The Stiff List was almost too easy this week.
Kenneth Faried
The Manimal gets the top spot on the Stiff List this week because he took a shot at Denver fans. Here’s the thing, the attendance is bad at the Pepsi Center, the fans who are there are often unenthusiastic and they leave early, even when games are tied and headed into overtime. It’s not a good atmosphere, plain and simple. Fans who want it to improve and do go o the games to cheer on their team loudly have a right to complain. Here’s my problem, Faried said “For us, at our home, we don’t have fans like that…but when we do get fans like that, that’s the results we put out because we feed off them.” I’m calling bull malarkey. The results you put out Kenneth should be based on the fact that YOU MAKE OVER 12 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!! If Faried, or the Denver Nuggets as a whole, are so dependent on their fans to motivate them to perform then its probably best for them to take a long look in the mirror. They have a job, they’re paid to do their job. In my opinion its unacceptable in any walk of life to lay the blame of your lack of performance on someone else for failing to properly motivate you. Motivation is internal not external and if you don’t have the crowd to do it the onus is on YOU to find another way to get up for games. Personally, I’d start with reviewing my pay stubs.
Derrick Rose
Oi…what is Derrick Rose thinking anyways. On Monday he went AWOL for the New York Knicks game against the New Orleans Pelicans, like no phone calls, no emails, not even a text to the team to let them know where he was. As it turns out Rose stated there was a family issue that required his attention. I’ll never judge someone on what they deem as a priority with their family, though Rose should have communicated, a sentiment the Knicks apparently share as evidenced by the fact that they fined Rose for the incident. Still, all of this is not really the reason the former MVP finds himself on the stiff list. That reason would be because after this incident it was reported that Rose plans to seek a max contract in the tidy sum of $150 million this offseason. Poor timing for sure but also, let’s be real here Derrick, Rose has been marred by health issues throughout his career which has been in steady decline for a few years and the experiment with the Knicks (aka a Rose anointed “Super Team”) is quickly becoming a massive failure. Go for the gusto I guess but just be fine with looking like an ass on the way.
Adam Silver
Rare to find the commish on the Stiff List but Silver made it this week with an ill advised statement. The NBA is reportedly going to try and find ways to speed up the end of games, a good thing, but a part of Silver’s reasoning is that Millenials don’t have the attention span to stay engaged in late games that move along slowly, garbage. First things first, regardless of whether it pertains to NBA viewership or anything else, the narrative that Millenials are in some way a lesser generation or that special accommodations need to be made because they don’t act like the Baby Boomers is a tired and invalid narrative based entirely in conjecture. As it pertains to this specific issue, the reason people tune out during slow endings to NBA games is BECAUSE THEY ARE SLOW. Watching one team intentionally foul the other team’s player so they can all walk to the free throw line, watch a dude shoot two FTs, and then call a time out so they can draw up an inbounds play that doesn’t work and call another time out is equally boring to watch for fans old and young. People tune out because the product is bad, not because of their age Mr. Commissioner.
The NBA Referees Association
So apparently the refs are tired of being berated by Mark Cuban and they’ve now began to complain that Cuban is seeking a competitive advantage through “threats and intimidation.” Really? Like really? Bullet point number one: duh. Every single player, coach and owner is trying to get a competitive advantage by complaining to the referees, often times at the top of their lungs and in a very demeaning manner. Instead of trying to target Cuban I think I have an idea that might be more effective for the refs…STOP LETTING THEM INFLUENCE YOU! How many make up calls do we see in games? How about the fact that the idea a player will get a more beneficial whistle based on his stature in the league is not considered conspiracy but widely accepted fact. Another idea, maybe try to actually have a modicum of consistency in your calls and maybe do something about the well deserved notion that your referees are some of, if not the, worst officials in professional sports.
C.J. Miles and Glenn Robinson III
In defense of the refs, NBA games are incredibly hard to officiate. A lot of that has to do with the players trying to fake the refs into making calls. An incredibly egregious example of this happened in yesterday’s game against the Indiana Pacers. Miles and Robinson went for the rare double flop and executed it to near perfection. The only part they missed was actually getting the call and instead left Danilo Gallinari wide open for three. They get what they deserve. I suppose the thinking must have been “when in Europe…”
