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That was uh, a LOT of Lebron.... I like how the only Rockets highlight was the Tmac dunk lol. When it happened we all thought "omg he's back". Nope
So for the rockets, all i saw was Ron artest jumping and a T-mac dunk. You would think Yao's rejection ON Lebron and the dunk ON lebron would be worthy....but too bad he is the poster boy of the nba. They couldn't do that to him, but they would def. put robinson blocking Yao in there.
The bitter penis envy some of you guys display for Lebron/Wade/Kobe is pretty amusing. They (along with CP3) are far and away the best players in the league, in what might be the greatest era of perimeter play in NBA history. I don't know why you would expect the NBA to do anything but market their respective brilliance and achievements.
Personally, I'd take Jordan/Nique/Clyde/Bird along with take your pick of Magic/Zeke as the greatest era of perimeter play in the game's history over today's bunch. And that was before the rules were altered to benefit the perimeter guys (ie. handchecks, defensive 3 seconds) so that Stern can put out a more fairweather fan-friendly product for economies of scale. But anyways, I think some of the comments in this thread are warranted because it does seem obvious that the league, Disney, ADIDAS/Nike, etc want to promote certain players over others simply for the ratings, merchandise sales, etc. Whether that has further translated over to the actual games with favorable officiating for some players is not so clear. But the league has definitely showed a desire to shift the game's focus away from the Center position and towards the more fan-friendly high-flyers, cross-over'ers, and long-range bombers. Could just be because there simply are never many great big men available and in the interest of parity (and thus more fan interest and thus more $$$$), more teams now have a legit chance of winning it all. All I know is when Duncan or Dream were winning multiple titles, the NBA sure as hell wasn't marketing their respective brilliance or achievements like this I think folks are pissed off because with every passing year it seems like the entertainment/profits side of pro basketball is becoming less of a side attribute to the athletic competition - and more like the main attraction.
Have to agree here. Usually I just gloss over it, but it gets pretty childish. I know, I felt the same way when I was in high school. But grow up. The combination of best and flashy players gets marketed the most. Always has. People said the exact same crap about Jordan but now everyone speaks about him w/ reverance. Ten years after these guys are retired everyone will still say they were NBA greats w/ no animosity. If one of these guys were on our team no one would complain one bit.
Except this isn't the NBA, it's ESPN. I get what you are saying but to also ignore the fact that ESPN keeps shoving this down our throats while there are players out there with worthy highlights and stories (Would we even see a Yao highlight of him blocking LeBron?) is pretty crazy itself. There are many people (except fans in Cleveland, LA, and Miami) that think this not just this message board. As a matter of fact, I think that NBA Entertainment (NBA TV, NBA Action, etc) does a better job promoting lesser known players in their media shows.
