earning $2550 Latvian a week. The reason Holden dropped his “real world” job was because there was no way he could have earned that money working in a graduate position. Also, Holden had wanted to get into the NBA – he loved basketball but wasn’t NBA level according to the draft.  J.R. Holden has been playing in Europe for the last 8 years now, and in Russia for the past 6 years. Not only did he jump straight from College to Europe, but shortly after dominating in Latvia, he also jumped straight from College to the Russian national team!!!! Holden was labelled a traitor, and has been smeared by any/all media outside of Europe. What people fail to see is that Holden did nothing inethical, even though Americans label him treacherous for playing for another country, because Holden had exhausted his basketball future in the USA so Europe was a logical step, especially when they came “knocking at his door”. Fact is Holden was the first, the initial trailblazer who set all that we currently see in motion and furthermore, and history would have it, he hasn’t been the last.

Fast-forward 10 years and Hedo Turkgolu just agreed in principle to a deal with the Portland Trailblazers for ~50 mill over 5 years. The deal was official enough that ESPN and other reputable blogs and sources were reporting the deal as “99.99% done.” Shame about that 0.01%, it can still come back to bite you. Hedo’s agent got an “11th hour” call (probably 11:59:59 is more accurate it was sooooo late) from Toronto GM Brian Colangelo offering a minor $3million more over 5 years (~$600,000/year) and Turkgolu did a 180, and changed his verbal agreement to Toronto before Portland had any idea what happened. Unlike Holden and his dual citzenship, this is inethical.

ONce adversaries, now friends. Turkgolu joins Bosh in Toronto.

This is inethical because Turkgolu was in an agreement with Portland and should have, at least, contacted them to say he was having a change of heart. Portland would still have been upset, but now they could either offer Hedo more money, or at least understand why he’d made his decision, and have to respect him for it. Now no respect is needed as Turkgolu dehumanised the Trailblazers and left it to his agent/attorney to face the media. Anytime your “attorney” has to do the talking says volumes about what has just happened. Lon Babby, Hedo Turkgolu’s attorney, was quoted as saying ”… it’s perfectly understandable is Portland feel agreived.” Agents never say that. It’s always “X is a strgoner place than Y” or “Y suited Hedo better and we thank all the other offers but this is where he wanted to be.” But no, as he shal henceforth be know, “HeDON”T” Turkgolu just handpassed it off to his agent who was left to make the usual passing remarks about family etc. You’d have to be a complete “Boozer” (yes this is a pun referring to Carlos Boozer dumping Cleveland in a similar manner…. You should never have to explain puns…. Anyway….) to “Elton Brand” this as being ethical. But as the puns in the former sentece suggest, this is merely an growing epidemic that, like swine flu, is now beyond containment, and has evlolved into something nasty from something nice (in the case of JR Holden).

Boozer (left) and Marbury (right) have opitimized the "gotta get paid" culture of the modern NBA

But like swine-flu, this is also being hyped by the media. HeDON’T Turkgolu’s situation IS differnt to Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Darius Miles, Stephon Marbury etc because Turkoglu WASN’T chasing the money. Yes he accepted a deal worth $600,000 more per year (a pittance for any NBA team), BUT he and his wife had for a long time seen Toronto as being an ideal city for their family with it’s family values and most importantly, large Turkish community. But he still stuffed-up by not showing Portland due respect, and now he will be tarnished with the same brush as those mentioned above. A shame really, as for once a player did something for less than money.

I think the NBA is on the verge here. Turkgolu’s situation is being labelled as swine-flu, when really it was just a “common cold”, a mistake if you will, that could cost him his reputation. Players running overseas to Europe for money, not accepting buyouts when they know they’re onyl damaging the team/organization by sitting on the bench and absorbing money, opting out of contract so teams can re-sign them and another star then doing a runner to another team – these are all swine-flu symptoms. The GFC is forcing the salary cap down so teams can afford less, but certain teams with rich owners are flaunting luxury tax and purchasing big names for a pittance plus a bag of chips – thse are also swine-flu symptoms. I never thought I’d say it, but now like soccer, you can buy a championship in the NBA. And for the NBA this would be the equivalent of a full blown epidemic. I just hope the NBA notices the real syptoms before conatinment is breached.