Alright, my holiday is over and it's back to business in Toronto now that the All-Star break has concluded and before we look ahead let's take a quick look back at the weekend, the game the whole ball of wax.
The three-point shootout is quickly becoming my favourite part of all-star weekend. Why, well because there is no subjectivity and it stresses the essence of the game, putting the ball in the basket. That said, I do like the skills contest but there is something about a guy making shots and getting on a roll that is great to watch. Just a thought, why did the NBA choose to use new basketballs in the contest? Did you see Jason Kapono drop the ball as it slipped out of his hands when shooting balls from his last rack? Too bad, one more make puts him into a three-way tie and another chance at winning three in a row. Shooters are picky people and you know his rhythm was out of kilter after dropping the ball.
Here's an idea. There is one new competition I'd like to see added that involves shooting. While most people quickly soured on the "two-ball" contest a few years back that involved an NBA player and a WNBA player teamed up, how good would it be to see two-man teams for each NBA squad competing against one another all weekend? Start on Friday afternoon with all teams represented by a two-man team that would shoot for one minute in the same format that was used in the past. Designate a point total to each of 10 or 11 spots on the floor and let them have at it. You could have two teams competing at once, each on its own half of the floor. If the NBA deems it to expensive or time consuming to do it all on one weekend then have playoffs when teams meet in the regular season in the pre-game. Heck it only takes a minute and players are out shooting anyway. Just send a rep from each team out early to monitor the proceedings.
A contest like that might challenge some of the stars to get involved and match up shooters on their respective teams. How about Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant against Steve Nash and Jason Richardson? Or Anthony Parker and Jason Kapono taking on Ray Allen and Paul Pierce? I think there would be some interest and there is no need for fan voting or any subjective judging to skew the results.
That brings me to the reason why the slam-dunk contest is fading fast in these eyes. Nate Robinson won, really? Oh yes, everybody loves the little man but I tell you what, if you have ever been at, say a basketball camp and watched someone leap up and take the ball out of a "rebounder", which measures how high a player jumps to snare a rebound, it gives you an appreciation for what Dwight Howard did on Saturday. The man dunked on a 12-foot basket… with ease! Did people realize how the regular 10-foot hoop resembled my son's four-foot Nerf hoop in the basement? It was such a thing to see, it made LeBron James spontaneously declare himself as a candidate for next year's contest. Do people have any idea how difficult that is to accomplish? Robinson the winner, I'm not buying it.
When Shaq chooses to be he is still the best showman in NBA. The Big Diesel is like an amusement park. There's always something there to entertain you and make you smile. The game itself was entertaining and for the people that say the game is not like a regular-season game, yep, you're right. It's like playing pick up on the blacktop and if you don't have game, you'll be exposed in that you may not stop anybody but you'd better have some stuff to go back at the guy that scored on you. It also answers the question of "is there any defense played in an NBA game?" Yes there is because if there wasn't you'd have a pick-up game like the all-star game every night.
