I Dislike Your Favorite Team

I remember fondly when I defended LeBron James and when I mocked his old boss (who certainly deserved mocking).  "The Decision" bothered me, but not as much as it did other people.  It was silly, sure.  Absolutely.  But, hey, if ESPN tells you that they'll pay you and your favorite charities to announce where your next job is going to be, I'll bet you'd do it.  No big deal.  Why not, right?


But this?  This is a big deal, and I don't know if James knows how badly he stepped in it.  James said to reporters, “Imagine if you could take Kevin Love off Minnesota and add him to another team and you shrink the (league)...I’m not saying let’s take..Minnesota out of the league. But hey, you guys are not stupid, I’m not stupid, it would be great for the league.”


Hey, LeBron, I'm not sure you are not stupid.  Because that's a pretty fucking stupid thing to say.


Let's be clear--the NBA is headed towards a big showdown between labor and ownership.  It might just be as big as the one the one coming in the NFL, except nothing is as big as the NFL.  And let's be clear again--a player advocating for shrinking the league is advocating for less jobs in his own union.  It's a dick move of unbelievable proportions.  It hurts his teammates--maybe not Bosh, or Wade, but Guy on The Bench #8?  It fucks him hard.  


And you have to single out the Minnesota Timberwolves?  Fuck you, LeBron!  You weren't aware of how good Kevin Love was before this year; your Miami Heat gave the Timberwolves Michael Beasley so they could sign you, for fuck's sake.  The Wolves are not very good, to be sure, but they might be in a year.  They could be very, very good.  The Timberwolves need to be contracted because they only have one player worth having?  KLOVE has been super-awesome this year, and was pretty damn good last year, but this argument ignores the talents of Martell Webster, Wes Johnson, Jonny Flynn, Michael Beasley, and even Darko Milicic.  The Timberwolves have the youngest roster in the NBA.  The idea that the youngest team in the league should be contracted so the likes of Miami can grab their best players is disgusting to me. But you know who really hates that kind of talk?  The NBPA.


And hey, while I am it, fuck Yahoo reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, for his bullshit description of what is happening here in Minnesota:  "The Timberwolves and Grizzlies are in such terrible shape because of ownership and management decisions. They’re messes because Stern has fostered so many incompetent ownership groups under his watch, and then pushed bad executives into small markets in political paybacks."

Hey, the Twin Cities are not a small market.  The Twin Cities are the 10th biggest metro region in the country.    The Timberwolves, more than a half decade ago, admittedly, gave the Lakers all they could handle on their way to a Championship.  Yes, the current team has six wins, and a whole lot more losses, but they are building.  If you watch the Timberwolves, (which most of you do not get a chance to do, I know), you'll see a young, exciting team that is young, but just needs to learn how to play some defense, and how to protect wins down the stretch.  Again, Darko, KLOVE, Beasley, Webster, Johnson, Flynn is a great nucleus.  And maybe Ricky Rubio joins this team, and maybe the draft picks the Wolves have stockpiled pay off.  LeBron would never suggest contracting the OKC Thunder, because they are too good.  Give the Wolves another year, and they'll be where the Thunder was last year.  


Fuck LeBron for advocating fewer jobs in his union.  Who does that?  And fuck Wojnarowski for suggesting the Wolves are not on the right track.  They totally are.  But mostly?  Fuck LeBron.