Miami Heat, LA Lakers and the Top 10 Stories of the 2010-2011 NBA Season
LeBron James made a "Decision" this year to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. One could say it made news. In fact, this season has been quite a year for big stories. As the regular season winds to a close, it's time to pause and reflect on the season.
These are the 10 biggest stories over the season.
11: The Fall
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When LeBron announced his decision, Dan Gilbert "guaranteed" that the the Cavaliers would bring home a championship before LeBron did. The Cavaliers came out and backed up his claim by getting an opening night victory over the Boston Celtics.
A month later the Cavaliers started a losing streak of monumental proportions. They broke the Cavalier's old NBA record for consecutive losses and still decided to lose one more game before they finally got around to winning a game. The new NBA record was 26 consecutive losses.
It actually was worse than the streak made it seem though, as there had been an 11 game losing streak prior to the 26 game losing streak. On Nov 27 the Cavs were 7-9, on Feb 9 they were 8-46.
The Cavaliers will end this year with the worst record in the NBA. It will mark the first time in NBA history that the team which had the best record in one season had the worst season in the next. It is the biggest fall in NBA history.
10: The Transformation
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It's not often that you see a veteran team with three championship under their belts decide to change up things to try and win a fourth, particularly when the aging team team decides to go faster. That's why Gregg Popovich gets paid the big bucks though.
The San Antonio Spurs changed their philosophy and approach, and as a result sit tied for the best record in the NBA on the last day of the season. The offense is now run through their electric backcourt tandem of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker instead of through the paint and Tim Dunan.
Incredible scouting has been a big reason the Spurs have been able to stay on top for so long and it's a big part of their success. Sure, Tim Duncan was a slam dunk, and Richard Jefferson was a free agent, but look at their next five scorers drafted by the team. Manu Ginobili (57th), Tony Parker (28th), George Hill (26th), Gary Neal (undrafted free agent), and DeJaun Blair (37th).
I just wonder, why does RC Buford gets no love for executive of the year? Does it have to be a one year job? I mean, what this man has done over the last nine years is just amazing.
9: The Rookie*
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Some want to take away Blake Griffin's "rookie" status because this was in fact his second year as an NBA player, but it was his first year he played. I guess my response is that people worrying over that need to worry over more important things. He's a rookie.
And what a rookie he was. In what was possibly the best rookie season since Tim Duncan's he made the Clippers an enjoyable team to watch simply because you don't know when he's going to create his next poster. His dunks were a nightly feature on SportsCenter.
It wasn't just the highlights though. He was a double double machine, and his 22 points and 12 rebounds per game in his rookie year has only been matched by six other players in NBA history, Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Bellamy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Elgin Baylor and Elvin Hayes.
Five of those players are already in the Hall of Fame and Shaq certainly will be the first year he's eligible.
8: The Unexpected
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After losing to the Chicago Bulls, the most tenured coach in the NBA, already in the Hall of Fame, shocked the basketball world when he "woke up one morning" and decided he had enough. Jerry Sloan stepped down as the head coach of the Utah Jazz.
Deron Williams drew criticism from many, as he was considered to be the reason that Sloan retired. Speculation ran that Williams wanted to do things a different way, and that Sloan's old school coaching methods simply did not work on new school players.
Then, as soon as the Jazz fans started to adjust to the idea of life without Sloan, they received another shock as they learned that their franchise player, Deron Williams, was getting traded to the New Jersey Nets.
Even Williams himself learned of the trade through a CNN report while he was in the training room, so if you think it was unexpected for you, think of how it felt to him!
On the Nets side of the trade they got the star they'd been looking to build around, and while he came to them with an ailing wrist, he was able to show flashes of what the team can become with Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries, who suddenly broke out, and Williams.
7: The Trade
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Impact wise, it's arguable that the biggest trade of the season didn't even involve one of the three best players traded at the deadline. Gerald Wallace, Deron Williams and Carmelo Anthony are all better players, but the impact of Kendrick Perkins on both the team he was traded from and the team he was traded to was the biggest trade in terms of this year's impact on the championship potential of two teams.
For whatever reason the "Unbuntu" of the Bonston Celtics has seemed to take a huge hit since trading Perkins. The Celtics didn't look resting like they did last year as they struggled down the stretch. The didn't look like a team that could "flip the switch." They looked like a team out of sorts.
In particular their star point guard, Rajon Rondo, who had turned the big three into a big four, has been a different player since the trade. His numbers are down dramatically across the board since the trade, and at one point he requested a private meeting with Doc Rivers.
On the other side of the trade Perkins has given the Oklahoma City Thunder a defensive toughness and personality they had previously lacked. While they had outstanding defensive players in Serge Ibaka and Thabo Safalosha, the team didn't seem to have the same kind of defensive personality and presence they do now.
The end result of the trade might be that the Thunder, rather than the Celtics, are playing in the NBA finals.
6: The Threepeat
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The Los Angeles Lakers are seeking to be the sixth NBA team to complete a three-peat. In their efforts it's been quite a roller coaster season for them. As soon as they 're unbeatable, they turn around and become almost unwatchable. Then they do it again.
There was the four game skid heading into the All-Star break.
There was the 17-1 stretch after the All-Star break.
There was the five game skid after the 17-1 stretch.
Then there's the story with Andrew Bynum, who has been so effective on the glass that he's decided to imitate it going down with yet another injury last night.
There's the story of Phil Jackson and his retirement at the end of the season.
There's the Kobe Bryant steady climb up the ladder of the all time scoring leaders.
Now there's the chicken pox.
There's no end to the stories that surround the most storied franchise in NBA history as it heads into the postseason in its quest for a three-peat.
5: The Coaches
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The list of coaches who deserve the coach of the year award is the longest it's ever been.
Doug Collins led pretty much the exact same team to a 14 game turnaround and into the playoffs.
Gregg Popoivch engineered the previously mentioned transformation of the Spurs,
Tom Thibodeau, with one more win, can tie the NBA record for wins by a rookie head coach.
George Karl managed to navigate the Nuggets to a fifth seed in spite of the most tumultuous season in team history.
Nate McMillan managed to coax a 48 (or 49) win season out of team that lost Greg Oden again and its franchise player for much of the season.
Lionel Hollins delivered on Michael Heisley's guarantee that the Grizzlies would make the postseason in spite of losing their franchise player for the last two months of the season.
Phil Jackson may be on his way to his fourth three peat as a head coach, and has only won Coach of the Year once.
Every one of those coaches could win in most years. But this isn't most years.
4: The MVP
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The Derrick Rose story is phenomenal all by itself. The way he's launched himself into the discussion and then to be the favorite for the MVP on the last day of the season is something foreseen only by him, which makes the story even more remarkable.
He's the third player in history to score 2,000 points, dish 600 assists, grab 300 rebounds and block 50 shots in the same season. The other two, Michael Jordan and LeBron James, who have done it (once each) have won the MVP. Derrick Rose will probably win it too.
But the rest of the MVP story is in the unique and visceral debate over the actual meaning of the award. Two camps entrenched themselves deeply into the debate, arguing about what the "value" of a player is, and whether it is provable statistically.
Those who took the statistical side of the argument were beside themselves, pointing to Rose's lower PER, eFG percentage, Win Shares and Win Scores, and whatever other metric they could find that "proved" that Rose was not a top five player in the league.
They claimed that that Rose was merely the beneficiary of a great defense and a better supporting cast, while Dwight Howard was clearly the most dominant player in the league who affected every possession and was statistically superior.
Others claimed that LeBron James was quite simply the best player on the planet and his PER vindicated that.
Whether they were pro-James or pro-Howard though, the statistical crowd was largely unanimous in their singular argument that the MVP was not Derrick Rose.
That's what made the debate so unique. It wasn't player against player, it was philosophy against philosophy. Incredibly, not much was actually said about Derrick Rose the person. Normally the MVP debate has come down to people and players. Kobe Bryant fans would bash LeBron James and James fans would bash Bryant.
In this case it was different as neither Rose nor Howard—the eventual champion of the stats crowds—was particularly unlikable. In fact, both are highly likable. Yet without the negativity towards the persons the bitterness seemed even more acrimonious than normal.
In the end it looks as though Derrick Rose will the MVP and the advanced stats crowd will probably be angry about the great injustice. The simple fact is that the value that Rose brings is far beyond what's seen in the numbers.
3: The Melo Drama
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Before the season started, Carmelo said he wanted to be traded to either the Chicago Bulls or New York Knicks and the internet got set on fire. The news media went into 24/7 mode on Carmelo Anthony, and through the entire year it was a revolving door of Anthony rumors and speculation.
It came to be known as the "Melo Drama."
It was endless. The Bulls rumors started first as it became known that Anthony was available for the Bulls center Joakim Noah. The Bulls set that rumor to rest by extending Noah and in the process making him a "poison" player, known as such because the nature of his contract (much higher next year than this year) makes a player almost impossible to trade.
Then there were the Nets rumors, where the Nuggets could have obtained everything but the kitchen sink and perhaps some future kitchen sinks from the Nets for Anthony, but due to the public nature of the discussions the Nets pulled the plug.
Then there were the Andrew Bynum rumors that circulated late in the game, as there was speculation that the Lakers may deal the oft-injured center with great promise.
There was the Mark Cuban "rent a player" comment.
There were so many rumors. In the end 'Melo went where we all knew he'd go eventually. Since he's finally been traded the drama hasn't ended though. It seems that the city that loves it's drama and will continue to envelope itself in whatever they need to create a bigger story.
2: The Bulls
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In the preseason not one single national news magazine or website (that I've been able to find) picked the Bulls to finish higher than third in the Eastern Conference. Most picked them somewhere between fourth and sixth.
On the last day of the season they are tied for the NBA's best record.
Bear in mind many of those predictions came before Carlos Boozer fell and broke his thumb and would miss 22 games. That was before they knew that Joakim Noah was going to miss 33 games. In four games neither played. In all they played 28 games with their starting lineup intact. They won 23 of those games.
Without one, the other or both, they went 38-15, an amazing 72% of their games.
The Bulls would have been the surprise of the season if they did what they did with their team intact. That they did what they did with their starting lineup on the court for barely one third of their games made it one of the more prominent regular seasons in recent memory.
Their 20 game improvement is already the third most in NBA history by a winning team and with one more win tonight they can make it the second most. In other cases where there's been this kind of dramatic improvement Hall of Fame players like Kevin Garnett, Larry Bird, or Charles Barkley were added to the team. With the Bulls it was Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver
It was so far beyond the mere components that were added that made the team such a story. It was the way they gelled together, the way they liked one another and the way they played together.
In fact, the biggest reason the Bulls have been such a story is the lack of a story. I have not heard from any player a negative thing spoken of about a teammate or a coaching decision. If there's any criticism it's either "me" or "we."
In the age of players referring to themselves in the third person, that's a refreshing change, and the reason the Bulls could clinch the NBA's best record tonight.
1: The Heat
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Some say that the Heat were overly criticized for doing what free agents do. I think there may be some truth to that, but I think they drew some heat on themselves by that rock-star, self congratulatory, premature, gluttonous self infatuation filled festivity that occurred after "The Decision." I've got three words for that. "Bad PR move."
Whether there was any question that "The Decision," or "The Response" from "The Owner," written in "The Font" was enough, that thing kicked it all. Since then there seems to be an almost "karmic" (that's for you 'Bron) coincidence to the fact that the letters in the word Heat and the letters in the word "hate" are the same.
Even Dwyane Wade knows that, “The world is better now because the Heat is losing.”
Chris Bosh complained about players scrambling for balls and reminded us that he needs to "feed his family," and at another time complained about practicing.
LeBron James, apparently coincidentally, tweeted about Karma as the Cavaliers were getting thrashed by the Lakers.
For those looking for the soundbites to fuel the hate, it wasn't a difficult task.
But the Heat, when they have things going are a remarkable team to watch. They've destroyed some teams, leading the NBA in double digit wins with 34, and in 20 points wins with 15.
On the last day of the season own the largest margin of victory edge
Through most of the season they struggled against teams with winning records, but after suffering five straight losses to teams with winning records they seem to have found their way, winning nine of their last 10 against winning teams. Some of those wins included games against the Celtics, the Magic, the Lakers, the Spurs and the Nuggets.
Through much of the season they floundered and but heading into the postseason they are beginning to look like the team that everyone thought they would be. The Heat and Bulls might be on a collision course for the Eastern Conference finals in what could be the beginning of a five year rivalry for the ages.
