As the NBA lockout comes to a close there’s a myriad lessons we can take away from the fiasco that was this summer. How to properly take into perspective two arguments perpetrated by lobbyists. What not to bring to a discussion in which you’re asking for more money. You know, important stuff.
As a group of journalists, however, NBA writers have certainly learned a few things about themselves. The range of emotions I’ve seen in our circles have been vast and varying. From general skepticism, to criticism, to flip-flopping, from hope and positivity to desperate anger and depression. And…that’s just in the last three weeks.
We’re not a demographic of similarities. Many of us are full-time employees outside the realm of sports journalism. Many of us are paid to write about the NBA. Some of us have used our writing to earn spots in organizations. Mostly, however, we love basketball.
It’s that love that’s carried us through the darkest of hours. If you’re even a casual reader of NBA journalists, the flurry of activity during the lockout has been particularly interesting. In a world which is obsessed with day-to-day dealings of NBA teams, game rundowns and performance reviews, the inability of teams to even mention their own players names has sort of thrown a wrench in the gears of us writers.
That’s what’s been so great about this lockout. The analytic nature of writing that’s been born from the liquefied remains of the 2010-2011 NBA season have been a mitosis the world has never before seen. At first, many of us laughed at the ridiculous nature of having to write full-time while the league only existed in a Skull and Bones manner.
Reading pieces about “Which player is better” or “Draft Class Review: 1993” seemed silly at first. Jesus, what kind of barrel-scraping are we doing here? But really, if you have been reading anything that’s produced from NBA writers in the last four months, it’s been a delight.
Whether it’s an insane breakdown of how Al Harrington should have eaten that enormous hamburger or exquisite details of CBA talks and understanding salaries, there’s something to be gained from all of this:
The 2011 NBA lockout will birth a new kind of NBA fan.
The way we looked at baseball after Moneyball came out? Well, NBA writers have been looking at basketball like that for years. Unfortunately, that kind of stuff has been pretty boring for the regular, involved fan. Now, NBA writers with nothing to do ended up going a bit bonkers with their statistical analysis and flooded the market with a product we were all forced to buy.
Now that we’ve acquired the taste of statistical analysis, we’re able to stop and enjoy it. To boot, the lockout has given fans time to take a hard, involved look at their team in a way they probably never have. That is, under a new system, could they finally bring it home?
I’m excited for the new NBA season. That we’ve had to go all summer without free agency, trades, draft speculation and the like is, honestly, downright stupid. Letting the NBA spoil on the counter as the leftovers of last May was a poor decision. Now that we’re on the path to recovery, there’s no doubt the recipe for success has been tweaked and poured over.
After all, we’ve been in the kitchen all summer.
Dane Carbaugh is a published research author and can be found writing about the NBA all over the Internet. He can be found on Twitter at @DaneCarbaugh
