Conspiracy: Stern wants Gasol's legacy to disappear

[Rondo_is_better]

Movies aren't real, guys.

[wdleehi]

Interesting. And valid points seeing as how Kobe was in no way shape or form an MVP quality player in the Finals.

However I'd rather the Gasol legacy be squashed and suppressed by  his team not being handed titles by the league.

Obviously Kobe got it. If the Celtics won it would have been Pierce or KG, the only way it would have been Rondo would be if Stern wanted to hype him up as a future hall of famer basically.

Rondo would of had to have played better in that series to be considered. 

[fairweatherfan]

Interesting. And valid points seeing as how Kobe was in no way shape or form an MVP quality player in the Finals.

However I'd rather the Gasol legacy be squashed and suppressed by  his team not being handed titles by the league.

Obviously Kobe got it. If the Celtics won it would have been Pierce or KG, the only way it would have been Rondo would be if Stern wanted to hype him up as a future hall of famer basically.

This has already been asked, but exactly how is David Stern manipulating the 7 media members that actually vote on Finals MVP into picking his preferred winner?  Is he bribing them, does he have their kids locked up in his basement, or is he just Professor X in disguise?  Just curious.

[GreenFaith1819]

While I'm not believing in Conspiracy theories so much, I'll throw this one(s) out there:

Do you all believe that David Stern tells the referees to call games a certain way? It just seemed to me that all of last season The Celtics were sort of "Corralled" into playing a certain way.

Perk gets corralled with 7 techs, which makes him a very tentative center, limiting his effectiveness somehow. They even rescinded one of them in the playoffs last season, leading David Stern to admit that Doc Rivers' statements about how the games were being called had merit.

How could The Boston Celtics go from being able to be aggressive in 07-08 to now all of a sudden being overly aggressive, fouling, tech-capable players?

How could Kevin Garnett get saddled with those quick fouls in the first two LA games?

And we all know about 21-6 (not a football score, mind you)

Yes - some of this is just me venting, but it does keep me thinking about how games are decided in the NBA.

My point? I believe that David Stern "suggests" to officials to look for "certain tendencies" in team's style of play. I know this is slightly off-topic and I apologize ahead of time, but since part of the title is Stern I thought I'd throw that out there.

[Witch-King]

Tell me what Stern has to do with the Finals MVP selection process.

The OP and Witch-King seem similar, "Stern's refs were in the Lakers' favor in game 7", Stern wants to diss Gasol?

Both fiction.

Lol, all I'm saying is that the Lakers got the majority of the calls in the 4th quarter of Game 7.

I'm not starting a new topic stating how I believe that 21 free throws in the final quarter of game 7 is some sort of conspiracy, however no one can argue the disparity in the free throws awarded to the Lakers and those awarded to us was favorable for the Lakers. They were losing by 4 points heading into that quarter -- I'm pretty sure 21 trips to the charity stripe helped out their cause at least somewhat. Either that or the fact that Perkins was injured but all of this has been reiterated here multiple times. No need to go back to venting about the 'unfavorable' outcome of the NBA Finals...   

[Yakmanev]

It may not be so much a matter of Stern manipulating the refs but more a matter of what the refs think would please their boss the most.

[Roy H.]

It may not be so much a matter of Stern manipulating the refs but more a matter of what the refs think would please their boss the most.

Or their bookies.

[guava_wrench]

While I'm not believing in Conspiracy theories so much, I'll throw this one(s) out there:

Do you all believe that David Stern tells the referees to call games a certain way? It just seemed to me that all of last season The Celtics were sort of "Corralled" into playing a certain way.

Perk gets corralled with 7 techs, which makes him a very tentative center, limiting his effectiveness somehow. They even rescinded one of them in the playoffs last season, leading David Stern to admit that Doc Rivers' statements about how the games were being called had merit.

How could The Boston Celtics go from being able to be aggressive in 07-08 to now all of a sudden being overly aggressive, fouling, tech-capable players?

How could Kevin Garnett get saddled with those quick fouls in the first two LA games?

And we all know about 21-6 (not a football score, mind you)

Yes - some of this is just me venting, but it does keep me thinking about how games are decided in the NBA.

My point? I believe that David Stern "suggests" to officials to look for "certain tendencies" in team's style of play. I know this is slightly off-topic and I apologize ahead of time, but since part of the title is Stern I thought I'd throw that out there.

I suspect that there may have been discussions somewhere about avoiding calling quick double techs in the finals to keep Perk around. Since double techs are more about keeping order than punishing offenders, I consider that a reasonable adjustment.

I think there is almost no chance that Stern is involved in the details you mention.

Much of the resorting to conspiracies is simply fans not being able to deal with outcomes. This is transparent when fans shout 'conspiracy' when there are bad calls against the player on their own team, but are silent when the bad calls go the other way.

If someone wants to look for patterns, you can always find them since our brains are really poor at objectively observing events. This is why we often see fans of opposing teams claiming opposite conspiracies on their respective fan discussion forums.

[Celtics17]

I dont know that it's crazy to think that Stern would rather have it be Kobes team then Gasols'. That is just marketing as everyone wants a hero that he/she can look to. It was unreal the number of casual fans of the NBA when MJ was winning. To say that the media is a large part of it is probably a real understatement as well.

For those of you who don't believe in any kind of conspiracy theories, are you aware that the majority of the national mediain the U.S. is owned by a very few corporations. Have you ever heard of the 'libera media'? Now, ask yourself, why would a large corporation 'push' their liberal ideas onto people? Wouldnt that be counterproductive to what a large corporation believes? Just a thought.

[Celtics4ever]

We got hosed.

[guava_wrench]

I dont know that it's crazy to think that Stern would rather have it be Kobes team then Gasols'. That is just marketing as everyone wants a hero that he/she can look to. It was unreal the number of casual fans of the NBA when MJ was winning. To say that the media is a large part of it is probably a real understatement as well.

For those of you who don't believe in any kind of conspiracy theories, are you aware that the majority of the national mediain the U.S. is owned by a very few corporations. Have you ever heard of the 'libera media'? Now, ask yourself, why would a large corporation 'push' their liberal ideas onto people? Wouldnt that be counterproductive to what a large corporation believes? Just a thought.

The point is that it doesn't matter what Stern would prefer. He had no influence on the significant events.

"Liberal media" is propaganda spread by the right wing to undermine centrist or even neutral reports that don't pander to their views. There are plenty of framing memes like that, such as the 'sound science' meme used by cigarette companies and global warming deniers.

Those corporations do not "own" America. Rather they help skew policy in their favor by funding candidates that leads to a disproportionate representation of pro-business views in government. Ideas that cannot stand on their own merits are adopted due to money skewing represented opinions.

[Celtics17]

Guava, that is certainly one of the more lucid comments I have read on the blog!

[LakerPete]

Gasol had no legacy before playing alongside Kobe. He was a one time all-star in seven seasons in Memphis, and would have been a solid player that was only remembered 20 years later by fairly die hard fans.

The fact of the matter is, Gasol's most efficient season and 3 out of his top 4 happened alongside Kobe. Lamar Odom's 5 best seasons...alongside Kobe. 2 of Fisher's top 3 seasons have been alongside Kobe, as a 32-33 year old PG. Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown, Vladimir Radmanovic, Smush Parker...the list is impressive in terms of the players who had their most efficient seasons playing alongside Bryant.

And this is at the heart of why there's such a discrepancy between what the casual fans thinks of him, and what NBA talent evaluators think of him. Those who know the game the best, know the opportunities that he creates for his teammates.

The fact that Gasol's "legacy" is even a topic of discussion is a testament to Kobe's.     

[guava_wrench]

Gasol had no legacy before playing alongside Kobe. He was a one time all-star in seven seasons in Memphis, and would have been a solid player that was only remembered 20 years later by fairly die hard fans.

The fact of the matter is, Gasol's most efficient season and 3 out of his top 4 happened alongside Kobe. Lamar Odom's 5 best seasons...alongside Kobe. 2 of Fisher's top 3 seasons have been alongside Kobe, as a 32-33 year old PG. Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown, Vladimir Radmanovic, Smush Parker...the list is impressive in terms of the players who had their most efficient seasons playing alongside Bryant.

And this is at the heart of why there's such a discrepancy between what the casual fans thinks of him, and what NBA talent evaluators think of him. Those who know the game the best, know the opportunities that he creates for his teammates.

The fact that Gasol's "legacy" is even a topic of discussion is a testament to Kobe's.     

Interesting points. I though Radmanovic was a more impressive player pre-Kobe. I also was not aware that Fisher had any good seasons. I'm not sure I am convinced with the strong claims.

Caron Butler was a lot better without Kobe.

[Bahku]

Gasol's "Legacy"?!? (See "Twist and Shout" - Isley Brothers). And who gives a happy crap what Stern wnats or doesn't want? ... all of his so-called "power" isn't a drop in the bucket of popular public opinion.