Comments Off

By Sam, July 9, 2010 7:11 pm

July 8^th 2010 will go down as one of the strangest days in the history of basketball. It was a day when the self-fashioned king of the sport abdicated his metaphorical throne to go and play a supporting role to a legitimate superstar in Dwayne Wade, and also team up with the biggest tagalong in the NBA Chris Bosh. A sort of disgusting display of narcissism from a spoiled, pre packaged, unintelligent goof ball who likes to throw powder in the air, wear bow ties, and use big words out of context was broadcast live on ESPN for a purpose not known to anyone.  Why in the world was this done? Who likes that kind of thing? And how does this make basketball better? The answers I think are: because LeBron James is surrounded by amateurs who are about as intelligent and savvy as he is, people who lack imagination and love hype, and it doesn’t.

The Miami Heat and when I say the Miami Heat I mean three all star players with no supporting cast, no proven coach, no real fans, and no humility are bad for the NBA.  As of yesterday basketball is once again irrelevant in Toronto and Cleveland except when the Lakers or Heat come to town. Which means there are two more bad teams coming to an NBA city near you. Two more teams that nobody wants to see play. In a league where 22 of 30 teams lost money last season that is a problem. Leagues where more than 2/3 of fan bases know their favorite team can’t win a championship before the season starts have a problem. What you end up with are half empty buildings everywhere but a handful of places, and dreadful ratings for all but a handful of teams.

The concentration of so much talent on one team also robs fans of a chance to watch those players compete against one another. What if Magic and Bird had made the calculation that instead of wasting all of their time and effort trying to be the best and defeat the other they could have simply teamed up and won every year? Would the NBA be a better league? Would they be looked upon as bigger winners? We will never know because both men were competitors and are probably disgusted with what the league has become. The essence of sports is competition. This current arrangement in Miami is not good for competitive balance, and shows a fear of competing on a level playing field. James looks like a coward and the NBA looks like it should never have marketed such a player to such heights.

The perception of NBA players as immature, and selfish was reinforced by the face of the league staging a one-hour infomercial on ESPN to pat himself on the back and rip the heart out of his hometown. He proved himself to be everything his doubters ever thought he was and because of where he went and the role he will play he can never repair the damage he has done to the league and his own precious image. The NBA is in trouble.