Of course much of it is dependent on players living up to their potential, but in the past 10 years I don't remember their being so many talented and coveted players. In a 30 team league, it seems there are at least 3 players on every team that would be real contributors on a legit championship team. Take a look at the 8 worst teams from last year and you can mentally think of a couple players you wouldn't mind having / wouldn't like playing against. New Jersey Toronto New York Washington Minnesota OKC LAC Sacramento For what is considered to be a weak draft class of 2009, there are a lot of high ceiling players. Is the NBA inching closer to parity or will dynasties continue to be the trend?
I think the NBA is always talented it just transitions from decade to decade in the type of talent really. Athleticism over actual skill seems to be the big thing right now. At least in my era of watching ball the 80s were more about skills the 90s were a combination of skill and athleticism the 00s more on athleticism and less on skill (i mean how many rookies do we see on draft night where it says :must improve shooting, must improve offense?) the problem nowadays is that the teams arent nearly as competetive 1-30 as they used to be (could be the declining avg skill set in players) and while back at least during the 90s each team and 1-2 all-star or franchise type players its now like you need at least 3 on your team to win...there are only so many of those type of players in the league and you see them bunching up around on a few teams
No way. Look at this year's champion Lakers and compare them to teams 10 years ago (looking at the NBA in 2000, not '99 because of the lockout). This years Lakers probably wouldn't even make it passed the second round in 2000. Seriously, could they beat that Spurs team, a Lakers with Shaq, Utah Jazz, Portland Jailblazers? Furthermore, let's examine the current good teams after this years Lakers. Orlando? Cleveland? Denver? Only team I could think of is a healthy Celtics.
In today's NBA, there are only 3, maybe 4, teams each season that legitimately have a shot at winning a ring. As of right now, I'd say the top four are LA Lakers, Cleveland, Boston and San Antonio. The bottom teams are so weak that the NBA should consider contraction. And with the economy how it is, more and more teams will become sellers, therefore a lot more talented players will end up on teams that can afford them, i.e. the teams already in contention, or just sniffing it.
Injuries reallyyyyyyyyy hurt a lot of teams this past season. I don't know if I have ever seen it that bad.
I don't know about individual players but this season had far and away the weakest collective group of "elite" teams that I have seen since I have been watching the NBA.
In the words of Jeff Van Gundy, (he said this in regards to Rudy Gay but it applys to several guys in my opinion) "I don't understand the fascination with players who put up good numbers on awful teams."
