NBA: Years with only 1 contender?..

[da_suns_fan]

1996-98. No one was given a chance against the Bulls back then. After they crushed Orlando in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that they were going to win it all the next couple of years.

#Clueless

The pacers took the 98 Bulls to seven games.

[mercos]

The Pacers series was a surprise. No one thought they were going to beat the Bulls during the season. The Bulls were overwhelming favorites to win it all throughout the year.

[baseline bum]

The Pacers series was a surprise. No one thought they were going to beat the Bulls during the season. The Bulls were overwhelming favorites to win it all throughout the year.

I don't remember it that way at all. Chicago had tons of injury problems with Pippen and Rodman that season and everyone was wondering the Bulls could pull one more le out or if they were getting ready to break down. They were still favorites, but pretty far from certain. Then there was all the drama with that team. Everyone knew it was the last year you ever see Jackson on the sidelines and the last year you'd see Pippen and Jordan in Bulls uniforms, since they all hated Krause and Reinsdorf.

[mercos]

I don't remember it that way at all. Chicago had tons of injury problems with Pippen and Rodman that season and everyone was wondering the Bulls could pull one more le out or if they were getting ready to break down. They were still favorites, but pretty far from certain. Then there was all the drama with that team. Everyone knew it was the last year you ever see Jackson on the sidelines and the last year you'd see Pippen and Jordan in Bulls uniforms, since they all hated Krause and Reinsdorf.

I remember the Bulls having some injury problems, but I recall no doubt that they would win it all. I know I had none personally, and saw none in the media. That 98 team was probably the weakest they fielded, but there were no other strong contenders. When you add that to the fact that they had the NBA's own personal messiah, it was pretty much a lock.

[Latarian Milton]

There's more than 1 contender this season. I'm not here saying it's OKC, but what I'm saying is people always want to draw conclusions long before they should be drawing them. Yeah Miami won 27 straight or whatever. Yeah they have to be the favorite, but it seems as though people have forgotten that a 7 game playoff series is a completely different animal. If you think Miami is going to roll through the playoffs, I think you're really pretty wrong. In the NBA and in any other sport, it's always "what have you done for me lately?". People jump on and off bandwagons all season long in terms of who they think is a legit contender. The fact is, with a handful of teams, you won't know who is a legit contender or not until it comes down to that 7 game series. You sometimes won't find what a team is made of until you get them against the ropes and the playoffs is the only true way to do that.

fact is there has never been any single year where you only had one contender. the game is full of uncertainty and before the playoff whistle is blown, you have 3-4 or even more teams every year who could possibly end up winning the championship. miami were also the favorite to win in 11 and you didn't know which team would come out as the blackhorse. there's only one team favorite to win the championship but there's no guarantee it'll actually win it tbh

[Splits]

We have learned $100 million doesn't go as far as it used to.

$129 million

If the Lakers re-sign Dwight Howard this summer, the franchise is looking at a significant luxury tax payment for next season.

Luxury taxes stand to be a significant issue next season as the rates go up progressively as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. If the team's payroll hovers around $100 million to $110 million, the Lakers could be paying $70 million to $119 million in taxes.

The bill for this season is $129 million, including tax (for a team struggling to make the playoffs). It's far-fetched to expect the Lakers to s out $170 million to $229 million on essentially the same roster next season.