The watered-down myth
by rick olivares
When I first read the comments of LeBron James about the current NBA being a “watered-down” league as opposed to the 1980’s that he compared it with the first thought that came to my mind was – no way.
Those were the years when I was weaned on the NBA and watched it religiously. Consider at that time, the only way one could watch it was via the Far Eastern Network based in Clark Air Base and later still on NBA on GMA. In those pre-internet days, one had to make do with getting the box scores from Star & Stripes (if you were lucky to procure that US Armed Forces newspaper) or the standings and scores from the Bulletin Today.
Was there parity then?
I thought (and later validated it to researching facts and numbers that are available) that the NBA was mostly a three-team race between the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia 76ers. The Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, and the Portland Trailblazers would crash the party once in a while but it was really a three-team league. So does anyone want to go back to that (unless you’re a fan of those three clubs)?
Let’s take a look back at the history of the NBA.
From 1980-89, four teams won the NBA title – Los Angeles (five), Boston (three), Philadelphia (one), and Detroit (one).
Six teams played in the NBA Finals – the aforementioned four plus Houston (twice) and Portland (once).
From 2000-2009, five NBA teams won the NBA title – Los Angeles (four), San Antonio (two), Detroit (one), Miami (one), and Boston (one).
Eleven teams went to the NBA Finals – the aforementioned five plus New Jersey (twice), Indiana (once), Philadelphia (one), Dallas, (once), Cleveland (once), and Orlando (once).
In the 1980s there were 23 NBA teams. In the 2000s, there are 30.
Six players won the MBA Most Valuable Player Award – Larry Bird (thrice), Moses Malone (twice), Magic Johnson (twice), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (once), Julius Erving (once), and Michael Jordan (once).
In the 2000s, eight players won the award – Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson won it twice while Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitski, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James took the trophy home once.
Thirty-six players made the All-NBA First and Second Teams in the 80s. Now looking at the 2000s with three All-NBA squads, let’s trim it down to two so the comparison isn’t apples and oranges – 35 players were named to the first two teams. That’s only one less.
At the end of the 1980 season, eight squads (out of the 22) had winning records. At the end of the 2000 season, 16 squads (of the 30 teams) had winning records.
At the end of the 1985 season, 10 (of the now 23 teams) had winning records. In 2005, 18 teams had winning records. If you follow the definition of “watered down” that means there were more cream puff teams and easy wins.
In 1985, the squads with the worst NBA records were Atlanta and Golden State.
For the Hawks, only one player suited up for the 82-game grind – power forward Kevin Willis. All-Star forward Dominique Wilkins played 81 matches. Regulars Eddie Johnson missed nine matches, Doc Rivers 13, shooting guard Randy Wittman was out for half the season, super sub Cliff Levingston didn’t suit up for eight matches, Antoine Carr was absent for 20, and center Tree Rollins was in street clothes for 12 .
As for the Warriors, only two players took the hardcourt for at least 80 games – Sleepy Floyd and Larry Smith.
Flash forward to 2005, Atlanta once more possessed the worst record in the league when they posted a 13-69 record. Only Josh Childress played 80 games. The Hawks dressed up 20 different players as they went through patchwork lineups owing to injury and otherwise. Conversely, the 1985 Hawks dressed up 18 players.
In 1989, 15 teams had winning records. In 2009, 14 teams had better than .500 marks. Again, that’s not much (the Bulls did finish 41-41).
While it is true that for several years during the 2000s the Eastern Conference was a wasteland when it came down to W-L records it was a league-wide problem during the 80s. Not every team was profitable way back then. The drug problem was persistent (the Phoenix Suns and the New Jersey Nets were one of the teams plagued by this). Game Seven of the NBA Finals of 1980 was shown on tape delay. There were talks about racism (especially in Boston). And certainly, not every team had an All-Star. Case in point – the pre-Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls. They were led by Orlando Woolridge and Reggie Theus and for all their prodigious scoring ways, they were not All-Stars. And speaking of All-Stars, the NBA’s mid-season spectacle was only introduced in 1984 (and adapted from the defunct ABA).
Continuing the comparison, from 1984-89, there were 57 different players named to the All Star Game. From 2004-09, there were 56. The difference isn’t much.
The league in the 80’s certainly had a lot of white players. Anyone remember Georgi Glouchkov, Bulgarian forward who played one year for the Phoenix Suns before he was sent packing? Today there are a whole lot more foreign players and they’ve had an increasing impact on a team’s success. One of them has even gone on to win the Most Valuable Player Award (Dallas’ German scoring sensation Dirk Nowitski).
The drop off in terms of play and talent of the NBA in the 80s and the new millennium isn’t much as LBJ might claim. The profitability alone is a huge disparity. Sure there are the occasional stiffs and busts. But that is part and parcel of every club through the years. It isn’t even exclusive to the NBA.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were led for half the decade by scoring machine World B. Free. In the other half, the Cavs became a more balanced team with Ron Harper, John Williams, Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, and Larry Nance.
During the first four years of that lineup (from 1986-87 to 1989-90) they went 31-51, 40-42, 42-40, and 57-25. Eventually, they let go of their poor man’s Michael Jordan in Harper for their “Jordan-stopped in Gerald Wilkins. Of that “classic” lineup that Magic Johnson anointed “the team of the 90s” before the decade even began, only two were All-Stars in Daugherty and Price.
For several years during the 2000s, the Cavs field a lineup that included LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden, and Eric Snow with Anderson Varejao and Donyell Marshall. From 2004-05, the Cavs went 42-40, 50-32, and 50-32 where they lost in the NBA Finals against San Antonio. In the fourth year of that team (now minus Gooden and Marshall), they went 45-37 and were eliminated in the Eastern semis by the Celtics. Was James the only one who made the All-Star Game? Nope. Ilgauskas cracked the squad twice in 2003 and 2005.
Is there parity now in the NBA? It’s not like in the NFL where smaller market teams like Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Green Bay, and Tampa Bay have won titles in recent years. Of the old order of the NBA, it’s only the Lakers in their Phil Jackson era that is dominating (despite the Boston renaissance that will go as far as their modern Big Three’s health holds up). But a small market team like San Antonio has won the league title four times with three coming in the last decade. And the recent performances of squads like Oklahoma City, Orlando, Dallas, and Miami gives them a shot to win the Larry O’Brien trophy.
What the NBA doesn’t need is LeBron James giving more reasons or excuses to explain the forming their All-Star trio in Miami. Whether fans have accepted that or not, he is in Miami with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. He’s already accepted the role of heel. I say, “Just play the game, dog”. Unless all that talk about “parity” and “a watered-down league” was really a subtle recruiting pitching to Minnesota’s Kevin Love.
Can he just shut his mouth?
ReplyDeleteSir you missed Steve Nash for the MVP award.
ReplyDelete