My Huge Beef with the NBA

[Yavin4]

So, whenever a superstar player drives towards the hoop and gets touched, it's an automatic foul? We've seen Michael Jordan, Kobe, Dwayne, and LeBron get this treatment from the refs, and I believe that it cheapens the game. It basically means that you can't play defense on them, and teams without a superstar have no chance of winning a series.

Thus, given that only a few teams have a superstar or will ever get one, then those teams have no chance of ever winning, and in David Stern's NBA, the only team that has won a championship without a hall of fame player was the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

[bluedigger]

1. I think it depends on how you define "superstar".

Do the Celtics have no superstars, or four? Quite a few different teams have won a title in the last decade. Which is it - did they win with, or without, superstars? How about the Knicks? Does winning a title validate superstar status? I think your faulty premise that only a very few teams will ever have a superstar invalidates your question.

[Yavin4]

3. The Celts Have 4 Hall of Famers

And every team that's won in the past decade has had a superstar/sure hall of famer:

2000-02 - Lakers - Shaq & Kobe
2003 - Spurs Tim Duncan
2004 - Detroit Pistons - (No Superstars / No Hall of Famer)
2005 - Spurs Tim Duncan
2006 - Miami Heat - Dwayne Wade & Shaq
2007 - Spurs Tim Duncan
2008 - Boston Celts - Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce
2009 - Lakers - Kobe
2010 - Lakers - Kobe
2011 - Mavericks - Dirk Nowitski


Thus, looking over this list tells you that unless your team has a superstar or certain hall of famer, you pretty much have no chance of ever winning the title.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Not Sure How Old You Are, Yav, But. . .

. . .it was ever thus. Jerry West and Jabbar and Oscar and Walt Frazier, and Pistol Pete and Dr. J, etc., etc., etc., all got more calls than anybody else.

Also, how many teams before David Stern's era won without a hall of famer. The Celtics won a bazillion titles and they've got their own wing in the hall of fame. The Lakers, same thing. And, i was actually watching as far back as the mid-60's.

Seattle is the last team i can think of without an all time great that won a title, like the Pistons.

That's a long time to reach back in time.
GAC

[Yavin4]

4. You Have A Very Good Point There Professor

I don't go as far back as you. But, it does beg the question. With so few superstars, why even have so many NBA franchises? Unless Cleveland gets extremely lucky in the draft, their chances of landing another LeBron James are remote, as is their chances to win a title.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. A Completely Different Question, But Fair

Oh, poor Sacramento. Geez, Dayton doesn't have a team either. Does Cali really need 4 teams? And Orlando, really? And New Orleans is a mess. I'm with you. Contraction might be appropriate.
GAC

[taterguy]

5. Is there any team sport where you can win without great players?

[madinmaryland]

6. Is that the Nets and Knicks suck!!

[Yavin4]

8. Actually, I'm A Lakers Fan

And I do admit that the Lakers get the benefit of a lot of calls. That Game 6 against Sacramento was atrocious.

[madinmaryland]

10. A Lakers fan and a Yankees fan?? Now how does that work??

[Yavin4]

12. Went to School in LA. Fell in Love with Magic Johnson and the Lakers

Graduated. Moved to NYC. Fell in love with Jeter and the Yankees.

The End.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. My big beef with the NBA? Start calling freaking traveling.

[RockaFowler]

9. I agree with this

LeBron gets away with it too much. But he's not the only one. And when they do call Travelling everyone is shocked!!

[bluedigger]

11. I've been yelling that at the TV since at least 1986.

[HuckleB]

14. Yes, but then Shaq would have never won a title.

Don't dis the Shaq.

[HuckleB]

13. This has been a serious matter for 20 years plus.

I mean there's no way the Bulls beat the Jazz without the Jordan rules in play. The guy was given free throws for phantom fouls throughout the series, including a key play where no Jazz player was within two yards of him, but he was fouled somehow.

Ugh.

I love basketball, but I despise the NBA.

[Jack Rabbit]

15. My big beef with the NBA

What's an illegal defense?

If a defender tackles the player with the ball, that's an illegal defense. Otherwise, there should be no such thing as an illegal defense.

The NBA needs to get back in the zone.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. They Can Play Zone

There are no rules against playing the zone. And, the illegal defense rules are liberalized to the point that a fan from the 80's or even into the mid-90's wouldn't recognize it.

The zone doesn't really work that well in the NBA. That's why few teams play it, even though it is, in most part, legal.

There are too many good shooters and the point of the zone is to clog the middle and make the shooters make shots. But, every team has guys that simply do, especially if nobody is out on the perimeter trying to stay in their face. Not a fan of the team, but Mike Miller might never miss a shot if someone wasn't trying to stay close to him all the time. Give him time to set and shoot, and he'd rain threes.

The zone also would be susceptible to backdoor cuts with a good passing center because the athleticism of the wing guys is too profound.

Remember, nearly every guy in the league was THE BEST GUY IN ALMOST EVERY GAME in college. If he wasn't the best guy, it was only because there was a guy on the other team who was even better both in college and the NBA.
GAC

[Jack Rabbit]

19. Thank you.

That's something I've missed since killing my TV.

[Auggie]

18. My beef: The 3-point shot

Ruined the game

[sadbear]

20. KICK