On All-Star Games
This was the first Saturday with neither the Leafs nor the Raptors in action since I started the blog. (And also only the second time since the season started that this has happened, too)
I've had a few thoughts floating around my head recently. There have been some off days for my Toronto teams around the end of 2018 and the start of 2019, and now I finally have a chance to ramble on here.
I still have to do my "Best Raptors Team I've Seen" post. I'll get it done before the end of this month.
Today, I am going to go off on All-Star Games.
In the NHL, San Jose will host the ASG for the first time since 1997. Why not celebrate the return of the festivities to the Shark Tank with this?
Yup, this is Owen Nolan, then representing the Sharks for West, calling his shot against Dominik Hasek, then the best goalie in the NHL in the midst of his first Hart and third Vezina season. Nolan completed his hat trick with the goal, and this is one of my favorite ASG moments in any sports.
But in general, I don't know what to make of these midseason events, and not just in the NHL either. It's always fun to see star players from teams/conferences/divisions/leagues that I don't often get to see showcase their skills with all the eyes on this single game.
Take the NHL, for instance. Because I almost exclusively watch the Leafs and don't really have time to follow other teams closely, I haven't seen some of the Western Conference stars play this season.
I've not watched the hot-shot rookie Elias Pettersson of the Canucks in a full game yet. Tomorrow was supposed to be my first chance as the Canucks visit Toronto, but as luck would have it, Pettersson got hurt the other day and won't play in this one. I also haven't seen these high-flying Calgary stars: Johnny Hockey (great nickname), Lindholm, Giordano, Monahan, etc.
I love watching 3-on-3 hockey. With so much open ice, skills are at a premium and it's just gimmicky enough for ASG, which should always be about skills and talent. 5-on-5 in ASG can be painful to watch. No one plays defense. There's no body checking. All that does is clogging up precious space.
Some people say Major League Baseball has the best ASG in term of level of play because players can't take it easy. Did you see Max Scherzer and Chris Sale throw heat at the past two ASGs? They started both games. For some reason, I can't find the highlights from 2018. But watch Sale fan Giancarlo in 2017:
Sale got him with a 98-mph heat!! Talk about being in midseason form! Guys who are used to throwing so hard aren't going up there and start tossing up batting practice balls all of a sudden at an ASG. And if a groundball is hit to you, you're not going to get out of the way just to let hitters get on base, or field the ball and throw it over the first baseman's head on purpose. You still have to make the play in front of you. Base runners still have to slide to the bag or the plate if the situation calls for it. Outfielders still have to make throws to gun down runners going from first to third.
In the NHL and NBA, ASGs are a completely different animal than regular season games because no one plays defense. And I don't think the NFL should even have an All-Star Game.
Anyway, ASGs are like shinny in the NHL or pick-up game in the NBA, which is why 3-on-3 works so well in the NHL (more open ice) and the NBA should also consider going 3-on-3, streetball style.
Look, we don't need dinosaur centers like Drummond or Jordan or rim-protectors like Gobert (I just reeled off my three fantasy basketball centers). Rejections and offensive rebounds are nice, but fans don't pay big bucks to go see those guys swat away shots. They want to see balls go into the basket.
So how about a 3-on-3 tournament, division vs. division, like the NHL? So there are 6 divisions in the NBA, as opposed to 4 in the NHL. Let's do round robin first within the conference. And then the top two teams from each conference will be in the semifinals, playing the team from the opposite conference. The winners will square off in the final and of course, we could have two divisions from the same conference go at it.
Wouldn't you want to see these 3-on-3 teams? Harden-Doncic-AD (Southwest). LeBron-Curry-Booker (Pacific). Jokic-Westbrook-Dame (Northwest). Beal-Walker-Vucevic (Southeast). Giannis-Dipo-Griffin (Central). Kawhi-Embiid-Kyrie (Atlantic).
Of course, every team will be represented. PG-13 and KD both have to be at the ASG and we all know they can score buckets at will. For some grudge matches, how about putting KAT on Butler if their divisions collide?
Maybe 3-on-3 half-court won't necessarily make great TV, and fans on one end of the arena will mostly see the back of the players on offense, etc. Could the NBA set up the playing surface in the middle? Or play full-court 3-on-3??
Oh well, going back to hockey... maybe the NHL should return to having captains draft their own players from a pool of All-Stars voted in by fans or picked by the NHL, regardless of divisions and conferences. Did it for a few years earlier this decade.
For instance, MacKinnon is the Central Division captain. Maybe he'd pick Crosby for his team. Maybe Connor McDavid will select former teammate Taylor Hall.
And Auston Matthews should definitely pick Patrick Kane, so that when either of them scores, they can do this stuff together:
I've heard commentators talk about changes they'd like to see. One suggestion that caught my attention was this: the NHL should just select whatever number of best skaters out there, regardless of their positions (forwards or D). Since no one plays defense in these games anyway, we'd mostly end up with forwards (though a defenseman or two can warrant consideration, depending on the division) and coaches would just unleash them and let them do their thing.
I like this idea a lot, though, at least this season, there are enough D-men who've been scoring a ton of points that they deserve spots as much as any forwards out there.
My only peeve about 3-on-3 is that there are fewer roster spots to go around and it leaves more deserving players on the outside looking in than before.
And because every team has to be represented, someone like Morgan Rielly, who leads all defensmen in goals and points, isn't on the team (yet, because he can still be voted in) and Mitch can't squeeze his way in even though he's No. 6 in the league in points.
I understand why all teams should have at least one All-Star. Even fans of terrible teams should have something to look forward to in these things. Here I am whining about how there aren't enough spots for my Leafs because we're so good and all. But man, there were times when I was embarrassed about our All-Star selection. Leo Komarov was our lone All-Star only 3 years ago!!
I don't think there is anyone as egregiously bad on this year's team as Komarov back then. Clayton Keller of the Coyotes may have the most underwhelming numbers among all forwards but at least he's a talented young player who can entertain fans in 3-on-3 tournaments. Komarov is the type of player who would forecheck in these games because he has no other discernible skills to speak of.
(If I am making it sound like I hate Komarov, it's because I do.)
But to end this winding post on a more positive note... it's going to be great to see multiple Leafs at ASG for the first time since 2012 (Phaneuf, Kessel and the legendary Joffrey Lupul!)
I've had a few thoughts floating around my head recently. There have been some off days for my Toronto teams around the end of 2018 and the start of 2019, and now I finally have a chance to ramble on here.
I still have to do my "Best Raptors Team I've Seen" post. I'll get it done before the end of this month.
Today, I am going to go off on All-Star Games.
In the NHL, San Jose will host the ASG for the first time since 1997. Why not celebrate the return of the festivities to the Shark Tank with this?
Yup, this is Owen Nolan, then representing the Sharks for West, calling his shot against Dominik Hasek, then the best goalie in the NHL in the midst of his first Hart and third Vezina season. Nolan completed his hat trick with the goal, and this is one of my favorite ASG moments in any sports.
But in general, I don't know what to make of these midseason events, and not just in the NHL either. It's always fun to see star players from teams/conferences/divisions/leagues that I don't often get to see showcase their skills with all the eyes on this single game.
Take the NHL, for instance. Because I almost exclusively watch the Leafs and don't really have time to follow other teams closely, I haven't seen some of the Western Conference stars play this season.
I've not watched the hot-shot rookie Elias Pettersson of the Canucks in a full game yet. Tomorrow was supposed to be my first chance as the Canucks visit Toronto, but as luck would have it, Pettersson got hurt the other day and won't play in this one. I also haven't seen these high-flying Calgary stars: Johnny Hockey (great nickname), Lindholm, Giordano, Monahan, etc.
I love watching 3-on-3 hockey. With so much open ice, skills are at a premium and it's just gimmicky enough for ASG, which should always be about skills and talent. 5-on-5 in ASG can be painful to watch. No one plays defense. There's no body checking. All that does is clogging up precious space.
Some people say Major League Baseball has the best ASG in term of level of play because players can't take it easy. Did you see Max Scherzer and Chris Sale throw heat at the past two ASGs? They started both games. For some reason, I can't find the highlights from 2018. But watch Sale fan Giancarlo in 2017:
Sale got him with a 98-mph heat!! Talk about being in midseason form! Guys who are used to throwing so hard aren't going up there and start tossing up batting practice balls all of a sudden at an ASG. And if a groundball is hit to you, you're not going to get out of the way just to let hitters get on base, or field the ball and throw it over the first baseman's head on purpose. You still have to make the play in front of you. Base runners still have to slide to the bag or the plate if the situation calls for it. Outfielders still have to make throws to gun down runners going from first to third.
In the NHL and NBA, ASGs are a completely different animal than regular season games because no one plays defense. And I don't think the NFL should even have an All-Star Game.
Anyway, ASGs are like shinny in the NHL or pick-up game in the NBA, which is why 3-on-3 works so well in the NHL (more open ice) and the NBA should also consider going 3-on-3, streetball style.
Look, we don't need dinosaur centers like Drummond or Jordan or rim-protectors like Gobert (I just reeled off my three fantasy basketball centers). Rejections and offensive rebounds are nice, but fans don't pay big bucks to go see those guys swat away shots. They want to see balls go into the basket.
So how about a 3-on-3 tournament, division vs. division, like the NHL? So there are 6 divisions in the NBA, as opposed to 4 in the NHL. Let's do round robin first within the conference. And then the top two teams from each conference will be in the semifinals, playing the team from the opposite conference. The winners will square off in the final and of course, we could have two divisions from the same conference go at it.
Wouldn't you want to see these 3-on-3 teams? Harden-Doncic-AD (Southwest). LeBron-Curry-Booker (Pacific). Jokic-Westbrook-Dame (Northwest). Beal-Walker-Vucevic (Southeast). Giannis-Dipo-Griffin (Central). Kawhi-Embiid-Kyrie (Atlantic).
Of course, every team will be represented. PG-13 and KD both have to be at the ASG and we all know they can score buckets at will. For some grudge matches, how about putting KAT on Butler if their divisions collide?
Maybe 3-on-3 half-court won't necessarily make great TV, and fans on one end of the arena will mostly see the back of the players on offense, etc. Could the NBA set up the playing surface in the middle? Or play full-court 3-on-3??
Oh well, going back to hockey... maybe the NHL should return to having captains draft their own players from a pool of All-Stars voted in by fans or picked by the NHL, regardless of divisions and conferences. Did it for a few years earlier this decade.
For instance, MacKinnon is the Central Division captain. Maybe he'd pick Crosby for his team. Maybe Connor McDavid will select former teammate Taylor Hall.
And Auston Matthews should definitely pick Patrick Kane, so that when either of them scores, they can do this stuff together:
I've heard commentators talk about changes they'd like to see. One suggestion that caught my attention was this: the NHL should just select whatever number of best skaters out there, regardless of their positions (forwards or D). Since no one plays defense in these games anyway, we'd mostly end up with forwards (though a defenseman or two can warrant consideration, depending on the division) and coaches would just unleash them and let them do their thing.
I like this idea a lot, though, at least this season, there are enough D-men who've been scoring a ton of points that they deserve spots as much as any forwards out there.
My only peeve about 3-on-3 is that there are fewer roster spots to go around and it leaves more deserving players on the outside looking in than before.
And because every team has to be represented, someone like Morgan Rielly, who leads all defensmen in goals and points, isn't on the team (yet, because he can still be voted in) and Mitch can't squeeze his way in even though he's No. 6 in the league in points.
I understand why all teams should have at least one All-Star. Even fans of terrible teams should have something to look forward to in these things. Here I am whining about how there aren't enough spots for my Leafs because we're so good and all. But man, there were times when I was embarrassed about our All-Star selection. Leo Komarov was our lone All-Star only 3 years ago!!
I don't think there is anyone as egregiously bad on this year's team as Komarov back then. Clayton Keller of the Coyotes may have the most underwhelming numbers among all forwards but at least he's a talented young player who can entertain fans in 3-on-3 tournaments. Komarov is the type of player who would forecheck in these games because he has no other discernible skills to speak of.
(If I am making it sound like I hate Komarov, it's because I do.)
But to end this winding post on a more positive note... it's going to be great to see multiple Leafs at ASG for the first time since 2012 (Phaneuf, Kessel and the legendary Joffrey Lupul!)
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