This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The war against the machines has begun, and you might have missed the first cries of battle.
Forget our national schism, the protests on the streets in cities across the country, these remorseless, robotic monsters are the ones coming to destroy your way of life right down to the very newsprint upon which these words live.
But fear not. There will be no waiting for the savior foretold in the prophecies. We have our hero. We know his name. It is he, Mark Cuban, of Dallas, Texas, USA.
Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, took it upon himself to lead the charge against the robo-journalists of the apocalypse, digging his heels in on what he sees as the slippery slope in a world where computers and automated reporting completely replace the ink-stained piles of flesh and blood on press row.
It is a sentiment, prima facie, this living, breathing human writer appreciates. Unlike the machines, we require food to survive and, aside from the occasional press box meal, the stuff isn't free. But we do take exception with Cuban's weapon of choice on the front lines of this bizarre battle: human sacrifice.
To make his point, his stand against the march of the machines, Cuban says he decided last week to revoke the season credentials of two respected ESPN reporters, Tim MacMahon and Marc Stein, upon finding out that the sports conglomerate would be relying on wire services for game coverage of 19 of the 30 teams in the NBA.
"Maybe I will be wrong but I see a direct path from the trends in coverage of games we are seeing over the last couple years to the automation of reporting on games and the curation of related content," Cuban wrote in an email to the Associated Press.
This, shall we say, does not compute.
ESPN has never employed a beat writer for each team in the league, instead assigning individual reporters to basketball's high-profile outposts — Golden State, Los Angeles, New York, Oklahoma City and, yes, Dallas — and relying on the Associated Press to supply reports from the remaining markets. It is true the AP now uses the algorithms inside something called Automated Insights to generate stories from minor league baseball games, but the AP employs warm-blooded writers in every market to cover every NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL game played.
That certainly throws Cuban's true motives into question.
It seems Cuban is miffed about a lack of coverage. The Mavericks, the 2011 NBA champions and postseason regular over the past 15 years, currently sit at 2-6 on the young season, good only for 14th in the West. As such, ESPN was poised to reallocate its assets some, taking MacMahon out of Dallas on occasion to provide better coverage of Western Conference teams without full-time ESPN reporters assigned to them — teams such as the Jazz.
Late Friday, Cuban announced he had lifted his ban after ESPN apparently agreed to use "links to local and team provided coverage of every NBA game" on its website. Now these men can finally get back into the arena and back onto press row. In the battle against the bots, that's where good reporters like MacMahon and Stein excel: developing relationships, spotting curious tidbits on the sidelines, then breaking news and crafting interesting reports, stories told with heart.
Everyone, man and machine, should be able to see that.
Twitter: @aaronfalk NBA Power Rankings
1. Cleveland Cavaliers • A trip to the White House and a place atop the Power Rankings? What a week.
2. Golden State Warriors • A blowout loss to the Spurs is one thing, but a blowout loss to the Lakers drops you down a spot.
3. Los Angeles Clippers • Doc Rivers' crew has won four straight and looks as good as the two teams above them in these rankings.
4. Houston Rockets • James Harden says he's not only the best point guard in the game, he's the best player period.
5. Oklahoma City Thunder • The Russell Westbrook show is must-watch TV and has the Thunder hanging with the West's best.
6. San Antonio Spurs • Tim Duncan's old teammates have looked human to start the season.
7. Toronto Raptors • DeMar DeRozan is unstoppable, just ask the Oklahoma City Thunder.
8. Utah Jazz • Gordon Hayward's return helped the Jazz pick up two quick victories at the start of their East Coast road trip.
9. Charlotte Hornets • Kemba Walker showed his stuff in a win over a tough Jazz team.
10. Atlanta Hawks • Give some serious credit to the Hawks' bench for the teams 6-2 start.
11. Portland Trail Blazers • Coming off a beatdown at the hands of the Clippers, but Lillard and McCollum still make them a force.
12. Chicago Bulls • Dwyane Wade got some revenge in his return to south Florida.
13. Detroit Pistons • Stan Van Gundy was outraged over Donald Trump's election, and won't be that pleased with a .500 start either.
14. Los Angeles Lakers • Luke Walton has racked up five wins two weeks into his rebuild of a 17-win team from a season ago.
15. Memphis Grizzlies • Chandler Parson's debut is a reason to cheer at the Grindhouse.
16. Boston Celtics • The guys in green have struggled out of the gate, but Brad Stevens can still right the ship.
17. Milwaukee Bucks • Just dropped a game to the previously winless Pellies, but Jabari Parker has been terrific.
18. Sacramento Kings • DeMarcus Cousins is a force at center, and reports suggest that could force the Kings to deal Willie Cauley-Stein.
19. Denver Nuggets • Mike Malone is protesting a blown call in a last-second loss at Memphis that dropped the Nugs to 3-5.
20. Indiana Pacers • Needed overtime to pull away from the winless 76ers.
21. New York Knicks • Claimed a Subway series win over the Nets, but Jeff Hornacek's team has a long ways to go still.
22. Brooklyn Nets • Sorely missing Jeremy Lin, who is out with a sore hamstring.
23. Dallas Mavericks • Dirk and Co. just barely picked up win No. 2.
24. Orlando Magic • Defense has been a struggle in the land of Disney.
25. Miami Heat • Dwyane Wade just handed his old team its third straight loss with Goran Dragic still sidelined.
26. Phoenix Suns • Devin Booker needs to be lights out every night to give Earl Watson's young club a chance.
27. Minnesota Timberwolves • The young wolf cubs only have a pair of victories, but they can still bite on any given night.
28. Washington Wizards • A 2-5 start with an all-star caliber backcourt was not what Scott Brooks had in mind.
29. New Orleans Pelicans • Rejoice! For Anthony Davis hath finally won a game.
30. Philadelphia 76ers • Joel Embiid might start playing back-to-backs soon, but the Sixers really need him to play every position. —
Three-pointers
LeBron James and the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers made their trip to meet President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. They will be the last basketball champs Obama welcomes to the White House, and with Donald Trump's election to the presidency, former Jazzman Richard Jefferson suggested it might be a while before another NBA team opts to make the honorary trip to our nation's capital.
"Words cannot express the honor I feel being the last team to visit the White House tomorrow," Jefferson wrote in a post on the social media app Snapchat.
—
After four seasons in the Bay, where he became an NBA champion in 2015, former Runnin' Ute Andrew Bogut was traded to the Dallas Mavericks last summer with Golden State looking to clear room to sign former MVP Kevin Durant.
And as Bogut prepared to meet up with his former teammates this week, the Aussie big man wasn't exactly looking at it as a reunion with old friends.
"This league is full of people who are full of s—- and shallow, and that's what you figure out in pro sports," Bogut told USA Today. "It's very hard to meet a genuine person who you can call your friend in this league. That's just the reality, and I understand that."
—
Have you ever emailed Dwyane Wade? Are you still waiting for a reply? You're not alone.
Wade's departure from South Beach and move to the Windy City was one of the biggest surprises of the NBA offseason. And when Wade and the Bulls came to Miami this week and Heat president Pat Riley told a reporter he had sent his former star an email, trying to make contact for the first time since Wade's exit.
"I hope he got it," Riley said.
Wade did, but it's apparently still sitting in his inbox waiting to be read.
"I looked at my emails, I haven't gotten time to look at them," Wade told CSN Chicago.