NBA: Why the Offseason "Rebuilding" Is Smoke and Mirrors

[DMC]

If you take the best 10 free agents who you think have even a remote chance of leaving their current team and put them anywhere else lower than 3 or 4 in the league (probably SA and Houston), I don't see anyone making enough of an impact as to create real compe ion for the Warriors/Cavs.

So, instead what I see happening is those two teams attracting even more high level talent to compete with each other in the Finals each year. Two high end players would need to join one SA or Houston to create enough of a problem for Cleveland and Golden State that they don't focus on just each other. I don't see that happening.

So when you hear pundits wax philosophical about fixing teams like the Celtics, Wizards, Raptors and such, with moves in the offseason, you have to scratch your head and wonder what moves could possibly make a difference because although the Celtics could have avoided being embarrassed tonight if they had superstar talent, just one Jimmy Butler or Paul George would not give them a fighting chance. They would need both and even then you'd have to get rid of IT because he's useless once the clamps come down.

I'm curious to see how the dust settles after the off season trading and lottery picks, but it's not going to change the NBA landscape enough to matter. Just look at New Orleans. If someone told you 3 years ago that New Orleans would have Boogie and Davis, you'd figure they'd be challenging for the WCF instead of missing the playoffs. Or LMA, Gasol and Lee on the same team 5 years ago would be nasty. It's still not terrible, but it's not good enough when you have far and away the best player in the game along with 2 franchise players and how many 1st overall picks? I lost count... and the last 3 RS MVPs, DPOY candidate and best 3 point shooters in the NBA on the other team. Teams like SA pseudo stack, meaning they acquire older players and hope they can coach them into something resembling a compe ive team.

There's not going to be any parity for quite some time. I'm ok with it, I just chuckle when I read or hear about "fixing" things in the offseason. It's not fixable. There's no Lebron James in this year's draft. The last draft pick that mattered was Kawhi Leonard at 16th. I've always wanted the league to contract. It's doing that virtually in talent, but you still have these scrub teams playing just to build stats and smoke and mirror records for stacked teams. Today's NBA is a lot like yesterday's NBA.

The more they pay mediocre players the tier the league will become, because you can spend your career being a ty player and retire in 1 or 2 terms set for life. With 100 million hanging around for someone like Chandler Parsons, why would you ever care about the post season?

[leemajors]

If you take the best 10 free agents who you think have even a remote chance of leaving their current team and put them anywhere else lower than 3 or 4 in the league (probably SA and Houston), I don't see anyone making enough of an impact as to create real compe ion for the Warriors/Cavs.

So, instead what I see happening is those two teams attracting even more high level talent to compete with each other in the Finals each year. Two high end players would need to join one SA or Houston to create enough of a problem for Cleveland and Golden State that they don't focus on just each other. I don't see that happening.

So when you hear pundits wax philosophical about fixing teams like the Celtics, Wizards, Raptors and such, with moves in the offseason, you have to scratch your head and wonder what moves could possibly make a difference because although the Celtics could have avoided being embarrassed tonight if they had superstar talent, just one Jimmy Butler or Paul George would not give them a fighting chance. They would need both and even then you'd have to get rid of IT because he's useless once the clamps come down.

I'm curious to see how the dust settles after the off season trading and lottery picks, but it's not going to change the NBA landscape enough to matter. Just look at New Orleans. If someone told you 3 years ago that New Orleans would have Boogie and Davis, you'd figure they'd be challenging for the WCF instead of missing the playoffs. Or LMA, Gasol and Lee on the same team 5 years ago would be nasty. It's still not terrible, but it's not good enough when you have far and away the best player in the game along with 2 franchise players and how many 1st overall picks? I lost count... and the last 3 RS MVPs, DPOY candidate and best 3 point shooters in the NBA on the other team. Teams like SA pseudo stack, meaning they acquire older players and hope they can coach them into something resembling a compe ive team.

There's not going to be any parity for quite some time. I'm ok with it, I just chuckle when I read or hear about "fixing" things in the offseason. It's not fixable. There's no Lebron James in this year's draft. The last draft pick that mattered was Kawhi Leonard at 16th. I've always wanted the league to contract. It's doing that virtually in talent, but you still have these scrub teams playing just to build stats and smoke and mirror records for stacked teams. Today's NBA is a lot like yesterday's NBA.

The more they pay mediocre players the tier the league will become, because you can spend your career being a ty player and retire in 1 or 2 terms set for life. With 100 million hanging around for someone like Chandler Parsons, why would you ever care about the post season?

Real salary cap? The "soft" cap is stupid.

[Mal]

Give me Boogie Cousins, George Hill for Parker`s corps and LMA, while keeping the rest of the team, and Spurs are in perfect position to win it all next year.

[Seefourdc]

FA either go to cavs or dubs for championship or wherever offers them the most money. Obviously if you are paying parsons your team isn't trying to win anything for ex.

[DMC]

Give me Boogie Cousins, George Hill for Parker`s corps and LMA, while keeping the rest of the team, and Spurs are in perfect position to win it all next year.

Who's your bench if Manu retires?

[daslicer]

It's pretty bad right now evident by having two teams that are on the verge of sweeping their conferences. It feels like 1950's or 1960's bad when the Celtics were going to the finals 12 out of 13 years. I would like to see the league bring back the old defensive rules to give teams a chance at competing with these super teams.

[Spurtacular]

Spurs are on a higher level than Houston. They may realistically be one big signing (along with other good moves) from at least being 1C in the landscape; so I disagree with that point of the OP. The rest is pretty much the truth though. There are currently two haves and twenty however many have-nots.

[HarlemHeat37]

The NBA goes through cycles, this isn't anything new, tbh I don't know why people are acting like the world is ending.. , the Warriors almost lost in the WCFs, last year, they weren't unstoppable..

Golden State has had a tremendous amount of luck(particularly Curry's early injury history, which has allowed them to have max flexibility, financially) and Lebron has built his team almost perfectly..when you have the GOAT or a team with 2 of the 4 best players in the world(along with the best defensive player in the league), it's going to be virtually impossible to beat you..

These things always end, though, usually earlier than you expect..Shaq/Kobe Lakers had a 2-year stretch where they were only challenged in 1 series out of 8, which is ridiculous..it seemed like they were never going to be stopped..

[313]

The NBA goes through cycles, this isn't anything new, tbh I don't know why people are acting like the world is ending.. , the Warriors almost lost in the WCFs, last year, they weren't unstoppable..

Golden State has had a tremendous amount of luck(particularly Curry's early injury history, which has allowed them to have max flexibility, financially) and Lebron has built his team almost perfectly..when you have the GOAT or a team with 2 of the 4 best players in the world(along with the best defensive player in the league), it's going to be virtually impossible to beat you..

These things always end, though, usually earlier than you expect..Shaq/Kobe Lakers had a 2-year stretch where they were only challenged in 1 series out of 8, which is ridiculous..it seemed like they were never going to be stopped..

The difference is, the 00-04 Lakers played the Pacers, 76ers, Nets, and Pistons.

The 11-14 Heat played the Mavs, Thunder, and Spurs 2x.

When there's talent imbalance on one side of the NBA there's usually balance on the other side. KD leaving a top three WC team to join the top WC team made it a foregone conclusion who comes out the west the next year or two sans injury. Then LeBron playing in the east alongside 2/4 of the only other notable players in the conference, we already know how that goes.

Only the 80s NBA had this little parity.

[HarlemHeat37]

The difference is, the 00-04 Lakers played the Pacers, 76ers, Nets, and Pistons.

The 11-14 Heat played the Mavs, Thunder, and Spurs 2x.

When there's talent imbalance on one side of the NBA there's usually balance on the other side. KD leaving a top three WC team to join the top WC team made it a foregone conclusion who comes out the west the next year or two sans injury. Then LeBron playing in the east alongside 2/4 of the only other notable players in the conference, we already know how that goes.

Only the 80s NBA had this little parity.

I agree that it's worse, this season, because there are only 2 realistic le contenders..however, in the majority of NBA seasons, it's rare that there are more than 3 realistic contenders there's a lot of revisionist history involved when people argue about parity in past seasons..

This is truly the first year of the Warriors/Cavs run where it's a foregone conclusion that they will play in the Finals, though..we've had plenty of seasons where the le winner and/or conference winners were already decided before the games were played IMO..of course it was made worse by Dominos changing the landscape of the league, but it will get interesting in a year or 2 when Klay is gone..

[Mal]

Who's your bench if Manu retires?

Mills, Simmmos, Murray, Lee, Bertans