NBA Burning Questions

It was a slow week in the NBA. When the biggest news is that an above-average player, in the case Stephen Jackson, gets traded from one terrible team to another, you have to think outside the box to come up with a good topic to write about.

And when thinking outside the box doesn't lead you to a good enough topic, there's only one solution: a series of random rhetorical questions.

We're about a month into the season and there was no huge story this week, so what better time than now to get a few of the burning questions I've had about this NBA season off my chest.

They are, in no particular order whatsoever:

Is it me, or are the tampering rules in the NBA an extremely thick shade of gray? Worldwide Wes and LeBron's agent, Leon Rose, were sitting in Jay-Z's seats for Saturday's slugfest between the Knicks and Nets. Wes can throw Eddy Curry's name out there all he wants, but make no mistake, those two would have been there to add fuel to the "In case you forgot, LeBron's a free agent in 2010!" fire regardless of whether or not one of Wes' "nephews" is trying to make a comeback.

I'm not the only one who is sorely disappointed that the reports of Marv Albert fist-fighting 50 Cent in the green room of the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Show on Wednesday night turned out to be exaggerated, right?

Can we please implement an age limit in the NBA? Not on players, but on announcers. This week, 71-year-old Ralph Lawler was suspended for one game from his Los Angeles Clippers play-by-play duties by FOX Sports for making insensitive remarks about Iranian-born Memphis Grizzlies center Hamed Haddadi. Lawler is three generations older than the players he's covering, and now he's saying things so embarrassing that he needs to be reprimanded. Probably time for a youth-movement for the Staples Center's JV squad's broadcast team, no?

Can the NBA start engraving Brandon Jennings' name on the Rookie of the Year trophy now, kind of like how they do at the British Open?

If I gave you 5-1 odds that Lawrence Frank would be the coach of the New Jersey Nets by the end of the week, would you take that bet?

I can't figure it out. Exactly whose house do the Miami Heat play in?

Is there a better nickname in the league than Rodrigue Beaubois' "Roddy Buckets?"

Is there a worse nickname than Kevin Durant's "Durantula." Seriously. The guy's a superstar, how about a better nickname?

What was worse for the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday: having the best points against average in the league and still allowing 108 points to the Warriors, or being the only them this season not to score at least 100 points against them?

Can we all agree that Jonas Jerebko starting for the Detroit Pistons is one small step forward for the country of Sweden and one giant leap backwards for the Pistons, who are less than two seasons removed from six straight trips to the Conference Finals?

Was there a funnier headline this week than "Grizzlies sign Jamaal Tinsley?"

Do you think Phil Jackson just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay" when Kobe Bryant came to camp this season and told him, "I've decided to become the best post player in the league?"

Is it too early to start mentioning the Hawks in the conversation for possible Eastern Conference champs?

Is it too late to take back my prediction of only 14 wins for the Sacramento Kings? I watched them play a little bit this week; this could very easily be a 30-win team. My mistake.

Is Jameer Nelson now officially "injury-prone?"

Should I be disappointed or ecstatic about the reports that Ricky Rubio is really struggling to start the season in Europe?

Has a superstar ever made his return to the starting lineup with less fanfare than Pau Gasol got when he made his season debut against the Bulls on Thursday night?

Will someone in the league either do something really awesome or really crazy so I can have something better to write about next week?

Scott Shepherd writes about the NBA every Monday for Sports Central. His blog, Diary of an NBA Junkie, is updated several times a week.