Carmichael Dave: Fox for Kyrie? Its A Great Way To Boost Your Website!
The NBA silly season used to last about 2 weeks, surrounding the draft and free agency. But with the NBA's efforts to follow the NFL's year-round policy on news cycles, we now have a silly season that damn near takes us from the end of one year to the start of the next.
Add in the necessity for certain writers, who rely on clicks to push advertising, and finish off the equation with virtually no recourse for false or stretched reporting, and this is what you get:
Kyrie Irving for De'Aaron Fox
Former NBA.com, Fox, and professional ethics-bender Sam Amico put that latest doozy up. This isn't the first time Amico has tangled with Kings fans, or even Kings media. Perhaps Amico's biggest claim to fame is sharing a similar name with one of the best journalists in the NBA, Sam AMICK.
Independent websites are fantastic, especially in the sports realm. With no agenda to have to pay off, no political relationships to adhere to, at their best, independent websites can be the best NBA coverage out there.
However, some independent websites choose to cut back on oversight. When you have one or two guys at the top, and their numbers are down, and they have unique-user goals to hit to satisfy their advertisers, you often get what we had over the weekend, also known as "click-bait".
When you use lines like "sources say", or "____team is expected to", you allow yourself all the wiggle room you need. If it doesn't happen, you can simply move on to the next story because hey! Short memories. But you get to take those web hits with you in the meantime.
As I said earlier, this isn't the first time Amico and Kings fans/media/bloggers have gone at it. About a year and a half ago, Sam was apparently feeling extra lazy, so he decided to copy and paste some stuff from local Kings site Sactown Royalty. One of the writers picked up on it:
Of course, Amico was caught dead to rights. Rather than explain and apologize for getting the attribution wrong (not putting it in), or 10000 different ways he could've easily cleaned it up, Amico went with the tried and true method- being a dick:
You get the idea.
By the way, I wasn't just going to do an article about the Kyrie/Fox rumor and not address it directly. Just wanted to give you a little background first.
For the record, according to MULTIPLE people within the Kings organization, there is no truth whatsoever to Amico's claim. There is no Fox for Kyrie deal being discussed, nor was there ever. Emphatically, no.
Devil's advocate: Teams will certainly steer media the wrong way on stuff like this, just because they deny it doesn't mean its so. But you get a feel for just how emphatic they are. First off, in this situation, they aren't going to want to make their franchise PG of the future, a guy they coveted before the draft even happened, uncomfortable out of the gate. Also, having 40 million dollars in point guard doesn't really fit in with their rebuild mantra.
Under normal circumstances, Kyrie for Fox would be a no-brainer. Could Fox eventually be better? Sure. But the odds of him being even EQUALLY good to Irving are low, and better would be even lower. That's the easy answer.
However-
Irving's contract runs 3 more years, at about 20 per. His presence on the Kings instantly adds a few more wins, but more than likely nowhere near enough to make the playoffs in the West. Fox will be hitting the very front of his prime when Irving's contract expires, and it will be much easier to retain the Kings' own rookie than Irving's deal.
In other words, why waste a prime draft asset, along with 60 million dollars, for three likely worthless years of Kyrie Irving? Not a smart move at all.
Nope, the only trade made over the weekend was a few web hits in exchange for a loss of credibility to be named later.
