Top 5 Worst Trades Made By The New York Knickerbockers in the Last 15 Years

Just to be clear this list could have been longer but I decided on 5 because each of these trades were made by different GMs and team presidents so I don't want this to be a hate fest (I'm looking at you Isiah!).

Let's start with an honorable mention:

The Tyson Chandler Trade

Tyson Chandler was traded along with Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks for Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, Samuel Dalembert, and two second rounders.

Tyson Chandler won Defensive Player of the Year after his first season with the Knicks. While here, he always seemed like he brought whatever it is that makes a team a title contender to the Knicks. The entire team was better defensively when he was on the floor. They won 54 games with him and their first playoff series in many years. But, let's be honest his thorough schooling in that second round Indiana series by Roy Hibbert (lol!) did him in as far as I'm concerned.

On the eve of his walk year the new Knicks president, Phil "11 rings" Jackson decided to begin his elaborate and exhausting rebuilding process by trading him. At the time Chandler was one of very few Knicks with any trade value. Surely there was a better trade to be made, such as one that was floated around that had Tyson going to the Thunder for a late first rounder or packaging him with Iman Shumpert for basically anyone or multiple first rounders.

The literal and figurative weight on the trade was Raymond Felton who was being run out of New York for basically being fat, slow, and no help. It also didn't help that he had a gun charge being brought against him.

Years later only Jose Calderon and one of those second rounders (Cleanthony Early) are on the Knicks roster.

The Jalen Rose Trade

Knicks acquire Jalen Rose and a 2006 first-rounder (Renaldo Balkman!) for Antonio Davis.

Well there's nothing too wrong with this trade except that it was Jalen Rose at the back end of his career with a lot of money owed for Antonio Davis, also at the back end of his career.

The problem I have is with the Puerto Rican Olympian, Renaldo Balkman. When you acquire a first rounder you want to get a guy that can at least develop into a solid regular in your rotation. Rajon Rondo was picked 21st and Kyle Lowry 24th. Balkman was picked 20th. The best thing that came out of Renaldo Balkman's career was Stephen A. Smith, straight frying him and Isiah right after the pick. This was back when Stephen A. Smith was entertaining and not pissing you off at 10am on your day off on First Take.

Now here's the five:

5. The Melo Trade

Knicks acquire Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman,Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams, and Corey Brewer in exchange for Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, and the reason why the Knicks hardly have any draft picks from here to my unborn child's graduation.

Now let me start off by saying I'm not one of those people that rue the day this trade happened. I love Melo and I love Melo on the Knicks. I still have faith in a future with Melo and KP. But, should he decide to waive his no-trade clause for a trade that favors both him and the Knicks I would gladly root for his success elsewhere. It does take a lot to deal with B.S. of being a Knick.

What upsets me with this trade is the ripple effect. If Melo would've waited until the end of the lockout and signed as a free agent all of the assets used in this trade may have been used in a trade for Chris Paul (preferably), Dwight Howard (begrudgingly), or some other unhappy star.

Chauncey Billups was a breath of fresh air, although Felton was almost All Star good that season. Billups had a team option for the post lockout season. The smart thing would have been to not pick up Billups option and amnesty Amare Stoudemire  freeing up more than $30 million in cap space. But instead they picked up Billups option and amnestied him a little while later to sign Tyson Chandler and we were stuck with Amare's ailing, uninsured knees.

The lack of draft picks suck as well. One of those picks will be discussed later in a another trade. But, not having a first round pick for most of the drafts in this decade doesn't help create any youth on your squad.

4.The T-Mac Trade 

Knicks acquire Tracy McGrady and Sergio Rodriguez in exchange forJordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, and a heavily conditional pick that eventually became Royce White this year

Man, if we could've gotten Tracy McGrady back in say 2005 or 2006 boy I would've been so hyped. When the Knicks got Tracy McGrady in 2010 the reaction of Knicks fans was like as if we had gotten him in 2005. The Knicks stunk and we have stunk for many years. Being a Knick fan is like being a fan of any other also-ran team in the city. It's like when the Jets get an over the hill running back or the Mets get a past his prime slugger. We always see the name and not the actually person.

The area of this trade I want to pick apart is Jordan Hill. Hill was the 7th pick of the draft that year. He was the consolation prize for basketball god Stephen Curry not dropping one more spot and punishment for not picking Brandon Jennings.

This trade was a salary dump in the futile labor of getting Lebron James and another big free agent in 2010. My biggest fear is the "what if" as in what if Steph would've gotten to his rightful place in the Garden would Jim Dolan (stupid on all things basketball) overrule Donnie Walsh (smart on all things basketball) and included Stephen Curry in this trade or the Melo trade for that matter.

3. The Marbury Trade
 Knicks acquire Stephon Marbury, Penny Hardaway, and Cezary Trybanski in exchange for Antonio McDyess, Howard Eisley, Maciej Lampe, Charlie Ward, the rights to Milos Vujanic, a 2004 first-rounder (Kirk Snyder) and a heavily protected first-rounder that eventually became Gordon Hayward in 2010, and $3 million.

This was like the Melo trade except a very poor man's Melo trade. We all as Knicks fans were very optimistic about the team when Isiah took over. He couldn't be any worse than Scott Layden right? Right?

Well they were about even, only difference was Thomas was given a longer leash. So, let's go back shall we to the time of Zeke optimism.

Marbury had just come off a great playoff series against the eventual champion Spurs. His career seemed like it was on the path to him becoming a solid lead guard for any team. Any team in China I suppose. He was a star in high school in the city and was basically traded for the real 2001-2002 MVP Jason Kidd straight up so it seem like things were looking up for the Knicks.

You had an hometown kid as the first building block in a rebuild, this was the first move to be followed by a bunch of other solid moves. Wrong, this was the first bad move to be followed by a ton of other bad moves. This trade also includes a draft pick that only came into fruition 6 years later. How does one make a move that impacts you 6 years later? Does anyone actually know where they're going to be in 6 years? I guess Isiah thought he wasn't going to be with the Knicks. Well he was kind of right.

1B. The Bargnani trade

Bargnani trade- Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, a 2016 first round pick for Andrea Bargnani

Thank goodness Kristaps Porzingis was in the 2015 draft and not the 2016 draft. Well I guess you'd have to thank the Stepian Rule which bars you from trading first round picks in consecutive years. That's crazy because prior to this trade the Knicks would've had picks in consecutive years albeit with the condition that if Denver fell lower in the draft than the Knicks, they would get to swap picks. 

If this trade wouldn't have happened things would be pretty alright for the Knicks because they're pretty bad but Denver is worst at the moment so we would've ended up with at least lottery pick. 

Jim Dolan fired Glen Grunwald in 2013 after a delightful 54 win season and division title to match. We were all puzzled as to why. I now realize that this is that "Why?". We had heard for a while that the biggest waste of a first overall pick since Kwame Brown, Andrea Bargagni was being offered in trades as part of a salary dump by the original Knicks asset burglar Masai Ujiri.

When you have a former number one pick that hasn't even sniffed an all star game nor portrayed himself as serviceable NBA player on the trading block, you have to make that trade. Apparently Grunwald thought so. There it was, this is the big piece we acquired to get to the next level. It was someone virtually nobody wanted. We traded our first rounder for him. When the trade was made I could swear it was the Knicks that acquired Toronto's first rounder, but I was wrong. I think we actually gave up a second round pick as well.

Bargnani was actually waived and is now available for the league minimum. Shame on you Glen.

1A The Eddy Curry trade

Knicks acquire Eddy Curry, Antonio Davis, and the right to swap 2007 first-rounders with the Bulls (ended up being Wilson Chandler) in exchange for Tim Thomas, Mike Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, pick swaps in 2006 and 2007 that ended up being LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah, a 2007 second-rounder (Kyrylo Fesenko), and a 2009 second-rounder (Jon Brockman).

I always said that should Isiah Thomas ever return to the Knicks in any capacity that he be required to give the MSG Network an hour long interview explaining each of his terrible trades with Al Trautwig as the host as well as Wally Sczerbiak and Alan Hahn analyzing each response. 

This trade should be discussed for at least 20 minutes of that interview.

Well let's break down the silver linings of the trade; you got rid of the gelatinous Mike Sweetney, got Antonio Davis who seems like a nice guy and was probably a good veteran for the locker room, and later acquired Wilson Chandler who was super talented and well liked during his time with the Knicks.

The bad of this trade far outweighs the good  of it. You got rid of the gelatinous Mike Sweetney but you gained the far more gelatinous Eddy Curry and his heart defect. You lose out on not only 2nd overall pick LaMarcus Aldridge but future Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah. Noah would've been an All Star a billion times over if he'd gotten to us. It would've been Linsanity but an actual Linsanity that was deserved. I will hate this trade until the Knicks actually win a championship and probably still find a reason to bitch and moan about it.

So there you have it a full recipe for a team barren of draft picks, playoff appearances, and hope. 

Breaking Down the Myth of Men's Infatuation

Time and time again I hear women talk about how man are only interested in sex and we only think about sex.

That is somewhat true, there is obviously an initial attraction because after all a woman chooses a man and not the other way around.

I could talk to the next hundred women I find attractive and maybe get a number from twenty or so.

What I want to disprove is the idea that men only view women as sex objects...from the get go.

Women don't understand that we are much like animals. Us talking to you is part of our mating ritual. We are trying to find our mate when we approach you, talk to you, and get your number.

Here's another secret, guys actually talk you up to their friends. I can't even count the amount of times my friends or myself have talked about girl who we have just met as though she was the girl Jesus has been saving us for.

We'd talk about how she looks, where she works, what she's doing with her life.

Now you might be asking, where does that interest go?

Away. That's where it goes and it was probably your fault. As a matter of fact it was quite likely your fault.

I liken a man's infatuation with a certain female as if they were an NBA team with a top 5 pick. Not the #1 pick but a top 5 pick nonetheless.

The number 5 pick you at least expect to be very good, may not be your franchise player but will at the very least be good.

Men's infatuation with a certain woman maintains or declines as such:

Franchise Player: Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade was the fifth overall pick in 2003 by the Miami Heat out of Marquette. He was drafted behind Lebron, Melo, Chris Bosh, and somehow someway Darko "Playing in Serbia Right Now" Milicic. The Heat expected him to be a franchise point guard for years to come. He changed positions, won 3 NBA titles and played in 5 NBA Finals overall. He will go down as a top 5 shooting guard in NBA history behind MJ and Kobe.

Just about every girl we meet we to be that Dwyane Wade and far exceed expectations. This is the girl who you like to hang out with, light up when she texts you, and is basically your ride or die. Wade turned down a lot of money to remain in Miami, so he's pretty ride or die.

Most importantly she's into a lot of the stuff you're into. She love the teams you like, music you like, everything. I met this one girl who loved the Tom Green classic critical nightmare "Freddy Got Fingered" which was a movie I thought nobody liked but me. True story: my PS2 was my first DVD player and I bought the movie at Best Buy for $5 and watched it 40 times(I counted) in a span of 3 days. That girl was a keeper.

Star Player: Joakim Noah

Noah was a Knick pick that Isaiah Thomas traded away and nothing else to me. But, to everyone else he is the 2013-14 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and an intricate part of the Chicago Bulls throughout Derrick Rose's injury issues these past few years.

So this girl isn't the one you'd turn down tickets to a football game for but you will turn down a night out with your boys for. I had a friend turn down going out with us to go to Costco with a lady, so I guess it was pretty serious.

Starter: Danillo Gallinari

She is not the one you want but she's getting the job done. You talk about her good qualities. Gallo was tall and could shoot so you could talk yourself into thinking he was the next Dirk Nowitzki.

This girl is boring as hell but you know if you hit up her on Facebook she'll respond. She works at Footlocker so she can hold back a pair of those retro Jordans on Saturday so you keep her around.

Sixth Man: DJ Augustin

Just as DJ Augustin is always available somehow when your point guard is injured and you need depth, so is this broad. She's your sixth man, she's your microwave because she can heat up at any second.

But, you leave her out there too long she can become the detriment. Just like you can throw too much trust into your sixth man and leave him out there to yak up brick after brick, you can do the same with this girl.

She fits her purpose but feels as though she should be one of the three mentioned above and may try to force the situation. I had a friend have a sixth man girl force her way into being his star player and his team is still rebuilding to this day.

Role Player: Emeka Okafor

I picked Emeka Okafor for this spot because at some point he was all of these. This is the last valuable position.

He will text you from time to time especially when he is in a drought, not even a sex drought, like a "wow my phone is really dry, when's the last time I talked to a girl" drought. You've been broken down to a basic use, like a role player: we need threes, that's your role, we need to defend the paint, that's your role etc.

OUT OF THE LEAGUE: Darko Milicic

Would you look at that, number 2 overall. The best player in the league drafted ahead of you, NBA champions and a scoring champion drafted right behind you. What are you up to? Nothing. Nobody wants you.

This girl is so boring you ignore her texts whereas you used to at least acknowledge her with short messages to wet her beak. She has no sneaker hookups, phone hookups, food hookups or any hookups whatsoever.

So what is left? The sex, which for this girl, a lot is left to be desired. If the question is to hook up with her you tell yourself  that you've hooked up with worst but at the same time you've hooked up with much better. After careful evaluation, you ultimately pass.

So there you have it.

When we meet and flirt with women we have such high expectations for you until you give us reasons not too. At the same time I'm pretty sure it is the same for women when meeting men except women's expectations are way too high to begin with.

Things Black People Usually Don't Like That Suge Does

In a new weekly column here I've decided to end racism in baby steps. Even though in the past we've talked about racism a little on here and here.

So every week I will talk about three things that aren't popular with black people in general but quite popular with this black person.

1. Hockey

Well not all hockey. I'm not going to be watching random hockey games on the NHL Network. But, I am a huge New York Rangers fan. I've been following the team since the NHL returned back in 2005 from a season long lockout. I usually would only watch during the playoffs because playoff hockey is a million times more intense, maybe because there is no shootouts or ties. I started to watch regular season games coincidentally because of the NBA's lockout in 2011. That year the Rangers led the Eastern Conference in wins and points, we even made it to the Conference Final. Last season the team went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final on the backs of goaltender Henriq Lundqvist and eventual captain Ryan McDonough. They even have a rookie black dude on the team named Anthony Duclair who is highly regarded.

2.It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I have a unique sense of humor in that I find ubiquitous humor, things make me laugh in the most random places. Good humor, corny humor, all humor. "Sunny" is a show about four people who own a bar along with the man who raised two of them. The auxiliary characters are unforgettable. The titles of the episodes are simple such as "The Gang Buys A Boat" yet the episode itself is far more complex. As soon as I finish season 10 on Netflix I will be writing a list of my ten favorite episodes. I actually started watching this show by way of me watching a movie on FX, leaving to take a shower then returning to find cable TV's best comedy and being hooked. I even dressed up as Charlie for Halloween last year.

3.Portlandia

Now this show took me by surprise because it seemed like something I would never watch. I was a fan of Fred Armison from his days on Saturday Night Live. He and Carrie Brownstein make one hell of a team. The sketches on the show are humorous satire on hipster culture and make you admire the unique weirdness that is Portland, Oregon. Watch one episode and if you don't laugh, I don't know what to tell you.

So til next time, here's a pic of me as Charlie.

Basic Cable Porn: A Comprehensive Power Ranking

Coming of Age

A term that has been used to describe the growth from adolescence to adulthood. Boyhood to manhood.

Just the other day I was thinking about this period of time in my own life. I was cruising through YouTube out of boredom and found myself watching an old episode of Baywatch that featured Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Ric Flair. But what I failed to realize was that it had Pamela Anderson before at least 3 unneeded breast augmentations. It also had the angelic Yasmine Bleeth, the BASEketball beauty.

I might sound like the old man telling kids, "In my day...", but what is true is that future generations from here on out will not know the...let's say "pleasure" you got from places other than the internet.

You'd read your mother or sister's Victoria Secret catalog or got your hands on the Sports Illustrate Swimsuit Edition, Maxim, or FHM.

For those fortunate as myself you could look no further than your cable television package. Especially, if also like me, you had your own TV in your bedroom.

What I have done is comprised a list of Cable TV shows that were as close to porn as you can get.

9. Desperate Housewives

Well this was on ABC so you didn't even need cable to watch this . Every main female character on this show was quite gorgeous except for Felicity Huffman, well they needed to level off somewhere. We never saw the Real Lois Lane, Teri Hatcher, in her undies but we saw plenty of Eva Longoria. Eva was fine but I have a thing for red heads. The one episode where Marcia Cross surprised her husband in a hotel room remains an all-timer for me. The fact that this show moved it's storylines from sex to god knows what shied me away in its later years hence its low ranking.

8. Wild On

Wild On was a travel show on E! hosted by several different hotties and featured several diffrent hotties in different locales with said host hotties. There were bikinis and sexy club outfits. A great watch on a late Saturday night for teenage boys. It was also the pregame for the next entry on the list.

7. Girls Gone Wild Paid Programming Commercials.

These infomercials included the wild parties where girls would show some boobs for beads, shirts, or a ham sandwich, maybe. Only problem with this was the boner killer that was the guy that ran GGW, Joe Francis. He looked like the guy that would be running GGW, that's the creepy thing about him. He looked like the type of guy that felt girls up when they were passed out drunk. Later in life I watched a full GGW feature and the infomercials were a lot better. The setup was a bus or hotel room and a drunk/uncomfortable girl. Thank god this fad faded.

6.  Syndicated Dating Shows

These shows included Blind Date, Elimidate, and the 5th Wheel. They were everywhere, channel 9, cable, Telemundo maybe. This was during the early part of reality television so there was a lot of luster to watching real people do stuff. Giving a rough estimate I'd say 84% of the women on these shows were hotties. They had Jacuzzis and bikinis. Blind Date had those funny cartoons and captions on the screen so it also had entertainment value.

5.  Undressed

MTV experimented with a show called Undressed. It was a late night soap opera that followed their 10-10:30pm timeslot known as the 10 Spot. It was like porn in that it had amateur acting. In retrospect it had all the stuff porn did before the sex. I found out that Christina Hendricks was on this show, let that sink in, Joan from Mad Men was on a show about sex and you missed it because this show stunk.

4.Wrestling

At this time there were three wrestling promotions, WWF/E, WCW, and ECW. Unlike today where WWE promotes a PG style of programming, all of the promotions were trying to outdo each other and push limits. WCW had Nitro Girls. WWE had Sable, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, and Torrie Wilson. ECW had Dawn Marie and Francine. The thing about Francine and Dawn Marie was that if you found an episode of BangBus from 2000 and one or both were on it, it would not surprise me one bit.

3. Baywatch Re-runs

While I am old enough to remember Baywatch from its first run. When TNN (now known as Spike) showed re-runs as part of their re-brand as a male focused network I enjoyed coming home from school and watching it more than I did then. There was a perennial torch passed from hot lifeguard to hot lifeguard in the history of this show. From Erika Eleniak to Pamela Anderson to Carmen Electra and so on.

2. BET Uncut

Some of you may not know what BET Uncut was, especially if you didn't watch BET. Odds are you discovered it during the summer because it came on at 2am. It featured music videos that were too racy for TV or uncut versions of music videos that had been edited down for TV. Eventually the video block disappeared not because of its content but the trend of music channels distancing themselves from...well, music.

"Oh that's your girl, N***a you ain't heard, she naked in my studio, I'm on my Howard Stern shit"

-Big Sean

1. The Howard Stern Show

He had porn stars, nude models, and all kinds of strippers on his show. Looking back on it I wonder what it was like to listen to this on the radio, couldn't be as enjoyable. The only thing I didn't care for was this one stripper with this ridiculously mousy voice. Other than that I was introduced to a bunch of porn stars I never knew. I still have yet to go to Score's here in New York but Stern definitely put them on the map. Last but not least, he had chicks riding the Sybian, a god damn Sybian on TV.

Your Favorite Rapper's Favorite Rapper

The Black Man: America's Stray Dog

By Shaebaun "Suge" Benjamin

Should I begin this by listing the names of young black men who were killed by police officers, authority figures, or self proclaimed vigilantes?

That list is too damn long. If you go on Wikipedia and look up the recorded lynchings of black men since the civil war, the one's listed are only a small percentage of those that actually occurred.

In the past few weeks we have seen Michael Brown murdered and another young black man named John Crawford III. Who is Michael Brown? A young man who may have spent this week packing up and getting ready for his first semester of college.

In reaction to his death his mother spoke through tears about how it was difficult to raise Michael in the straight and narrow while keeping him from falling into the community around him. Michael graduated high school and had dreams of being an engineer not an athlete, rapper, or drug dealer.

He was murdered as he walked home from the store which follows the narrative that goes with one of these murders. "I'm going to the store and coming right back" sounds simple enough for anyone who's not a black man.

Crawford was killed in an Ohio Walmart for opening a toy gun he had bought and told the officers that approached him that it was not real and they proceeded to shoot him anyway.

There is an inherent fear of the black male in American society. The late comedian Patrice O'Neal talked about it in one bit called the "Pepsi Can Rapist". In it he talks about how when in an elevator with a white woman, the woman clutches her purse and is scared yet coincidentally he is thinking "God, please let this white woman get home safely so I'm not the prime suspect in whatever happens to her".

There has been many a time I've walked around the city, malls, different places and I feel the need to slow down how I walk in fear that I am making the person walking in front of me afraid. You read that right, I am in fear of their fear of me. Some may say if you're not guilty of anything you shouldn't be paranoid but when the Michael Browns and Trayvon Martins of the world are being killed without cause and there are laws like New York City's "Stop & Frisk" where an officer can stop and search you like a criminal without justification, you can't help but feel a little paranoid.

Michael and Trayvon's death follows a long history of black youths being made examples of. Emmett Till was just 15 when he was murdered by a group of white men for making a pass at one's wife in 1955. He was taken from his uncle's house in the middle of the night and the men were all acquitted even with overwhelming evidence.

The methods have changed but the outcomes have not. They can't grab you out of your homes as they did in the Jim Crow south but they still face no real consequence for exterminating us. That's when you have to ask what is the value of a black man's life in today's society?

Eric Garner was a 43 year old husband, father, and grandfather who made a living selling cigarettes wholesale, a non-violent crime that cost him his life by police officers in Staten Island, NY. There is footage of his murder and the events leading to the police officer putting a choke hold that is not part of NYPD procedure.

This case like many others involving officers will likely see these officers not face much penalties.

People like George Zimmerman and the murdering officers view black men as menaces, savages, or stray dogs. They fail to realize that we are people with lives and families that care for us and us for them. Oscar Grant had a daughter, Eric Garner had grandchildren, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown were sons that had parents. Grant's daughter has no father. Garner's grandkids have no grandpa. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin no longer have their son and neither does Lesley McSpadden. 

People ask why is there only an uproar when a young black is killed by a non-black but none when blacks kill other blacks?

Stray dogs. When two stray dogs maul each other on the street there is no issue but once a human gets involved then it is a crime. America cares not for the kids in Chicago killing each other because you never see the gun rights activists step up to the pulpit  fighting for the civilians in Chicago who aren't part of the violence to have guns to protect themselves from the world of crime and gang violence around them.

When I expressed my disappointment in the George Zimmerman ruling I said "How am I going to explain to my future son that his life means nothing in America", a white woman responded to me by saying "But we have a black president?" as if Barack Obama's election ended all the racism in America.

That statement in of itself shows that the ignorance will continue.

Martin Luther King Jr. and others started the work but we still have to eradicate the ignorance and intolerance of these oppressors.

The people of Ferguson took to the streets and rioted in retaliation for Brown's death. But if our history shows us anything it is that non-violence and turning the other cheek gains much more results. By letting the oppressor show what they conceive as their might and by displaying our resistance we make them look much worst to an outside eye.

Until there is a day young black men like myself can walk out the door without the fear feeling it may be the last we see our loved ones and them seeing us, America will not be at peace and racism will not be dead and buried as it should.

If I Was the Commissioner

By Shaebaun "Suge" Benjamin

It's been a little slow here at Hard Magazine because I'm getting ready for a two week vacation and finding plane tickets for the right price is getting to be a pain, but, here is my bit for the week.

I was watching a show on NBATV called Open Court that features former NBA players discussing different topics in an open forum. 

One question posed by the moderator Ernie Johnson was what each person would change about the NBA if he were the commissioner. That got me thinking about what I would change about the NBA, but, then I thought about other sports as well.

I can't really discuss hockey though I am a huge New York Rangers fan but I will talk about the other major sports as well as MLS since soccer is getting ever so popular on this side of the Atlantic.

NFL

Let's start with the nation's most popular sport beginning with the offseason.

I would make the NFL Combine a two week to month long event and make it televised so that when you watch the draft or undrafted free agent pick ups, you could say "I remember that kid benched 8 plates for 25 reps" or "that guy ran faster than every dude picked."

I would make the NFL season still be 16 games but add in another bye week so there would be 18 weeks in a season. 

I don't know about adding to the playoffs unless maybe adding two wild cards and giving the four division winners a bye but then the two top seeds in the conference would have two full weeks off and then if they were to make it to the Super Bowl have another two weeks off, that would mean three football games played in a month and a half. It doesn't really work in college football and would elongate the NFL season.

One thing I would change in the postseason is dropping the Pro Bowl altogether. One idea that may be possible is replacing it with a sort of a consolation game between the NFC and AFC runner-ups. The World Cup does it. Not only could it be popular but also be real football with no restrictions whatsoever with players still bitter that they didn't make it to the big game.

NBA

The NBA season should start on Christmas Eve and end sometime in July. I would also lower the amount of the games from 82 to 66 which could reduce some injuries.

When I say I would start the season on Christmas Eve, all games would be against divisional opponents or teams that are only two or less hours flight time from each other like Dallas and OKC or Nets and Knicks.

Fourth of July would be the first day of the Finals. Having the Finals in July would kill the idea of July being the most boring sports month. The draft and free agency would start right after Finals.

 Draft night would be the day after the scheduled Game 7 date and free agency would start right after the Finals and the amount of exclusive time a team has with their own player is cut from 10 days to 5. The reason for this is that with a salary cap, the amount of teams a player can choose from is as little as 2 or 3 anyhow.

Instead of a Trade Deadline I would have 2 two week long trade windows much like in international soccer they have transfer windows. You'd have the entire offseason until the start of the season to make trades, then the week of and after the All Star break and the two weeks leading to the playoffs.

I also agree with Adam Silver attempting to make All Star Weekend a week long affair. It would be fun for the host city much like the two weeks before the Super Bowl. For the players it would be extra rest. For front offices it would be time to prepare for the trade windows.

To fill in time that week, I would make the Rookie/Sophomore game a four team tournament over three days and the other All Star festivities filled in between.

MLB

Now to my favorite sport. I don't really like the commissioner we have as is. I also will not discuss the involvement of PED's, if you want to hear my thoughts on that read here. 

I have no problem with the All Star Game being played for homefield advantage in the World Series. The system before was nonsense. The homefield was alternated every other year so basically people's arguments against it and wanting the old institution is "I hope my team makes it to the World Series in an odd number year" against "I hope my team's league wins the All Star Game so if we get to the World Series games 1 & 7  is at our park." I do wish that they'd get rid of the "every team has to be represented" rule. There's no rule like that in the Pro Bowl and each conference has 50 or so players opposed to the 35 in baseball.

They could also add a few more events to the festivities aside from the Home Run Derby. Pitching Accuracy, Outfield Arm Strength, and Baserunning Races would be nice.

Something that irked me was a game played the night before the All Star Break. The Yankees lost to the Orioles in a rain shortened game, 3-1. The Yankees are currently in second place in the AL East. If they end the season one game behind Baltimore we can look back at this game and say these two teams play each other 19 times and MLB wants to emphasize winning the division rather than getting in as a wild card so why didn’t they play out that game another time. I would make it so that any intra-divisional game cannot be called after 5 innings due to rain or any other reason. The game will be subject to be suspended and be resumed at a later date.

Draft picks should only be connected to players somewhat if at all. No team should have to forfeit draft picks to sign players, teams that lose players should gain compensatory picks without the team gaining the players losing picks.

Other small things such as having a few more day games during the playoffs would be nice for kids to become more interested in the sport. I remember watching the 2003 and 2004 ALCS's at age 13 & 14 and having stay up as late as 1:00am and 2:00am to watch my Yankees play which is crazy for a freshman in high school let alone a kid in elementary or middle school.

MLS

If you are still with me, bear with me if you have little interest in MLS or soccer in general. The sport has grown from 10 teams and many ups and downs to a 19 team league. By 2017 there will be 23 teams.

International stars such as David Beckham and Thierry Henry have played in the MLS as well as our country's own stars like Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan.

My ideas for this league, unlike the others, are how to make the league grow and not fix flaws. 

I would continue to add teams, mostly in the under populated midwest as there are only teams in the Chicago and Kansas City. Perhaps in St. Louis, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota. The south will have teams in Orlando, Miami, and Atlanta soon.

The league institutes a designated player rule where a player can be signed with a salary that doesn't count against the salary cap with many restrictions as to who fits the requirements. I would do away with the whole thing.

Instead I would let each team have a $50 million budget for each international transfer window and raise the salary cap from $10 million to $20-25 million with increases as the league grows.

I would get the league in line with the other prominent soccer leagues around the globe by making the winner of the MLS Cup the team with the most points during the season and have the MLS teams play in an in season tournament for a secondary cup along with the US Open cup.

If you have any other ideas or disagreements for my changes let me know in the comments below.