Isaac
Years ago
Donaghy scandal vs lowly teams tanking
I've just been reading a bit of doom and gloom on TrueHoop where various writers and so on give their verdict on the Donaghy scandal and its potential impact on the league. The responses range from largely indifferent (Mark Cuban, for example, saying that fans are there for entertainment and will get over it) to those that are more wary.
It made me wonder - as an NBA fan, after the initial hubbub, what's a bigger issue for you:
1. The Donaghy Scandal - a reportedly dodgy ref fixing games for money over the last two years (probably the line rather than the results themselves, IMO).
2. Teams tanking games from quite early in the season to maximise their chance at a top draft pick.
And let's throw in another option so people can rank them.
3. The Play-off format failing when the conferences are far from equal.
One reason I'm asking is that all the drama (understandably) is surrounding Donaghy as the issue du jour, but there's barely a whisper about changes to the other two.
Personally, I'd go with Play-offs, tanking, Donaghy. And the tanking might only be close to the play-off format because it drives me nuts in fantasy comps. Donaghy is a distant last - I just pity the decent refs who are now going to cop all sorts of comments and allegations because of the actions of, presumably, a single person.