With this 100+ day NBA lockout, many of us are forced to think about great seasons past. Magic's rookie year, the ShowTime Lakers, Isiah from '88-'90, Jordan and the Bulls in the '90s, the Spurs from '99 on. I could go and on but you get my point. Coming off, probably the best NBA season in a few years, this lockout has been a slap in the face to fans. Not pointing in one direction or the other, but the fans have been and after thought. We all recall our favorite seasons and teams. I remember exactly where I was when the Bulls won championships. I remember being at 6th grade camp when the Pistons beat the Lakers in 1989. I remember that terrible day in '93 when Jordan retired for the first time. We all remember that day in March 1995 when Jordan came back! Now, as I gather all this info regarding this lockout, I start to break things down.
The owners want more competitive balance. They must have found this term right next to "the tuck rule" in the NFL. I can't remember when the league was balanced. First stat, and really the only one that matters, is since 1980, nine teams have won the NBA Finals. Go ahead and Google it, I did. Nine teams, Lakers, Celtics, 76ers, Pistons, Bulls, Rockets, Spurs, Heat and Mavs. That isn't competitive considering there are 30 teams. I will even throw in that if you count the losers of the NBA Finals, then the total is 16. So the list would include the Blazers, Suns, Knicks, Magic, Pacers, Nets, Cavs and Blazers. So, over the last 32 years, only half the league has made it to the Finals. Is that not parody? The Suns, Magic, Heat, Rockets, Blazer, Nets and Pacers have been less then 3 times during this time so that brings the list to 8 with the Rockets being the only team to win. The Rockets won in '94 and '95 and Houston isn't a major market either.
Let's look at markets. Obviously, LA, Texas and New York are the big 3 markets. You can include Boston, Florida and Illinois as well. Florida and Texas are combined in the market number (The reason for this is even though the populations are big, the sports teams are not that far spread out and often share TV time and/or have deals in place as to not have overlap. Its just how the markets are reported. Most of the numbers out of Illinois are the Chicago numbers). The problem with all of this is, population numbers don't matter. Most people want to see certain players regardless of what team they are on. The Lakers/Pistons Finals in 2004, has been the highest rated Finals since the 1998 Finals. Ratings for the Finals have been dropping since '98. Some feel it was the change from NBC to ABC but this is only partially right. Ratings started dropping due to the shortened '99 season. There was a small drop in '00 but that was the Lakers first of three championships and ratings went up in '01, but that was short lived. Let's face it though, no one wanted to watch the Pacers get blown out. The Spurs have won 4 championships but each year they won, the ratings were the lowest in the history of the NBA. No one outside of San Antonio wanted to watch the Spurs. Ratings didn't climb again until the 2009 season, which included the Lakers/Celtics. Well that figures. But the 2011 Finals ratings were best since that '04 Finals. The leagues became fun to watch again and fans were going crazy over all the good play. Now this damn lockout has erased all of that.
The fans don't want balance. Fans want to see their favorite players. People are tired of the Spurs, Celtics and Lakers and want to see the Thunder, Bulls, and Knicks. fans are also cheering for anyone who plays the Heat. If you really think about it, this lockout is really about the owners and the fact that the owners don't like each other nor do they want to share anything. Owners like Cuban and the OKC ownership are hated because they no how to conduct business in a way to make their teams competitive. Remember how people said that Memphis was stupid for giving up Gasol? Well 3 years later and the Grizzlies nearly made it to the Western Conference Finals. Portland, Warriors, Jazz, Nuggets are all small market teams. These teams don't have rosters full of over-the-hill players either. Just decent management. Looks like the competitive balance is fine to me.
My parting shot is aimed at the owners. No where in the world is there a business where the employees who bring in your money are supposed to give back money just because the "heads" of these businesses want to increase profits. You make business decisions and right or wrong you live with the fall out. You don't tell your employees "that salaries and contracts will be cut but we expect a higher level of work out of you or at least the same level". The NBA doesn't have to solicit for money. The NBA sells itself. Companies step all over themselves to get better visibility in the NBA. Stop complaining that your profits are down and be happy that in this economy, you have profits to speak of. Once you loose your fans, it will be hard as hell to get them back. Just ask MLB. Took them 4 years after the '94 strike to get fans to start to come back and 7 years before MLB was back to full strength.
Except the 4% increase in BRI and split the difference with the salary cap/luxury taxes. Make rookie contract 3 years and no more then $5 mil per year. I got you started. Now get in done and lets play some basketball!!
D!
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