Sacramento Kings guard Jimmer Fredette will not participate in the 3-point shootout the day before the 2012 NBA All-Star game. Let’s face it: everybody loves Jimmer. We especially love him when he sinks three pointers. Now we won’t get to see him make it rain, stepping even further behind the regulation ark to shoot his signature shot. Sorry 32, but you won’t get to teach anybody how to Jimmer this year.
There won’t be any breakout teams in 2011-2012. The 2010-2011 season was a great year for breakouts in the NBA. While some teams started the season expecting to excel, there were a few teams, like the Portland Trailblazers, that surprised us. Others, such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies, went on to excel in the playoffs. All that talk of Utah, Sacramento, Minnesota, Charlotte and Indiana taking large steps of improvement officially has gone out the window.
LeBron won’t start his Jordan-esque run of NBA titles. Sorry Bron Bron, but we won’t be seeing that poster of you flashing numerous championship rings anytime soon. I really will miss the pre-game ritual of James tossing that chalky cloud of smoke up into the air. But hey, look on the bright side: now nobody can claim that the Heat completely and utterly collapsed in the 2012 Finals. Perhaps in the meantime you can take your talents to Panathinaikos and help them win.
Honestly, the real tragedy isn’t that these guys aren’t going to be able to improve their stardom or wow us with their athletic play. It’s not terribly upsetting that they might have to actually worry financially like the rest of humanity. The worst thing about the NBA lockout is that thousands of employees, from those people you try to avoid as you sneak down into the lower section of the arena to grab a seat you “could have sworn was ‘G15’” to the guys selling overpriced sodas, are now out of work. As I look around Energy Solutions Arena, I think about all the merchants that are losing out big time because there aren’t going to be 20,000 plus fans 80 times this year walking through downtown SLC. The economy in this country is a bust right now, and things like this are not helping at all. Put this down as another reason why baseball is so much better than basketball. Maybe the 2012-2013 season will make up for it, but with the litigation clock now ticking, let’s not get our hopes up.
"CONSIDER ME DISAPPOINTED."
-Colin McGrath
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