2013 NBA Playoffs

[Kramerica Industries]

Like I said, this is kind of why I take a more market-based approach to this. Because, jeez, I'm a Yankees fan. I'd be the most hypocritical person on the planet to condemn the Heat for doing something that the Yankees do themselves every few years (though, in fairness, there are a couple other Team Moneybags out there). The Miami Heat did absolutely nothing wrong. They're just pinned in the wrong market for sports dynasties to be unfolding.

And, to Hedley's point, as much as I love the Yankees, I can't deny that the 2011 playoff run by the Lightning was such a more satisfying experience game-to-game, because of how much further the Lightning had come from to reach that level (if even just for a couple of hot weeks) than the Yankees have to come to reach the pinnacle in baseball. The same can be said for the Bucs. Flags fly forever, though some will always have more truthful meaning than others. There's just no getting around that.

To all true Heat fans out there, who suffered through even the recent 15-67 campaign of 2007-'08 and the two mediocre seasons that followed that - soak it in and enjoy this. I really just wish there were more of you guys out there. I want to be able to appreciate how ing amazing Lebron James really is.

[HedleyLamarr]

Don't forget Memphis also got Marc Gasol and two first-round picks, although mentioning these points takes away from your ability to say "Memphis got fleeced!!!!!".

Let's also not forget that nobody had any clue at the time that Marc Gasol would turn into one of the best centers in the league. Not to mention, the picks they got in return from the Lakers were two 28th overall picks. Neither of the players they picked are still on the Grizzlies.

The only thing making that trade look semi-decent for Memphis now is that they lucked out with their second-round center turning into a budding star. At the time, it was outrageous.

It's not the Lakers' fault Memphis bumbled their picks. Getting two first-round draft picks (and I doubt they were lottery-protected) is still very valuable.

The Lakers got a couple championships, and now Memphis is enjoying the most success their franchise has ever had, and has a legit chance to reach the Finals. It took time, but the trade worked out for both sides, as trades should do. You don't judge trades the moment they're made...you judge them years after the deal.

I completely get where Kramerica and others are coming from. The drama just isn't there. No one's asking "Can the Heat get back to the Finals?". It's "Can Indiana even win more than two games in the series?".

The NBA's always been like that, though, whether it was the '80s Lakers and Celtics, the Jordan Bulls, or the early 2000's Lakers dominating. There's a reason why only a small group of franchises has ever won a title.

It's never been like this. The Bulls and Lakers had legit threats that took them to 6-7 tough, competitive games. (Hell, that Lakers team that lost just the one game in the playoffs in 2001 was a 2-seed)

[Lee Noire]

The notion that its the players fault for there not being any drama in the NBA is just absurd. I don't fault any players giving themselves a better shot at winning a ring, because that's why they play the game isn't it? It always bugged me to hear critics bring up how Jordan would never go team up with Magic or vice versa. They didn't have to, their respective teams were loaded.

LeBron is incredible. Can we collectively put the "LeChoke" myth to rest now?

My only concern is who we get to replace him. Van Gundy said no and ol' 11 rings is engaged to the rivals daughter. I like Byron Scott if only because of the history he has with Paul.

Mike Budenholzer is my first choice and is reportedly high on the Clippers' list if they can't coax SVG out of his hiatus. Respected veteran coach with experience, Pop's right hand man since 1997, and he comes from a winning organization.

He sounds like a great hire. Pop's guys have been pretty solid aside from Brown's last stand in LA.

[IceCap]

I completely get where Kramerica and others are coming from. The drama just isn't there. No one's asking "Can the Heat get back to the Finals?". It's "Can Indiana even win more than two games in the series?".

The NBA's always been like that, though, whether it was the '80s Lakers and Celtics, the Jordan Bulls, or the early 2000's Lakers dominating. There's a reason why only a small group of franchises has ever won a title.

The notion that its the players fault for there not being any drama in the NBA is just absurd.

Look. As much as I want to get into the NBA it's hard when 25 of the 30 teams are playing the part of the Washington Generals.

[alxy8s]

Look. As much as I want to get into the NBA it's hard when 25 of the 30 teams are playing the part of the Washington Generals.

Honestly, I think that it's beneficial for the league to have a few super teams. It would lead to more parity if the superstars were more spread out, sure. Separate Bosh/Wade/James, Westbrook/Durant, Howard/Gasol/Bryant, Randolph/Gasol, Paul/Griffin, Anthony/Stoudemire, Williams/Johnson/Lopez and you've got 10 more competitive teams in the NBA.

I don't think that that's very conducive to good basketball. A team's entire offense runs through one player and it's doubtful the team will go very far. Believe me, I've read enough "Wade scores 30+ in Heat loss" headlines for a lifetime. It's been proven time and again that one player can't do it alone, and the modern players have given up trying.

Perhaps the only way for the NBA to achieve greater parity is through contraction, but that's never going to happen and is a topic for that realignment thread.

[Lights Out]

What's funny is, the superstars were pretty spread out in the mid-2000's. LeBron in Cleveland, Wade in Miami, Duncan in San Antonio, Dirk in Dallas, Nash in Phoenix, Vince in New Jersey, etc. Yet the Finals kept getting extremely low ratings and people whined that the league was boring. Admittedly, the league was full of iso-heavy one-man shows and light on defense or fundamentals, but that's beside the point.

Now with the rise of superteams, people whine that there's not enough drama and no parity.... yet there's two small-market teams in the Western Conference Finals this year, and lo and behold, it's the lowest-rated WCF so far since 2007, which also featured two small-market teams. And people also continue to fetishize the parity-free '80s and '90s.

Is the league perfect the way it is? Far from it - but it seems like some people are just impossible to please. People seem to like parity in theory but then don't want to tune in and support the product when there is parity.

[CS85]

The NBA can't really have parity, though. When you have a 7 game series to determine which team is better than the other, 9 times out of 10 the team that's better on paper will always win. The numbers don't lie, and the only thing that derails a series is typically injuries or a lopsided positional mismatch (re: one team has a true center).

Is the league perfect the way it is? Far from it - but it seems like some people are just impossible to please. People seem to like parity in theory but then don't want to tune in and support the product when there is parity.

People don't tune in because the general public has no freaking clue who Zach Randolph and Paul George are. Plus the Spurs wearing those AWFUL silver uniforms doesn't help.

[crashcarson15]

[rmackman]

[The Six]

Typical sports fan nonsense. When the old white guys in suits build a team, it's fine, but when the players do it, it's a terrible awful thing and how could they let this happen.

Every single GM is trying to get the all best players on his team. He'll cut costs in certain areas to clear space for their salaries if necessary. But we're supposed to pretend that Lebron taking a pay cut goes against the notion of sportsmanship or some other fantasy like that.

Circumstances proved fortuitous and plop - here's your basketball god. It didn't take some cunning legwork from Mickey Arison or tactful wizardy from Pat Riley to build a franchise powerhouse: it took a few phone calls after the olympics.

I guess everyone's been doing it the wrong way all these years, then.

[CS85]

Circumstances proved fortuitous and plop - here's your basketball god. It didn't take some cunning legwork from Mickey Arison or tactful wizardy from Pat Riley to build a franchise powerhouse: it took a few phone calls after the olympics.

I guess everyone's been doing it the wrong way all these years, then.

Considering how fledgling and lopsided of a product the NBA seems to be, I'll take that as a compliment.

[FiddySicks]

Typical sports fan nonsense. When the old white guys in suits build a team, it's fine, but when the players do it, it's a terrible awful thing and how could they let this happen.

Every single GM is trying to get the all best players on his team. He'll cut costs in certain areas to clear space for their salaries if necessary. But we're supposed to pretend that Lebron taking a pay cut goes against the notion of sportsmanship or some other fantasy like that.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. It's amazing how far people will go to discredit Lebron. If they're not calling him a choker because he didn't drop 50 in a game, they're saying his championships aren't as meaningful because he's playing with good players in a desirable city.

Basketball fans are dumb.

[CS85]

Basketball is dumb.

Ah, there we are.

[NJTank]

Come on other than :censored:ing over Cleveland what has LeBron ever done wrong?

That game on Wednesday Night was just great and it just tells the story of this season LeBron is the man.

[The Six]

If you have a problem with what Lebron did, you're basically saying you dislike free agency, and that players should always accept that they're no more than pawns. It's one of the few times in a player's career that he can actually go where he wants to (or to put it another way, work in the city he wants to work in), but I guess if he goes there with another good player, that's bad. "Yeah, he's free to sign with any team he wants...but not when that guy goes there, too."

The complaint has always been that athletes are overpaid, and only care about money. We've wanted to believe in this notion that they care as much as we do about winning. Albert Pujols turns down his home team because the Angels offered him a few million dollars more, and nobody bats an eye. But when a guy takes a pay cut to build a winning team, he gets bitched out. You can't win.

[vmd9]

First of all I have no problem with Lebron. I will always root for him as a individual, but will always hate the Heat. He was free to leave and everyone has to respect his decision. What I hate about the Heat is their attitude. I mean they held a celebration before they even played a game. With the infamous "Not one, not two, not three" BS. Then you have the ESPN lovefest, Eric Spolstra, Miami fans, and hundreds of other reasons to dislike them. To me it's how they act, not how the team came to be.

[HedleyLamarr]

If you have a problem with what Lebron did, you're basically saying you dislike free agency, and that players should always accept that they're no more than pawns. It's one of the few times in a player's career that he can actually go where he wants to (or to put it another way, work in the city he wants to work in), but I guess if he goes there with another good player, that's bad. "Yeah, he's free to sign with any team he wants...but not when that guy goes there, too."

The complaint has always been that athletes are overpaid, and only care about money. We've wanted to believe in this notion that they care as much as we do about winning. Albert Pujols turns down his home team because the Angels offered him a few million dollars more, and nobody bats an eye. But when a guy takes a pay cut to build a winning team, he gets bitched out. You can't win.

I don't have a problem with free agency.

The problem I have is that today's players are pussies. They're much more concerned about advancing their brand and protecting their image than they are about improving the overall game for the NBA. Players are so afraid of not winning a ring that they're colluding together. Players are so afraid of losing that they don't participate in the league's showcase event (Slam Dunk Contest). For today's player, it's all about selling themselves over doing what's best for the totality of the league/sport. NBA players aren't the only ones guilty of that, but they are the biggest offenders, by far.

I used to be a big basketball fan back in the mid-90's. The economics of sports (and the Hawks becoming a terrible team) eroded my fandom towards basketball. I work for the team, and I'd like to be a decent fan of the sport again. A big part of that fandom stems from there being a genuine drama and relative unknown of what can happen. That just isn't there in the NBA right now. Playing for their country aside, it's much more entertaining to see superstars having a general hatred of each other and having that desire to want to always beat them.....not teaming up to form these superteams.

[vmd9]

I can agree with that. There really isn't any loyalty in the NBA anymore. If a player is on a team that doesn't have a legitimate shot at winning a championship, he'll leave at the first chance. It takes time to build a championship team and they're all just looking for the easy road to a title. I think MJ said it the best. He looked at all the great players in the league as challenges. He wanted to beat them, not play with them. It took him 6 years to win a championship. Can anyone imagine what would have happened if he left the Bulls in 1990?

I guess the one positive about the "ring-chasers" is when guys go to the Clippers and Lakers and fail miserably.

[IceCap]

If you have a problem with what Lebron did, you're basically saying you dislike free agency, and that players should always accept that they're no more than pawns. It's one of the few times in a player's career that he can actually go where he wants to (or to put it another way, work in the city he wants to work in), but I guess if he goes there with another good player, that's bad. "Yeah, he's free to sign with any team he wants...but not when that guy goes there, too."

The complaint has always been that athletes are overpaid, and only care about money. We've wanted to believe in this notion that they care as much as we do about winning. Albert Pujols turns down his home team because the Angels offered him a few million dollars more, and nobody bats an eye. But when a guy takes a pay cut to build a winning team, he gets bitched out. You can't win.

I'm not complaining about free agency. I'm saying that as a sports fan the way the current Heat team came together doesn't really make me want to watch. It's not a narrative that makes me want to tune in. I like LeBron James as a player, I really do, but the Heat aren't exactly the feel good story of the decade.

[The Six]

Since when has anyone gone ring chasing with the Clippers?

And LOL about loyalty. As long as you are good, the team is happy to have you, but the second someone slightly better or cheaper is available, you get traded to the Raptors. Or Royals. Or Panthers. Or some other perpetually "rebuilding" team with no shot. Loyalty is a two-way street. Lebron did all he could while in basketball purgatory. That is good enough.