Celtics and Lakers Fixed?

[Allanon]

Explain to me, Lakers' fans, why the NBA, which has a salary cap, has the least parity of all major professional sports leagues?

If anything this proves that it ISN'T fixed. All the strong teams are practically in the West whereas the East only has 2 strong teams. Why the would the NBA rig up such a screwed up league Pacer fan? These sucky teams hurt the NBA profits, the NBA would love to toss them some bonez to make it more compe ive. In a perfectly rigged league, you'd have 25 compe ive teams and just a couple sucky ones and it would be evenly split East and West.

[Supergirl]

If anything this proves that it ISN'T fixed. All the strong teams are practically in the West whereas the East only has 2 strong teams. Why the would the NBA rig up such a screwed up league Pacer fan? These sucky teams hurt the NBA profits, the NBA would love to toss them some bonez to make it more compe ive. In a perfectly rigged league, you'd have 25 compe ive teams and just a couple sucky ones and it would be evenly split East and West.

Because the NBA loses money every time the Lakers, NY, or Boston isn't in the big games. The big cities are where the money is, the money will never be in SA. SA repeating championships is the NBA's worst nightmare. Stern has done everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

I don't think its entirely in his control - I think we were still a Manu ankle injury and a healthy Chauncey Billups away from a Pistons-Spurs rematch. Because healthy, those two teams are still better teams than the Lakers and the Celtics.

[Allanon]

The NBA shares profit between the rich and poor teams. The poor teams don't bring in much revenue because their team sucks. If they could make the poor teams better, every team in the NBA makes more money.

Sure the Big Market teams make more money but there are alot more small market teams.

It's good for the league accountants to have alot of compe ive teams, it increases ratings across every game, not just the big market ones thereby increasing league ratings, dispersed fandoms and lots more money.

This is why the lottery always goes to the poorest teams, they have to get better in order for the league to make more money.

[balli]

Because the NBA loses money every time the Lakers, NY, or Boston isn't in the big games.

Citation?

Stern has done everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

Such as?

And... you do realize that enroute to dispatching the Spurs in only 5 games the Lakers shot less FT's than San Antonio did?

[Dopey310]

Because the NBA loses money every time the Lakers, NY, or Boston isn't in the big games. The big cities are where the money is, the money will never be in SA. SA repeating championships is the NBA's worst nightmare. Stern has done everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

I don't think its entirely in his control - I think we were still a Manu ankle injury and a healthy Chauncey Billups away from a Pistons-Spurs rematch. Because healthy, those two teams are still better teams than the Lakers and the Celtics.

Don't drag Pistons fans in to your pathetic whining. The majority of Pistons fans conceded that the better team won.

[21_Blessings]

Two #1 seeds in the finals? THE FIX IS IN

[v2freak]

Two #1 seeds in the finals? THE FIX IS IN

Don't drag Pistons fans in to your pathetic whining. The majority of Pistons fans conceded that the better team won.

My god, you guys just don't get it. Most people agree that the better team won. It is a matter of the shady deals that took place which made these teams as good as they are. I hate to sound like a broken record, but this concept seems to fall upon deaf ears.

[DazedAndConfused]

My god, you guys just don't get it. Most people agree that the better team won. It is a matter of the shady deals that took place which made these teams as good as they are. I hate to sound like a broken record, but this concept seems to fall upon deaf ears.

Where is your outrage over GSW getting Baron Davis for Speedy Claxton and an old ass Dale Davis?

What about the scraps DET gave up to get Rasheed Wallace?

[dav4463]

I don't know about fixed, but I think it's boring as .

WOW ! I never thought I would agree with a Mavs fan!

[v2freak]

Where is your outrage over GSW getting Baron Davis for Speedy Claxton and an old ass Dale Davis?

What about the scraps DET gave up to get Rasheed Wallace?

Please explain how that is the same.

[21_Blessings]

Please explain how that is the same.

He already explained. You're just too damn stupid to understand.

[101A]

When was the last time two teams made the finals, the year before NEITHER was considered a "contender"? Only one of this year's participants made the playoffs just last season; and the one that did got bounced in round one. Has there ever been such a meteoric rise by TWO teams the same season - and of ALL teams THOSE teams?

It IS very convenient for the NBA that it would turn out that way. Just a coincidence.

[Spurs da champs]

During the Laker Spur series, I would say the Spurs got more calls to go their way. Even in the Barry non-call, he traveled before the foul, not to mention the Fisher shot hitting the rim but being ruled an airball. In addition, Duncan averaged around 10 foul shots per game, while Kobe averaged probably 1-2 Free Throws per game.

The Spurs this year had one of the lowest foul counts in the NBA, refs don't really call fouls on the Spurs much either.


I don't complain about the refs because it goes both ways, you might get screwed in 1 game but you get one in another.

The spurs purposely did not foul only when they needed to obviously,THey made Kobe a jump shooter and they contested every one of his shots.

And that fisher shot did not hit the rim from what I saw.

[21_Blessings]

The spurs purposely did not foul only when they needed to obviously,THey made Kobe a jump shooter and they contested every one of his shots.

Kobe torched the Spurs.

And that fisher shot did not hit the rim from what I saw.

Stop acting like a blind homer. It hit the rim, thats a fact. Video evidence exists -- go enlighten yourself.

[Reggie Miller]

If anything this proves that it ISN'T fixed. All the strong teams are practically in the West whereas the East only has 2 strong teams. Why the would the NBA rig up such a screwed up league Pacer fan? These sucky teams hurt the NBA profits, the NBA would love to toss them some bonez to make it more compe ive. In a perfectly rigged league, you'd have 25 compe ive teams and just a couple sucky ones and it would be evenly split East and West.

You are misunderstanding and/or misrepresenting my point. More importantly, no Laker fan has been able to answer my question:

Why does the NBA, which has a salary cap, have the least parity of all major professional sports leagues?

I'm not saying the league is rigged from top to bottom. (I can see how someone might think I am trying to infer that.) As I said in my first post, the Lakers were the better team than the Pacers in 2000. What causes the problems is the perception of the league officials and/or referees altering outcomes (not to mention the shady trades). While the Lakers deserved to win the Finals in 2000, they didn't deserve the advantage of eight on five. This all but eliminated any chance the Pacers had. That is, the officials made it impossible for Indiana to "steal" a game; therefore, there was no reason to even play the series. You can't tell me crap like that doesn't hurt the league in the long run.

My "answer" is that the officiating in the NBA is at least a part of the parity problem.

It is not the only answer, of course. There are a lot of advantages to living and working in certain markets over other ones. When you are making millions, but are not really a "media" property, the Texas and Florida teams are awfully attractive (no state income tax). If you want to go "Hollywood" on retirement, the Lakers have a clear advantage. Some teams are more likely vehicles for reaching the HOF, due to their history or market size.

[Reggie Miller]

Two #1 seeds in the finals? THE FIX IS IN

The only intelligent thing you have ever said.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, I suppose.

[21_Blessings]

The only intelligent thing you have ever said.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, I suppose.

Most original thing you have ever said. Try not using a 200 year old catch phrase sometime

Here ya go: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5n5qLQ6ZUKE

[Spurs da champs]

Kobe torched the Spurs.

Sure he missed a lot of his shots but being the and ball hog that kobe is he took a lot more shots to score points.

Stop acting like a blind homer. It hit the rim, thats a fact. Video evidence exists -- go enlighten yourself.

[21_Blessings]

Sure he missed a lot of his shots but being the and ball hog that kobe is he took a lot more shots to score points.

Kobe shot 53% for the series. Get out.

[Purple & Gold]

You are misunderstanding and/or misrepresenting my point. More importantly, no Laker fan has been able to answer my question:

Why does the NBA, which has a salary cap, have the least parity of all major professional sports leagues?

Because Dr. Buss is a genius

[v2freak]

Kobe shot 53% for the series. Get out.

Let's just say he hit the big shots when he needed to, but he took a uva lot of shots.

[odogg726]

When was the last time two teams made the finals, the year before NEITHER was considered a "contender"? Only one of this year's participants made the playoffs just last season; and the one that did got bounced in round one. Has there ever been such a meteoric rise by TWO teams the same season - and of ALL teams THOSE teams?

It IS very convenient for the NBA that it would turn out that way. Just a coincidence.

You wanna blame somebody for the Celts' "meteoric" rise? Blame Kevin McHale and his past relationship with former teammate and fellow GM Danny Ainge. I guarantee you that if Ainge was your GM, the big ticket would probably be a Spur right now.

As for Gasol? That was purely out of the blue. Can anyone remember such a high profile trade with such little noise or media attention at the time of? Of course it didn't hurt that Jerry West was still a consultant, let's not be naive about it either.

Either way, Kwame offers cap relief, Javaris still looks like a steal for falling all the way to the Lakers in the draft, those 2 number one picks can be packaged by Memphis if they choose to do so, and last I heard, Marc Gasol was tearing up in Europe. Who knows, in a few years we might be talking about how the Lakers gave away Crittenton and Marc Gasol for Pau Gasoft.

[Purple & Gold]

Let's just say he hit the big shots when he needed to, but he took a uva lot of shots.

How about we just say he hit over 50% from the field. Whether or not he took a lot of shots doesn't matter when you're shooting over 50% from the field.

[Allanon]

More importantly, no Laker fan has been able to answer my question:

Why does the NBA, which has a salary cap, have the least parity of all major professional sports leagues?

Because the draft is so susceptible to a bad pick and 1 good player can dominate an entire team. One bad pick and you're screwed. The NBA has the fewest team members of any major professional sport so the individual is more important.

Case in point are the Detroit Pistons who had the #2 pick with that young stud Darko Milicic. They'd be the NBA champs if they had gone with DWade instead.

The Spurs got Tim Duncan and that setup the franchise for a decade.

Portland picked Sam Bowie instead of #23. Everybody knows how that went for both franchises.

In 2006, the Bobcats blew their wad on Adam Morrison instead of Rudy Gay. So they still suck.

2005, Milwaukee picked up the super Andrew Bogut. Atlanta who desperately needed a point guard decided to get a shooting guard in Marvin Williams. Meanwhile, the Jazz picked up leftover Deron Williams and the Hornets picked up that Chris Paul guy. Atlanta would be a top 10 team right now if they had just picked up a point guard they knew they desperately needed.

2004, went pretty much OK, except the Lakers picked up Vujacic at #27. Half the guys before Sasha aren't even in the NBA anymore.

Kobe Bean Bryant was a #13 pick that the Lakers only got on a draft day deal for Vlade to the Hornets. Why didn't the 12 teams before choose him? If the Hawks had Kobe, they'd be dominating the league right now. The Lakers would be a loser team without that lucky #13 pick.

The Pacers are a worst case scenario, they're always good enough to make the Playoffs but not good enough to win it all. So they never end up with good lottery picks. Let's see what they do with theirs this year.

Stupid-ass draft picks make for bad parity.... The NBA, where one man happens.

[DazedAndConfused]

Because the draft is so susceptible to a bad pick and 1 good player can dominate an entire team. One bad pick and you're screwed. The NBA has the fewest team members of any major professional sport so the individual is more important.

Case in point are the Detroit Pistons who had the #2 pick with that young stud Darko Milicic. They'd be the NBA champs if they had gone with DWade instead.

The Spurs got Tim Duncan and that setup the franchise for a decade.

Portland picked Sam Bowie instead of #23. Everybody knows how that went for both franchises.

In 2006, the Bobcats blew their wad on Adam Morrison instead of Rudy Gay. So they still suck.

2005, Milwaukee picked up the super Andrew Bogut. Atlanta who desperately needed a point guard decided to get a shooting guard in Marvin Williams. Meanwhile, the Jazz picked up leftover Deron Williams and the Hornets picked up that Chris Paul guy. Atlanta would be a top 10 team right now if they had just picked up a point guard they knew they desperately needed.

2004, went pretty much OK, except the Lakers picked up Vujacic at #27. Half the guys before Sasha aren't even in the NBA anymore.

Kobe Bean Bryant was a #13 pick that the Lakers only got on a draft day deal for Vlade to the Hornets. Why didn't the 12 teams before choose him? If the Hawks had Kobe, they'd be dominating the league right now. The Lakers would be a loser team without that lucky #13 pick.

The Pacers are a worst case scenario, they're always good enough to make the Playoffs but not good enough to win it all. So they never end up with good lottery picks. Let's see what they do with theirs this year.

Stupid-ass draft picks make for bad parity.... The NBA, where one man happens.

Amazing post. I think it's just easier for people to shout CONSPIRACY when they see the same teams winning year after year instead of actually analyzing the situation.