My worst nightmare came true the other week. It was so bad, that it took me forever to even write the fact that the Miami Heat are World Champions.
Yes, I am not a Miami Heat fan.
Yes, I believe that David Stern wanted them to win and basically paid the refs more money to call ridiculous fouls on the teams that were playing against the Heat and not call any fouls on the Heat.
Yes, I believe that their is a conspiracy in the NBA.
Anyways, back to the finals. The Heat won and the Oklahoma City Thunder are back to the chalkboard on how they let a championship slip away. I think that the Thunder are one year away from being on top of NBA league, but after they went through three championship teams (Mavs, Lakers and Spurs)I figured that against an unproven team, the Thunder would come out on top.
But I guess I can blame those Indiana Pacers. After being up 2-1, they were ridiculous and went and try to get physical and into the head of the Heat players. That basically woke up the sleeping Giant. While the Celtics brought the Heat to the brink of elimination and to seven games, the Heat were ready for any turbulence within their title run.
And, honestly, they only got a little of it. OKC came out in Game 1 and embarrassed the Heat, but after that the Heat controlled the series. Yes, OKC made some nice runs, but they were always playing behind or when they had the lead they gave it right back.
I was very disappointed when Lebron won his first championship. Because I don’t respect LBJ,Wade or Bosh. Why? Simple. They bought that championship. I’m not going to argue how good LBJ is. He is good. He’s a mix of Magic Johnson’s skill set while being built like a running back. There is no one in the league that can stop him or even think of slowing him down. I respect that fact that, that guy is out of his mind playing outstanding basketball.
What I can’t respect is the fact that he basically bought his first championship. Then everyone is going to argue that Boston did the same thing with their Big 3. But let’s take a look at the facts.
1) Boston’s Big Three came together by via trade. Did everyone forget that only after the Celtics traded for Ray Allen, that KG even thought about coming to Boston. KG had no intentions on leaving Minnesota unless for the right team and he was still under contract with the Timberwolves when they traded him to the Celtics.
2) Realistically, doing simple math, the Celtic’s Big Three were four years younger than they are, but they were all still in their 30’s. Remember, this 30+ team took the Heat team to seven games and in my opinion, were one or two players away from reaching the finals again.
3) LBJ, Wade and Bosh are in their prime. Really in their prime. In any other superstar’s prime, they never wanted to go and play with other all-stars unless, they were traded to. Think MJ wanted to play with Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton? No. He wanted to beat them. To show them that he was number 1. Well clearly none of these NBA stars are really stars because they all leave to go make superstar teams. They can’t win on their own and they want to do it the easy way. You can’t compare these trades to OKC or even the Spurs. Those teams got their Big 3 from trades and from lottery luck. The Heat? They basically sold their soul for their winning ways. And I’m not being a loser fan. I just want you to know the truth before rooting for a team that basically bought their championship.
4) And this doesn’t cement LBJ’s place in history. He still can’t be in the same category of those players who are legit. Like I said, individually, this guy is one of the best if not the best in the league right now. There isn’t an argument about it. But this shows his true character and that is that while the guy is the best small forward ever, he will never be the superstar he wants to be or is ok with the attention that he gets. He needs to share the spotlight and always will be in the shadow of two other stars.
But now that a champion has been crowned, the draft is coming up. The Warriors have kept their number 7 pick and have looked a variety of players to help them. While #1 is basically set for Anthony Davis, the other lottery picks are still not set.
Do you draft for need or do you draft the best player out there? That’s a question for every GM to answer.
With that in mind, here at Blue Man Hoop, I’ve taken the liberty to play Warriors GM and we are having a “draft”. Look for various posts with who we have chosen and what other teams have chosen whom.