2016-2017 NBA SEASON: Crab walk vs Chef Wok the Threequel: The Return of the King

[Jem]

Finals are going to be fun but I can't help but feel how utterly pointless the rest of this year has been. When both finalists are the expected ones and they walk their way to the finals as Cavs/Warriors have, that is not remotely healthy for the league in my opinion. I'm sure it's happened plenty of times in the past too but it just makes me switch off. I have barely watched any playoff games this year because of it.

[Krandor]

Revenue and ratings went up across the board afaik, so saying it affects the health of the league is questionable. And both teams have a timetable on how long this can last.

Curry, Klay, and Green are all max level players currently on much smaller contracts, and the Cavs maintaining a revolving door of older vets on minimum contracts as bench players can't work forever.

[kisada]

super teams that are like a super hero vs a super villain match up at the end are always good for ratings. parity is good for competition but boring for viewers. can't think of any sport where there is an exception

[Moss]

super teams that are like a super hero vs a super villain match up at the end are always good for ratings. parity is good for competition but boring for viewers. can't think of any sport where there is an exception

Hmm I don't know about that. Super casual viewers maybe

[kisada]

the point is to draw in the casual viewers. a casual viewer isn't going to wanna watch the utah jazz play the washington wizards in the finals. people who enjoy basketball on a more committed level will still watch but the rest not so much. it's a completely different thing if it's one superpower vs another.

[Moss]

the point is to draw in the casual viewers. a casual viewer isn't going to wanna watch the utah jazz play the washington wizards in the finals. people who enjoy basketball on a more committed level will still watch but the rest not so much. it's a completely different thing if it's one superpower vs another.

That's fair. There are different ways you can look at parity.

Absolute parity where every team has a decent chance at the final is only good for the fans of individual teams. Not casual fans, like you said.

I would say the ideal is something close to last year, where you have your favorites (GS and CLE) and then teams that actually push them (hypothetically healthy clippers, spurs, OKC, raptors, healthy 60 win hawks). It is going to hurt the finals ratings if you end up with okc-raptors, but that probably won't happen. You're at least getting competitive series leading up to the main event, even if no upsets occur

[Moss]

To actually make my point, this year's final match-up is amazing (and good for ratings) but a lot of the matchups to this point were a snooze fest and I would wager bad for ratings. It's tough to strike the balance

[kisada]

i think i agree. i think a few years ago there was a first round where every western conference matchup went to 7 games and was pretty epic, and every WC team seemed like they had a chance to go deep. that's EXACTLY how the nba should want the playoffs to start and what we'd like to see in terms of parity, imo. and of course some type of narrative for the end game matchup.

[Jem]

Right and the other issue is just how far ahead of the pack those two teams are. Great for the casual fan but for everyone who is actually a fan, it's a different matter.

I mean we literally have Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Final with the #1 pick in the draft. It's crazy when the theoretical 2nd best team in the conference can get either the best available draft prospect or trade the pick for a star and yet still be lagging behind the #1 team in the conference. Yet that is what we have.

Sure it won't last forever but realistically next year the favorites to make the finals again would be the same teams as this year and that would the 4th year in a row. Of course unpredictable things can happen or injuries but the playing field should be much more even than that. You can at least make the case that the Warriors got there through good management. But the Cavs just lucked into it. They got lucky in the drafts then had the best player in the league decide to go home plus an owner willing to pay crazy amounts of luxury tax

[archibaldcrane]

Right and the other issue is just how far ahead of the pack those two teams are when one of those teams injures the best player on the 3rd best team

.

[Jem]

Even with Kawhi, they had no chance of actually beating Golden State. They'd have won 2 games tops.

[Krandor]

Warriors absolutely still got here thru luck. Curry being so injury prone in the beginning led to him being on the smaller contract he's currently on (which definitely played a part in having the space to bring in Durant), and Green has grossly outperformed expectations given his draft position.

Also some non calls by the refs in the 2014 playoffs that led to the firing of Jackson and Kerr coming on board.

[Dimmauk]

These POINT GOD and CP3 to the Spurs rumors are hilarious

[Kalmado]

Maybe it's my hometown homering bringing this up, but I genuinely wonder this. Why hasn't a team like the 2003-2004 Pistons rose to the occasion to take on these super teams? Everyone thought that the Lakers super team of that year had the finals in the bag, but Detroit managed the 4-1 series win. While it has been documented there was a ton of in house fighting with the Lakers, the Pistons still needed to rise to the occasion to get to the finals and then beat that incredible Lakers team. Why can't other teams step up?

[Moss]

Maybe it's my hometown homering bringing this up, but I genuinely wonder this. Why hasn't a team like the 2003-2004 Pistons rose to the occasion to take on these super teams? Everyone thought that the Lakers super team of that year had the finals in the bag, but Detroit managed the 4-1 series win. While it has been documented there was a ton of in house fighting with the Lakers, the Pistons still needed to rise to the occasion to get to the finals and then beat that incredible Lakers team. Why can't other teams step up?

That Lakers team was flawed and that Pistons team was the outlier to end all outliers as far as teams without a superstar winning a championship.

You would need something like a slightly better version of the 60-win no-star Hawks of two years ago, LeBron with a crappy supporting cast Cavs team and the current warriors not existing for that to even have a chance of happening again.

The short answer is the team with the best player usually wins.

[Moss]

These POINT GOD and CP3 to the Spurs rumors are hilarious

But it would make shit really interesting

[Krandor]

Honestly, the Warriors and the Lebrons are just that good. We're talking about two teams that just went 12-0 and 12-1. Obviously Kawhi's injury is adding an asterick next to the WCF, but two teams showing that level of dominance in the same postseason is unheard of.

And Pop would need to work some magical voodoo (along with Tony Parker "medically" retiring or finding some team willing to eat LMAs contract) with salary, but CP3 to Spurs is technically possible. BUT, it will never happen because Paul not taking the Supermax deal he negotiated for is a bad look for the NBPA.

[Dimmauk]

Maybe it's my hometown homering bringing this up, but I genuinely wonder this. Why hasn't a team like the 2003-2004 Pistons rose to the occasion to take on these super teams? Everyone thought that the Lakers super team of that year had the finals in the bag, but Detroit managed the 4-1 series win. While it has been documented there was a ton of in house fighting with the Lakers, the Pistons still needed to rise to the occasion to get to the finals and then beat that incredible Lakers team. Why can't other teams step up?

Mavs and Spurs beat the Heatles teams.

[GRT]

That Lakers "super team" had no depth whatsoever, so when one of your starting guys (Malone) gets injured, with all the other drama and infighting, it's barely a good enough playoff team. Looking back at how that team played, it should be a surprise they even made the finals.

[Gredival]

Yeah I think people underestimate how much that Lakers super team need Malone because they were so thin after their super four. Just like how the newer Lakers super team had nothing when Dwight was not 100 and Nash couldn't play.