The Past 25 Years In The NBA - It's Fantastic For 6 Teams

[AzStevenCal]

It's only going to get better in the next few years with the new super team fad, there might not be a reason to watch anymore if you're a fan of a small market team. I'm a Lebron fan though so I will support him in his upcoming 6peat.

I'm not sure it's reached "fad" stage just yet. Also, with the upcoming CBA negotiations, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this become much more difficult (if not impossible) in the near future.

Steve

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Hey, Gee - a new team won it. That should make you happy.

 

[Gee!]

Hey, Gee - a new team won it. That should make you happy.

Itwould if it wasn't the Fing Mavs.. Haha

 

[Superbone]

Itwould if it wasn't the Fing Mavs.. Haha

Ha! Mavs got ya good. I remember when you predicted they didn't have a chance and it would end in 4 or 5.

 

[Gee!]

Ha! Mavs got ya good. I remember when you predicted they didn't have a chance and it would end in 4 or 5.

That wasn't me.. I never predicted how many games I don't think.. Arizona finest was predicting games, maybe that's who your thinking of..

 

[Superbone]

That wasn't me.. I never predicted how many games I don't think.. Arizona finest was predicting games, maybe that's who your thinking of..

Hmm. You might be right or maybe it was the Bulls series you predicted (correctly)? But you were pretty confident the Heat were going to beat the Mavs:

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2455218&postcount=1315

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Update:

The same 7 teams have won championships 32 of the last 34 years now.

Only variation was one title for the 76ers and one for the Mavs.

 

[HooverDam]

I was close. In 63 years only 17 teams have won all of the titles.

Yep that's just the nature of basketball. If you get Russell, or Kareem or Jordan or LeBron you're gonna win a bunch of titles.

Trying to chalk it up to somehow the fault of Stern is moronic.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Yep that's just the nature of basketball. If you get Russell, or Kareem or Jordan or LeBron you're gonna win a bunch of titles.

Trying to chalk it up to somehow the fault of Stern is moronic.

Totally agree.

 

[Gee!]

Yep that's just the nature of basketball. If you get Russell, or Kareem or Jordan or LeBron you're gonna win a bunch of titles.

Trying to chalk it up to somehow the fault of Stern is moronic.

Not when Stern allows lopsided trades in the Lakers favor, it isn't.. Or that he allowed the Spurs to have a retired ref who lives in SA come back for one series..

 

[HooverDam]

Not when Stern allows lopsided trades in the Lakers favor, it isn't.. Or that he allowed the Spurs to have a retired ref who lives in SA come back for one series..

Ok it's all a Stern driven conspiracy to screw the Suns. Happy?

What freaking sense does it make for Stern to rig things for SA? They're in a tiny market, for most of the past 2 decades have played a dull style and have a superstar with a very dry personality and play style.

If the NBA was going to rig things for any team outside of the 4 big powerhouse markets (LA, Bos, NY, Chi) it would be the Suns! When the Suns were good with Barkley and latter with Nash, they were everyone's 2nd favorite team. They had like able players, a fun style, high TV ratings nationally, and a reasonable size TV market. The NBA would be stupid not to try to help the Suns.

Stop being bitter and delusional. Conspiracy theories are the bastin of the uninformed.

 

[Bufalay]

I always see San Antonio listed as a small market. Why is this? It has the 7th largest population in the country.

 

[Gee!]

What freaking sense does it make for Stern to rig things for SA? They're in a tiny market, for most of the past 2 decades have played a dull style and have a superstar with a very dry personality and play style.

Stern has been trying to make basketball the next soccer as far as international.. He pushed it for a long time.. He had/has a team in the Spurs with players from all over the globe on it.. If he gets the Spurs winning other countries start watching.. So while you think about American big cities, Stern is thinking about the world.. And it cost the Suns in the process..

And because Stern didnt control LBJ and they went to the Heat, is another reason why I cheer for LBJ..

 

[elindholm]

What freaking sense does it make for Stern to rig things for SA? They're in a tiny market, for most of the past 2 decades have played a dull style and have a superstar with a very dry personality and play style.

That's like asking what sense does it make for the WWE to elevate a champion that no one likes. Obviously the reason is to increase drama for when the good guy wins next time. (You'll note that the Spurs never won consecutive titles.)

The NBA isn't explicitly rigged. It's implicitly rigged by the superstar system, the galvanization of which is the defining feature of Stern's tenure. Stars get more calls, which makes them more successful, which makes them bigger stars, which gets them even more calls, which makes them even more successful, which ... you get the idea. That's not explicit, bent-corner envelope rigging, but more like, well, capitalism, in which the rich can use their power and their knowledge of the system to become richer, and the poor can never catch up without a major dose of luck.

Certainly, how much this implicit rigging defines the NBA is a question open to debate. But to say that having a team in lowly San Antonio win four titles proves that the system is fair -- no, the issue is rather subtler than that.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

I always see San Antonio listed as a small market. Why is this? It has the 7th largest population in the country.

Very true and they are very supportive. Here is how many of their fans watched Game 7:

You must be registered for see images

 

[HooverDam]

That's like asking what sense does it make for the WWE to elevate a champion that no one likes. Obviously the reason is to increase drama for when the good guy wins next time. (You'll note that the Spurs never won consecutive titles.)

The NBA isn't explicitly rigged. It's implicitly rigged by the superstar system, the galvanization of which is the defining feature of Stern's tenure. Stars get more calls, which makes them more successful, which makes them bigger stars, which gets them even more calls, which makes them even more successful, which ... you get the idea. That's not explicit, bent-corner envelope rigging, but more like, well, capitalism, in which the rich can use their power and their knowledge of the system to become richer, and the poor can never catch up without a major dose of luck.

Certainly, how much this implicit rigging defines the NBA is a question open to debate. But to say that having a team in lowly San Antonio win four titles proves that the system is fair -- no, the issue is rather subtler than that.

Well that's not rigging of any sort to me, that's life. When you have a lot of money, it's easier to make more. When you get lucky enough to draft a superstar and are set up for a decade other free agents will want to play with hat guy.

If one doesn't like a sport where the best team almost always win, one shouldn't follow the NBA. Watching NCAA hoops where the weirdness of the Tournament results in tons of randomness and its more whacky.

 

[elindholm]

Well that's not rigging of any sort to me, that's life. When you have a lot of money, it's easier to make more. When you get lucky enough to draft a superstar and are set up for a decade other free agents will want to play with hat guy.

If one doesn't like a sport where the best team almost always win, one shouldn't follow the NBA.

I suspect you didn't understand my post. The best teams in the NBA win not only because they are the best, but because the playing field is tilted in their favor. It's like a race where you know in advance who the fastest runners are, then give them a head start.

 

[BC867]

I suspect you didn't understand my post. The best teams in the NBA win not only because they are the best, but because the playing field is tilted in their favor. It's like a race where you know in advance who the fastest runners are, then give them a head start.

It is interesting that the Knicks won two championships within a five year period, but none before or after. The Big Apple. Perhaps the league felt that they'd fill the seats anyway. And that TV money would come their way anyway.

Once upon a time, I read that if the five boroughs of New York were split into five cities, Brooklyn would have been the 3rd most populated city in the country. Now that Brooklyn has its own NBA team, there is no reason to believe the league will ever tilt things in favor of the Knicks. Which is OK with me.

 

[HooverDam]

I suspect you didn't understand my post. The best teams in the NBA win not only because they are the best, but because the playing field is tilted in their favor. It's like a race where you know in advance who the fastest runners are, then give them a head start.

I understood it, but I don't necessarily agree. I think the NBA is by and large fair, in so much that in sport is fair. Especially basketball, which by its nature is 'unfair' because if you have 'the guy', you're likely to win.

I don't think the league has become any more or less fair or unfair during Sterns tenure. And I HATE Stern. But thats mostly because he's a smug prick who takes way too much credit for globalizing the game when he just happened to be around at the right time.

The Spurs tanked on purpose, got lucky, and got Duncan. I'm sure the league (and certainly Rick Pitino) wanted him to land in Boston, but that didn't happen and the Spurs have won 50 games for a zillion years in a row now. But I don't believe the league is more star centric under Stern. They may have marketed stars better, but what effect that has on the game is negligible. Russell won all the damned titles, he was the best in his day...its always been this way, its the nature of the game.

 

[HooverDam]

I always see San Antonio listed as a small market. Why is this? It has the 7th largest population in the country.

Its not population we're looking at per se. Its media market. Which takes into account the population of not just your metro area but your whole region. Here's a list of the top 100 media markets in the US:

http://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets

As you can see San Antonio is down at 37, fairly low. Its smaller than places like Raleigh, Hartford, and Greenville, all places you'd never think a NBA team could survive.

There are only 3 teams in smaller media markets than SA: New Orleans, OKC, and Memphis (NO is smallest).

 

[mojorizen7]

Update:

The same 7 teams have won championships 32 of the last 34 years now.

Only variation was one title for the 76ers and one for the Mavs.

Which is why the only NBA i watched the entire season was gm 7 of the Finals. I knew it would be 2 teams from the Club of champions,and it would go seven gm's.

I didnt watch much last season either. Why bother anymore?

Memphis & Indiana should've just gone fishin the moment they advanced to the conference championships...and thats too bad.

 

[mojorizen7]

There have been 13 different championship teams in the NFL over the last 30 years by comparison...just incase anyone was interested.

Edit: I didn't bother to research the Club of Finals/Super Bowl matchups(maybe later),but i have a feeling that its very skewed compared to the NBA,where even Finals appearances require a hall pass.

 

[Mainstreet]

Which is why the only NBA i watched the entire season was gm 7 of the Finals. I knew it would be 2 teams from the Club of champions,and it would go seven gm's.

I didnt watch much last season either. Why bother anymore?

Memphis & Indiana should've just gone fishin the moment they advanced to the conference championships...and thats too bad.

It's too bad the NBA caters to stars and certain teams. I think the NBA would do just fine if the league let the teams stand on their own two feet rather than treat it like an entertainment business. NBA basketball is exciting in it's own right and even more so if they would allow more teams to compete on a level playing field instead of a field that appears slanted.