To further add to that, it’s been stated in multiple sources that Franklin’s contract is back-ended so he’ll be earning less straight away and it’ll bulk up later…once Goodes, O’Keefe etc. retire and free up a heap of space.

Unfortunately, a team-first culture doesn’t do so well for your profile and membership base in Sydney. To only profit $200,000 in your Premiership year is pretty alarming. Now with an expansion team in the same market, loaded with some gun young players which will become elite, the Swans had to find a big name like Franklin who at least some people in Sydney know. I believe this more of a PR signing than anything, although I’ll be more than happy to take his performance on the field too.

You’re lucky to have been around to enjoy Showtime Era, Ryan! Regardless, I think Larry at his peak was definitely in better touch than Kobe ever has been. The greatness of both players are in different fields. What amazes me about Kobe is his longevity, obviously one thing that was robbed from Larry by his body betraying him. Does that mean Kobe’s ‘better’? Not necessarily, but whether by conditioning, luck or the era, Kobe Bryant’s demonstrated success over a much longer period than Larry did, and that’s the one area he’s got the edge over his. Bird gets the nod as a shooter, teammate and clutch performer though in my book.

As Mushi pointed out already, there’s a very legitimate case to be made that it used to be easier to score. I can’t find the article or the author to save my life, but I think it was David Aldridge on ESPN who wrote about this. The amount of high volume scorers in today’s league is incredibly lower compared to even ten years ago. Mushi mentioned it too zone defenses have posed the best explanation for the drop-off. That’s not to say you’re wrong Johnno, but there’s also the other case that provides for some interesting discussion.

I completely agree with your points on the aging veterans, and I like the way you’ve written the piece. It’s very persuasive and deals quite systematically with the different arguments that have been presented. I think the Knicks have done as well as they possibly could have this season with their list, their competition and the free agency market. Looking back, there wasn’t a lot of ‘home-run’ deals a team as cap-stricken as the Knicks could have made. I think they’ve been handicapped from the start with ASTAT’s exorbitant contract, and with Miami in your conference, that’s practically death in the NBA. The Felton>Lin deal obviously is a bit of a bust, that’s classic James Doolan at work. However, I don’t blame for the Knicks for looking to reshuffle the deck instead of investing in a future core of ‘Toney Douglas, Josh Harrelson and Jerome Jordan’. Should they have traded for Camby? Debatable. I’d think not.

Glancing over at the free agency list of 2012 again, I’d say the Knicks would have been better pursuing guys such as D.J. Augustin (Indiana), Andray Blatche (Brooklyn), Carlos Delfino (Houston), Patty Mills (San Antonio) or Nick Young (Philadelphia). You’re right in that they were completely ignorant, or just risky, in banking on so many old players; however the answer for New York isn’t clear cut. They’re in middle ground right now, the worst place in the world for an NBA team. I wouldn’t be against considering detonating the Melo/Amar’e era to clear cap space for a 2014 Free Agency splash.

Like many Lleyton Hewitt fans, I watch some of current matches and cringe as he helplessly falls short of balls he could have moonwalked to 5-10 years ago, but it’s not our place to tell him to retire.

The constant example people use, and is in this article, is Andy Roddick who bowed out at 29 because he realised he couldn’t win Grand Slams anymore. And that’s great, I respect Roddick deeply. But Lleyton Hewitt isn’t still here because he thinks he can win every Grand Slam (though he plays like he does, and that’s brilliant). He’s playing tennis because he still loves the game, and knows that when he retires he won’t be able to do this anymore. Who are we to tell him to stop? Because we expect him to rediscover some lost form from years ago? Whether or not he can still make the Top 32 when healthy is irrelevant to this point, his playing career shouldn’t be dictated by whether or not he’s meeting our expectations of him. Let him decide when he doesn’t love tennis.

And adding on to your point, I’d much rather watch a game with a player like Lleyton who pumps himself and the crowd up with “C’mons!” than those players who try to pretend like the crowd isn’t there during their match. Being at the Open is so much more fun when you’re watching someone who engages the crowd, I believe. I couldn’t imagine calling Lleyton’s on-court actions anything but entertaining.

I wholeheartedly agree with you on the point that D’Antoni was never the right man for the job. But firing him now would essentially be throwing in the towel for the season, and serve a huge blow to the galvanising the Lakers’ unit . If we were playing ‘replace the coach’ though, you’d be hard pressed to find the right fit. Phil Jackson nor Jerry Sloan are touching this mess, and I don’t think Dunleavy or Van Gundy are good enough.

The issues for the Lakers are beyond the coach, their execution has been horrible. No one seemed to really realise that Gasol and Howard are both only effective in the post, and the injuries haven’t helped. Nash looks absolutely lost without his standard usage rate, mainly to the detriment of his scoring. I read a great piece on SB’s Lakers Nation blog which was a renewed call for D’Antoni to appoint Nate McMillan (ex Blazers coach, 2012 Team USA assistant with MDA) as defensive co-ordinator. I think that move would be brilliant.

This season’s mess falls on the shoulders of Jim Buss and Jim Buss only. No one should critique Mitch Kupchak for acquiring Steve Nash or Dwight Howard. God forbid, how much worse off would we be with Kobe Bryant, Ramon Sessions and Pau Gasol running the floor while Andrew Bynum watches on?

There’s a lot to fix, maybe an insurmountable amount, but I don’t believe it’s going to come by axing another head coach.

As a community of educated sports fans, we can all acknowledge the appeal and value of good defensive lineman in the NFL. But the fact of the matter is, they’re not the kinds of guys that can convert a nation to fans and pique the interest of the general Australian public. I think until we have an Australian quarterback, wide receiver, running back or even a tight end in the NFL and making waves, the chances of it succeeding majorly down under is slim to none; which is a huge shame.

Jude’s such a professional and a fantastic guy. I’d like to see him sitting a few though, we need his grit and guts come finals time and something tells me that knee won’t last an entire season if he plays almost every game. Not to mention we’ve got some good kids in Tom Mitchell and Jed Lamb still waiting to debut, and there’s no one in our midfield who deserves to get the chop!

Apples and oranges.

“I think what’s sadder is that Australian society accepts the banning of those dangerous beach balls.”

Accepts it? Where? I’m a frequent visitor at all the Melbourne Big Bash games and got out to days 1 and 3 of the Boxing Day Test this year and it didn’t seem like many were accepting it. I still see beach balls at every game and any security guard that confiscates one is always subjected to a raucous chant of “you are a w*nker!” from some of the nearby fans.

I’d love to weigh in on this issue with my own experiences at the football, but I haven’t been able to go to a game because most of my friends are afraid of being trampled/burned/assaulted by the “rabid, psychotic” football fans they’ve heard about on the news.

Completely agree. Players and coaches have voices, and minds, and it’s reprehensible to see them fined when they speak with them. It’s even more disgusting because Lehmann and Lee were right on both counts. What a joke.

Looking forward to the free-to-air games on Monday! I’ve got a soft spot for Julius Peppers and the Bears, so it’ll be good to catch them play – and hopefully, see Cutler chuck a hissy fit – and then my Cardinals get another (!!) TV spot! I’m on the Brian Hoyer bandwagon, mainly because he can’t be worse than Ryan Lindley/John Skelton/Kevin Kolb’s ribs. I can’t remember the 12:30pm game, but it made me happy.

If I could watch anything though, it’s a no-brainer to watch RGIII vs. Romo. I would have also liked to catch Vikings vs. Packers, go A.P.! Also, Brady Quinn is pretty darn handsome; isn’t he? How could Cleveland stay mad at him? *checks careers stats* Oh. Right.

I think not just Sydney-siders, but Australians in general. I’m a mad Swans fan down in Melbourne and there were a lot of friends around me that told me they’d googled/checked the paper/AFL.com.au to find out who plays for Sydney because “they’ve done so well even though Adam Goodes is crap now.”

I don’t know if we’ve ever seen an athlete like LeBron in the NBA. There’s no precedent to gauge how long he’ll be effective for. The rest of the Heat seem to be dropping in form like flies, but I think come time for the Playoffs they’ll be near unstoppable. And coming from a jealous fan of a Western Conference team, the East is a lot weaker this season in comparison.

As a fan of D-Will, do you think it’s been fair to say he got Avery fired? I think Barkley and Shaq were going a bit hard on him on ESPN, though they were right about it being time for Deron to step up and start playing better. I haven’t got to watch much of the Nets under Carlesimo, but I’ve heard they’re playing a lot less iso? (Not like that matter much when the new coach comes in though).

I don’t know if I’m the only one, but it’s felt like all season we’ve just been waiting for the Knicks to hit a huge losing streak. Kudos to them for continuing this level of play over a quarter the way through the season, it’s been unbelievable and here’s hoping both New York teams can keep solid records and get back into the playoffs. It’ll be a good thing for the game of basketball to see New York a competitive, exciting place for basketball again.

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These articles always make me curious about the growth of the NFL (and I have this thought about the NBA, too) in Australia. As I’ve grown older into my teenage years and become more passionate about sports outside of AFL, I seem to encounter more fans of American sports around – whether it be school acquaintances that will offer some surprisingly deep NBA analysis on my Facebook statuses or spotting a few NFL jerseys being spotted at Southern Cross Station on a Monday morning.

Older Roarers (and I say that respectfully!), are the NFL and NBA growing in popularity in Australia, or am I just becoming more aware of supporters as I grow older and more observant?

Excellent piece. Another terrible Dolan decision that may end up bringing down the Knicks in the long run. I wrote a piece that echoed similar sentiments on the matter last night at http://therjreport.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/free-agency-analysis.html?m=1

Wow, bold move by Houston. They’re really gutting their roster to try and get picks and cap space. With no big name free agents left (or ever really around aside from D-Will), it’s clear they’re pursuing Howard and Howard only. He really doesn’t seem sold on them, I don’t know if they’re making the right move yet. It could be a long season in H-Town if they can’t swing a deal, though that Top 3 pick they’d get for a bad season would be the cherry on top of a sweet youth-laced trade package. Great work like always, Cameron.

Just to further update on the story after the Nets shut down talks with Orlando, ESPN are reporting that he shot down Magic GM Rob Hennigan after another plea for him to stay, or at least settle for now (http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8159324/dwight-howard-nixes-orlando-magic-gm-rob-hennigan-new-plea-source-says). I think Dwight saw Carmelo push his way into New York and is convinced he can do the same thing. Now, we have to be careful here because these are all from ‘sources’, but if the believed story is true, he’s losing his grip on reality. Maybe it’s the Lakers fan in me, but I think his wisest career move now is changing his tune and pushing for a move to sunny Los Angeles. Orlando reportedly aren’t keen on taking on Andrew Bynum as the centrepiece in the deal, but I think if Melo did prove anything, if he sends one message for long enough (WITHOUT CHANGING HIS MIND AT THE TRADE DEADLINE *ahem*), then the team will fold and grant him his wish. Brooklyn don’t seem able to get him anymore, so I’d say LA.

It’s a sad situation, it’s hard to think two seasons ago he was all over Sesame Street, TV commercials and even scored a video game cover. The fact Andrew Bynum is even in the same conversation for top centre in the NBA shows just how much damage the off-court infractions have hampered people’s view of him on-court. If this was still super Superman Dwight loved by all, I think we’d have a lot less Andrew Bynum supporters.

I wouldn’t be surprised. The Eagles are hard to beat up at Pattersons, and they’ll really test our mettle. It’ll take something special to beat that fantastic football club, but I have hope that if any team can, it’s Sydney. For now, I wait with bated breath.