Steven Mercado
By Steven Mercado
The “Super Team” Formula
The matchup for the 2014 NBA Finals is now set in stone. It will be a rematch of last year’s Finals with the San Antonio Spurs facing the Miami Heat.
This matchup will be the Spurs’ second consecutive Finals appearance and the Heat’s fourth consecutive time in the battle for the championship.
Seeing the same teams make it to the final stages of the Finals is beginning to get a little boring. The last few years, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs, the Heat, and the Indiana Pacers have been the teams in the hunt for the title.
The Western Conference has become incredibly competitive in the past season with the Phoenix Suns landing in the ninth seed despite a 48-34 record. The worst team in the West was the Dallas Mavericks with a 49-33 record.
Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the Suns would have tied with the East’s third and fourth seeds — Toronto Raptors and the Chicago Bulls — holding the same record as the two teams. In fact, the Eastern Conference is so bad, the Atlanta Hawks made the playoffs with a 38-44 record.
How is it fair that the West is so stacked while the East is so average? It’s no wonder the Heat made it to the Finals four consecutive seasons. It is not that they didn’t earn it, but Eastern Conference teams have it much easier than those in the West.
The NBA is becoming more and more unbalanced over time. The mediocre teams get more mediocre and the super teams are becoming…well, more super. Miami set the standard with the “Three Kings” in the 2010-11 season and since then, every other team has no choice but to follow the “super team” formula.
The Thunder have two of the league’s best scorers in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The Los Angeles Clippers have a solid lineup led by Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan with Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford coming off the bench, the Houston Rockets acquired Dwight Howard to add to James Harden, Chandler Parsons and a few solid role players, the Pacers have Paul George, Roy Hibbert, David West, and Lance Stephenson along with Luis Scola coming off the bench, and the list goes on.
What is refreshing about the Spurs is they show an alternate form of the super team formula. They prove that to be a super team, raw talent is not all you need. Team work, camaraderie, togetherness and fundamentals prove to be just as effective if not more successful than the “shop and win” tactics that every team seems to use now.
It is sad that players have lost their sense of loyalty. A player being loyal to a franchise is almost unheard of in professional sports these days. Kobe Bryant, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are great examples of how to be loyal to a franchise. How often does a player stay with the same team for their whole career? The next player to do it seems like it might be Kevin Durant, but you never know. Even players like Derek Fisher are moving teams just to win. Fisher wears the number 6 because he is shooting for his sixth ring.
It is no longer about “we” or “us” in the Association. It is about “me.” Players just want rings and they do not care how they get it.
One recent rumor says Carmelo Anthony may hop onto the Heat bandwagon. One thing is for sure: Melo will not win a title if he is the number-one guy on a team. But heck, there has to be some sort of restriction against the super team formula before it gets out of hand. Melo to South Beach would be the last straw.
The future of the NBA is starting to look scary. Let’s hope it doesn’t get out of hand.
Leave a Reply