DALLAS - OK, I admit, that was a sensationalist headline. Sue me.
But the reality is that NBA Free Agency and the MLB Draft are not all that different, for many reasons, even though one is followed with a million microscopes while the other is ignored even by its biggest fans.
Both the NBA's Free Agent period and the MLB Draft have one major thing in common: A lack of immediate payoff.
The NBA regular season is as watchable as the movie "Centipede." Sorry to you horror movies buffs and Fish and Skin, but almost nobody cares about the NBA in October.
The payoff for all of these trades and moves won't be seen or cared about until June of next year. The payoff is literally a year away. That is the definition of a "slow play."
Hence, the similarities with the MLB Draft, where the payoff gap is even wider.
Yes, the names are what makes NBA Free Agency, but be honest: nobody (relatively) is watching the Lakers play an early-November game against Portland, despite the fact that it is a good basketball game.
People don't watch sporting events that don't matter, which is why MLB has been tackling the wrong subjects of late. It's not "pace of play," it's importance of games. People will watch a 45-hour College Football game because ... it matters.
We love our Texas Rangers. But the whole season? Rangers vs. Indians on a Thursday afternoon in June matters only to the Rangers and Indians fans who aren't stuck in a cubicle.
The payoff for NFL Free Agency is immediate. Week 1. Every game counts. The NBA simply cannot match that.
I enjoy NBA Free Agency. I hope that shows when we discuss it on "Shan & RJ." I enjoy seeing where the names will go. The reality, however, is that my enjoyment doesn't carry over to the regular season.
It's like the last line of "A Bronx Tale," at the funeral, as we're looking around at all the people laughing and carrying on with their lives.
"Nobody cares."
