OT: Durant fined 25 grand for "menacing gesture"

[UConnSwag11]

so ridiculous the guys a competitor he didnt hurt anyone or anything except the rim, the nba is way too soft http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9...city-thunder-fined-25000-nba-menacing-gesture

 

[Senore]

Makes me glad as hell they don't watch me during a game at home. I'd be almost broke at $25K a shot.

 

[UConn990411]

Kim Jong-un agrees with the way Stern runs the NBA.

(In all seriousness, $25K may sound like a lot, but anyone would get fined for that gesture.)

 

[UCDaveD]

The throat-slicing gesture has been forbidden in the NFL since 1999. Not surprising the NBA fined him. I have no issue with it.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Who's going to be the first one to call one of the nicest kids in the NBA a "thug"?

 

[FeedTheDove]

Absurd. Today's rules have almost no room for passion and emotion. He was amped. I would be too if I had just yammed the ball that hard.

 

[Perspective]

This is not about Durant. Believe that.
This is about the image of the league.

IF you let Durant do it, THEN you have to let everybody do it.

Frankly, the last thing the NBA needs is a bunch of guys doing throat slashes, pistol shots, shotguns, grave digging, wife beating, and who the hell else knows what else after every one of the 40 or so made dunks in each game.

Seriously. They are marketing a product. The target audience is largely middle America.

The NFL wrote the book on it. Some people call it the NoFunLeague. Really? It's ratings and revenues have been going up at a trajectory that would make an ambitious investment banker froth at the mouth and you think your argument that not allowing helmet removal on the field is too restrictive? Hah! We'll keep you in charge of the lemonade stand.

The NBA is simply trying to follow the NFL book. Keep it clean. Keep it so that not one mother, ever, anywhere, says "you know dear, I'm not sure I want young Bobby watching this." Do that, and you keep revenues going up.

In the end, really, this decision will end up putting money in Durant's pocket. Mark it down. The Commish sent a message to middle America - you can put your kids in front of us and we'll protect them from these sorts of things.

Like it, dislike it, but respect the business, and the fact that they are, ultimately, protecting their own investment and protecting the players from themselves.

 

[Kitaman]

Hell my wife would make me a millionaire in a week if we played by NBA rules in my house.

 

[sammydabiz]

I use to love the NBA (80s & but mostly 90s)..... Today I find it utterly unwatchable, even the playoffs which get some of my attention still bore me comparable to a midseason game in MLB.
Gone is the hand check and with it any form of Defense or toughness for that matter. I still long for the days when Charles Oakley, Ewing, and Mason wouldn't let a sole get an easy bucket in the paint. Somehow over the years this "game of men" has turned into an everyday all star game. Never in my life have I've seen so many lay ups go uncontested. Ya they wanted higher scoring but in the process lost the aspect of Defense and pride for not letting the opposing team score. That's why I love College Basketball, and truly hope it doesn't one day form into present day NBA.

Also NFL was always #1 to me, but the game today hardly resembles the one I grew to love. Eventhough I do understand the growing concerns for player safety, these men get paid handsomely to do so, no one has forced their hand to play, but they do so willingly. Is there not danger in being a cop? firemen? a soldier? In my Utopia, it would be these men and women who accrue the salaries of today's athletes, and not the other way around, but these everyday heros do so earning merely a speck of what a current day athlete earns. Still, however, we're on this path of never-ending rule changes to help keep millionaires safe, and in the process losing the game we all grew to love.

It's the teenagers and young adults, who only know of this present day "watered down" NBA and NFL, that are truly missing out.

 

[huskiesnyc]

David Stern is such a joke and his fines are unfair and ridiculous. He's also determined to make the league as soft as possible

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Gone is the hand check and with it any form of Defense or toughness for that matter. I still long for the days when Charles Oakley, Ewing, and Mason wouldn't let a sole get an easy bucket in the paint. Somehow over the years this "game of men" has turned into an everyday all star game. Never in my life have I've seen so many lay ups go uncontested. Ya they wanted higher scoring but in the process lost the aspect of Defense and pride for not letting the opposing team score. That's why I love College Basketball, and truly hope it doesn't one day form into present day NBA.

To each his own. I think you completely overstate the lack of defense, or competitiveness in the NBA, but if you like a good 42-39 college basketball game where 60% of the points come from free throws I guess there's no accounting for taste.

 

[sammydabiz]

To each his own. I think you completely overstate the lack of defense, or competitiveness in the NBA, but if you like a good 42-39 college basketball game where 60% of the points come from free throws I guess there's no accounting for taste.

42-39 is just as bad as a 120-125 game. An all star game is all well and good.....but seeing uncontested j's and free lanes to the hole gets quite boring when having to watch it on a consistent basis. D does pick up some once the playoffs start, but nowhere near the days of old.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I use to love the NBA (80s & but mostly 90s)..... Today I find it utterly unwatchable, even the playoffs which get some of my attention still bore me comparable to a midseason game in MLB.
Gone is the hand check and with it any form of Defense or toughness for that matter. I still long for the days when Charles Oakley, Ewing, and Mason wouldn't let a sole get an easy bucket in the paint. Somehow over the years this "game of men" has turned into an everyday all star game. Never in my life have I've seen so many lay ups go uncontested. Ya they wanted higher scoring but in the process lost the aspect of Defense and pride for not letting the opposing team score. That's why I love College Basketball, and truly hope it doesn't one day form into present day NBA.

Also NFL was always #1 to me, but the game today hardly resembles the one I grew to love. Eventhough I do understand the growing concerns for player safety, these men get paid handsomely to do so, no one has forced their hand to play, but they do so willingly. Is there not danger in being a cop? firemen? a soldier? In my Utopia, it would be these men and women who accrue the salaries of today's athletes, and not the other way around, but these everyday heros do so earning merely a speck of what a current day athlete earns. Still, however, we're on this path of never-ending rule changes to help keep millionaires safe, and in the process losing the game we all grew to love.

It's the teenagers and young adults, who only know of this present day "watered down" NBA and NFL, that are truly missing out.

If the defense was so great why was the scoring so much higher in the eras you mentioned?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html

 

[sammydabiz]

If the defense was so great why was the scoring so much higher in the eras you mentioned?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html

I'm assuming part of that is contributed towards playing in an era that produced the best NBA players this sport has ever seen. Am I shocked by the numbers, sure....but lets not forget, after the era of the 80s and 90s superstar started to dwindle......there was really not much talent left, and the scores started becoming 68-74..... The reason for the hand check rule as well as enforcing 3 seconds in the paint, was to open up the offense so they would score more. What they didn't calculate was by doing so they turned mens basketball into womens basketball. The passive-aggressive NBA of today is mockery of what it was in the 90s/80s, for lack of a better word its generally become pu$$ified.

I mean c'mon, this is not a radical observation, and by no means am I the only that feels this way. People have been clamoring about it for years.

 

[champs99and04]

There's no way you can be a basketball fan and not love the NBA, it's just impossible. There NBA is as stacked with talent now as its ever been - you're talking about Paul, Westbrook, Durant, Griffin, Dirk, Howard, Kobe, Gasol, Harden, Randolph, Rondo, Rose, Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Melo, Parker, Duncan, Irving, etc etc. The amount of jaw-dropping plays you can see in the NBA on a nightly basis dwarfs any other sport, and if you don't think there isn't still phsyical play, bad blood, etc. then you simply haven't been paying much attention. Sure, you have a lot of guys who are friendly with each other, but none of them are any less competitive than the Ewing's and Stockton's and Malone's of the world. The league is littered with rivalries, storylines, and breath-taking athletes. If it doesn't fire you up to watch LeBron go against Melo or Durant, Paul square off with Parker, Rose face Rondo, etc. you're just not a basketball fan, period.

 

[Scoe]

There's no way you can be a basketball fan and not love the NBA, it's just impossible. There NBA is as stacked with talent now as its ever been - you're talking about Paul, Westbrook, Durant, Griffin, Dirk, Howard, Kobe, Gasol, Harden, Randolph, Rondo, Rose, Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Melo, Parker, Duncan, Irving, etc etc. The amount of jaw-dropping plays you can see in the NBA on a nightly basis dwarfs any other sport, and if you don't think there isn't still phsyical play, bad blood, etc. then you simply haven't been paying much attention. Sure, you have a lot of guys who are friendly with each other, but none of them are any less competitive than the Ewing's and Stockton's and Malone's of the world. The league is littered with rivalries, storylines, and breath-taking athletes. If it doesn't fire you up to watch LeBron go against Melo or Durant, Paul square off with Parker, Rose face Rondo, etc. you're just not a basketball fan, period.

The NBA needs to get rid of this


and replace it with this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZKX-cf_p90

 

[UConnSwag11]

There's no way you can be a basketball fan and not love the NBA, it's just impossible. There NBA is as stacked with talent now as its ever been - you're talking about Paul, Westbrook, Durant, Griffin, Dirk, Howard, Kobe, Gasol, Harden, Randolph, Rondo, Rose, Wade, LeBron, Bosh, Melo, Parker, Duncan, Irving, etc etc. The amount of jaw-dropping plays you can see in the NBA on a nightly basis dwarfs any other sport, and if you don't think there isn't still phsyical play, bad blood, etc. then you simply haven't been paying much attention. Sure, you have a lot of guys who are friendly with each other, but none of them are any less competitive than the Ewing's and Stockton's and Malone's of the world. The league is littered with rivalries, storylines, and breath-taking athletes. If it doesn't fire you up to watch LeBron go against Melo or Durant, Paul square off with Parker, Rose face Rondo, etc. you're just not a basketball fan, period.

No ones saying the players aren't incredible and great to watch, the way the league has turned it extremely soft has turned a lot of people away from how it could be or was. There are no rivalries with the exception of MAYBE heat-celtics heat-Knicks and celtics-Knicks. Everyone is buddy buddy. Durant called bosh a fake tough guy and got
for it. The 80s and 90s is where you had the rivalries. You cant stare someone down, throw your hands up after a terrible call or talk a little
Junk

 

[mauconnfan]

No ones saying the players aren't incredible and great to watch, the way the league has turned it extremely soft has turned a lot of people away from how it could be or was. There are no rivalries with the exception of MAYBE heat-celtics heat-Knicks and celtics-Knicks. Everyone is buddy buddy. Durant called bosh a fake tough guy and got
for it. The 80s and 90s is where you had the rivalries. You can stare someone down, throw your hands up after a terrible call or talk a little
Junk

Bingo........And nothing like the 76ers/Celts, Lakers/Celts, Celts/Knicks etc in the 60's 70's either...........how can you have rivals when everyone is changing teams and demanding trades etc etc.........?

 

[UConn990411]

I get that there's a bunch of people here who don't like the NBA, and that's perfectly fine. Everyone has his or her own preferences.

But why do some of you feel the need to tell us about it in every NBA-related thread? Just learn to skip over them already.

 

[mauconnfan]

I get that there's a bunch of people here who don't like the NBA, and that's perfectly fine. Everyone has his or her own preferences.

But why do some of you feel the need to tell us about it in every NBA-related thread? Just learn to skip over them already.

Are opinions shared on this board? Let's not hear how great the NBA is either then how's that?

 

[Scoe]

The NBA has gotten better recently, but its not where it was in the 80s and 90s. The NBA today doesnt do a very good job of selling its brand, ABC is an absolute joke, I remember when NBC would have triple headers and you would be so amped up for it like it was a playoff game, TNT is good. Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons should not be in a studio those guys are clowns. ABC is more hollywood then focusing their attention on the sport.

In the 90s you had guys from the golden ages and a younger generation of stars which are still around today.

 

[msgordon]

blah blah blah im old and used to walk to school uphill both ways on one leg in a snowstorm. nba is boss right now. defense is better than it has ever been.

 

[tykurez]

That song pumps me the duck up. When I hear it I see flashes of Stockton to the Mailman, a Jordan rock the cradle, Bird shooting it wherever and whenever the hell he wants, or Starks and Ewing trying to take on Miller and Smits.

 

[UConn990411]

Jalen Rose and Bill Simmons should not be in a studio those guys are clowns. ABC is more hollywood then focusing their attention on the sport.

Huh?

Simmons and Magic are awful, but Jalen is the best. I think he accurately predicted every playoff series last season.

 

[sammydabiz]

There's no way you can be a basketball fan and not love the NBA, it's just impossible.

Considering I've fallen asleep on the last 3 games I've attempted to watch.....ya the NBA is boring....save the highlights for espn, I want to see some aggression or pride for not letting the other team score. The NBA is a joke, and I'm a basketball fan but I can't get behind this powder puff league.