Hold on tight if you are a true basketball fan because we are witnessing the demise of an entire league
The NBA is on the road to whatever the opposite of parity is (disparity that is) and it will put any true fans in a state of despair. It did not begin with LeBron James’ decision debacle but that surely amplified what is ruining professional basketball for the true fan.
We now have a league where players are deciding the composition of the roster (see Miami Heat), players under contract negotiating with owners from other teams in the MIDDLE OF THE SEASON (see Carmelo Anthony) and players essentially deciding which teams and markets are worth playing for. This will continue with Chris Paul making his way to New York in the offseason, and Dwight Howard finding his way out of Orlando. And the owners can certainly share in the blame for not only being complacent while this is occurring, but facilitating it and actively participating in it.
This is destroying the competition fans crave. This is telling fans in a majority of NBA cities that their support is useless. This has to end. The landscape of the NBA has to change so that a majority of teams, at any given point, can compete for a playoff spot and subsequently, be competitive in the playoffs.
It is worth outlining the opposing argument to this view. Some would say that players’ have earned this right and that they are merely exercising powers that anyone else in their position would in order to look out for their best interests. I agree. They are doing a great job of looking out for their interests. Players want to win championships, increase their visibility and hence marketability, and play in regions with lower taxes, and maybe warmer weather. But the problem is that when a person or group is looking out for only their interests with no regard for the interests of the entity that gives them the opportunity to make a living – they are failing to see the forest for the trees and may actually be killing the forest. If there are less viable and thriving markets as a whole, this will lead to less teams, less money and less merchandising dollars, period. With the expansion professional sports leagues have experienced in recent decades, ensuring the viability of these expanding markets seems to have been forgotten – and this problem is ruining the product - particularly in the NBA.
Critics would also say that along as a team is winning, players will want to come such as in San Antonio – but San Antonio is the exception not the rule. You cannot build a thriving system around an exception. Also, if star players continue to make their way to ‘better’ markets, there will be no talent to build around in other cities. Sure, fans in Miami are thrilled, but a league cannot exist with L.A., Boston, New York and Miami alone. Owners and management are to blame as well though, and one has to wonder what they have to gain by allowing this to be occurring right under their noses.
Regardless, the person entrusted with seeing the forest and not the trees – the person entrusted with worrying about the game as a whole is the commissioner David Stern, in conjunction with the Board of Governors. David Stern saved this league once, and true fans who notice what is going on are waiting to see what he’ll do now. Ideas floating around include a franchise tag on certain players, or cap exceptions for one star player on every team. I know many of us true fans are waiting to see how this plays out in the coming year, before star players and ignorant owners clear-cut all the trees without planting the seeds for the future forest.
