The Love of the Game.
The NBA season has been incredible this year. Absolutely incredible. If you are a fan of basketball, you already know this. I think there are two big reasons why.
Number one, the level of talent in the NBA is off the charts right now. There haven't been any expansion teams to dilute the talent in recent years and it seems there are good players on all the teams, with the elite teams having a 3 or 4 all-star caliber players. Kobe, Odom AND Gasol! Nash, Amare AND Shaq! Nowitzki, Howard AND Kidd! Boozer, Kirilenko AND Williams! Pierce, Allen AND Garnett! Incredible teams, which have the star power reminiscent of the basketball in 80's.
The second reason is the (hand checking) rule changes that have really opened up the game for a faster paced, offense oriented game. The game itself is exciting to watch as players race for fast breaks and good point guards are able to get into the paint at will. Good thing Toronto has two top tier PG's :) Plus, the fact that I can actually watch the games I want is a big bonus.
As an aside, my fantasy basketball playoffs start this week. I had high hopes for my team this year, as I had the #1 spot late in the season, but fell to 5th in the last weeks. It's been really competitive this season, as the top 8 teams all had a chance at placing #1. My approach this year was to not punt categories, so I had to look for guys with low TOs and high %s. It was working for most of the season. But now, with only 3 days left in the 1st round playoff, I'm behind 6-2. My #1 player Marion has decided to sit out (there is no way he's sitting if he were still on the Suns). My amazing waiver pickup, Jose Calderon, gave up the starting job to TJ this week. These two things screws my team up completely. Sigh, another year, another dismal finish. At least I had some balls to pull of some trades this year, unlike most years. Next year will be my year.
There are so many other reasons to love the NBA right now. I read this article about the current state of the NBA and agree with every single point. Give it a read, if you are a true NBA fan. There's not much say beyond what's in the article, so in conclusion the NBA is where amazing happens:
Number one, the level of talent in the NBA is off the charts right now. There haven't been any expansion teams to dilute the talent in recent years and it seems there are good players on all the teams, with the elite teams having a 3 or 4 all-star caliber players. Kobe, Odom AND Gasol! Nash, Amare AND Shaq! Nowitzki, Howard AND Kidd! Boozer, Kirilenko AND Williams! Pierce, Allen AND Garnett! Incredible teams, which have the star power reminiscent of the basketball in 80's.
The second reason is the (hand checking) rule changes that have really opened up the game for a faster paced, offense oriented game. The game itself is exciting to watch as players race for fast breaks and good point guards are able to get into the paint at will. Good thing Toronto has two top tier PG's :) Plus, the fact that I can actually watch the games I want is a big bonus.
As an aside, my fantasy basketball playoffs start this week. I had high hopes for my team this year, as I had the #1 spot late in the season, but fell to 5th in the last weeks. It's been really competitive this season, as the top 8 teams all had a chance at placing #1. My approach this year was to not punt categories, so I had to look for guys with low TOs and high %s. It was working for most of the season. But now, with only 3 days left in the 1st round playoff, I'm behind 6-2. My #1 player Marion has decided to sit out (there is no way he's sitting if he were still on the Suns). My amazing waiver pickup, Jose Calderon, gave up the starting job to TJ this week. These two things screws my team up completely. Sigh, another year, another dismal finish. At least I had some balls to pull of some trades this year, unlike most years. Next year will be my year.
There are so many other reasons to love the NBA right now. I read this article about the current state of the NBA and agree with every single point. Give it a read, if you are a true NBA fan. There's not much say beyond what's in the article, so in conclusion the NBA is where amazing happens:
Labels: basketball, NBA
posted by Nelson at 10:05 PM
6 Comments:
Errr link don't work.
But last year's playoffs had some wonderful moments too.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YT7UyPuwlbI
I think in recent years, in every major sport, the definition of "all-star" hasn't kept up with advances in training etc that raise the level of play. Back when I was younger, at least in hockey, you had a few superstar players (Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Savard, Hawerchuk, etc) and definitely not enough so that each team would have a franchise player (let alone three).
But now, because ever team wants to reach out to their market in the form of sales and advertising, every team has a "super star" who they can put on their team programme (gogo Vernon Wells).
I'm not saying these "all-stars" aren't good, they are. It's just that we should measure them around the real average talent/skill in the league.
I think a good example is Pierce. He was Boston's franchise/best player for many years, but he's not a game breaking superstar like MJ or Magic. He's basically like Messier of the 80s Oilers, or Pippen of the 90s Bulls.
I don't agree you need "Game Changing Superstars" in basketball.
Granted that compared to baseball or hockey, basketball is a sport where the individual can make the most difference. But if you look at all the champions in the past, or even good teams, you need at least 2 "all stars" to win the championship.
I strongly disagree that Pierce is not a star. He has the talent and skills to be the franchise player of a championship caliber team.
But I also strongly agreed that players are labeled allstars or stars due to marketing and the need to have one. A more fitting example would be Chris Bosh. One of the most overrated players of our generation.
Oh, I posted the wrong link in my first comment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a-sYlVa3dA
yeah, the whole site seems to be down....hopefully it'll come back up soon.
Well I'm measuring the effect of Pierce on the fact that with his revolving door of supporting players, and semi-good players (Antoine Walker etc), Boston still had depressing seasons. But if you look at hockey, Ovechkin basically single handidly brought the Capitals into playoff contention. I read some stat somewhere that he and Alexander Semin (#2 pick the year after him) scored like 40% of Washington's goals last season.
Or you could take the example of Martin Brodeur who never has superstars in front of him, but their team is always a challenge to play against in the playoffs due to his goaltending.
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