5 NBA Superstars with the Most on the Line Entering 2014-15
It's not just "what have you done for me lately?" in the NBA. It's "what have you done for me in the last five seconds?"
Thanks to the hard annual reset that comes with every fresh season (and a news cycle perpetually starved for narratives), there are always ways to manufacture stakes for the league's top players—even the ones who've already demonstrated their worth many times over.
No matter how many championship rings or MVP awards, no matter how many ridiculous statistics or how much technical skill, no matter how obvious the historical greatness—there's always something to prove.
Ironically, those who have already proved the most are the ones from whom we ask even more.
From everyone who was given much, much will be required. Luke 12:48.
With great power comes great responsibility. Spider-Man.
Deep, huh?
Anyhow, guys like Kobe Bryant, who we'll discuss at length in a moment, have already done everything there is to do on a basketball court. Yet for the Los Angeles Lakers' aging superstar, the simple act of taking the court this season brings new challenges. And fair or not, what happens with Bryant this season will have a very real impact on his legacy.
Here's a look at the NBA superstars who, despite already accomplishing so much, still have plenty more on the line in 2014-15.
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
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Like so many of the greats before him, Bryant has a knack for motivating himself—often by creating expectations that seem impossible to meet.
If Kobe had come into this upcoming season with cautious optimism instead of his typically uncompromising, gotta-be-great approach, he wouldn't have made this list. But because No. 24 says things like this, from the introduction of his upcoming documentary (h/t Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders), there's plenty on the line:
"You can always just be average or do what’s normal. I’m not in this to do what’s normal. It’s a decision you’ve got to make if you want to accomplish anything that’s significant and have a serious impact. You’ve got to make those sacrifices. You have to make that choice. I made that choice a long time ago.
"
I guess that $48.5 million extension probably removed the possibility of moderate expectations as well, but talking about a refusal to do what's normal only increases the stakes.
Bryant has emulated Michael Jordan to an almost frightening degree throughout his career, which means he's acutely aware of the sloppy final chapter that, while impressive in some ways, added an unnecessarily human coda to what was an otherwise perfect symphony of a career.
Bryant isn't going to don a Washington Wizards uniform, but if his final two seasons reveal him to be as greatly diminished as Jordan was in his own swan song, his legacy will take a hit. Nothing hugely damaging, of course, but a hit nonetheless.
On the other hand, if Bryant plays like the superstar he's been for so long, he'll only add to his incredible legend.
So yeah, I'd say there's plenty on the line for Kobe this season.
Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
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Big news, y'all: Derrick Rose is going to play basketball this season!
Oh, so you've heard?
With D-Rose's return come demands and questions that are at once familiar (we went through all of this a year ago) and intensified (because we went through all of this a year ago). It's bizarre to think this about a 25-year-old player, but it's hard to get past the idea that this is it for Rose as a superstar—that we can write him off as a franchise-altering talent if he doesn't resemble one right away this season.
There's nothing fair about thoughts like that, but part of being a superstar is meeting unfair expectations. It's in the job description.
It's not just Rose, personally, who has a lot riding on this season. It's also the Chicago Bulls, who are on everybody's short list of championship contenders. Oddsshark.com has them trailing only the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs among the favorites, a position that clearly presupposes a healthy, star-like season from Rose.
The flip side of that favorite status is that without Rose, the Bulls can quietly excuse themselves from all conversations about title contention. Better wing shooting from Nikola Mirotic and rookie Doug McDermott makes them more dynamic, and the addition of Pau Gasol helps bolster the front line.
But we all know the Bulls aren't a true championship threat unless Rose is his old MVP self.
Stakes are high.
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers
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There's a certain member of the Cleveland Cavaliers who'll probably get the lion's share of credit or blame for the way the 2014-15 season turns out, and that guy isn't named Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love.
LeBron James is at the height of his powers, just completed major image rehab by returning to Cleveland and is basically bulletproof. He'll catch some heat if things go sour, but unless James tears off his Cavs warm-ups before the season opener to reveal a Miami Heat jersey underneath as the Jumbotron blinks "sike!," nobody's going to rip him too badly.
Irving and Love might not be so lucky.
Their legacies are still in the formative stages, and if they were to calcify now, they wouldn't be all that great. Irving has specialized in dominating exhibitions (All-Star Games, three-point shootouts, World Cups) while leading the Cavaliers to no better than a 10th-place finish during his three years in the putrid Eastern Conference.
Fitting in alongside a future Hall of Famer, playing a little defense and winning games that actually count will go a long way toward changing perceptions about Irving. And if he fails to improve in an absolutely perfect situation, it'll be time to question that max contract he signed this summer.
Love is in a similar position, though he may be even more scrutinized for the way his individual skills have failed to produce team success. Six seasons with zero playoff appearances define Love's career more than any of his other gaudy statistics.
If he makes the most of teaming with James, his reputation will get a major boost. If he falters, the reputation fallout will be severe.
Don't think that's how things will play out in Cleveland this year? Fine. Just remember that Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were always the ones criticized for failing to help James out as much as they should have in Miami.
Now that LBJ is beyond reproach, his sidekicks will face a tougher crowd than ever.
Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
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Speaking of D-Wade, there's a lot riding on his upcoming stint as leader of the Heat.
It's a role he's familiar with, having spent the first seven seasons of his career—one of which concluded with a championship—running the show. At the same time, things will be very different for Wade this year. He'll reassume his leadership position while facing questions about his health, age and game—and he won't have the excuse of pacing himself for a title run this time.
It's not crazy to ask whether prime Wade was better than prime Kobe, but Wade is slipping off track if he's interested in competing with his 2-guard contemporary as an aging player.
Though the Heat are, at best, parked on the outer fringes of contention, there's still a lot worth fighting for this season—especially for Wade.
He'll be out to prove the back seat he took to LeBron the past four years was voluntary and not something his declining physical skills made necessary. He'll have to be more vocal, more willing to commit on defense and more demanding of his teammates.
James led the charge in all of those respects from 2010 until last season.
Wade must take over now, hoping all the while that his body allows him to write the next chapter his career needs and deserves.
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
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This is the year, right?
It has to be.
Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder have been in the thick of the fight in each of the past four years, falling short because of inexperience, bad luck and injury. Now, it's time for the next (and final) step.
KD is an MVP, meaning he has no other individual awards left to collect. And as B/R's Adam Fromal noted, Durant is headed toward greatness, but there's one thing missing: "Durant is rapidly moving along the path, but the hole in his resume is even more glaring now that everything else is filled in."
A championship is the only thing he needs, and the Thunder have never been better positioned to grab the Larry O'Brien Trophy than they are right now.
Russell Westbrook is healthy, Serge Ibaka could still take another step, Reggie Jackson is ready to assume a bigger role and Kendrick Perkins might be out of the starting mix. OKC's incumbent center has a strained quad and will miss the start of training camp. If Steven Adams gets a shot to steal the starting gig, he'll give KD the mobile, sure-handed, offensively capable big he needs to maximize his prime years.
It took LeBron until his ninth season to win his first ring. This is Durant's eighth.
But with the San Antonio Spurs never having repeated, the Cavs likely to face some early growing pains and the Bulls dealing with uncertainty of their own, the runway is cleared for a Thunder takeoff.
Durant has to seize this moment right from the outset of the 2014-15 season. He may never get a better chance to break through that championship barrier.
