Email a copy of 'The Convergence Of MLB And The NBA' to a friend
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By Ben Nicholson-Smith | at
Email a copy of 'The Convergence Of MLB And The NBA' to a friend
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Matt Bracken
So it WAS Anthopoulos who masterminded the Jake Gardiner/Joffrey Lupul deal…
Madman2TX
The NBA can’t be compared to MLB. The scandals are apples and oranges: PEDs vs crooked refs. The NBA has allowed their superstar players to run the league and their commissioner is a joke. Funny mentioning the Rockets after how Stern screwed them by nixing that 1st Paul trade a little while back.
NBA fever…it causes sterility.
start_wearing_purple
“and their commissioner is a joke”
Because Selig hasn’t been? The similarity is they’re both destructive to their leagues when they exert power. I don’t follow the NBA closely but one thing about Selig is he’s also been timid when he shouldn’t thus making him a joke.
But the strange thing is even though Selig has been a weak commissioner, through his mistakes and the scandals from his lack of action Major League Baseball has never been more stable. Both Management and Labor are happy, there is a strange sort of parity, etc.
Lunchbox45
good post. . both leagues have their pros and cons for sure..and both commissioners have had their ups and downs.
one thing i really like about the NBA for instance, is that they do a far superior job in branding and marketing the athletes themselves..
start_wearing_purple
Honestly I see that as a positive for baseball, they allow individual teams to brand and market their stars. At least that’s my perception/opinion.
progmatinee
I HATE that about the NBA. The athletes became bigger than the game or teams themselves because of all the individualistic promotion. Subsequently individual players began changing how the game was refereed. They changed what teams the league promoted and conspiracy theorists will tell you the focus on the individual led to the league “fixing” the fate of certain teams based on the marketability of a certain player. Much like the WWF when Hulk Hogan arrived. The NBA can script itself in a certain direction to satisfy the hunger casual fans have for larger than life personalities to increase ratings. Integrity be damned. NBA now prides itself on what they call a “total entertainment experience”. Ie athletic competition is only a part of the package and unbiased, fair and balanced treatment of stars, teams, owners, fans is not even an illusion they feel a need to front. They are completely unashamed about the “man behind the curtain” running it all.
Lunchbox45
its funny though, every one complains about the inequalities of baseball. . but nba is probably the most unfair sport (outside of certain european soccer leagues)
only like 8 or 9 teams have won a championship in the last 30 years. embarrassing really.
Norberto Paulino™
You mean La Liga…
Lunchbox45
and champions league and serie A, amongst others.
alphakira
In the last 8 seasons there’s been 6 different teams to win it all. Unlike baseball, you can’t spend an unlimited amount of money on any number of players you want. The sport is built off of free agency and drafting, not who can buy the most players – regardless those that win in spite of that fact.
Why are the Yankees one of the most dominant teams of the decade? Because they can afford to be. Why were the Lakers? Because they chose an underrated shooting guard out of high school with their 13th pick.
Last I checked there’s only 1 sport that’s had a lockout cancel their entire season…
Lunchbox45
lol thats the biggest load of crock of i’ve ever heard.
Lunchbox45
lol thats the biggest load of crock of i’ve ever heard.
David X
Last NBA postseason aside, you rarely see a big underdog win an NBA postseason series. The good teams are just too good and that makes the sport a lot less interesting. And what sport is it that had a “lockout cancel their entire season”? Please cite.
Jon Kling
Hockey.
alxn
Sorry, but you should attempt to look a little bit deeper than that before you spout off ridiculous and ignorant statements.
There is a difference between equality and variation. The NBA is inherently more fair than MLB due to the structure of the league. There really is no arguing that. Case in point: your statement about so little teams winning championships. When a team gets it right, they are awarded over the course of several seasons and often times with multiple championships. Part of this is because there is less variation and luck involved in the NBA than there is in MLB. It is more fair for the best team to win a championship. That hardly ever happens in baseball. Another reason is that the league is star-driven, and, contrary to the belief of some, structured to encourage stars to stay where they are drafted.
Kobe Bryant was passed on 12 times before being taken by the Lakers. That is hardly an unfair advantage for them. In fact, if you had done any research, you may know that every NBA champion in the last 30 years except for one was led by a star that the team had drafted (Nowitzki for Dallas, Bryant for L.A., Pierce for Boston, Duncan for San Antonio, Jordan for Chicago, Olajuwon for Houston, Thomas and Dumars for Detroit, Magic for L.A., Bird for Boston). The lone exception is the 76ers in 1983, who were led by Moses Malone (acquired via trade) and Julius Erving (free agent signing).
Lunchbox45
I love this, calling people ignorant while completely overlooking the biggest aspect of the ability of teams being able to compete fairly.. Anyone can draft a good player, but few teams CAN KEEP a good player. which you conveniently left out..
I’m sure that if bryant was drafted by toronto, cleaveland or any of the other have not teams, that he would have stayed right??
give me a break.
NYBravosFan10
Lol, great pic. The DURANTCHULA!!!!
Lanidrac
Basketball (and football) need to look at baseball for advice on labor relations. In retrospect, the 1994 strike that cancelled the playoffs and World Series actually became a positive, as the owners and labor union became much more willing to cooperate and compromise to make sure it never happens again. The result has been (and will be) over 2 decades of labor peace. It would be nice for football and basketball to learn from baseball’s mistake without losing their own championships for a season (or even worse, a whole season like hockey did).
Backup_Slider
The NFL is just about a fail-proof sports business model. It doesn’t need to look to MLB for advice on anything.
Lanidrac
An extended lockout that nearly cost football part of its season this year sounds like a pretty significant failure to me.
Dynasty22
As a MLB and NBA fan, I enjoyed this piece a lot. Thanks BNS.
grownice
Nice article Ben!
95isover
Oh, it’s the guy that made the Sonics good after they were stolen. Cool of you to bring it up bro.
Dynasty22
I don’t know you, but you have become my favorite user for 2 reasons.
cubsfanraysaddict
Failed re to mlbtr user ‘grow nice’.
Dynasty22
Yeah…though how did you know it was for “grownice”?
cubsfanraysaddict
Cause we’re on a baseball trade rumor website, discussing the NBA. You obviously weren’t going to be talking about the pairing of Russell Westbrook and the Duranchula. I don’t need some gender obvious name to know you are probably an undersexed and overly stimulated male, who is likely disinterested in the NBA, saw BOOBS, and got excited.
grownice
Lol you’re definitely on top of things
cubsfanraysaddict
Ya and I obviously didn’t get my nap in yesterday, apologies to dynasty and emo glasses
grownice
Yeah how did you know? Creepy…
grownice
Im guessing two BIG reasons? Am i right?!
JacksTigers
Who? Me?
Yeah you.
Who walks in the classroom cool and slow?
Who calls the English teacher ‘dadio?’
Charlie Brown!
Seriously though, who is this to.
start_wearing_purple
Why is everybody always pickin’ on me?
Love that song. The Coasters were awesome.
grownice
<<< Her.
Lunchbox45
Is the NBA trade site still looking for writers?
LayerCake
Personally I would be happy to see a general soccer trade rumor,that encompassesthe most popular leagues, that would definitely spark my interest and many internationally
Fizpig
The two sports couldn’t be any more different. In baseball there are plenty of players waiting in the wings waiting for their chance, the NBA is diluted to the point that every team has outright stiffs filling out the rosters. Baseball is still the thinking mans sport while basketball is clearly not.
martinfv2
Couple thoughts…
This post is not a promotion for the new NBA site. We are, however, going to promote that here plenty. If you’re not interested, it is something you will have to skip over.
The commenting policy mentions that we don’t want comments about how you’re sick of a topic or it’s not newsworthy. I removed a lot of comments that fell into this realm…we aren’t interested in hearing about how you don’t care about a post we wrote. That doesn’t add to any interesting conversation.
A new addition to the policy is that no one should write in all or mostly caps. I’ll try to mention that a few more times as fair warning.
Thanks.
mlbtraderumors.com/2008/02/commenting-poli.html
twenty1thirteen
“A new addition to the policy is that no one should write in all or mostly caps. I’ll try to mention that a few more times as fair warning.”
This is very refreshing to see. Thank you Tim.
WhiteOwl1972
I hope you’ll make an exception for Bleacher Creature; I feel like he’s made that part of his personal style on this site.
David X
Really? Maybe in the same way that dingleberries and eau de urine are part of a homeless guy’s “personal style.” Obnoxious is obnoxious.
twenty1thirteen
I believe it’s pronounced “trolling.”
Phillies_Aces35
I wouldn’t call him a troll. Maybe at first but since then he’s been kind of entertaining. He’s had some solid posts.
twenty1thirteen
First definition of “Troll” on urban dictionary:
“One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.”I would certainly say that qualifies. What you call entertaining, many people call obnoxious.
Phillies_Aces35
I guess if you take him seriously then, yes he is a troll.
martinfv2
My fault for letting that get established as someone’s personal style, but we won’t be making exceptions.
gradylittle
Well there you go, MLBTR crew AREN’T fans of Bleacher Creature..what a surprise!
Snoochies8
droppin’ the hammah, i like it!
redsx968
Yes Tim! There is a God, and his name is Tim Dierkes! Suck it Bleacher Creature!
T Morgan
This is a general reply to most of the posts on this article. First off, there are a lot of things that the GMs can learn from each other and yes that includes scouting. There is more to scouting than watching arm angles or how a hitter takes his hands to the baseball. If that was everything, then no one would miss on prospects. There are things such as attitude, room for improvement, coachability, etc.. And these types of things cross the boundaries of sports. If someone is having success, like Presti, you don’t think someone in the MLB wouldn’t want to know the general strategies he used to take a team from the laughing stock to one many are picking to win the title in a couple of years?
And speaking of Preti and the OKC Thunder, I understand that Seattle fans are still upset about it and probably will be forever. (kind of like Brooklyn Dodger fans) But, at some point it starts looking like jealousy. The Thunder are having succes while the Seahawks and the Mariners aren’t. When the Sonics left, they were a joke and now that they are good, you just look like your whining because a winning team left. Anyways, you guys can stay mad, you have you right, but anyone that follows the NBA knew Stern was going to find a way to get a team to OKC after how well they hosted the Hornets. It just happened to be your team that moved. Sorry.
popfisher
Mr. Morgan. You are absolutely right regarding non-physical or game attributes. However, there is NO mention of this in the “article”. Not by people from either sport. And evalutating these attributes is not some new development as all teams in all sports have been evaluating these attributes forever. So there is not new info there. If these guys did not know that when they applied for their jobs, how did they get them? It is standard stuff which you have correctly pointed out. There are elephants in the room these guys don’t see or know are there, and, again, it seems most of these guys are straight numbers guys. Nothing else. They seem to be searching to tie the numbers back into the how they came to be in the player, instead of determining what makes the player generate those numbers.
T Morgan
You’re right there is no real mention of that, so I guess I was adding to the article. I know I didn’t write it, but those were some things that I probably would have included. As far as the use of numbers all the time, I’m a math guy, but even I know that there is SO much more to all statistics than just the numbers themselves. There are also so many different ways to arrive at different statistics and to interpret them. If you have a very analytical MLB GM and another NBA one, I’m sure they can both break it down some and help with understanding it. I really think this (the articke) is a SMALL part of what these GMs actually discuss. Just adding my two cents.
Marktown
People still watch the NBA?
RationalSportsFan
The average ratings for the 5 opening day NBA games were about the same as the average ALCS and NLCS ratings this year (4-5 million).
The NBA Finals last year averaged 17.3 million, while the World Series averaged 16.5 million.
Neither compares to football (ratings-wise), of course.
grownice
Why wouldn’t they?
BlueSkyLA
What, no mention of revenue sharing? This is one area where MLB can learn a lot from the NBA.
Norberto Paulino™
Enjoy this 100 influential Canadian in Baseball while you have him.
Dock_Elvis
Not a big fan of Smith’s writing style. He seems to like to insert himself into the articles. He’s constantly stating “he told me recently”….of course he told you recently…it’s your article. It comes off as unprofessional and seems like name dropping.