Sunday Thought - Blogging and the NBA

Were NBA teams hesitant to take on a blogger like Benson?

It’s an interesting topic and one that made me contemplate blogging in the NBA in general.

Are teams reluctant to take a chance on a player who not only talks ball on the court, but off of it as well?

Tough to say.

However given the reluctance of many traditional sports media types to even enter the "blogging game," it wouldn’t surprise me if the old guard of NBA coaches and execs were similarly hesitant.

Which really is too bad isn’t it?

I mean David Stern has constantly pushed the boundaries in the NBA in terms of trying to get fans "up close and personal" with the game, from new camera ideas to putting mics on coaches and refs. So wouldn’t blogging be a natural extension of this?

It would seem so, but maybe there’s a thin line between fans getting close…and then getting too close.

After all, even five years ago if two rookies had been kicked out of the rookie symposium, it wouldn’t have garnered much attention. Sure, ESPN.com would have run a story, and it would have been a topic of discussion, but now with the amount of online resources, a story like this goes from a small debacle…to something like this.

Is the sort of thing NBA teams are afraid of?

If so, it’s really too bad as wouldn’t having a "designated blogger" on each NBA team be a great marketing ploy for the league? They could offer insight into the game that few others could provide and it would be a ground breaking experiment in pro sports.

It would be much like each fan having a courtside seat to an NBA game. In fact, part of the reason fans love to sit courtside is not only to see things up close, but also to hear things as well. From the banter between players and refs, to coaches and players getting in heated discussions, it’s these parts of the game that are so intriguing to the common fan and something that most usually don’t have access to.

Of course there would have to be some boundaries placed on these "team bloggers" but considering Gilbert Arenas’ colourful column for NBA.com, the restrictions wouldn’t even have to be that tight.

In any event, it’s an interesting idea and perhaps down the road, something the NBA will look into.

And if that’s the case, who would be the man behind the laptop for the Raptors?

My vote goes to Sam Mitchell.

FRANCHISE