The continuing "Gangstaorization" of the NBA is once again hurting the image off the NBA while it is trying to market it'self to "non thug nations". Everytime we turn around another brain dead hoodrat making mega millions for some god given talent is involved in a shooting or a street brawl.

The two latest situations involve NBA players and gang type violence.  The first involved Stephen Jackson of the Pacers. His claim is that he and his homies "got jumped" at the strip club and he fired his gun into the air to protect his clique. That is utter nonsense. But it is a sign of the times. Years ago when Charles Barkley was the bad boy of the NBA he once got into an altercation with a man who Barkley ended up literally throwing thru a plate glass window. Not to excuse what he did (and yes Sir Charles, you were and players always will be, role models)  but there was no "set/clique/posse" involved in that one. And there was no guns. Two guys started fighting and one tossed the other through a window.

Stephen Jackson has already demonstrated a propensity for violence when he rushed into the stands unprovoked in the Detroit fiasco two years ago. Here again Jackson used the "defending my homie's back" excuse despite the fact the tapes of the incident showed that no one was attacking Artest and even if you excuse what Artest did, Jackson attacked people not even involved in the orgional situation. This  gang/thug mentality is inexcusable.

While I defend the "innocent until prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" rights of all including NBA players and Gang members alike, there is no reasonable doubt but that Jackson is willing to use his gun and he will be hanging out in gang like environments.

If  I were David Stern/Donnie Walsh/Larry Bird I would immediatly suspend Jackson for life to set the example this is not going to heppen in the NBA without severe consequences. Let the players union and Jackson go to court. They don't have more money to fight this than the NBA does and I'd take it clear to the Supreme Court if necessary. NO ARBITRATION on violence. A precedent needs to be set right now. Your or I cannot spend our nights in strip clubs and get into gun fights and make the news as "part of the problem" in society today and reasonably  expect to keep our jobs.

The second incident involving Sebastion Telfair is suprisingly similar. Yet another circumstance, according to reports, in which the rap-gang culture was involved. Alledgedly Telfair had a 50,000.00 piece of jewelry (bling bling) stolen (yet I never read any news report of this when it supposedly happened and almost always,  thefts from pro athletes and celebrities is widely reported.). According to the story I read, Telfair got wind that a person who  "probably" was the thief would be at the night club of  "Bad Boy" rap label head Sean Puffy Combs and Telfair and his posse (yep, the posse again) went to confront the suspected thief. He didn't call the cops for backup or to investigate this situation. He went to a rap nightclub owned by a man whose entire history is filled with gangland violence ranging from his own acts of assault, to an incident involving a gun in yet another rap night club brawl ("J-Lo tell them it was your gun, I'm on probation") , the murder of Biggie Smalls which took place because of the orchestrated ,in large part, by this Puffy Combs, East Coast/West Coast  "gang war". In short, Telfair could not have possibly been stupid enough nor naive enough to think he could simply walk into an environment like this and "deal with this thief." If you purposely place yourself into such a situation without involving legal authorites you might as well take out a full page ad saying you're willing to involved yourself in illegal violence and "thug" activities. The story then gets a little murky on what happened after that but of course a rapper got shot.. Who shot him or how this "famous" rapper was even involved is not clear but what is clear is that once again violence erupted at a rap night club and the cowards involved ran as they always do and when the car was stopped there were three guns in the car. "Not mine" everyone says. (Amazing insn't it how thugs always talk  tough but when confronted with what they have done "they didn't do nothing...someone else did it")

What is clear is Telfair had no business even being involved in this thing but in all probablity Telfair is what instigated the violence. The man makes millions playing basketball. A 50,000 chain in all liklihood, assuming it was legally obtained in the first place, was insured. And if there was any proof whatsoever that the thief was in fact in this nightclub, the police should have been notiffied. (You and I may never get the police to respond to our requests for assistance but NBA players certainly will.)

In Telfair's case the NBA should launch their own investigation in assocation with the proper authorities to determine if in fact Telfair was the instigator of this shooting occuring and to what degree. And depending on the degree ,should be directly and swifty dealt with with anywhere from a year's suspension (if he did anything at all to instigate or escalate the situation.) to a lifetime ban if he in fact caused the entire incident to take place by "taking the law into his own hands"

 The NBA is a multi billion dollar business.  This sort of irresponsible behavior by their employees would result in the loss of their jobs in virtually 100% of businesses in America. Pro athletes should be held to no less of a standard than anyone else. It's one thing to turn a blind eye to the gambling of a Micheal Jordan or wait for the outcome of  the accusation of rape accusation/deial in the  Kobe Bryant case and what is going on with people like Jackson and Telfair. Neither have denied being involved. They use the same old irresponsible "gangsta alibi" of "I didn't do nothin wrong, just keeping it real" but there is no question but what they were involved in situation which involved violence, guns and behavior well beyond the most liberal of code of adult conduct.  The NBA is trying to mass market their product all over the world today. Billions and billion are at stake.  The rest of the basketball world values teamwork. Values nationalistic pride. The USA for many reasons is one of the least liked countries in the world today. What the NBA doesn't need is for the rest of the world to see violent thug behavior by NBA players. And it's become far more routine by the season. It's time to make a stand Mr. Stern. It's time for team owners to make a stand. It's time for the decent, honorable NBA players to take a stand. Strip clubs, Night club gunfights and parking lot brawls are not part of the average fan's lives, nor are they part of the world's average basketball fans lives. It has to stop and it needs to stop now.

Oh and one last thing Mr Stern? We decent people who don't hang out in strip clubs, who don't go to rap thug clubs, who don't carry guns all the time, who don't brawl in parking lots?
The ones who actually have jobs and disposable income to buy authentic NBA merchandise instead of knock off counterfeits?  We're your market. And we don't want people like Jackson and Telfair in the NBA. We can deal with the Artest's because everyone of us know he was wrong but he was provoked and deep inside of most of us, we wish at some point in our lives we could just punch the lights out of someone who "threw ice/beer on us for no reason".  Yeah he should have been suspended and yeah he was wrong. But he was right too. He went on his own, he didn't take a posse and he didn't take a gun.  He responded in the passion of the moment and he punched the guy out. His was not a premeditated criminal act. That is more normal behavior for most young men of every era than what Jackson and Telfair did with their "gangs". Think about it. CAN WE GET BACK TO PLAYING BALL?

Recently Dime Magazine hopped on the kiddie bandwagon and declared Dwayne Wade the best player in the NBA. Lebron James second and Kobe Bryant  third.

So it's come down to this. Dime Magazine (which promotes the zero defense street ball game heavily) has joined the David Stern propaganda campaign to make Lebron James the "Next  Michael Jordan".  This is not suprising since Dime's primary purpose in life seems to be promoting kicks for shoe companies. And who better to do it with than street ball which every ghetto kid that can slam or shoot 3's but play no other aspect of the game, can relate to. TRANSLATION: It's about Marketing. M-O-N-E-Y.  And they are correct when taken in this context and this context alone. But they are wrong as wrong gets in claiming this if you have any integrity and believe in the integrity of the game. Here's  why.The choice to put Wade and James over Bryant is an easy one. Kobe is not particularly charsmatic. He had the problems in Eagle.He was an immature kid early on in the NBA. He played  in the Shadow of Shaq's prime.

Not  that all these things matter. Had none of them existed, had Bryant been the most charsmatic player in the history of the game, he would still be the most hated player in the NBA for the simple reason he plays for the Lakers. Shaq deserved at least 3 more MVP's while a Laker but didn't get them for the same reason. He was a Laker.  Why? The Lakers and their players are the most hated team in the NBA because  no NBA team in the modern game has as many titles as the Lakers. No team is as consistently in contention (i.e. in the playoffs) as the Lakers,  Kobe suffers from a lack of shoe market marketability simply for this reason. So Lebron is the "next MJ".

I'm a Dwayne Wade Fan. He's got the same "killer instinct" that MJ and Kobe had/have. In virtually every game I've seen him play he's going to get in the lane with the giants and spinning, twisting, he'll make numerous circus shots just like MJ and Kobe. The kid is fearless. He's a winner.  And well deserved the finals MVP.

What he doesn't have is much of an outside shot although it has improved. And he doesn't play outstanding defense although that has also improved.

Lebron James offensive game is limited to seam split  clear out swoops to the rim and once in a while he has his outside shot going. He plays ZERO defense and is easily identifiable as the primary reason why "Team Lebron" finished 3rd at the Worlds just as "Team Marbury" did in the Olympics due to LBJ's complete inability to guard Non NBA players who blew past him like Top 50 NBA players storming past Stevie Wonder, He has virtually no killer instinct and took over no games at the worlds. In my view at  this point in his young life although he has the potential to be the best to ever play the game,  he's nowhere near the second best player in the NBA today. This claim by Dime is absurd.

Kobe Bryant is 27,  in his prime, works harder at his game than any player in the game and is an 8 time all pro defensive player along with his other numerous offensive records and accolades.

Simply put, all shoe sales marketability aside, Kobe Bryant is the best all around player in the NBA and Dime Magazine?  You should be ashamed of yourselves.

THE TEN BEST

1.) Kobe Bryant

2.) Dwayne Wade

3.) Tim Duncan : Nobody does fundamentals better. If healthy finally, nobody leads by example better. And the Bank is always open.

4.) Dirk Nowitski :  The Euro who deserves a better rep. He's stepped up with largely no center his entire career and became a leader.

5.) Kevin Garnett :  Only God knows what KG could have accomplished with some healthy for an entire season solid support players around him. Now 30, KG will live to regret having spent his career under the bumbling of Kevin McHale. But the guy will get you 20 and 10. It don't get any better than that on a sorry team with sorrier management.

6.) Steve Nash :  Born to assist. He could easily avg as much scoring as anyone else but he's the last of the true point guards of his generation. I have no doubts Nash could get 10 assists in an NBA season at age 50. Simply the best PG playing today and even he plays superior position defense than Lebron James does to his position.

7.) Elton Brand : Never takes a night off. Another 20 and 10, put it in the bank. (unless he gets you 30 and 15 which he can and will quite often do.) This undersized PF delivers night in and night out no matter who takes the most shots, no matter the opponent, no mattter what. This is a throwback to the old days. A BALLER

8.) Allen Iverson:  You want points? Here's points. You want assists? He'll assist. Had his best year at age 30 and the toughest little guy in the game. Maybe the toughest little guy of all time in the NBA. The claim is Lebron plays defense because he gets some steals. So does Iverson. and here again AI will play better position defense than Lebron.

9:  Shawn Marion:  The Matrix. A true windwalker. He'll board, he'll score, he'll run, he'll slash, he'll hit the 3, he's got everything true greatness demands. I can't wait to see what he can do in a playoffs when he's got his starting unit intact around him. Marion is another throwback to the 80's,  Another BALLER.

10: Lebron James:  Endless potential, the most overhyped player in the history of the NBA.  Nothing more to say. He only makes the top 10 because of scoring and potential. he's Dominique Wilkens with more assists until he learns to play a modicum of defense.

THREE OTHERS I WOULD TAKE:

In the event that Bron Bron continues to refuse to even acknowledge the responsibility of holding a journeyman he's defending to his average (instead of allowing him a career offensive night) the three  other tplayers I would take over Lebron at  this particular point in time are:

Amare Stoudemaire:  If the knees are Ok, this guy moves into the top five. The beast of the West.

Dwight Howard: This may well be the year that Howard takes over as the best big man in the game. The beast of the East.

 T-Mac: He joins Amare on the wait and see if he is really healthy list. But he can do everything Lebron can do plus I think that little defensive gem he put on Dirk during the playoffs pretty much proves that Tmac plays lights out defense compared to LBJ.