NBA: National Basketball Association or No Balance Association?
This year’s NBA playoffs have been some of the least exciting in recent history. I can honestly say this is the least that I have paid attention to the playoffs since the year Rudy Tomjonavich was the head coach for the Lakers. Out of 74 games, there have been 41 games decided by double digits and the average margin of victory is 13 points. The Warriors go into the Finals 12–0 against a 12–1 Cavs squad. Although part of this is due to injuries to Blake Griffin (shocker), Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Isaiah Thomas, and others, this issue is glaring proof of NBA’s ridiculous (and ever-growing) lack of parity. Look at the last couple finals and you’ll notice that this year will be the 3rd year in a row with a Cavs-Warriors finals. That has never happened in the NBA before and has not happened in the NBA, NHL, or MLB since before the 1950's. Let’s take a quick look at the teams to make the championship games across all 4 major sports since 2000:
NFL: There have been 10 different Super Bowl winners, with 20 different teams participating. The Patriots (5), Ravens (2), Steelers (2) and Giants (2) have won multiple Super Bowls and the Patriots (7), Seahawks (3), Steelers (3), Giants (3), Panthers (2), Colts (2), and Broncos (2) have made multiple appearances.
MLB: There have been 10 different World Series Champions, with 19 different teams participating. The Giants (3), Red Sox (3), Cardinals (2), and Yankees (2) have won multiple World Series titles and the Giants (4), Cardinals (4), Yankees (4), Red Sox (3), Tigers (2), Phillies (2), and Rangers (2) have made multiple appearances
NHL: There have been 9 different Stanley Cup Champions and 18 different teams participating, including the 2004–2005 season which was lost to the lockout. The Blackhawks (3), Red Wings (2), Kings (2), Devils (2), and Penguins (2) have hoisted Lord Stanley on multiple occasions and the Devils (4), Penguins (3), Red Wings (3), Blackhawks (3), Lightning (2), Kings (2), and Bruins (2) have made multiple Stanley Cup appearances.
NBA: There have been 8 different NBA champions but only 13 different teams participating. The only the Lakers (5), Spurs (4), and Heat (3) have won multiple titles and the Lakers (7), Spurs (5), Heat (5), Cavs (4), Warriors (3), Pistons (2), Mavs (2), and Celtics (2) have made multiple NBA finals appearances. This year’s Finals result will vault either the Cavs or Warriors into the multiple win column as well.
While the number of unique champions across all 4 leagues is roughly the same (10,10,9*,8), the number of unique teams appearing in the finals is much lower for the NBA (13) than any other league (18,19, and 20 for the NHL, MLB, and NFL). What’s more disturbing is that only teams with Kobe Bryant (and Shaq for 3), Tim Duncan, and LeBron James (plus D-wade and Chris Bosh for 2/ Kyrie and Kevin Love for 1, so far) on them won multiple NBA titles. LeBron James has participated in 6 straight NBA finals dating back to his time with the Heat (the first to do so since Bill Russell), and played in a 7th back in his first stint with the Cavs. The only other league that had a team to win or appear in more than 4 title games is the Patriots who have gone 5–2 under the leadership of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
Sure, each league has a top tier of teams that you’d expect to make the finals each year. Some leagues even have teams with such longevity and success that you might call them a dynasty (Lakers, Spurs, Patriots, and maybe the SF Giants if you only count even years from 2010–2014). The problem here is that the list of teams you might expect to make the Finals each year in each respective sport is longer than 2–3, except the NBA really. Let’s take a look at the most recent season for each major sport as an example:
2016–17 NFL Season: There were many legitimate contenders in both divisions. In the AFC you had the Raiders (until Derek Carr got hurt), the Steelers, the Chiefs, and the Patriots. In the NFC you had the Packers, the Seahawks, the Giants, the Cowboys, and the Falcons. I can confidently say that any combination of these, save for a Chiefs-Giants Super Bowl, would have been fantastic. Each team listed above legitimately had a chance to get to or win the Super Bowl. The Pats made easy work of the Texans and LeVeon Bell-less Steelers in the AFC. The Packers, who were dead in the water mid-season, made it all the way to the NFC championship game behind more Aaron Rodgers magic including a sweet hail mary to Randall Cobb against the G-Men, and some of the most savvy clock management of all time to set up a game winning Field Goal against the Cowboys, before getting waxed by the Falcons. The Falcons were on the brink of winning their first before blowing a seemingly insurmountable 28–3 lead to give the Patriots their 5th Super Bowl win in the largest comeback win (and first OT game) in Super Bowl history.
2016–2017 NHL Season: This year has been electric for hockey fans and tough for top-seeded teams. The wild card Predators upset the Blackhawks in a first rounds sweep and have continued on to make the Stanley Cup Finals with a win over the top seeded Ducks (who finally got a Game 7 win at least). In the east, the top-seeded Canadiens got upset in the first round, while the Ottawa Senators have pushed on to play the Penguins in the Conference Finals. The Penguins are coming hot off of a 4–2 series win against the top-seeded Caps, who were finally supposed to get to the Conference championship for the first time under Alex Ovechkin. The Senators just pushed the series against the Pens to Game 7, and whoever wins this will face a tough matchup against the red hot Predators.
2016 MLB season: This should mean a lot coming from a person who isn’t the biggest baseball fan. Last year’s playoffs were some of the best sports TV I’ve seen in a while. In the NL, the Dodgers faced a brutal opening matchup against the Nats. They went on to play the Cubs who had to face the even-year miracle team, the Giants in the divisional around. The even year magic came to an end against the Cubs, who had the best record in baseball during the regular season. The Dodgers fought tooth and nail but couldn’t overcome the high octane Cubs offense, bowing out in 6 games. In the AL, the games weren’t quite as close. The fan-favorite Red Sox got swept by the Indians to end David Ortiz’s career and the top-seeded Rangers got swept by Joey Bats, Josh Donaldson and the Blue Jays. The Indians went on to make easy work of the Jays to set up a World Series matchup between the longest drought in baseball history (108 year championship drought and 71 year pennant drought) and the now longest drought in baseball (Indians last won a title in 1948). The series went all the way to Game 7 despite the Indians taking a 3–1 series lead. Down 6–4 in Game 7, Rajai Davis tied the game up at 6 with a 9th inning homer off of Aroldis Chapman. The game went through a rain delay and in the 10th inning, Ben Zobrist came up with a clutch RBI and Kris Bryant slipped while making the Series clinching throw out from 3rd base. Absolutely Amazing.
2016–17 NBA Season: Save the best for last…right? Wrong. As I said at the beginning, this year’s playoffs have been putrid. With 1 combined loss between the two teams in the Finals, it is hard to say that either has face any resistance. The only exciting series so far have been the Spurs-Rockets, which was more of alternating blow-outs than it was a heavyweight slugfest, and the Celtics-Wizards which was actually a roller-coaster 7 game series. Notice how neither Finals competitor was mentioned there. The only teams that really had a shot at making the Finals were the Warriors, Cavs, Spurs (until Kawhi went down), and sort of the Rockets if all the planets aligned perfectly and James Harden’s beard learned to defend players that the rest of his body couldn’t (or didn’t care to). If you look back to last year, you could say the playoffs were more exciting due to the Spurs-Thunder and Thunder-Warriors series (and kind of the Cavs-Raptors) but that’s only because KD was still on the Thunder and now he’s on the Warriors, which just goes to prove my point on lack of parity.
Can anyone say that they are surprised that this year’s finals matchup is a carbon copy of the last 2? No. People complained when KD signed with the Warriors because they thought he had broken the NBA and this basically guaranteed a rematch of the past 2 Finals. The thing was that even before he signed, people were still picking a rematch, so KD to the Warriors only solidified that. He, and everyone else in the world, knew that a move to the Warriors meant instant Finals contention. While they were able to breeze through a portion of the season without him, he has come back to be their catalyst in the playoffs with multiple third quarter takeovers. (Some credit is also due to Klay Thompson. Since he signed that toaster, the Warriors are 27–1, just saying.) When KD was asked about the lack of competition so far in the playoffs, he said that if the fans aren’t happy they can just stop watching. Sounds like the exact answer a guy getting paid nearly $27 million this year would give when asked why people are tired of seeing him win with such ease.
The issue I have with what KD said is that people won’t stop watching. They want to stick around to see these super teams make the Finals every year. Most casual fans don’t care about parity in the league. That’s not to say that all basketball fans are that way because that is so far from the truth. There are many fans out there who will agree with me when I say that these super teams are killing the NBA. Every year, some marquee free-agent takes a little bit of a pay cut to join an already stacked team to try to win a championship NOW. LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh did it in Miami. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce did it in Boston. The Warriors are fortunate that Steph Curry and Klay Thompson aren’t maxed yet or they would have to as well in order to keep KD and Draymond. LaMarcus Alridge did it with the Spurs. Kyrie, LeBron, and Kevin Love all have to a small degree in Cleveland as well.
The problem with this trend is that every year the rich get richer and everyone else gets poorer. The gap between the top 4 teams in the league and the 5th best team is almost as big as the gap between the 5th best team and the 25th best team. The problem is that when the NBA salary cap keeps going up and the ratings stay as high as they do, the NBA won’t touch these super teams. The only time that the NBA interfered with the formation of a super team was back when the Lakers tried to sign Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, which is still bullshit.
With the pool of elite teams getting smaller and more elite, and the massive talent gap between the elite players and everyone else in the NBA, this trend is going to have to lead to diminishing returns for the NBA at some point. When will it be enough for the league office to step in and put an end to this talent hoarding? Who knows. It’s hard to compare this situation to any other sport because with larger numbers of players on the court/field for Baseball and Football and the small scoring window due to the goalie in Hockey, its easier to wash out individual talent. One or two players can rarely (but not never) completely change the trajectory of a team in those sports. In the NBA, though, the addition of a single marquee player (especially on a team that already has at least one similarly talented player) in a league where elite players are that much better than the rest of the competition, can completely alter the trajectory of a team. Unless the average talent level of the NBA somehow sky-rockets compared to that of the elite players of the league, the NBA will be forced to do something about super teams in the near future. Hopefully that’s before people realize the No Balance Association, despite the high flying talent, is putting forward an overall inferior product as far as competition is concerned compared to the other 3 major sports.
