"the next Jordan" thing is not really (only) what the NBA wants to do, it's what people like to do.. Does "the next Maradona" sound familiar?
Egad. That post isn't talking about something as simple as basic human nature. The Next Jordan angle is a single (and relatively small) part of the bigger picture.
We're talking about the NBA's very specific strategy during the immediate post-Jordan era as it relates to the league having a clear-cut plan to put A "Superstar" on Every Team as opposed to the previous situation, where most franchises had to wait until the Big Teams came to town to move tickets. We're talking about money. About owners being told to pour money into their franchises with the supposed promise of nightly marquee matchups to sell at the ticket office. If you were born in '82 you should be able to remember that time period when Hardaway, Carter, McGrady, Hill, Bryant, Stackhouse, Miner, Rider, (you can pretty much go on forever) etc. were all touted at some point or another as the Next Jordan.
Again, just in case, this isn't about foul shot stats, or refs influencing games, or any of the other side-effects that arose because of the rule changes. It's about how the temptation of Big Money shaped the league's attitude towards the rules of the game: 1. give the facilities a "family friendly" facelift, 2. give each franchise a ticket-selling "Star" 3. take certain measures to try and ensure those ticket-sellers were on the court as much as possible.
Read between the lines. It's about a league full of teams who were promised 25-12ers, knowing that they were eventually going to be forced to overpay players, and who thus demanded that the league at least do something to ease that blow.
I think he's saying the NBA exploits people's desires to see the "next Jordan".
Not so much anymore. But during that five/six year window from 2000-2005-ish, most definitely yes. The league was on a Jordan-high, being courted left and right by potential sponsors. Sporting goods brands who'd seen the Jordan Effect at work were talking to the league. Wall Street was talking to the league. What they were saying was, "We'd maybe like to help you grow but not if you're only going to have four or five big teams and one or two Jordans to somehow split between ourselves. Come to us with a more ambitious plan and we can talk." The NBA was a lot like the long overlooked little brother (to baseball and Am. football) that suddenly was being approached by all the right people.
Anyhow, bottom line, the weak fouls/isolation aspect of the game is not going away any time soon. No owner wants to overpay his 'franchise' players just to see them get hacked down and out for weeks at a time. At the same time they've backed themselves into a corner regarding salaries by agreeing to the "Star on every team" principle, even though those players might not actually be stars. Teams have run themselves into the red with the above-mentioned promises that never materialized, only to be told "Well you agreed to it at the time."
Bits and pieces of this we all know, but a lot of people don't seem to realize that the fouls/isolation aspect of the game is directly tied to the money situation and no owner wants to change it, largely out of spite. No one wants to see a rule change expose their star player as anything but. Or turn back the clock to a time when you had to wait for Boston/LA/NY/Chicago to come to town to draw a crowd.
yeah, right) and Harden getting a foul for being pushed by Lebron. Westbrook was pushed while shooting and should have gotten And 1. Harden got pushed on the fast break he missed the layup on. It's just gutless on the refs' part.
