Metta World Peace: A Glimpse into the Sorry State of the NBA

I'm not mad at Metta World Peace. I don't even feel disgraced by his elbow to James Harden's head on Sunday. In fact, I almost like it.

Just as in the aftermath of the Palace brawl in 2004 that essentially ruined the Indiana Pacers' franchise for several years, MWP is being vilified for his actions and rightfully so, to a certain point.

Put honestly, the NBA has turned into a joke. It's a culture of self-promotion and isolation offenses that has been built around players with less loyalty than Napoleon Bonaparte. If you're a fan of the game of basketball, the league has been difficult to watch for several years now and there are a number of people to blame.

MWP's role in the brawl in Detroit was overplayed because of a negative image within the league that he carried. He was provoked while trying to avoid conflict, and once you turn Ron loose there is no turning back. That is still his fatal flaw.

There is a video that has been circulating in the aftermath of Sunday showing a blatant elbow that Kobe Bryant threw to MWP's chin during a playoff series between the Lakers and Rockets. Ron argues for a call, then goes right over and takes Kobe to task for the dirty play. But those aren't the kind of calls that a guy like Bryant get; they're left for players we hold bias against. Artest ended up getting the boot after taking an elbow to the chin. 

This isn't hockey, and I understand that, but it also isn't water polo. The NBA gained its prominence when players showed emotion and there were heated rivalries. Magic versus Bird, the Knicks and Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan against everyone else...these are the reasons the Finals are no longer tape delayed and the league has forgotten it. 

The players are almost all friends now. Gone are the days where a guy like LeBron James wants to show he is better than Dwayne Wade and play against him. They just team up and try to dominate that way. 

And commissioner David Stern loves it. Because he knows the most money comes from the big markets in which the players want to join forces. It's why he blocked the Hornets-Lakers trade in favor of a deal that sent Chris Paul to the Clippers; it created yet another big-market contender.

How does this relate to the People's Elbow thrown by MWP on Sunday? 

Emotion.

Fire.

Intensity.

When he reverted back to Ron Artest for that split second, MWP effectively said, "Move or be moved." He felt something in his way and he did what he had to do to clear it out. Should he have been smarter than that?  Absolutely. But just because he wasn't doesn't make him public enemy No. 1.

It makes him possibly the one player in the league who doesn't flop and whine and cry about everything. 

If MWP sits an entire seven-game playoff series for this it will be a travesty by David Stern. Less than five is the right number for a player who balls with vigorous fire and is the last of an extinct breed in the soft new NBA.