NBA Parity

[King Taharqa]

As NBA fans do you guys think the NBA would be better served to have more parity like the NFL? Its early December with less than a month left in the regular season and no one truly knows who is gonna win the Super Bowl. With the NBA, there's still 2/3rds of a season left but we already know there's only 2 maybe 3 teams who will win it. What Im saying is, what if a team like the Thunder could get hot and go all the way to the NBA Finals, or the Bobcats went all the way? Do you think it would make the game better? Do you think this is bad for the league? I was discussing this the other day with some friends.

[Darth Biscuit]

Of course it would be better... they also need to cut back on the games... individual regular season games are almost meaningless. Same goes for MLB...

[Panthers128]

I think it's best to have parity in any type of sports league, otherwise it makes it not as enjoyable to be a part of the experience unless you're a fan of one of the few teams that has a real shot at a title. This goes back to the 'Any Given Sunday' type mentality of the NFL that really makes it fun to watch most games.

Problem with the NBA and other sports leagues is the 7 game playoff series. Really makes it hard to beat the more elite teams in the playoffs. Although the Nuggets and Warriors have had some upsets in the past couple decades and there have been plenty of 7 game series in hockey that have been upsets. Not sure why the NBA is so unbalanced all the time. I think the first step is the NBA having a competition committee that reviews trades. The Celtics should not have been allowed to trade for Garnett and the Lakers should have not been allowed to trade for Gasol without giving up more.

Also, wasn't Kevin Mchale a member of the Timberwolves management when that trade was made? That's very shady to me. And was Jerry West GM of the Grizzlies when they traded Pau Gasol?

[Britneck]

It's hard to say really. Like the year Atlanta took Boston and their big 3 to 7 games. It would have been cool to see ATL win, but i would much rather watch the Big 3 then who was playing for Atlanta that year. People want to watch the stars more then anything in the NBA. I'm all for underdogs but it's more fun to watch the big stars go at one another. Even last year the Finals would have been better if it was Kobe vs. Lebron.

[Kakarot]

Yea, it would be better. I want to see a team like the Hornets(a bit biased ) in the finals, instead of the Lakers, Spurs, or Celtics. I agree with there being too many regular season games, as well.

[King Taharqa]

BUMP!

Give the NBA & David Stern credit this year boys & girls. They finally listened to the fans and have delivered "parity" this year. We saw the Fall of the Lakers empire, the Spurs knocked out by an 8th seed, and the Celtics get smoked by King & Wade. No Shaq, no Duncan, no Kobe, no Garnett in the Finals. Been a good 12-13 years since you could say that. And in turn, ratings have SKYROCKETED this regular season and playoff. ESPN, ABC, & TNT are all reporting HUGE increases in rating this season. We got teams like Miami (an expansion), Chicago (who hasnt really been relevant since Jordan left), Dallas, & OKC (a successful small market franchise) in this playoff instead of the usual traditional teams we get. I hope that this next decade of NBA b-ball continues this path of parity.

[Darth Biscuit]

The parity was much better this year I agree, but IMO they've got a long way to go... I've watched more this year (mainly due to Lebron and the Heat) and it's still not basketball the way I like it. The refs are still way too up and down with foul calls, etc. and the amount of carrying, traveling and general sloppiness they let them get away with is ridiculous... not to mention the absolute lack of effort on defense by the players.

Basketball wise, college ball is WAY better than NBA, but it is better than it was.

[King Taharqa]

we can agree to disagree, college basketball is greatly overrated. And the effort can be just as lackluster. National championship game this year tween Uconn & Butler was unwatchable. Hands down one of the worst bball games Ive witnessed involving a title. But I agree the NBA can continue to clean things up in its game.

[Darth Biscuit]

Yeah, but that was just one game... like I said, it's better, but there's things that they can do to improve it. I still think that they need to cut the # of regular season games down. Of course, that would take money out of the owners pockets, so I doubt that will happen.

[Swarly]

meh

they just need to contract some teams because there is no chance half the teams in this league will see a title for at least a decade.

parity between the big market teams? sure. teams like Charlotte, T-Wolves, Kings, Hornets, etc have zero chance of doing something in a Stern-ran league.

[DaCityKats]

got to love the euro step.

[DaCityKats]

we can agree to disagree, college basketball is greatly overrated. And the effort can be just as lackluster. National championship game this year tween Uconn & Butler was unwatchable. Hands down one of the worst bball games Ive witnessed involving a title. But I agree the NBA can continue to clean things up in its game.

that it was.i went to sleep at halftime which is very rare being the die heart sports fan i am. even last year NC game was hard to watch,better games in the previous rounds.

[Mvp2014]

all they need to do is abolish the luxury tax, problem fixes itself. You would still have superstars only wanting to play in large markets but you wouldnt have rosters like LAL

[tarheelblue89]

meh

they just need to contract some teams because there is no chance half the teams in this league will see a title for at least a decade.

]

That is a streeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch

It's getting better in the West, not so much in the East. Not that Boston is "done", who else is there other than Miami and Chicago (And who even knows if Chicago can keep these guys around because they have ZERO money to spend).

Also, try being a fan of Butler and have to sit through that game.