It's Playoff Time

Dear Readers,

I apologize for being so lazy these past few months. Now that the NBA playoffs have arrived, I will try to update my blog a few times per week. I hope you enjoy the entries.

With apologies,

Average Joe

April 21, 2008

The NBA playoffs are finally here. They're probably the most anticipated playoffs ever, at least for the Western Conference. Every team in the West notched 50 wins (first time ever) and with the first round now being a best-of-seven format, it's more exciting than ever.

I was originally against the first round being a best-of-seven series because I thought it reduced the chance for any upsets, but thanks to the Golden State Warriors and their historic upset of the No. 1 seed Dallas Mavericks last season, the first round only got better. Unfortunately, the Eastern Conference has to play a best-of-seven as well.

It's kind of sad, because you would think that the Eastern Conference would have a bright future or the chance to make the turnaround, but it hasn't and I don't think it will for another decade. In the NFL, the NFC used to dominate the AFC for something like 12 straight Superbowl wins in the 80s and 90s. But now the AFC is considered the cream of the crop even though the Giants pulled the upset last season. I guess the Eastern Conference used to dominate the Western Conference when Jordan was in his prime (he won 6 titles for the East in the 90s). But I didn't consider the Eastern Conference deep at that time. They had Jordan, but the rest wasn't that good...

Even now with Durrant going to the okay Sonics and Greg Oden going to the already talented Portland no longer "Jail" Blazers, the West appears to have the future. The Lakers are good for another five years. The Jazz and Hornets are set up for the future with Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Even the Warriors are relatively young. The only old teams without a future plan are the Spurs, Mavericks, and Suns, but they can be replaced with the Sonics, Warriors and Blazers for all I care.

But the East, yikes! The Pistons will be okay. The Celtics will only be good for another two years, tops. The Raptors are talented, but shouldn't win any titles anytime soon. The Nets won't be good for a while. The Cavs are only good as long as LeBron wants to be there. The Wizards aren't contending for any titles, and the young Hawks and 76ers are still the Hawks and 76ers. And that brings us to the biggest mess of all -- The New York Knicks.

This team needs to cut both Stephon Marbury and Zack Randolph. They have no cap room nor draft picks until 2011. They finally fired Isiah Thomas as GM and coach, but why are they are keeping him on as an "adviser" that makes $5 million a season? I don't get it. Why not get rid of the wart completely? How did he keep his job this long? Wasn't there away to get rid of his contract and fire him after the sexual harrassment case last summer? Shouldn't there be a legal cause to dump him due to breach of contract with that huge mess? I don't know of very many Americans that would keep their job after costing their company such an ugly lawsuit. He shouldn't even have received the contract extension in the first place. At the time the Knicks were barely holding on the final playoff spot in the Leastern Conference with 25 games to go!!! And then they promptly fell apart and got even worse after getting rid of Steve "I'll ruin a Franchise" Francis.

Wow. Isiah Thomas is living the American Dream. He gets paid full-salary after ruining an entire franchise, gets fired and still keeps a job with a team as a "consultant." What is he going to advise? How to trade for bad players? How to not have any draft picks? How to maintain sexual harassment with the marquee franchise of the NBA? It's just plain wrong that he be associated with the league at all. I know you are a Hall of Fame player, but just leave it at that and go do something else.

The Knicks problems start at the top with their owner, Mr. Dolan. Some billionaire needs to step in and buy the Knicks. Dolan has allowed this mess to go on ever since he took over. Things will only get better once he is gone for good. I know that NBA commissioner David Stern can make this happen. If he can get rid of the Seattle Sonics and allow teams like the Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Bobcats, Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks stay in the league, then he can manage a sale of the Knicks to somebody who actually cares. This is the only way to save his legacy after what he has done to Seattle.

I don't get it. The NFL can't get a team in Los Angeles (a city that doesn't care about pro football, but the second biggest market in the country). The NBA can't fix their marquee franchise from going down the toilet under Mr. Dolan's ownership and the MLB still manages to get record attendance with Bud Selig and the steroids mess. I'm glad I no longer want to work in professional sports.