2020-2021 Season thread

[EricaLubarsky]

Sounds like he’s going to the Nets

It’ll be sad when Harden, Irving, Durant, and Griffin can’t win a ‘ship

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Sounds like he’s going to the Nets

It’ll be sad when Harden, Irving, Durant, and Griffin can’t win a ‘ship

I can’t think of a collection of players I’d rather root against. Anyone but Brooklyn.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by mac222b

I can’t think of a collection of players I’d rather root against. Anyone but Brooklyn.

I kinda hope that it starts the new trend of players being attacked for joining super teams and not performing. If Durant, Harden, Kyrie, and Griffin can't get a championship, are they really that good? It might bring balance to the force and make future players reconsider their moves to super teams.

Then again, probably not. The league has been ruined since LeBron/Wade/Bosh and I don't see that changing soon.

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

I kinda hope that it starts the new trend of players being attacked for joining super teams and not performing. If Durant, Harden, Kyrie, and Griffin can't get a championship, are they really that good? It might bring balance to the force and make future players reconsider their moves to super teams.

Then again, probably not. The league has been ruined since LeBron/Wade/Bosh and I don't see that changing soon.

It really sucks. I love NBA ball enough that I don’t need super teams or villains in order to watch. But I know the NBA lives the ratings and kinda encourages this crap. I’m also pissed that Houston sent Harden to his preferred destination after the way he behaved. For a lousy package of future picks and Oladipo rental. On principle they should’ve made Brklyn include Joe Harris or trade Harden to Sac or Cleveland.

I think it’s going to be really difficult to stop the Nets offense especially with 3 guys getting superstar calls in the playoffs. I think Philly can come out of the East if they trade for Lowry. They need another creator. It’s a question of how much Toronto wants to make a playoff run vs. Maxey and a pick from Philly; what they value more.

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

I kinda hope that it starts the new trend of players being attacked for joining super teams and not performing. If Durant, Harden, Kyrie, and Griffin can't get a championship, are they really that good? It might bring balance to the force and make future players reconsider their moves to super teams.

Then again, probably not. The league has been ruined since LeBron/Wade/Bosh and I don't see that changing soon.

This is a tangent but I’ve been listening the Whistleblower podcast about Tim Donaghy— highly recommend!— and it’s dredging up a lot of bad memories especially as pertains to our beloved Mavs of yore.

The end of the Utah/Philly game the other night and Lebrons subsequent cracking wise about Utah and not picking those guys on Xbox or whatever silliness he was on—It just makes me feel like the deck is stacked so much in favor of LA/NY/Miami teams and while I’m not against “player empowerment” per se, it sucks that in order to win big in the league you are fighting the forces of NBA clique culture, the leagues desire to have big glamour markets win and also the officials and how those forces/interests often intersect. You effectively have to beat, let’s just call him “Lebron”, on many levels. Cliques, agents, markets, league interests/profit, officiating tilted towards benefiting the aforementioned. It’s very discouraging. To not have those things aligned it requires having an all time great player and/or “lighting in a bottle” situation ala 2011 Mavs with Dirk and finding the perfect supporting cast and coach. Even then our margin for error was zilch. Or it takes all-time great team building, coach and all-time great player like Duncan and the Spurs. And they tanked hardcore and had to get really like to even get Duncan. And even the Spurs lost Kawhi to the coast. It can seem incredibly discouraging. I don’t watch as much American football as I used to as I’ve replaced it with Hockey but I appreciate the inherent parity in both sports relative to nba ball.The idea of Brooklyn stacking the deck to win a championship is almost enough to put me off the entire thing.

[tap2390]

I understand the frustration with the superteam narrative, but just take a look at a list of NBA champs by year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_champions

There have always been superteams in the sense that power/ talent has always historically condensed in just a handful of teams.

Does it matter that players are now taking matters into their own hands to team up now? I would argue that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme.

[Thespiralgoeson]

** double post

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally Posted by tap2390

I understand the frustration with the superteam narrative, but just take a look at a list of NBA champs by year:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_champions

There have always been superteams in the sense that power/ talent has always historically condensed in just a handful of teams.

This. 1000x this. We always look at the past through rose-tinted lenses. Russell's Celtics won 11 titles in 13 years. In the 80s, every single finals featured either the Lakers, Celtics or both. Magic's Lakers went to nine finals in 12 years and won 5 titles. Jordan's Bulls won 6 titles in 8 years. In the 21st century, the Lakers and Spurs have won 11 titles between them.

The league has never had anything resembling parity, except perhaps in the 70s- and not coincidently, that is generally considered the league's dark age. It's fine when owners and GMs build dynasties that dominate for entire decades. That's apparently the "right" way. But for some reason that has never made sense to me, people get really mad when players do it for themselves.

Does it matter that players are now taking matters into their own hands to team up now? I would argue that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme.

I would go even further than that, and argue that we might actually be better off now, and "player empowerment" might actually make the league more competitive, not less. "Superteams" might win titles, but on the flipside, superteams don't seem built to last. Either because of salary cap issues, shorter contracts, or just egos, they seem to have a maximum shelf life of 3-4 years. I don't think we'll see another team dominate an entire decade again anytime soon.