The NBA (2013-14): Contenders, Dark Horses, & Lack of Parity
Contenders:
Indiana Pacers
L.A. Clippers
Miami Heat
Oklahoma City Thunder
San Antonio Spurs
Placing the two-time defending champion Miami Heat in this category is a sure no-brainer. The saying, "If you want to be the best then you have to beat the best," haunts the leading Eastern Conference challengers, the Indiana Pacers. Pacers forward and budding superstar Paul George has made it clear that he is not scared of King James and company, recently remarking that Kevin Durant was a tougher cover than LeBron. Furthermore, George and the Pacers backed up this strong talk by knocking off Miami 90-84 one week ago. The often brash demeanour of coach Frank Vogel has appeared to have rubbed off on his players. They obviously play with a chip on their shoulder, believing that it just as easily could have been them in the Finals last year. However, they don't need to be reminded of how the Heat trounced them by a score of 99-76 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year on their way to their 2nd consecutive title. One thing that the champs must do if they want to stay atop the Eastern Conference come May-June is find a way to slow down Indiana's towering front court, especially center Roy Hibbert.
The L.A. Clippers have the talent, there's no denying this. However, question marks constantly surround Blake Griffin: "Will he be able to stay healthy enough to make a playoff push?" "Will he develop a mid range game to compliment his highflying act?" Time will tell. Guard Chris Paul is a true professional, recording 19.8 ppg and 11.3 apg this season. Doc Rivers certainly has the talent to go after his 2nd ring but a lot has to go right for L.A. to be able to overcome the OKC Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs in a 7 game series. The X-factor in all of this for the Clips is whether shooting guard J.J. Redick, who is enjoying a career year averaging 46% from the field and 15.9 ppt, can keep knocking 'em down.
The Thunder look as strong as ever with the return of Russell Westbrook. There may not be a more potent offensive combination than Westbrook-Durant in all of basketball.
The Spurs seem to be just as versatile as the team that took Miami to 7 games last year in the Finals. We all keep waiting for Father Time to catch up with San Antonio, but their intelligent drafting, their sound leadership from Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker, as well as their high basketball IQ (passed from Coach Popovich) keeps that train humming along the tracks.
Placing the two-time defending champion Miami Heat in this category is a sure no-brainer. The saying, "If you want to be the best then you have to beat the best," haunts the leading Eastern Conference challengers, the Indiana Pacers. Pacers forward and budding superstar Paul George has made it clear that he is not scared of King James and company, recently remarking that Kevin Durant was a tougher cover than LeBron. Furthermore, George and the Pacers backed up this strong talk by knocking off Miami 90-84 one week ago. The often brash demeanour of coach Frank Vogel has appeared to have rubbed off on his players. They obviously play with a chip on their shoulder, believing that it just as easily could have been them in the Finals last year. However, they don't need to be reminded of how the Heat trounced them by a score of 99-76 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year on their way to their 2nd consecutive title. One thing that the champs must do if they want to stay atop the Eastern Conference come May-June is find a way to slow down Indiana's towering front court, especially center Roy Hibbert.
The L.A. Clippers have the talent, there's no denying this. However, question marks constantly surround Blake Griffin: "Will he be able to stay healthy enough to make a playoff push?" "Will he develop a mid range game to compliment his highflying act?" Time will tell. Guard Chris Paul is a true professional, recording 19.8 ppg and 11.3 apg this season. Doc Rivers certainly has the talent to go after his 2nd ring but a lot has to go right for L.A. to be able to overcome the OKC Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs in a 7 game series. The X-factor in all of this for the Clips is whether shooting guard J.J. Redick, who is enjoying a career year averaging 46% from the field and 15.9 ppt, can keep knocking 'em down.
The Thunder look as strong as ever with the return of Russell Westbrook. There may not be a more potent offensive combination than Westbrook-Durant in all of basketball.
The Spurs seem to be just as versatile as the team that took Miami to 7 games last year in the Finals. We all keep waiting for Father Time to catch up with San Antonio, but their intelligent drafting, their sound leadership from Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker, as well as their high basketball IQ (passed from Coach Popovich) keeps that train humming along the tracks.
Dark Horses:
Houston Rockets
Portland Trailblazers
Could there be a changing of the guard? Could the Portland Trailblazers give some of these contending teams a run for their money? As a fan of the underdog, with all my heart I want to say "YES." However, my brain tells me "no." As mentioned in my last post, any team with an average age of 26.2 for their starting five is a fantastic story but probably won't reach the NBA summit, let alone win more than 1 playoff series. Believe me, I'll be rooting for the Blazers but the realist in me knows that they won't be able to hang with the big boys in the West come playoff time.
The Houston Rockets are an interesting team. Dwight Howard continues to be a polarizing figure. He continues to tear down huge numbers of rebounds every night, but as Charles Barkley has pointed out, Howard has to be more in the 25-28 ppg category rather than the 17 ppg category if he ever wants to be considered a "great big man." James Harden continues his stellar play and Chandler Parsons has blossomed into one of the games premier swingmen (51% from the field; 40% from beyond the arc). Considering everything falls into place for Houston, I could see them taking an Oklahoma City or a San Antonio to a 6th or even 7th game. Then anything could happen. The Rockets currently sit 5th in the West.
The Houston Rockets are an interesting team. Dwight Howard continues to be a polarizing figure. He continues to tear down huge numbers of rebounds every night, but as Charles Barkley has pointed out, Howard has to be more in the 25-28 ppg category rather than the 17 ppg category if he ever wants to be considered a "great big man." James Harden continues his stellar play and Chandler Parsons has blossomed into one of the games premier swingmen (51% from the field; 40% from beyond the arc). Considering everything falls into place for Houston, I could see them taking an Oklahoma City or a San Antonio to a 6th or even 7th game. Then anything could happen. The Rockets currently sit 5th in the West.
Lack of Parity:
One troubling aspect of the current NBA is the general lack of parity. As a sports fan I love seeing competitive games throughout the season but especially in the playoffs. These games happen once in a while but not nearly enough. This is due to a Robin-Hood Philosophy that has crept into the league in recent years. I would argue that it all began with the signing of Garnett and Ray Allen to Boston in the summer of '07. As my colleague here at That's Sports has pointed out to me, this idea of the "super-team" has been around long before 2007. He is right. The dynasty that the Boston Celtics had in the late 50s and 60s boasted multiple stars like Bill Russell and K.C. Jones; and then again in the 1980s (Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, & Dennis Johnson). In the 1970s and 80s, The L.A. Lakers also enjoyed major successes with the likes of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Michael Jordan had a great supporting cast around him in Chicago in the 90s with Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, and John Paxson. However, there is one fundamental difference between the teams mentioned and the "Super Teams" of today… that being the amount of money invested in their stars.
Sure guys used to go to certain franchises for the cash but salaries today have ballooned out of control. The "rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer" trend has become so commonplace in the NBA (and all of the four major sports for that matter), that we don't even see anything wrong with it anymore. I know that salaries by themselves have not caused this extreme lack of parody in the NBA. But huge salaries paired with the greed of big name agents/players who will do anything to be on a "winning team" has compounded the problem. The Miami Heat are the poster children for this mindset today, boasting a salary hit of $83,528,143 this year, according to the folks at Hoopsworld (http://www.hoopsworld.com/miami-heat-team-salary). The "Big Three" will haul in a combined $56,808,000 by year's end. That's 68% of the team's total salary! James, Bosh, and Wade will together make $65,880,000 come the 2015-16 season, even though the Heat's cap will remain around 59 million. The way they get around this is through the luxury tax limit which will be bumped up to roughly 71 million by 2015.
Suffice is to say this is getting out of control! The NBA is going to have to look into a better collective bargaining agreement and salary cap akin to the NHL if they ever want to find parody (and by extension competitiveness) again on a nightly basis. I can assure you that this disparity did not exist in the time of Magic and Bird. I even wonder if a locker room can function properly under these conditions? Ah well, enough ranting for now. I just think that this era of The Super Team with the "Big Three"(whoever they might be), although entertaining for a time period is getting old.
The Mighty West & The 'Less Than Impressive' East
A final thought on this theme of parity in the NBA. I just looked up the current standings in the Eastern Conference. Guess how many teams have a winning record? … 3 teams. Out of 15 teams only 3 have a winning record! As I look at the Western Conference I see that 9 of 15 teams have winning records. This is an absolute joke. The fact that the 12th place Minnesota Timberwolves hold a better record than the 4th place Boston Celtics is ridiculous. I hope that a certain level of parity can return to this game so that we all can benefit from it.
Suffice is to say this is getting out of control! The NBA is going to have to look into a better collective bargaining agreement and salary cap akin to the NHL if they ever want to find parody (and by extension competitiveness) again on a nightly basis. I can assure you that this disparity did not exist in the time of Magic and Bird. I even wonder if a locker room can function properly under these conditions? Ah well, enough ranting for now. I just think that this era of The Super Team with the "Big Three"(whoever they might be), although entertaining for a time period is getting old.
The Mighty West & The 'Less Than Impressive' East
A final thought on this theme of parity in the NBA. I just looked up the current standings in the Eastern Conference. Guess how many teams have a winning record? … 3 teams. Out of 15 teams only 3 have a winning record! As I look at the Western Conference I see that 9 of 15 teams have winning records. This is an absolute joke. The fact that the 12th place Minnesota Timberwolves hold a better record than the 4th place Boston Celtics is ridiculous. I hope that a certain level of parity can return to this game so that we all can benefit from it.
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