Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James: How AAU Spirit of Teaming Up Only Helps the NBA

Shortly after LeBron James uttered his famous “take my talents to South Beach” line on July 8, discussions broke out across Bleacher Report about the fraternal spirit of AAU basketball being at the root of James’ decision.

James’ decision to head to Miami was a complete culture shock to the stars of the '80s like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who claim they never would have dreamed of uniting their talents in their heyday.

Then again, back in the '80s, there wasn’t an exploding youth basketball scene anything like the AAU.

The rising basketball stars of the 2000s have grown up and harnessed their talents in an environment tailor-made to boost their NBA chances. The best AAU teams recruit the best talent across the country. Thus, many of the future NBA stars will have been playing with and against each other for over a half-decade by the time they’re drafted.

This is a stark contrast to Larry and Magic, whose long-standing on-court rivalry began in the 1979 NCAA championship game. Hell, the legacy of Michael Jordan didn’t even start until he knocked down the game-winner in the 1982 NCAA championship against Georgetown.

Compare that to LeBron James, who had his face plastered on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was a junior…in high school.

Can we really be blaming these NBA superstars for appearing to live in some form of alternate reality? They do live in one—one with millions of dollars, thousands of annoying questions from reporters and hundreds of groupies.

Fast-forward to Tuesday, when the Denver Nuggets officially quashed four months of MeloDrama by trading Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks, just as Anthony wanted all along. Teamed with Amar’e Stoudemire, Anthony hopes to become the hometown legend who brings the Knicks back to relevancy.

Naturally, Mr. James had some thoughts about his new potential rivals to the north.

 "I think it is great for the NBA, the Knicks are back," James said of the Anthony trade. "The other teams are trying to compete [with the Heat] and I think that is great."

Today, after the New Jersey Nets shockingly wrangled All-Star Deron Williams from the Utah Jazz, LeBron spoke to the true heart of the recent NBA movement this week.

"We came here to team up and we knew we were starting a trend. Teams are going to have to load up because the competition level is rising."

Now, if you believe ESPN’s Rick Reilly, you’ll believe this Anthony trade more or less signaled the death of the NBA.

In his words, the league has devolved into "very tall, very rich twenty-somethings running the league from the backs of limos, colluding so that the best players gang up on the worst. To hell with the Denvers, the Clevelands, the Torontos. If you aren't a city with a direct flight to Paris, we're leaving. Go rot."

Given James’ comments up above, it’s pretty tough to argue that superstar players haven’t been colluding to join up—the Stoudemire/Anthony duo is only the latest example of what’s sure to become a growing trend in the next few years.

But is this really such a bad thing for the NBA?

What happened in the days leading up to LBJ’s “Decision?” Oh, right. The national interest in the NBA only exploded.

And once James announced his intentions to take his talents to South Beach? The Heat became the most hated team in professional sports outside of the New York Yankees.

The old-timers may hate the fraternal AAU spirit, but I’ve read many of them clamoring for the NBA to go back to the on-court hostility of the 1980s.

Well, what better to generate hate than a few star-built superteams?

Let’s take this opportunity to also quash Reilly’s fear of all of the NBA stars converging on a few select markets. For one, the current CBA’s salary cap is such that each team can only roster two to three of these superstars at one time, unless those players decide to give back about half of the money they’re offered.

Reilly warned Oklahoma City to “get ready” in his article; I’m guessing he missed the time when Kevin Durant inked a five-year extension with the Thunder this past summer?

Fact is, the talent level in the NBA has never been higher, thanks to the extended primes of some of the late-'90s stars (Kobe, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, etc.), the infusion of superstars from the mid-2000s (LBJ, D-Wade, ‘Melo, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, etc.), and the cadre of young stars looking to make a name for themselves (Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook, etc.).

There’s simply too many talented players in the Association to expect this superstar-driven pandemonium predicted by Reilly.

Go down the list of NBA teams. How many of them don’t have stars in their own right? Even most of the crappy, lottery-bound teams have one or two veritable franchise building blocks.

John Wall for the Wizards. Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon for the Clippers. Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins for the Kings. Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry for the Warriors. Deron Williams and Brook Lopez for the Nets. Kevin Love for the Timberwolves. Need I continue?

Also, it’s not exactly like the Nuggets imploded last night against Memphis after Melo’s departure, as the Nuggs pounded the playoff-hopeful Grizzlies by 13. That’s the funny thing about the NBA: Replacing a huge scorer isn’t nearly as hard as replacing a franchise center or point guard.

So, again, what makes superstar-built teams such a bad thing for the league?

Let the stars flock to Los Angeles, New York and Miami. Any fans not in those markets will immediately grow to hate those teams, more than they ever knew possible.

The NBA will leverage that fan hatred, too. When these superteams bring their three-ring circus on the road, what’s normally a regular season game becomes a must-see affair for that town’s fans. More regular season popularity is a bad thing for the league? Certainly not for NBA League Pass sales.

Think about the fever pitch the NBA buzz will reach around playoff time, especially on the off-chance that the Knicks and Heat lock horns in the playoffs. We’re really complaining about the potential of having that many superstars in one series?

The superteams may have one major unintended benefit too, as CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger elucidated in his column about the Anthony trade.

“I don't care how stubborn David Stern and his owners are, they are not going to tear down a perfectly good, marketable and lucrative model with star players joining forces in attractive markets just to make a point.”

Not only have the superteams driven up the league’s national interest, but now they’ll be used as a weapon for the players in the upcoming CBA negotiations? Brilliant!

See, if the owners get their way, as Berger explains, the league gets a $45 million hard cap (meaning that unlike now, owners could not exceed the salary cap under any circumstances). Considering the Anthony-Stoudemire tandem will make $40 million on their own after next season, you can understand how horrible a $45 million hard cap would be for the league.

So, I can’t fault fans in Denver and Utah for crying sour grapes today. Losing a franchise superstar will never be an easy pill to sell.

But, before you go decrying the fraternal AAU spirit of superteams taking over the league, ask yourself if these teams are really a negative for the league.

Chances are, you’ll realize that these superteams may usher in a new era of popularity for the NBA it hasn’t seen since Michael Jordan’s heyday.