Inside Blitz: NBA Transition Year Could Lead to Finals Devoid of Stars
By Jason McIntyre
In a way, the NBA season reminds me of New Year’s resolutions. The first week is extremely exciting, everyone enjoys the free League Pass … and then after about 10 days, you try to keep up with the NBA, but there are so many games, plus you also have to pay attention to the World Series and the NFL and College Football and like your New Year’s resolution, you can’t juggle it all.
You maybe make a run again at reigniting your resolution in February – the NBA season really begins on Christmas Day! – but then it fades again because too much life gets in the way.
Well, we’re nearly at the halfway point of the season, and with only three games left in football until the Fall, it’s time once again for everyone to dive deep into the NBA. Besides Phil Jackson rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic and the daily dissection of every word uttered by LeBron or anyone in the Cavs organization, the NBA storyline has been a boring one: Transition Year.
As of today, the following stars are playing on teams with losing records: LeBron, Carmelo, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade. Arguably five of the 10 or so most popular players in the league, guys who are well-known even by casual fans.
Transition year.
Best player in the NBA? If voting for the MVP were tomorrow, Stephen Curry would win, and understandably so, but Anthony Davis of the Pelicans (league-leading 31.21 PER) might edge out James Harden for second, with John Wall – who leads the NBA in assists! – in the mix as well.
How wacky has the 1st half of the season been? The top two teams in the East that everyone’s waiting to cool down – Atlanta and Toronto – are devoid of marquee stars, and the top two teams in the West (Golden State and Portland) start home games at 10:30 pm, when the biggest markets on the East Coast are falling asleep.
There’s still 40+ games left in the regular season before the marathon that is the NBA playoffs begin, but this streak is definitely in jeopardy: The last 16 NBA Finals, incredibly, have featured a marquee player or two in the League: Kobe (7), Tim Duncan (6), LeBron (5), Shaq (5) or Dwyane Wade (5).
Adam Silver, how does Atlanta vs. Portland sound?
There are many metrics by which to measure “popularity” – TV ratings, internet traffic, ephemeral buzz (Nick Young – ! – warranted a massive story in SI this week), but also jersey sales. Looking at the top three teams in each conference today – Hawks, Raptors, Wizards in the East, and Warriors, Blazers, Rockets in the West – there’s only one player from all those teams among the Top 10 in league jersey sales.
Stephen Curry.
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LOCK OF THE WEEK
Underdogs ruled the NFL Divisional weekend, going 3-1 ATS, but I only had Dallas, which left me at 2-2 for the weekend.
The good news is, Ohio State covered (and won outright) in the National Championship against Oregon, ending my bowl mark at a robust (ok, fine, stout) 8-5, or 34-31 for the season. Not good, not terrible. This weekend …
New England -7 vs. Indianapolis. Love Andrew Luck. Can’t take the Colts. Was the win over Denver more about struggling Peyton Manning, or something Indianapolis did? I think it was the former. Despite being thoroughly unimpressed with the Patriots against the Ravens, give me Tom Brady here, 33-24 over the best young QB in the NFL.
Green Bay +7 vs. Seattle. Is it possible the Seahawks are overvalued? I’m still in awe of how well Cam Newton moved the ball against Seattle, and if not for a late pick-6, the double-digit underdog covers. I’m aware the Packers have often struggled on the road to cover this season, but this one feels like thriller. Seattle 24, Green Bay 23.
SOME WORDS ON THE 4-12 JETS
Instead of spending an entire post on reaction to the Jets making major moves this week, I thought it’d be easiest to just sprinkle in some unfiltered thoughts here about reshaping the franchise:
– GM: It’s impossible to know much about Mike Maccagnan, who was previously with the Texans. There’s very little online about him. Yes, he most likely got the job because of his relationship with Charlie Casserly, who helped Jets owner Woody Johnson with the search. Good luck finding someone in Houston to spill the beans about which players Maccagnan was specifically responsible for drafting – and those he whiffed on.
– Coach: Like the Todd Bowles hire. As I said last week, I prefer him to Dan Quinn from the Seahawks. Seattle has far better players on defense than Bowles did in Arizona. Fun fact: Two free agents from the Cardinals could be looking to follow Bowles to the Jets – CB Antonio Cromartie and OLB Sam Acho. The Jets could use both of them.
RATINGz
After a slightly disappointing NFL Wild Card weekend in which three of the four games didn’t attract as many viewers as a College Football playoff game, the NFL “bounced back” on Divisional weekend with some monster TV ratings:
Dallas/Green Bay: 44.4 million viewers (2nd highest divisional game ever after Giants 37, Packers 20 in 2012)
Indianapolis/Denver: 41.8 million viewers
Carolina/Seattle: 31 million viewers
Baltimore/New England: 34 million viewers
ODDS & ENDS:
Twenty years later, Skip Bayless claiming Troy Aikman was gay is still being brought up. Aikman, for some reason, still answers questions about it: “I’m upset about it because it was made up and there was nothing accurate about anything that was insinuated. And he did it, as he does everything, just for attention” … this site wasn’t the only one that took a shot at the NBC NFL booth for an embarrassing moment on Saturday night: “I know pimping is a strong word, but that’s what it was” … looks like LeBron is starting his own Derek Jeter-esque website for Bleacher Report … wisely, the Knicks are getting their National TV games pulled because the team is one of the worst in the league … so, where’s Fred Hickman going?
BLIND ITEM
Which loaded sports media big shot owns a Ferrari and sometimes jokes that Jessica Simpson’s dad once tried to buy it off him?