Globe & Mail (eh): The death of the dynasty

[lefty]

In the early stages of the 21st Century, professional sports have been marked by owners manoeuvring to save themselves from themselves – with modest success – through the use of hard salary caps and luxury taxes and franchise-player tags.
The collateral damage has been the dynasty: the assembly of teams for the ages. In its place we have a democratic delight, where most teams – save those woefully managed – can fancy themselves contenders for something at some point, as though trophies were given out for participation.
There is one team at the moment well-positioned to give the finger to the notion of parity – the Los Angeles Lakers – a glamour franchise led by Kobe Bryant, an old-school craftsman with a new-era toolbox.
The former teenage shot-hog and his Lakers have been so good for so long their fans will soon be able to trade heavily in nostalgia; the surest hedge against inflation this side of gold bullion.



But it may not last, for if NBA owners get their way in coming labour negotiations that threaten to disrupt the 2011-12 season, having a superstar surrounded by supporting stars and elite (read expensive) role players – depth the essential ingredient in any dynasty – will be a relic from the past. It will be like Montreal Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman chewing ice and deciding who among Serge Savard, Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe not to have on the power play.



This NBA season was supposed to be about the coronation of the Three Kings in Miami, when LeBron James took his talents and Chris Bosh to South Beach to team up with Dwayne Wade; their collective goals were set high.
When Heat president Pat Riley sat down with James to recruit him he nudged a bag filled with his own seven championship rings across the table – they sounded like jingle bells, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra described it later – and James’s eyes went wide at the idea he might be able to get some for himself.



But if the NBA gets the wage controls they want, having three highly paid stars will preclude filling out a roster with the kind of star spare parts needed to win multiple championships.



Besides, the Heat can have their dreams, but the Lakers – despite the heavy mileage on the fanatically fit 32-year-old Bryant – are still a team in their prime. Bryant can tie Michael Jordan’s six championships with his next ring and there’s no expectation he would stop there.
“The most interesting part about the [best-ever] conversation is that [Bryant] is not really close to being done,” said Bryant’s Lakers teammate Derek Fisher. “There's still some room before he gets to that ceiling.”
It should be savoured, because as much as the dynasty label gets tossed around, they’re getting rarer all the time. The NHL hasn’t had a true dynasty since the late 1980s Oilers and probably won’t again, as a hard salary-cap system means a collection of young talent coming off their first Stanley Cup win like the Chicago Blackhawks had to jettison key role players before they ran out of champagne. In baseball, where the New York Yankees and to a lesser extent the Boston Red Sox, and now the Philadelphia Phillies, have spent enough to go to moon, all they’ve been able to purchase is sustained compe iveness; the Lakers are gunning for the their sixth le in a period in which the Yankees have managed two.
The Patriots? They probably suit the definition best. They certainly look like they have another Super Bowl in them this season, which would be their fourth since Tom Brady took over at quarterback in 2001, and given that Brady is 33 and the Patriots’ defence young and developing, there could be more coming, but the NFL’s salary cap makes keeping teams together an extraordinary challenge.



The irony is the NBA seems to be careening towards a labour stoppage with commissioner David Stern seeking a hard salary cap, less guaranteed money and an $800-million wage roll back. The players are expecting the worst.
If he succeeds he may inadvertently be killing the golden goose. The NBA has been built on dynasties. The 1960s era Celtics have provided the league’s core beliefs; their selflessness a touchstone to measure the worthiness of subsequent champions. The league was saved in the 80s when rival dynasties, the Celtics and Lakers, clashed regularly through the decade; the back-and-forth between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson a storyline that lasts to this day.
The league exploded in the 1990s on the back of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and contracted after Jordan’s retirement as anonymous teams, a sluggish brand of basketball and too many failed efforts to hype “the next Michael” turned off fans.
Bryant is the closest thing to the next Jordan, if perhaps lacking his sheer individual brilliance. He freely admits to having stolen from the master and he may yet surpass him if only through longevity.
Jordan or Bryant couldn’t win les alone. But the current NBA labour agreement, a complicated masterwork that bends to the will of flexible and creative executive minds, allows for teams with means to keep rosters together by paying a tax on salaries above a certain threshold. The Lakers, bolstered by NBA’s second largest payroll ($91.6-million) have been able to surround Bryant with one fellow all-star, Pau Gasol, and a swath of expert assistants. And, of course, there’s no salary cap on coaches and Phil Jackson – going for his fourth career three-peat and 12th le overall – is earning $12-million this season, his calm, bemused, gravelly-voiced gravitas the appropriate foil for Bryant’s fire.
For sports fans the NBA is in a special place, with a handful of star-laden elite teams. The Celtics, Spurs, and Magic are all well fortified, well paid and gunning for the resourceful Lakers and Bryant, and good luck to them.
But once the Lakers time passes will another giant emerge to create memories for a new generation?
It’s possible, but hardly likely. Owners seek cost certainty even as fans want memories. It’s hard to have them both, so enjoy Bryant and the Lakers while you can.



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[Pelicans78]

That's not a bad thing. The NFL has dominated with compe ive balance.

The Super Bowl with two small-market cities was the highest rated program ever. It can work.