Etan Thomas Blog My 25 Questions

[HMFFL]

My 25 questions to begin the season

6. Do female reporters really have to conduct their post-game interviews with players right when we come out of the shower? Should there be a dress code for reporters? And are male reporters allowed in WNBA locker rooms while they are getting dressed?

10. Mayor AC Wharton made a promise to Lorenzen Wright’s mother after his murder that “justice will be done.” Weeks later that promise has yet to be fullfilled. I am not even going to repeat the horrible rumors I have heard, but is this going to be another case of an investigation that falls by the wayside?

11. Do the Clippers really not give their own players 24-hour access to their facilities to practice and work on their games because Donald Sterling wants to save money on the electricity bill? Guess turning on the court lights isn’t a worthy investment to him.

13. Why wasn’t Josh Smith an All-Star last year? And how is Joe Johnson still so underrated? Last season, he posted averages of 21, 5 and 5 on a team that won 53 games.

14. Why does the media keep trying to vilify Jamal Crawford for wanting an extension? Don’t they understand the nature of the business is to obtain job security? And where is it documented that he told the team “Pay me or trade me?” Or is that something they made up?

22. Why isn’t Dominique Wilkins (9-time All-Star) one of the Top 50 players?

[dms269]

There are a lot of questions about race in there.

He also seems a little off with some of his facts. Granted he is getting some of his information from wikipedia, which should discredit him on the spot.

[evildallas]

I have a few answers:
25. Never been to Stone Mountain, nor do I have a desire to. Freedom of speech protects a lot of stuff not just popular speech. They have a right to their opinions and celebrations. Just like Etan is free to criticize them. Eliminating everything that offends someone would lead to a horrible world.

23. Every person should have the right to legal have weapons in their home to protect themselves. Athletes or not. The only athlete I know to get in trouble for guns at home was Tank Johnson who had as much weaponry as a separatist compound and prior arrests which complicated matters.

22. It's a tough list to crack, but he was hosed in the 50th anniversary list. The more time that goes though he's likely to fall below the cutoff for overall game. Nique's definitely a top 50 scoring talent all-time.

21. Allen Iverson's unwillingness to adjust to a complimentary role.

20. Gilbert Arenas's history is the biggest flag to it.

17. Public taking about former players has always depended on the classiness of the owner/GM and the level of acrimony in the split.

16. I would object to changing the logic. The desire to deify Jordan by this generation of players ignores the contributions of those before him. It's never been said that the all-time greatest gets to be the logo. Not to mention the NBA has branded their logo over time just like Jordan's image is a brand for Nike. Switching to Jordan for the NBA logo would be like declaring the NBA a Nike subsidiary.

14. Sure Jamal wants an extension. Not sure he was vilified in the media. To me the media was equally stumping for him to get an extension because of what he accomplished last year.

13. Kevin Garnett got the lifetime accomplishment pass rather than the season evaluation which reduced the spots available and then it went down to who the league office wanted as a replacement. Also 12 spots are too few. I think there should be 15 all-star spots, 5 voted starters (which are often not deserving) and then 2 reserves at each position. I also wouldn't use substitutes unless the number to dress fell below 12 (just like normal roster rules). Joe is underrated because he disappeared in the post-season and that's where media fall in love with players.

12. Tired of wasting time on the Lebron subject. If you don't get why his popularity dropped by now I won't be able to explain it to you. Also don't believe every study ESPN commissions (not like they are known for objectivity).

Skipping over the female stuff and all the labor stuff.

1. This sort of zero tolerance is the only way to get the rules across to a star-based league. If they didn't tell the refs to use zero tolerance certain star players would get to act however they wanted while others would get immediate technicals because they don't occupy the same lofty status. The overkill is unfortunately necessary to force behavior change across the ranks that hopefully will ultimately result in a better happy median in the future. I will say that in the past few years I couldn't stomach watching Tim Duncan whine after every single play. Just because you are a great player doesn't mean you should get an and-1 every time you take a shot. Or a player like Lebron complain the one time he gets whistled for a foul when he committed so many others that the refs ignored because he's the star. Have a sense of what's going on and don't be greedy. It's unbecoming.