Friday, August 8, 2014

One Nation, Divided on All Sides


By: Chris Linskens (@Cree414 )

I hope you have an extremely safe, healthy and joy filled week. Most of you probably have life pretty good, you are able to stand on your own two feet and have a promising career ahead of you. (To those who might be confined to crutches, a wheelchair or a cast and feel frustrated: I’m truly sorry).

Sadly, for those who follow the NBA and United States’ Men’s Basketball team, you probably have heard about what I’m going to discuss. For those of you who haven’t, take a moment to stand up (if you can) and be thankful that you can do so.

The same can’t be said for Indiana Pacers star Forward Paul George. The Pacers’ leading scorer from the 2013-14 NBA season sustained a broken tibia and fibula on the night of August 1, during an inter-squad scrimmage in Las Vegas. The injury that Paul George sustained was so severe that USA Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski ended the game in the middle of the 4th quarter. George was rushed to the hospital immediately for surgery and is expected to miss the entire 2014-15 NBA season.

Jerry Colangelo, the president of USA basketball said in a press conference immediately after the game, “There is no way the game could have continued. We want to let some time go by before we address anything like rosters, it seems so unimportant in the bigger scheme of things.” Coach K went on to add, “Everything is on hold. It would be inappropriate to talk about anything else when we are dealing with a serious injury like this.”

To say that Paul George’s injury is severe is a vast understatement, not just for the Pacers, but also for USA basketball and the NBA as a whole. George may be able to return from injury after 9-12 months of extensive rehab and reconditioning, but he may never be the same player again. With the departure of Lance Stephenson during the off-season and now the injury to Paul George, just how far will the Indiana Pacers fall?
More importantly, how disappointed must the Pacers’ front office be right now? When it comes to a man playing for pride and country there is no arguing for him not to play. For the Pacers though, they have about close to $17 million worth of reasons why their star shouldn’t be so patriotic. Paul George signed a contract extension that kicks in starting this season, at just under $17 million per year. According to ESPN, the Pacers won’t even be able to recover half of that. Hearing my colleague Greg Matzek of 620 WTMJ Sports in Milwaukee say, “the FIBA world championships aren’t worth it, nobody cares about them” got me thinking about a few things outside of NBA basketball.

Do players get criticized for playing in summer Pro-Am leagues like the Drew League in Los Angeles in order to stay in basketball shape? I would bet that 40-50 percent of common NBA fans have never even heard of the Drew League, not to mention the fact that the answer to that question is a resounding NO. Also, are teams not setting a double standard by asking players to play for their Orlando or Las Vegas Summer League teams, then turning around and asking them to not play for the USA National Team in the Olympics or FIBA World championships? Let me give you a hint: They are.
What if teams added a provision within a players’ contract to prevent them from playing in international competitions? I don’t think its fair for the players, but since the NBA’s cap room limits will keep ballooning within the next five or so years, teams do stand to lose more money by letting star players earning max money compete while risking a major injury. I found the crowd I talked about this with divided into two sides: One side was fiercely against this idea, saying that it would make the U.S. look bad in the one sport we dominate on an international scale, (I’m not counting the NFL or American Football in this case). The other side thought it would be a good idea to add provisions, but didn’t seem to think many players would go for it.

I think both sides have valid points. If America’s best players weren’t allowed to compete, it would water down the international competition and make the U.S look bad. Yet, star players have all the power in the NBA, based on where they sign and for how much money they get paid (see LeBron James and ‘The Decisions’). If a team tried to add such a provision, another NBA team might say, “We don’t care what you do, so sign with us!” Why can’t every NBA team just be smart and take out an insurance policy on key players? The Knicks did it for Amare Stoudemire and were able to recover his salary, just saying. I don’t know what the right answer is, but this is an issue worth talking about. The Pacers sure are talking about it now and their future decisions could set a controversial precedent for the NBA stars of tomorrow.

 
The Sports ReKap, hosted by Nick Kapetan and DJ Vogt, and The Gray Area, hosted by Chris, will begin airing once again in September on MarquetteWire.org.

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