NBA Smorgasbord...It's Fantastic!

I don’t often get the chance to write about the NBA even though I probably follow the league as much as any of the diehard fans in cities that have a team but hey, you have to give your audience what they want, right? With the presence of a professional team in the other three major U.S. sports as well as one of the marquee teams in college basketball, the NBA understandably takes a backseat in the minds of sports fans in the ‘Burgh. It is kind of a shame though, as the NBA has never been as strong or as deep as it is today. With that, I am going to use today’s smorgasbord to give some of my thoughts on the “Association” as we head towards what is shaping up to be a terrific two months of NBA playoff basketball.

* I mentioned in the opening that the league has never been as talented or as deep as it is today and to be honest, it isn’t even close. At least seven, maybe even eight teams have a legitimate shot to win the NBA title this year. (In case you were wondering those seven teams are San Antonio, Los Angeles, Dallas, Boston, Miami, Chicago and Orlando…with Oklahoma City having a puncher’s chance.) Just one year ago that number was only four, and going back to the heydays of Jordan, Magic and Larry there was never more than three or four teams that had a legitimate shot at the title in any given year. This is not the result of a watered down league either as each of these rosters have at least one superstar and in most instances multiple stars on them.

* It is not just the top teams featuring star players either. Even some of the league’s worst teams feature young, exciting stars in the making such as Kevin Love in Minnesota, Blake Griffin for the Clippers and John Wall for Washington. Really the only team with nothing going for it right now is Cleveland, and we all know the reasons for that. If you are a true fan of basketball at its highest level it is pretty easy to find a game or a team to watch almost every night of the week.

* After Miami blew a 24 point lead last night in losing to the Orlando Magic the talk is going to heat up (no pun intended) on how LeBron and company continue to lose close games and to the other elite teams. Last night’s loss dropped the Heat to 3-9 against the other six teams mentioned as true contenders above and a lousy 5-12 in games decided by five points or less. The truth of the matter, however, is that neither of these records means a thing. How do I know this? Glad you asked…

* If you are a fan of the NBA, a fan of statistical analysis, or just a fan of good writing and you have not read John Hollinger’s stuff on ESPN, do yourself a favor and get an insider account. Hollinger’s stuff is worth the yearly price alone. Anyhow, Hollinger points out that records against elite teams and in close games are essentially meaningless when assessing a team’s ability to win a championship. He doesn’t just say this; he shows empirical statistical evidence to support the notion. More important factors include scoring margin (Miami owns the league’s best), star power (LeBron and Wade) and performance heading into the playoffs (Miami is 34-10 since the opening month, the 2nd best record in the league over that stretch). Next time you turn on ESPN or TNT and hear the talking heads ranting about Miami’s record in close games, do yourself a favor and change the channel until they begin talking about things that matter. Do yourself another favor when filling out your NBA Playoff Bracket – do those exist?! – and remember that Miami has the best pair of players in the world and thank me in June.

* While Miami would be my guess as to who will win the title at the end of the day, I put their odds of winning it at no better than those of the Lakers, Celtics or Spurs. Each of those teams has multiple stars themselves, major playoff experience and fantastic defensive systems. Dallas and Orlando aren’t far behind either with unique rosters built around Dirk and Howard, respectively, and both teams are playoff battle-tested as well. Like I said, this is shaping up to be one of the best stretches of playoff basketball in NBA history.

* Turning our attention away from the court for just a second; if you haven’t paid much attention to the NBA yet this season you may be quite shocked to take a quick look at each team’s rosters. Tons of players changed teams at the trade deadline and unless you live under the rock you have probably heard about the most prominent of the moves being Carmelo Anthony’s trade to the Knicks. Between Anthony forcing Denver’s hand, LeBron’s “Decision”, and the rumors of more NBA superstars joining forces in coming years there has been a sentiment being pushed about that the players now control the league. The fact of the matter is that players have always controlled the league. The difference today is that the level of media scrutiny takes everything to a whole new level. It was 30 years ago when Magic Johnson had his coached forced out in only his second season in the league. Further, if you take a look at the NBA’s list of its 50 greatest players you will notice that a remarkable number of them played the primes of their careers in more than one city, often joining forces with other stars.

* Today’s moves from the league’s marquee players are nothing new and with the enormous amount of talent around the league at this time I expect some major rivalries to develop as the result. Rivalries are always good for a league and great for our entertainment. For NBA fans out there, sit back and enjoy what should be great theatre this playoff season and what should be some great basketball over the next few years, barring a lockout of course. For you non-NBA fans, I am surprised you made it this far but if you have hopefully I have peaked your interest just a bit. The NBA…it’s FANtastic!