Seattle Sports Weekend (Segment 2)

Warren, filling in for the Seattle Sports Weekend Show, talks about his frustration with LeBron James. He believes LeBron's character changed when he joined the Lakers and that he doesn't give his all in games. Warren also criticizes the trend of NBA players not playing every game and the lack of justification for their high salaries. He then discusses the NBA's new in-season tournament, calling it a participation trophy with no real benefit. The tournament's unique courts and uniforms were criticized as distracting. Warren compares the situation to an episode of Seinfeld and finds it ridiculous that the Lakers raised a banner for winning the tournament. I think it was Michael Scott who said we need some rock and roll during the finer things club. Hello there. Good afternoon. Warren on the radio here for the Seattle Sports Weekend Show, filling in of course. And I just know after one day filling in for the show, this is going to be the most popular sports radio show in Seattle, the most popular show on this radio station, because who wouldn't want to be listening right now? So I want to talk about one of my favorite subjects for this next segment, talk about basketball. And I think I have a lot to say about this because I am going to talk about one of the most polarizing figures in sports, and in basketball of course, which is LeBron James. And in the past, I would have said I was a big LeBron James fan. Not so much right now. I'll tell you why momentarily. I remember watching the NBA playoffs, I think around 2015, 2016, LeBron James had just returned from Miami back to Cleveland Cavaliers to play for that team. And as you know, he had left that team to try to win a championship in Miami, and he did that. He accomplished his goal. So he comes back, he joins his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, he wins the championship. And I remember that being one of the most heartwarming and fun moments in sports, watching him do that. He seemed so happy to be there. The fans just absolutely loved this moment that he was there to bring the championship back home. And then he left. Then he was gone. He was in L.A., the Lakers of course. And I think that's when LeBron James really started to get on my nerves, really started to annoy me. It just seemed like his entire character changed at that point. He wasn't really this guy who seemed to be all about the game, trying to be there for his fans. He was more about the media attention, everything that goes along with that. So there have been so many moments after that move to the L.A. Lakers, where I just really felt like this guy doesn't really care about the game, it's all about the image, it's all about just trying to pad his stats as much as humanly possible. And there's been so many games where he just came out and just seemed like he didn't even really want to be there. So as you know by now, my favorite sport is hockey, of course. And even when, in a hockey game, the team is not going to win, there's really no chance, the players really don't give up. I mean, they're still out there trying their best, they're giving it all they've got. LeBron James, on the other hand, he doesn't really do that. Many, many examples in the past, even in the playoffs, where he's just kind of been like, well, we're not going to win this one, I'm just going to go ahead and sit down and watch the rest from the bench. You know, if there's even a remote chance you can get yourself back in that game, do anything to help your team out, I think you're obligated to do it, especially if you're making that kind of money. And even aside from that, LeBron James' salary is $47 million. I mean, at that point, you've got to be out there doing something, I would assume, right? Well, not the case with LeBron, he just kind of likes to sit down and just call it a day when you're not winning the game. So there you go. I guess you don't really have to try it when you're making $47 million and you don't really feel like playing. So that's reason number one why I got a little bit frustrated with LeBron James over the past couple of years or so. Reason number two, and this doesn't really apply to LeBron alone, this applies across the board in the NBA, players aren't playing every game of the year. So much like the great sport of hockey, basketball and the NHL are both 82-game seasons. And when you have the NHL, most of those players will play every single game of the season. Now, there might be cases where they got to sit out, maybe they're not well, they're scratched for whatever reason, that's understandable, that happens. But in basketball, there's been this new trend where players don't play every game. So they will show up for the big games, but the other games don't matter as much. They'll be like, no, I think we're going to sit that one out, we'll let the other guys play for a while. We want to rest to make sure we're ready for the next game that comes our way. I mean, at $47 million per season, can you really justify that, though, as a fan going to see your favorite team play, you think you're going to see your favorite player out there and instead they're just warming up the bench, not even playing at all? It just doesn't seem like it really fits in with the mold of what sports are all about. The camaraderie of being out there, trying to win every single game, doing the best that you possibly can. It just seems like an oxymoron to me. So as I mentioned, that is not isolated to the LA Lakers, that applies across the NBA. Every team has got their stars setting out in certain games now, it seems like, which I do not understand at all. I mean, if you're going to be a player on the team, I think you'd want to play every single moment that you possibly can, because that's what the game's about. You made the big leagues because you want to be there. I assume that you want to play as much as you possibly can. Now lastly, now this brings me to my main point I want to make here. So the NBA recently changed their rules, and this year they're doing something called an in-season tournament. You're going to be mesmerized by the pure stupidity of what this stands for, but let me explain how this works. It's a tournament developed by the NBA for this season and every season after that, and what happens is teams play in this multi-stage tournament, beginning with a group play stage, and then a single elimination knockout round. I guess at that point, they play for a tournament to win this thing called the NBA Cup, and it's been a very controversial topic in the world of basketball and sports in general, because it really doesn't seem like it fits in with an actual regular season. It seems like it would be the actual championships, but obviously it's not. It's happening in the middle of the season, and there's really no benefit to winning it other than the fact that you win this cup and say that, hey, I won the NBA Cup. What this really all amounts to by the time you actually win this thing, it's more or less a participation trophy. What this really amounts to by the time it's all said and done, you basically just have bragging rights and say either you won it or you didn't. More or less, it's a participation trophy, nothing much more than that. It does have some bearing over the rest of the season, I guess. Looking at the NBA website right now, it looks like there are some implications. If you didn't make it, you might have to play a couple more games to try to get into the playoffs. So, maybe if you win this thing, you have a bit better chance of getting in and staying in when it comes to the actual championship, that thing that happens at the end of the season, but more or less, it doesn't really make that much of a difference. I have to say, watching this on TV was rather painful in the eyes. It was supposed to be a fun thing where they create some really cool and interesting courts to play on, have some different uniforms, but just looking at this stuff, it really does hurt the eyes to look at. I mean, when you think about watching a basketball game, typically, it's just like a normal hardwood court. You got the logo at the center, obviously, maybe some advertising on the side, but this is like a full-on colored court where it's this design based on the city that you're in. Trying to watch this on TV was actually really difficult to watch and see where the ball is. Maybe that's just my eyesight not being that great, but I could not tell what's going on sometimes, and I was not alone in that opinion. Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Maverick, had the same opinion. He said it was rather distracting. He wasn't a fan of the court idea, but rather, it was just more of a marketing ploy to make some more money. There you go, Mark. You made some more money. I hope you're happy with that. Fans and social media complained bitterly about this thing. They couldn't tell what's going on either, so apparently, I am not alone in that opinion. They were too bright and too distracting. If you think it's only certain ownership groups and the fans who complain, you would be wrong. It's actually the players as well. Some players have come out saying the courts felt too slippery to run around on and walk on. I guess when you add too much paint to the top layer of the hardwood surface, it makes it difficult to get traction. There you go. May not be the best idea in the world. Now, for some reason, this reminds me a little bit of Seinfeld, the episode with George Costanza working for the New York Yankees, and having the bright idea to put them inside cotton uniforms instead of polyester. If you want to know how that went, it went a little bit like this. Hey, hey, Yankee game. Oh, great. All right. And the Yankees take the field. And what is with the Yankees? They look like they're having trouble running. They can't move. It's their uniforms. They're too tight. They've shrunk. They're running like penguins. Get this game. Oh, my God. Mattingly just split his pants. Now, needless to say, it probably was not a good idea. Now, my favorite part about this entire thing, and this is the most ridiculous part, so let me explain. The L.A. Lakers won this in-season championship, and they raised the banner for this thing inside their home arena. They had a ceremony for it and everything. And they put this banner right up there in the rafters, right next to their championship banners that have been won over the years. I'm just thinking back to all the greats who played in L.A., I mean, Kobe Bryant, of course, winning those championships, those banners that belonged to him over the years. And you got this piece of junk right next to that. And if you want to hear how that went, it went a little bit like this. And that'll do it. The Lakers are the first ever NBA in-season tournament champions. And now, please welcome the champions of the inaugural NBA in-season tournament, your Los Angeles Lakers. So right now, they're all standing around the NBA cup, looking at this thing, and they're It's kind of an ugly trophy, to be honest with you. And it feels like a championship game, like they had just won game seven in the final series. But no, this is the in-season tournament, and it only gets worse from here. So now, the camera's panned at the top of the arena, and the Raptors looking at all these amazing world championship banners over the years, all this history in one arena, and this ridiculous banner right next to them. So this thing really doesn't fit in. I mean, all the other banners say world champions on it. And this just says in-season tournament champions. So obviously, you know this is not an actual championship banner. It just feels ridiculous having that in the Raptors, though. And I think the most amusing part about this of all, I mean, you heard some cheering in the background, but this really wasn't like a thunderous applause or anything like that. I think the fans were a bit stunned that they were raising a banner for this. Somebody on YouTube commented a rather amusing comment saying, this is the kind of thing you'd have in the bathroom, not the living room. So I guess it just goes to show. Even the fans weren't really buying this whole thing, this whole shtick. And I mean, even the commenters on TV were just saying, why would you raise a banner for this? I mean, yeah, it's an achievement to win this thing, but it's not like you went out and won the world championship by any stretch of the imagination. So I guess if you win this thing, you have the bragging rights to say that you did it. But I don't think I'd go as far as to put this thing in the Raptors on my building, to say the least. And if you've got a history like the LA Lakers have, you've had these amazing players over the years like Kobe Bryant on your team, maybe you just want to keep this history a bit more clean and not put this thing right up there next to all those world championship banners. Seems like the wrong move to me. So the NBA, one of the most popular sports in the USA, I think this really did do a disservice to the entire sport though as a whole. Personally I think this makes the NBA look a bit stupid and cheap because you have to do something like this to keep your fans watching the game. I mean with baseball you're playing a ridiculous amount of games per year, fans are still watching, you don't have to have all these gimmicks, and you still get the job done, people are still watching. I think you should let the game speak for itself. Otherwise everything else was just fluff. We have to take a break now, more to talk about as the show rolls along. Coming up next, it is the weekend show here at Seattle Sports. Until then, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Until then, thanks for watching.