The Heat Got Beat

So, Miami couldn't handle the Celtics in their first game of the season. A lot of people were probably surprised about that, but as you have seen me write before, I didn't have my heart set on this team. I think that this kind of phenomenon has happened before. I know that there are teams that have several stars. If you remember back to the Bulls in the 90s, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were all pretty heavy stars on those teams. However, there was a definite role for each of them to play. I believe that they all had talents complemented each other. I think that Lebron, Dwayne, and Chris will figure this out because they are great players with different abilities, but I think it will take time. For all three of them, they were the definite stars on their franchises last year so there will be a learning curve to learn how to use other stars as teammates. It probably will happen, and with all of the talent that they possess, they will eventually be very good or even great. But it won't be an instant takeover; I believe that they need time to bond before they will dominate.
Photo by RMTip21 on Flickr

MJ Shows Why He Was Great

Hooray for Michael Jordan! I was so happy to hear him say that he would never have wanted to sign up with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson to create a super team. That is what made him great. He went to a bad team, and eventually once the pieces joined him, he became one of the greatest sports heroes of all time. I think that a lot of this comment comes from the fact that he is such a competitor, he did not want to admit that he needed help from Larry Bird or Magic Johnson; he wanted to prove that he could lead his own team to a championship. Of course he needed the great players around him such as Scottie Pippen, but I know that there was no doubt who the star of that team was. Now, is LeBron, Bosh, or Wade the star? Honestly, if the Heat win the NBA championship, I think that there will be treated like the Yankees, another team who bought a championship. Although I don't necessarily believe that you can buy a championship as I noted earlier in my George Steinbrenner post, I think that the public does generally believe in the idea of buying championships. Therefore, this might not be the glorious triumphant that the Heat were looking for.
Photo by Marcin Wichary on Flickr

Michael Jordan's Legacy Etched in Stone

I am a little bit behind in reading my newspapers. However, this morning I opened up the Parade magazine from Sunday's paper and read an article about how to save the NBA. To be honest, I think that the NBA has been slipping downhill since Michael Jordan retired in 1998. I know he made a comeback after that, but he was not the legend that he was before that first retirement. During his career, the league essentially became Michael Jordan and a bunch of other players. Don't get me wrong, there are several other players of his era who were amazing as well such as David Robinson or John Stockton. However, I do not know the figures off the top of my head, but I would bet that the amount of endorsements that Michael Jordan received was several times that of any other player of that time. He was the face of several national brands, most notably Gatorade and Nike, he played on the original Dream Team which also received quite a bit of international media exposure, and he became a legend in college basketball first thereby gaining a fan base that Lebron James could never get because he never went to college. We are always looking for the next Jordan for a reason; his personality, obvious talent, and championship success all became major selling points for the NBA. Even people who didn't know basketball understood that he was the best. I don't really see that happening right now because there are so many different players who might be the best, Lebron, Kobe, Wade, or a few years ago Steve Nash. All of this talent is awesome, and I'm glad that all of these players are stars, but it also takes more of an in depth understanding of the game to know all of these players and realize who is the best. At least in the 90s, there was no question.

So, how would I save the NBA? I think mainly I would need a player who'd come in from college with a national championship, be very flashy on the court but have a good reputation off of it, and he would need to go to a bad franchise and turn them around into a champion. Lebron James came in heralded as the next Jordan, but until he can win that championship, he's not on the same level of stardom.
Photo by Esparta on Flickr

DUNK!

Every year for quite a few years I have taped the NBA All-Star weekend. It all began when I was younger and the games were on after my bedtime. The obvious highlight of the weekend was the famous slam dunk contest. Who doesn't love to watch some of the most athletic people in the world show off in front of thousands of screaming fans? Although in my opinion the dunks have become less original in the past few years, I have enjoyed the antics of Dwight Howard turning into Superman and Nate Robinson coming out in a fluorescent green "Kryptonite" uniform bent on bringing down the Man of Steel. Some of my favorite contest moments were during the 2002 All-Star weekend when the contest took on the feel of Wheel of Fortune. In the second round, each player would spin the giant wheel and whatever category they landed on would determine what dunk they would need to replicate from the archives. I remember watching these athletes trying to replicate what became an image of the greatness of Michael Jordan: the dunk from the free throw line. Even though this dunk was performed when a Julius Erving dunk was spun, somehow in my mind this dunk will always be associated with Michael himself. Maybe this is because I am the product of my generation that grew up when every basketball player wanted to "Be like Mike." I do not mean to diminish the accomplishments of Dr. J; it is just that a player who has achieved worldwide fame will dominate the attention of his era. Who hasn't seen the image of Michael Jordan, tongue fully protruded, soaring towards the rim with seemingly super hero ability? This image and this athlete have come to define slam dunking greatness. Michael is not nicknamed His Airness for nothing. What the dunk contest needs to revitalize itself is simply get the stars to enter. In 1985, 1987, and 1988, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins squared off in what have become some of the most famous contests in history. Not only were these two the best dunkers in the NBA; they were two of the league's brightest stars. Come on Lebron! You have been saying that you will compete in the dunk contest and bailed. Until superstars get back into the mix, the epic contests will be lost to future generations.