So I was watching sports the other day, and an announcer on espn said the Nuggets were the favorite to win the Northwest Division. Huh? Utah is 9.5 games ahead right now! The obvious assumption is that because Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony are so good, it's only a matter of time before they propel Denver into the stratosphere.
But why? Basketball is about five guys on the floor, not one or even two. Two shoot-first players on the same team rarely works to the extent of the expectations placed upon it, unless the players are willing to sacrifice some ego. But in the NBA, no one is willing to sacrifice some ego. Which is one of the many reasons why the NBA is spinning in the toilet and will be Dead To Me when the Sonics move to Oklahoma City (Oklahoma City?!?).
Rumors swirled around the trade deadline about possible trades. If only the Bulls had Pau Gasol, they would be a title contender. If only the Suns had Rashard Lewis, they would be an all-time great team. Adding good players, even great players, doesn't always make your team better. One of the biggest reasons NBA general managers are so incompentent is that they don't understand this. No, Sports Guy, Chicago is not Pau Gasol away from contending for a title. The idea that completely changing the dynamic of a mostly successful team in mid-season (trading Deng for Gasol) will push the team "over the top" is so stupid that Bill Simmons should lose his GM-bashing rights.
Basketball is a team sport. The team dynamic is made of the players on the floor. A game plan is put together by mixing the available players on the roster into a series of combinations throughout the game to maximize effectiveness. Adding a new player, especially an alpha-dog, changes the whole dynamic, and there is never a guarentee it will work as well as before. Sometimes standing pat is the best move you can make (unless you have Jamal Crawford, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Quintin Richardson, and Nate Robinson all on your team).
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2 comments:
Carmelo thinks you should stop snitchin'.
Seriously, they should just wake me when the playoffs start. The 82 games prior to that are just, meh.
Who the hell moves from Seattle to Oklahoma City anyway? You would think that the threat of moving to a town like Okl City where the Sonics would be the only black guys in the city would be enough to make them play some defense.
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