Earlier this week, NBA Fanhouse’s Tim Povtak wrote an article to attack LeBron for his decision to sit out 3 consecutive games to rest for the playoffs. Among other charges, Povtak argues that Bron should split his game check from this past Sunday 20,562 ways to partially reimburse attendees who obviously didn’t get to see him on the court. Povtak even goes a step further, charging James with “mocking the fans” and “stealing money” by voluntarily sitting out.
More importantly, though, he makes the point that because of his decision to rest, Bron “doesn’t respect the game” and therefore “isn’t good enough to be the MVP.”
I endured a similar argument between Pardon the Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon earlier today. To their credit, both of them began the segment by stating unequivocally that Bron is and should be the MVP. However, they also then went on to agree that Bron should’ve played at least a portion of all of the games remaining on the schedule.
There are so many things wrong with each person’s argument that I don’t even know where to begin. The thing that I found most interesting about Povtak, Kornheiser, and Wilbon’s cases, though, was the supposed counter-examples they used.
In both situations, MJ became the primary figure. Povtak notes that Jordan played all 82 games 9 times in his career, including the seasons where the Bulls won 62, 69, and 72 games and clinched the #1 seed early. He also notes that Jordan played all 82 in his final season with the Wizards at age 40.
These are all facts. However, Povtak’s justification is laughable. He states without a shadow of a doubt that Jordan played all these games “because it was the right thing to do.”
Right. Because Jordan is world-renowned for his selflessness and desire to consider others. Which is why he did things like bring the coach who cut him in high school to his Hall of Fame induction ceremony strictly so that he could publicly humiliate the guy. It’s why he was known throughout his career as an aloof teammate who viewed the rest of the roster strictly as pieces that were bringing him down. It’s why he took the 1993-94 season off to play minor league baseball. For the fans. And because it was the right thing to do.
Kornheiser also argued that “unlike the NFL, this isn’t a game where one play can result in a season-ending injury.” Really? Apparently Kornheiser missed Andrew Bogut breaking his hand and dislocating his elbow after a dunk against the Suns, Chris Bosh getting his face fractured by an incidental elbow from Antawn Jamison, and Brandon Roy tearing his meniscus against the Lakers this Sunday. That’s three potentially season-ending injuries to franchise players in the past two weeks alone.
Povtak takes an even more ridiculous stance on this part of the issue:
James isn’t the only one with normal bumps and bruises that come with an NBA season. Magic center Dwight Howard takes more of a pounding than anyone in the league, forced to endure endless hard fouls because opponents know he can’t make free throws. Howard, by contrast, is likely to play the last two games, giving him 82 for the fifth time in six years.
Howard isn’t the only one who plays every night. Kevin Durant, who is dueling James for the scoring title, wasn’t afraid to play every night. Neither was Amare Stoudemire. There are many others.
Ignoring the extreme dubiousness of declaring that Da-wight takes the most hits of anyone in the league (Kevin Durant currently leads the league in FTAs with 835 to Da-wight’s 811), it’s ignorant to compare Bron to three guys whose teams are battling for playoff positioning, especially on the basis that James is “afraid.” But I guess I shouldn’t expect sound logic from a guy who can’t even spell Amar’e’s first name right.
Strangely enough, no one has felt the need to bring up the fact that Kobe will ultimately be inactive for 4 of the final 5 games of the Lakers’ season. He sat two games last week to “rest his legs” and will miss the final two games to ostensibly let a broken finger heal. Yes, unlike LeBron’s situation, the broken finger is a tangible injury. But it’s one Kobe’s been playing with since December 11th. Pretty hard to argue that it’s just become a necessity to tend to the injury now.
Also worth noting: in 14 seasons, Kobe has only played all 82 games 3 times. He didn’t do it the first time until his seventh season. For his career, he averages 73 games played per season. Bron currently averages 78.
I don’t bring this up to try to denigrate Bryant. Though I have many things against him as a player, I will never indict his competitiveness. I only bring it up to suggest that there’s a double standard in play.
Speaking of which, the PTI team unintentionally showed just how much of a double-standard they have when they discussed Larry Brown in the same segment as the “controversy” over LeBron’s rest. With the Bobcats having just secured their first ever playoff berth, and with his friend and admirer Michael Jordan having just bought the team, Larry Brown has apparently asked for and received permission to talk to other teams about coaching vacancies at the end of the season. He has made 13 coaching stops in his career, usually leaving after two seasons or so by his own choice.
To no surprise of mine, both Wilbon and Kornheiser laughed this off as, essentially, Larry being Larry. No sense that this is a complete slap in the face to ownership and his players, and certainly no sense that Brown is “disrespecting the game.”
At the end of the day, I can understand why some people could be upset at Bron for sitting out. But as I’ve said before, these are the same people who would tar and feather him, the coaching staff, and ownership if Bron were to play in these final meaningless games, get injured, and end the Cavs’ chances at the title before they even really began. Wilbon stated that Jordan and Pippen simply refused the Bulls’ ownership’s request to rest in those storied seasons. Had they not stayed healthy, the entire conversation would have changed. Just another double-standard at work.
At the end of the day, this whole controvery is a joke. It’s exactly the kind of lazy journalism and unfounded outrage that gives me a reason to keep writing this blog. This entire situation is going to be judged by how the Cavs and particularly LeBron (as if there’s a big difference between the two) perform in the post-season. I’m just thankful that the playoffs start in another four days so that sports writers like Tim Povtak can potentially find something meaningful to spend their time on.
-T
