4 comments 5 Reasons Why I loved the 2010-2011 NBA Season

The link to Dime for the article is here. Can't plagiarize myself, you know?

I’ve never been one for wearing gear on the court. I’m not a good enough basketball player. The NBA is a different story. If you’re a rotation player, you’ve secured an inalienable right to wear whatever you want. But unless it’s a brace, there’s really no point other than style. Take headbands, for instance. LeBron James wears one. So does Jason Terry – and his is slightly off center (someone should really tell him). Neither of them have enough hair to warrant their apparel, but they definitely have enough swag (at least LeBron used to). There’s no doubt that donning the gear is an understandable sentiment – I consider myself a Nike ID guru. Unfortunately I can only break out my kicks in summer leagues or the fabled New York City street courts. But I hope, I dream. I envision myself hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy in my New York Knicks uniform. Wearing number 11, of course. And an orange sweatband below my left elbow. The moment would be just right, with all the miniscule pieces of my fantasy aligned just so.
But I digress. Even though my NBA career never materialized in the way that I imagined (fine, it never got started), I still hold on. It’s why I take enormous pride in the 3-1 record I compiled playing pick-up last week with fellow Dimers. I have to displace my passion, my anger and my limited stamina in other areas and take the victories where I can get them; like pick-up basketball, or when the train arrives directly after I walk into the subway station. Or my continuing odyssey to become the No. 1 FIFA 2011 player on Xbox Live in the United States - I’m currently at No. 277. (I’m Pyrrhus1289 if you dare to challenge me.) Or when the sandwich artist (that has to be a top 10 job title, right?) at Subway places just the right amount of buffalo sauce on my sub.

That’s why I loved this past NBA season. The big storylines were intriguing, frustrating, vindicating and palpable. Every time questions found an answer, four more questions would emerge. It was like I had been sucked into “Lost” all over again. But every NBA season has its headline drama that propels the season forward. 2010-2011 had something more. And it wasn’t the Miami Heat or Derrick Rose, but tiny splices of moments – small victories. It had just the right amount of buffalo sauce. So when I looked back on the season on the train this morning, I combed through my mental library that archived these snapshots. Here are a few of them that stuck out the most.

Frank Vogel - The world is better now that Vogel will most likely take the Pacers gig on a non-interim basis. Under his regime, Jeff Foster and Josh McRoberts patrolled the paint Kevin McHale-style, i.e. with no regard for human life whatsoever. No mercy, no easy buckets. There weren’t any intricate coaching schemes, mixing and matching of lineups, or brilliant maneuvers. It was play basketball, be physical. We often hear coaches preach that players need to play every possession, but the Pacers were the only team that actually lived up to the mantra.

The Kim Kardashian Effect – If you’re a professional athlete and you’re looking to improve your game, date Kim Kardashian. Just don’t break up with her, because she’ll break your heart and cause your career to go south. Just take a look at the history:

1. Reggie Bush – The New Orleans Saints’ running back dated the reality TV star from 2007-2010, during which time he somewhat ripped off the “bust” label stapled to his forehead. Not to mention the Super Bowl Ring he picked up in February of 2010. But then they split, and Bush cemented his heartbreak with a broken leg in Week 3 of the following season, followed by having to return his Heisman Trophy and USC disowning him.
2. Miles Austin – The Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver hopped aboard the Kardashian train during the summer of 2010 and the first two weeks of the following season. Those first two weeks got him off to a hot start, as he racked up an impressive 20 catches for 188 yards and a TD. But then they broke up, and Austin tumbled, recording seven two-catch games in the following 15 weeks.

3. Kris Humphries – He’s really got it going on. Dating Kim Kardashian, averaging a double-double for the season, and looking at a healthy next contract. If he and Kardashian split, expect Dwight Howard to sign with the Nets, Humphries’ minutes to get slashed in half and Lamar Odom to unintentionally tear his ACL in an alarming yet sadistically satisfying twist of irony.

Reaffirmation of the Atlanta Zone – By definition, this refers to teams perennially chained to a No. 3, 4, 5 or 6 seed. More importantly, they’re handcuffed to the second tier of NBA teams without the possibility of parole. Atlanta’s first contract with Joe Johnson welcomed them to this much-maligned zone, but their most recent deal with him put the nail in the coffin. No team will ever win with Joe Johnson as its main star. I don’t care who you put around him.
The Memphis Grizzlies followed suit by committing to Zach Randolph and Rudy Gay for the long term. You’d think that teams would have learned after the Rashard Lewis fiasco, but no. The NBA has proven that you win with a bunch of B+/A- stars, or one A+ star and a bunch of solid B role players.

And now the Knicks are dangerously close to joining the ranks. Carmelo and Amar’e are pretty on paper, but that’s about it. Any time you flirt with the C and D range as your main rotation guys, you’ll be in a world of hurt. Anthony Carter should never be leading the comeback charge in the regular season, let alone an elimination playoff game.

The Weakening of the Western Conference - We can praise Rick Carlisle, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks’ team chemistry all we want, but their NBA title was nothing less than shocking. I mean, the Mavericks? The same team everyone and their mother picked against in the 1st round? The same team whose average age is 67? Don’t get me wrong – they deserved the title. But a repeat? Doubtful. Then again, I have no idea who the favorite is for next year. Every team has got a major issue. The Lakers lost Phil Jackson. Dallas is old. San Antonio is older. The Thunder will be immobilized until Scottie Brooks hands off the point guard duties to James Harden. The Denver Nuggets have too many rotations players and tattoos to avoid internal turmoil. The Portland Trailblazers have too many injuries and too much front office instability. Memphis, well they’re a frustrating anomaly. Like the guy on the street court who looks awful, yet inexplicably puts the ball in the basket more often than not.
The point is that the Western Conference playoffs were unbelievable this year, and there’s no dynasty in sight. Which means that we’re looking at multiple years of entertaining unpredictability.

The Dismantling of the Utah Jazz – Jerry Sloan, Deron Williams and a winning record all disappeared from Utah quicker than a Mark Jackson outro. (Fine. It was slower.) But it was the best thing to happen to the Jazz since the end of the Malone era? Why? They were in the Atlanta zone. Deron Williams and Al Jefferson/Carlos Boozer were not the solution. Maybe if they added one more piece, but what free agent is signing with Utah? (Cut to Jazz fans crying and nodding at the same time). It’s really a shame, because Salt Lake City is one of the most underrated fan bases. They’re intense bordering on rabid, which is always intimidating and influencing the outcome of games at EnergySolutions Arena. But pity won’t draw free agents out west. Their best move was to cut ties with anything related to the old regime and start over. We always seem to forget it, but the goal is an NBA championship, not the playoffs.

17 comments We Have to Talk About These Trades, Right?

Apparently the interwebs and people taking to each other through machines has hijacked all forms of communication. If you didn't see the Carmelo deal on Twitter, one of your Facebook friends put it as their status. Maybe you were watching a meaningless regular season college basketball game on ESPN2 (I couldn't resist taking a shot there) when the news flashed across the ESPN Bottom Line. Or maybe you just happened to check a random sports website and the news magically appeared. Regardless of how you found out, this blockbuster trade still has the feel of a "where were you when it happened" moment, despite everyone's ability to predict the outcome beforehand.

Once the trade happened, you analyzed the boatload of moving parts. As most people have already noted, your reaction was probably along the lines of, "Wow, the Knicks gave up a lot. Maybe too much." Don't worry, I had that same reaction. But then I broke down the parts (we'll ignore the garbage/"you're only in this trade to make the salaries work" guys.

From the Knicks' standpoint, the significant contributors went from:

Stoudemire
Turiaf
Chandler
Gallinari
Felton
Fields
Douglas
Williams
Mozgov

to

Stoudemire
Turiaf
Carmelo
Fields
Billups
Carter
Douglas
Williams

In short, the Knicks' only significant loss was depth in the front court. Williams, Douglas, Turiaf and Fields are all suitable role players capable of playing off-ball. If we say that Billups and Felton are roughly the same, the Knicks essentially traded Chandler and Gallinari plus a bunch of invaluable parts. (You may say that Anthony Randolph isn't useless, but the Knicks were building for a win-now team, something to which Randolph clearly does not belong.) In terms of net-gain, I'm a satisfied customer. Add in one more significant piece and the Knicks are serious contender.

More troubling, however, is the Knicks' front office tactics. Maybe I missed something. Maybe Marc Stein or Chris Broussard (who, by the way, has taken over as the official "main scoop" guy of ESPN. Seriously, when any NBA story breaks, he's literally the only ESPN guy to pick it up. Marc Stein and Chris Sheridan really need to pick it up. Same with Chris Mortensen. Adam Schefter owns him right now.) already explained this one. So correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Knicks in a complete position of power?

If I'm sitting in the Knicks' front office, I'm letting this trade drag out until Thursday at 3. When reports surfaced of the Knicks dealing Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry and Wilson Chandler to the Denver in a three team trade with Minnesota, I was surprised that anonymous GMs said they would never agree to the deal. Of course that deal is not even. But would Denver really have a choice? Carmelo refused to go anywhere but New York. The Knicks had all kinds of power to low ball the Nuggets into submission. Despite clinging to erroneous hopes that Melo would stay or agree to an NJ Deal, the Denver GMs are not stupid: they saw what happened with Bosh and LeBron. They had to make a deal, no matter how terrible it was. While the Nets offer may have been better, their need for Melo to resign eliminated them from the equation. The Knicks only real competitor, then, was a team willing to rent him. The Mavs and Rockets did not have the Knicks' assets. The Magic already overhauled their roster this season.

When Ian O'Connor wrote that the Knicks needed put Mozgov in the deal, I once again recoiled. Why? Once again, there was no competing offer. If the Knicks held their ground, the Nuggets would have had no choice but to cave. Do I blame Donnie Walsh? No. D'Antoni? No. I'll throw that one on James Dolan. His irrational fear that Melo might slip away seriously cost the Knicks. Imagine if the Knicks had been able to keep either Gallinari or Chandler. All the talk about the Knicks being nothing more than a 1st round playoff exit disappears.

More frightening for the NBA as a whole, however, is the precedent that this is setting. With star players rarely spending their entire careers in one place, a team's peak is much shorter than its valley. As with most sports, teams continuously go from periods of great success to epic failure. The current makeup of the NBA only hammers home the fact that teams lacking a superstar are destined for years of aimless wandering until that next superstar is found. Despite Denver's ability to compile young assets and draft picks, their only hope for success is to either lure a class A free agent (which is unlikely since Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard will not leave their respective teams for a worse situation) or to hit the jackpot in the draft. And its the latter that ultimately matters most. Besides the Knicks, every team that has compiled an assembly of stars has already had one in place through the draft.

Take the Jazz, for example. Deron Williams was that centerpiece. Al Jefferson was star #2. One more piece and this team is a serious contender. But their lack of trade assets and the recent savage murder of Jerry Sloan by Williams lead them to conclude that Melo-drama would potentially repeat itself. So they executed a preemptive strike, facing the reality that this team was stuck in the Atlanta zone (3-6 seed with no chance of winning the NBA title, and no trade assets or cap space to improve). Yet unlike the Nuggets, the Jazz addressed their situation ahead of time, giving them added leverage. If the Nets were unwilling to deal 2 1st rounders, Favors and Harris, the Jazz could have simply walked away. The Nets were not going to wait a year for the next deadline to bring the appropriate pressure that would have facilitated a better deal. But Utah's hand was forced by the growing trend of the NBA: superstar disloyalty. So much so that the Jazz were willing to move their best player a year and a half in advance and begin the process of rebuilding now.

In the end, the Jazz made the right move at the right time. Why wait and suffer through two first or second round playoff exits? You might as well just start over sooner and try again.