old-timers' game at All-Star weekend?

Steve Aschburner of SI is calling for some changes in the nba (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/steve_aschburner/01/20/change/index.html)
An interesting point was the old-timer game. What´s your opinion on this?
It would be nice to see Stockton and Malone on the court or to see Hakeem against Robinson if they still can play some ball.
So would you like to see the old players or do you think they will destroy their legacy?

it would be entertaining at least

They tried that before back in the 80's and guys were getting hurt...but maybe Jordan would play?

I liked the other ideas in that guy's article like the draft idea to prevent tanking and fixing the trade, refuse to play, sign back with old team shit.

They tried that before back in the 80's and guys were getting hurt...but maybe Jordan would play?

Yeah it was kind of sad as much as it was entertaining to see those guys playing again in that event back in the day. Guys were getting hurt, there was oxygen on the sidelines and it seemed a lot of them hadn't touched a basketball in years as there was a fair bit of rust. I'm all for legends actively participating in All-Star Weekend but it's probably for the best they ditched the full game.

That article is...interesting, to say the least. Putting aside the weak joke that takes "keep the change" so far out of context to make a point it's not funny, it fails to acknowledge that not all change is good. Change certainly can be good, it's inevitable and all that but change simply for the sake of change and changing something that's working fine to something that's downright silly is not a breath of fresh air, it's just dumb. "Don't fix what isn't broken" may be a cliche, but it's common sense.

The suggestion to lower ticket prices makes sense with the global economy and attendance down. Luxuries are a harder sell to those who don't have a great deal of disposable income. He doesn't really seem to be suggesting anything about expiring contracts except something needs to change and the bottom line is, you can't legislate against that kind of stupidity. If a team wants to spend their money foolishly and end with an overpaid player they can eventually palm off on another team, so be it. You pay for your mistakes but sometimes you have a chance to put things right. It's an ugly situation, but how do you prevent it? Banning trades on expiring contracts? Not allowing teams to sign players to huge contracts unless they've achieved certain statistical milestones? You can't prevent people from making mistakes and you can't deny them the ability to put things right so long as their immediate bosses are willing to grant them that opportunity. And as a sidenote, Theo Ratliff did have some pretty good years before he was an expiring contract (and injured) so that's a bit of an unfair example in my opinion.

Arena rock anthems...well, yeah, they play the same standard fare but they're also fairly popular, recognised as sports anthems and are more or less family friendly. If you let some random fan pick the music based on their personal music tastes then things could get really, really ugly. Turning down the volume is a fair enough point I guess. The All-Star Weekend ideas...I guess if he's just throwing out some ideas that are entertaining to talk about but he's not really serious about then that's fair enough but come on, replacing the third quarter with a series of one-on-one showdowns and then incorporating it into the final score? That's needlessly complex and frankly contrived. You might as well introduce basketball answer to pro wrestling's three way dance and have three teams shooting at ten baskets, normal rules apply except for the third quarter when all baskets count for double except dunks which count for seventeen points. In all fairness, holding the game outside the States isn't a bad idea per se and if you're doing that you might as well try NBA All-Stars vs International All-Stars but I'm still not too keen on that.

I don't agree with his assessment of the Rookie Challenge either. If I had to make a change to that I'd go back to mixed teams or East vs West. The old timers games weren't that great, as I said before they were as sad as they were cool to watch because of the guys being out of shape or incredibly rusty. Isn't this what ESPN classic, NBA DVDs and old tapes are for? On tape, their greatness is timeless. Here and now, it could get ugly. You've also got to get those guys to agree to play and you want to make sure you've got the best of the best from that era. If it's BJ Armstrong and Terry Cummings taking part then it's hardly worthwhile. They were good players, but they're not the ones everyone is most keen to see back out on the court.

The rule regarding teams re-signing a player they've traded is a tricky one. I see the point of course, it always looks a bit shady when it happens but professional sports already treats players like commodities as it is, selling their rights back and forth and limiting their career opportunities with guaranteed contracts. There's no way the player's union agrees to players being forced to play somewhere they really don't want to, at least without the option of negotiating a buyout or release to seek other opportunities. At the most, there could/should be a restriction that bars players from re-signing with the team that traded them while being free to go anywhere else, should they come to terms on their release or a buyout.

A player must be contractually obligated to smile? That would seem a violation of artistic expression and human rights. I can't say I'm confused by the markings on the court either and if you "simplify" the offensive and defensive rules as he suggests you end up with the same situation we had ten years ago, with disputes over what constitutes an offensive or blocking foul because there's no restricted area and less consistency. As for the suspension rules, I can see where he's coming from but I think it misses the point of a suspension. Sure, it sucks when a player is suspended for his only game in whatever opposing team's city but don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Is it really any better to suspend them for the next home game? Chances are that will stop rob someone of what might be one of the few times they can see their favourite player play in person. It sucks for us fans, but the bottom line is it's about upholding the rules, not appeasing us.

I wouldn't like that change to the draft lottery personally. It arguably eliminates tanking but it also gives the best team in the league the chance to get the best player in the Draft and that's missing the whole point of the way the Draft is structured: to give the worst teams a chance to better themselves by bringing in a good new player (pending their selection of a good player, of course) without having to give up one of the few good players they might have. I'd hate to see the best player in the draft ending up on the defending champion's bench playing behind established stars or the same teams stinking year after year. The funny thing is, if they did make that change, sportswriters like Steve Aschburner would probably scratch their heads and wonder why basement teams never got any better and claiming that something has to be done to fix it.

Expanded D-League affiliations are a great idea, no question. Every team would have a full roster of players that they could callup and sure, if they wanted they could run similar plays to the NBA teams they are affiliated with to better prepare them for that style. Media accountability is not the NBA's responsibility, it's up journalists to have that kind of humility. On the other hand, I do like the idea of referee accessibility and accountability and sensible expansion of instant replay would be fine too, if done properly.

He lost me when it was about his confusion with the court lines. Come on! The lines in basketball isn't as complex as those in hockey.

Yeah I didn't get that either, there aren't that many lines or "squiggles" on the court, certainly not enough to completely baffle most fans of the sport.

Andrew I believe you missed his restructuring plan for the nba draft; the best team (cfr champion) would not be able to get the best palyer in the draft, he suggests tiers, so worst 10 teams, middle ten and best ten, so 'worst' case scenario is that the tenth worst team gets the best player in the draft...

No they wouldn't, at least not the way he suggested. His exact words (emphasis is mine):

No more allotting Ping-Pong balls in inverse order of record. Let's tier it: the worst 10 teams, the middle 10 teams and the top 10, with teams on each tier getting the same number of chances. That removes much of the advantage in tanking -- the fifth-worst team would feel no pressure to lose more frequently -- and the break between Nos. 10 and 11 would be close enough to playoff qualifying that a few more balls wouldn't matter either.

If I understand that correctly, the middle ten and top ten would likely have less of a chance to win the lottery but a chance nevertheless. Presumably the bottom ten would still have the best chances of winning, they'd just all have equal opportunity. That's not too bad but if the other twenty teams have a chance too then that includes the sixteen playoff qualifiers and the NBA champions. Their chances would be lower but enough teams in the current system have won the lottery to demonstrate that the longshot can still come out of the hopper.

In that respect, the lottery system itself is kind of a safeguard against tanking because the team with the most chances doesn't always win. If a team is willing to tank - and I think that accusation is thrown about way too quickly anyway - on what is essentially still a game of chance, even if they do have better odds, then so be it.

Hmm, well I'm not a native english speaker, but i interpreted this differently anyway, like I said (at least i think so) i believe his proposition leaves no odds for the twenty best teams to win a top 10 pick, basically teams 1-10 divide picks 1-10 (with equal chances), and the same for groups 11-20 and 21-30... well anyway i don't tyhink that system would be too bad, just some tanking maybe around teams 10 and 11 wel up to 14-15 maybe, but those are almost playoff teams so... less likely. But you might be correct...

I don't see how it could mean that as he mentions all thirty teams having equal odds within their own tier and says nothing about playoff teams or the NBA champion being excluded from the lottery. He also mentions 10 and 11 having similar chances ("10 and 11 would be close enough to playoff qualifying that a few more balls wouldn't matter either") so he's definitely not restricting it to the bottom ten.

They should bring back the horse tournament too:D

I'd love to see a 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 tournament.3's are worth 2. 2's are worth 1. Winners ball. Each member on the winning team gets $500,000. Imagine some of the matchups: Kobe, Carmelo and KG vs Dwight, Wade and Lebron. Oh my.

I would like to see a freethrow contest for the league's worst free throw shooters. $1,000 per made freethrow plus $5,000 for each make going to a charity of their choice. With a bonus for winning, for both the player and the charity.

Half court shot contest for lucky fans. A $1,000,000 to the winner.

Invite the best international players to play in an All-International game.

Nationwide Pee-Wee all star game.

All-Coaches game. This would be great.

If there's a free throw derby then the league definitely needs to get Shaq in there for entertainment purposes. He's claimed in the past he can make them when they count, let's see if he can do it when there's $1000 riding on each free throw for him and $5000 for his selected charity.

Nique and I guess a few other old timers are playing in the Celebrity game right now on ESPN

And Nique's performance, at least in the first half, made a strong case against bringing back the old timer's game. As fun as it is to see them out there, it's not really how you want to remember them. That said, if they ever do bring it back I'll watch it and it will be cool to see them back out on the court but it could be very ugly to watch. I do like the idea of including a few who want to play in the celebrity game though.

Yeah, he tried to dunk and got hung, missed most of his shots around the basket and looked pretty bad overall. Terrell Owens got a nice alleyoop off the backboard from a Harlem Globetrotter.

I was hoping he would throw one down but his legs were letting him down this evening, not to mention his shooting touch in the first half. He had a couple of nice moves in the second half though.