The whole purpose of this year was to rebuild, and Raptors fans have waited patiently for the 2013 NBA draft – where we’re supposed to receive our great pick that will compliment JV next season, and finally give our fan base something to be excited about. But I bet that I’m the only Raptors fan that doesn’t care whether we win or lose tomorrow. Why? Because I’d rather see a hard-fought win, than a team purposely tank just to increase their draft stock.

Tanking degrades the integrity of the sport, and is a slap-in-the-face to every fan who has paid money to attend a game. We value entertainment from professional sports higher than the services that help to maintain our society. The least that we deserve is a game where our athletes compete at the highest level.

So how do we stop teams from tanking? First, I think we should revisit the most important thing that we learned from this shortened season:

• The NBA does not need an 82 game season (We crammed 66 games into about 4 months, and it somewhat worked out. Start the season on it’s normal date, spread out the games a bit more, and give me a higher quality product)

Now that we’ve uncovered that, let’s start working on #Tankapalooza. The solution? Shorten the season, to say 70 games, and introduce an 8-team tournament to compete for the #1 draft pick (Bottom 4 from the East, and the bottom 4 from the West). Games would be played in a one-and-done format, with the winner being awarded with the #1 draft pick, second place receiving the #2 draft pick, and the winner of the consolation game (third place) getting the #3 pick. Everyone else would be entered into a draft lottery format, with their chance of winning determined by where the place in the tournament (Semi-Final losers receive the same percentage, quarter-final losers all receive the same percentage), and teams that ranked 9-14 throughout the season would have their percentage based on their rank.

Why is this positive?

• Ratings/Money – Okay, I know – Would you really want to watch the worst-teams in the league slug it out? Me neither. But a campaign like this can produce some amazing rivalries between the bottom feeders of the NBA. Imagine that tension that’ll go into next season’s match-up when New Orleans is pissed that Sacramento stole the #1 pick from them? The intensity that’ll go into these games with a prized draft-pick on the line? Ok, you’re not sold? Well – you can either watch the Raptors Vs. Nets in a meaningless 79^th game of the season, or you can get that out of the way in their 70th game to end the season, and then watch them in a tournament – your pick.
• Less Incentive to tank – Yeah, you might have picks 9-12 tanking a bit to get into the tournament, but I’d rather have them do it a bit to bring down their record, than have teams like Charlotte producing the worst records that the NBA has ever seen
• Adds a little more excitement to the end of the season – The end of the season sucks anyways, this will make it a little more fun, and give playoff teams a mini-rest before the playoffs begin (Which will lead to better playoff basketball). The TV schedule format for this tournament would be something like this:
• Seasons end on a Tuesday night. Tournament begins on Thursday.
• First two games are played on Thursday Night (NBA Double-Header – East Match-Up First, West Match-Up Second), 2^nd two games are played on Friday Night.
• Both Semi-Final Match-Ups take place on Sunday
• Finals take place on Tuesday, leading to a Wednesday start for the NBA playoffs

Obviously my plan needs a lot of refining, but this can work! Screw #Tankapalooza, and make these teams work for that #1 draft pick. This league is centered in America – America doesn’t reward losers, America likes winners. And you shouldn’t “win” the #1 draft-pick by being the worst team. Just my two cents.

*Toronto Raptors photos taken by Rick Madonik of the Toronto Star

While not sure how I feel about the handheld camera work, I love the story, and how creative it is. Props to the director for actually making sense, when executing a concept that would sound silly if explained without a visual.

World Premiere at Slamdance Film Festival 2012 (Grand jury prize for best short)
facebook.com/pages/I-am-John-Wayne/246865075340454

christinachoe.com

Great marketing inflicts an emotional response. I call this amazing marketing.

Even if you don’t like the idea, you can’t deny the marketing genius that Apple has become.

Hire him now. Thank me later.

The kid that we all watched grow up has become a man. Listen before you write it off. Been out for like 3 weeks now, but I’ve been slow to post it. Produced by Soundsmith as well! #GoCanada

This kid is going to blow up man. Just watch. He has IT! Shout outs to Officer Graham! 2 more videos after the break! (Shows off that he can sing as well)

Saw it the day it aired, but I finally found the video. A must see for any Raptors fan who remembers the glory days. Most interesting comment? Kobe Bryant believes that if that Raptors team stuck together, they could have won championships.

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