NBA Moves Improve Competition

Calls into Boston sports radio have had a common theme on the Knicks trade for Carmelo Anthony. The majority of the callers believe that this is bad for the NBA and that the collection of stars amongst just a few teams is bad for competition. The Knicks now claim two of the ten starters from Sunday's All-Star Game in Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. The Heat added LeBron James and Chris Bosh to Dwayne Wade this summer. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo call Boston home while the Lakers have Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and the Spurs have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. The only legitimate title contenders without a block of premiere talent are the Mavericks and the Bulls but they each have an MVP candidate in Dirk Nowitzki and Derrick Rose. The argument that the NBA is dominated by a small group of talent-heavy teams is a good one but it is one that has been true for the last 30 years. Going back to the 1980 NBA Finals, only eight teams have won the NBA championship. That group includes the Lakers (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000-2002, and 2009-2010), Celtics (1981, 1984, 1986, and 2008), 76ers (1983), Pistons (1989, 1990, and 2004), Bulls (1991-1993 and 1996-1998), Rockets (1994 and 1995), Spurs (1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007), and Heat (2006). All of those teams had multiple stars and in the case of the Lakers (Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar then Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant and finally Bryant and Gasol), the Celtics (Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale and then Garnett, Pierce, and Allen), the 76ers (Julius Erving and Moses Malone), and the Bulls (Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen), the champs featured at least two of the best 10 or 12 players in the league at that time. The NBA has always been a league predicated on talent. Only the Pistons of 2004 were built around a group of role players but even then Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Ben Wallace were a very good group of role players. However, those Pistons fell apart because Joe Dumars drafted Darko Milicic over Anthony, Bosh, and Wade in 2004 and missing on one of those elite talents set back the Pistons ability to compete seriously after 2005. The defining trait of the 1980s Lakers, Celtics, and Pistons, the 1990s Bulls and Rockets, and the Spurs and Lakers of the 21st Century was achieving luck in the draft. The Lakers built their 1980s dynasty around Magic, the number one pick in the 1979 Draft. The Celtics used high picks to add Bird and McHale. The Pistons took Isiah Thomas first overall in 1981. The Rockets drafted Hakeem Olajuwon with the first pick in 1984 and the Bulls took Jordan with the third pick in that same draft. The Spurs struck gold with the first pick in the 1987 (David Robinson) and 1997 (Duncan) Drafts. Free agency and trades helped fill out those teams but having the opportunity to draft so high and having success with those picks elevated those teams to championship heights. If anything, the moves made by the Heat this summer and the Knicks acquisitions of Anthony and Stoudemire have increased the number of teams that have a chance of winning the Larry O'Brien trophy. Before the Heat added James and Bosh, it looked like the Celtics and Lakers were on track to fight it out for a third time in four years and continue their monopoly on the title. The emergence of the Bulls (behind Rose, the first pick in the 2008 Draft) in the East - along with Carmelo's Knicks - and the Mavericks and Spurs in the West have actually created more competitive balance in the NBA. Add in the fringe contenders such as the Magic (behind Dwight Howard, the first pick in the 2004 Draft), Hawks, and Thunder (behind Kevin Durant, the second pick in the 2007 Draft) and this spring should be one of the most wide open playoffs in recent NBA history. The current trend of stars choosing to team up for a title began when the Celtics traded for Allen and Garnett in the Summer of 2007. The Lakers then traded for Gasol during the following season. It is no surprise that the Celtics and Lakers have won the last three NBA championships as a result of their superior talent. Following that blueprint, James, Wade, and Bosh decided to join up in pursuit of a championship this summer. Anthony has been talking about joining Stoudemire in Manhattan all season and now he gets his wish. Along with the Bulls, those two teams should be in contention for the next decade. They could be joined by the Nets, who traded for Utah's Deron Williams today and will try to use the billions of new owner Mikhail Prokhorov to entice additional stars to follow his lead. The Celtics and Lakers will have to make similar moves to stay on top after their aging stars can no longer play at a championship level. It is the way of the past, present, and future of the NBA.