Written by: Jason Taylor
I have came to the conclusion that the NBA will never be the same and that we have to deal with the way the NBA has transformed itself into what it is now. The only problem with that is — a NBA rapture is bound to come now. What I mean is this: all the teams in the NBA are looking to load up with a certain amount of superstars and are no longer looking to build talent unless brought to them by the draft. Even then, draft picks are used as leverage to land bigger stars or more star pieces. Sooner or later, what is going to happen is certain teams are no longer going to be able to compete regardless of what they do. They can give their “stars” big long term contracts but that wouldn’t matter because a championship will forever elude them. Teams like Sacramento, New Orleans, Washington, Phoenix, Cleveland, Detroit, Charlotte, Utah, Milwaukee etc. don’t stand a chance to really compete with teams like Miami, Chicago, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles Lakers & Clippers, Golden State etc. What chances do those lower star studded teams really have? What chance do they actually have of competing for a spot in the elite 8 to gain entry into the playoffs? What chance do they have of making it to the playoffs and actually upsetting someone? You have teams like Denver, Memphis, Indiana, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia and now Brooklyn who are able to compete and probably win a series or two but do they have what it takes to make it to the finals and win a championship?
At this moment, you are guaranteed to see the same top 8 teams in the playoffs. Heat, Pacers, Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, Clippers, Spurs, Thunder. Houston? Well I don’t know about Houston. Depending on what happens with Dwight Howard — but you get what I’m trying to say]. The same teams are going to the playoffs every season. You might have some surprises coming up in the 2013-2014 NBA season like the new look Detroit Pistons with Brandon Jennings, Chauncey Billups or the new look Cleveland Cavaliers if Andrew Bynum can suit up and not do his hair the whole season. The NBA has turned into a soap opera now with interesting story lines. You have the Smoking Aces story line which is Miami Heat against the world and The Indiana Pacers, The Chicago Bulls, The Oklahoma City Thunder, The San Antonio Spurs and The Los Angeles Clippers as the various hired hit-men looking to take out the Heat and claim the reward, which the NBA Championship. You have the Cain and Abel story line which is The New York Knicks and The Brooklyn Nets acting like brothers. The Nets just want to get through each season and get better while the Knicks are feeling a little threatened by their new cross town rivals. We all know how that story ends but who knows if the result will be the same in this story line. Then you have the Orphans (from the Warriors) story line with a large number of teams not even being invited to the big meeting. Overall, the NBA rapture is coming and there are going to be a lot of disappointed owners, players and staff members walking around. It’s like the only viable solutions are: 1. Give the teams who never make it to the playoffs an automatic 20 wins coming into the season. With that boost, it’s hard for them to fail but it would be horrible if they only end up winning 36 games that season 2. Make two different divisions. NBA-A and NBA-B. Place the Heat, Spurs, Thunder, etc in the A division and put the Kings, Suns, Jazz, etc. in the B division. Let them duke it out every season and see who comes out on top. 3. COMPLETELY get rid of some NBA franchises. It’s not what we want but it’s what we end up getting anyway come April. It’s going to end up happening anyway so some people might as well prepare for it now so they can still make a way to survive. Hell buy into baseball or football. There’s not too many NBA owners who also own hockey teams…something to think about? Don’t let this article or this inevitable event to stop you from supporting your team. Go to NBA.com and get your team schedules. You will never know what happens. You could actually just get beat in the first round and still have some pride.
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