Quick end of 07-08 NBA season thoughts

The season started out as dark as the NBA has ever lived through. The infamous 04' Detroit Palace Brawl was as low as the NBA could go and the absolute most the NBA could handle from a PR standpoint, or so we thought. The summer before the 07'-08' season started out worse than the Palace Brawl. The league's most highly criticized, coveted, and hidden employees took a collective hit due to a referee named Tim Donaghy allegedly betting and fixing NBA games. With those allegations, the integrity of an entire sport was question. There suddenly became validity to all of the conspiracy theories about the league. Surprisingly, the actual basketball overshadowed those allegations.

The league's superstar stayed on the Lakers and the most competitive playoff race in recent history was played. The Rockets went on a 22 game winning streak with their centerpiece Yao Ming going down. We also saw the most significant trade movement in recent memory sending Jason Kidd, Shaq, and Gasol all changed states and uniforms. 3 huge trades in the Western Conference as well as the off season moves of the Celtics to acquire the Big 3. We saw the emergence of the future of the league in Chris Paul and Deron Williams. The playoffs were lackluster for all the hype surrounding them, but the league got the dream matchup of the Lakers and Celtics in the finals.

Coming into the offseason and starting a new season, the same dark shadow of Tim Donaghy hangs over the NBA. The commissioner and the front office simply dismiss any accusations that Donaghy makes. It will be best for the NBA to tackle Donaghy's accusations head on and put this dark chapter of NBA history behind them as fast as possible. More on Donaghy later this summer because this story is not going away any time soon. Nonetheless, this season was a great time to be an NBA fan. It was filled with everything a sports fan could want. We look forward to the amazing talent in this year's draft and the USA olympic basketball team heading into a very controversial Olympic games. The NBA is never short of drama and excitement. We will look back on the 07-08 season and cite the historic events that happened this season. It was a truly memorable season. The future looks promising for the league despite the Donaghy scandal, and we can look forward to more of the same excitement that delivers us our unsatisfiable cravings for our need for endings to unfinished plot lines, and beginnings to new ones.

Some links:

The Freakonomics blog posted this article about what refs and MBA professors have in common. It argues that refs may not be consciously altering games, but may be doing is subconsciously through pressure they know comes from the league.

Doug Christie thinks he got black-balled from the league. Something tells me he doesn't have a job due to his lack of performance than his ball and chain. Some advice to the Christie's, stay off the court and keep writing books about your marriage, and if that fails, you can always get a reality show if you keep doing stuff like this:




Here is a great article by ESPN mag about possible #1 draft pick Michael Beasley.

Picture Source: hoopsvibe.com (top), sacbee.com (bottom)