First of all, I gotta give kudos to Raptors Repbulic for their own sched breakdown. That was concise, informative and easy to read. That's exactly what I was looking for.
Then I go to Shrug Smith's take on things...
An excerpt from Doug Smith’s Sports Blog:
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No, I did not watch a second of the TV show announcing the release of the NBA schedule — Mighty Navy Tigers were rolling to convincing victory — but, yes, I did look at the Raptors sked.
READER COMMENT: Yes Shrug Smith, us regular readers of the Star’s basketball coverage are well aware that you are not a die-hard bball fan. So no need to constantly remind us what losers we are for tuning in to see the announcement of the NBA sched. And yes, Shrug, we also know that you refuse to cover Summer League games because you think there’s no value in it – yet tons of GMs go there to evaluate because there’s no value in it.
And liked what I saw quite a bit. Not ready to say it’s the best schedule ever because they all seem to meld together
READER COMMENT: Oh, okay, this is promising. Just like the teaser headline to this article said: “Doug Smith breaks down the sched” Nice…
Now, I didn’t break it down like some to figure out wins and losses and what have you. Grunts Of A Certain Vintage look for other things and here’s some good and some bad from this angle:
READER COMMENT: Cool, sock it to me. I’m ready for some expert bball analysis. I’m not being sarcastic, I really am…
The Good
A one-game road trip to New York on Dec. 27 means home for the holidays and no Christmas Day flight.
READER COMMENT: Umm…okay, yeah, I guess that’s good for the team.
An easy one-gamer at Washington after the all-star break, an easy trip home from New Orleans.
No long West Coast grind right out of the chute (six of the first nine on the road is a bit of pain) and only two trips to California.
Enough afternoon games to ease any deadline stress.
READER COMMENT: Wait a second…are you telling me this whole sham of a column on the NBA sched analysis is all about how the new schedule impacts YOU as a writer? Are you seriously whining and analyzing the schedule to see how it can or can’t make your job (which is the greatest job in the world by the way) easier and less of a hassle? Are you serious? Wow Star. Wow.
Two nights off in San Francisco (three if we stay the extra day before Phoenix game) and well spaced-out western journeys not packed with back-to-backs.
The Bad
The lone trip to New Orleans ends a back-to-back, no long visit to Frenchman Street.
Yes, New Year’s Eve in Chicago might hold some promise but a Jan. 1 home game against Indiana kind of tempers that enthusiasm.
The Denver-Portland back-to-back that starts the Denver-Portland-Utah-Sacramento-Clippers odyssey has got a Lewis and Clark feel to early February.
Lots of December road games creates the potential for travel nightmares.
Yet another Miami-Orlando back-to-back and that’s a long boring drive between the cities.
So there you have it and here’s one for the TV folks to contemplate:
Next summer, instead of the studio talking heads putting in time discussing whatever it was they discussed, I’d bring in half a dozen beat writers and let us play “my schedule’s worse than yours.”
That’d be fun, no?
READER COMMENTS: Shrug man, seriously, you need to spend some time with some real regular Joe fans so you can lose this attitude where you are complaining about “my schedule’s worse than yours”. I know fans that have never gotten to see an NBA game, never mind get to fly across the U.S. to watch basketball for a living. This article right here highlights everything that is wrong with Shrug’s attitude. I wish Griff were a basketball fan…
Then I go to Shrug Smith's take on things...
An excerpt from Doug Smith’s Sports Blog:
-
No, I did not watch a second of the TV show announcing the release of the NBA schedule — Mighty Navy Tigers were rolling to convincing victory — but, yes, I did look at the Raptors sked.
READER COMMENT: Yes Shrug Smith, us regular readers of the Star’s basketball coverage are well aware that you are not a die-hard bball fan. So no need to constantly remind us what losers we are for tuning in to see the announcement of the NBA sched. And yes, Shrug, we also know that you refuse to cover Summer League games because you think there’s no value in it – yet tons of GMs go there to evaluate because there’s no value in it.
And liked what I saw quite a bit. Not ready to say it’s the best schedule ever because they all seem to meld together
READER COMMENT: Oh, okay, this is promising. Just like the teaser headline to this article said: “Doug Smith breaks down the sched” Nice…
Now, I didn’t break it down like some to figure out wins and losses and what have you. Grunts Of A Certain Vintage look for other things and here’s some good and some bad from this angle:
READER COMMENT: Cool, sock it to me. I’m ready for some expert bball analysis. I’m not being sarcastic, I really am…
The Good
A one-game road trip to New York on Dec. 27 means home for the holidays and no Christmas Day flight.
READER COMMENT: Umm…okay, yeah, I guess that’s good for the team.
An easy one-gamer at Washington after the all-star break, an easy trip home from New Orleans.
No long West Coast grind right out of the chute (six of the first nine on the road is a bit of pain) and only two trips to California.
Enough afternoon games to ease any deadline stress.
READER COMMENT: Wait a second…are you telling me this whole sham of a column on the NBA sched analysis is all about how the new schedule impacts YOU as a writer? Are you seriously whining and analyzing the schedule to see how it can or can’t make your job (which is the greatest job in the world by the way) easier and less of a hassle? Are you serious? Wow Star. Wow.
Two nights off in San Francisco (three if we stay the extra day before Phoenix game) and well spaced-out western journeys not packed with back-to-backs.
The Bad
The lone trip to New Orleans ends a back-to-back, no long visit to Frenchman Street.
Yes, New Year’s Eve in Chicago might hold some promise but a Jan. 1 home game against Indiana kind of tempers that enthusiasm.
The Denver-Portland back-to-back that starts the Denver-Portland-Utah-Sacramento-Clippers odyssey has got a Lewis and Clark feel to early February.
Lots of December road games creates the potential for travel nightmares.
Yet another Miami-Orlando back-to-back and that’s a long boring drive between the cities.
So there you have it and here’s one for the TV folks to contemplate:
Next summer, instead of the studio talking heads putting in time discussing whatever it was they discussed, I’d bring in half a dozen beat writers and let us play “my schedule’s worse than yours.”
That’d be fun, no?
READER COMMENTS: Shrug man, seriously, you need to spend some time with some real regular Joe fans so you can lose this attitude where you are complaining about “my schedule’s worse than yours”. I know fans that have never gotten to see an NBA game, never mind get to fly across the U.S. to watch basketball for a living. This article right here highlights everything that is wrong with Shrug’s attitude. I wish Griff were a basketball fan…
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