FanPost

The Golden Age of the NBA

Being a fan in today’s NBA has become quite the privilege. The league is expanding at a rapid pace, and people all over the world are coming to love the sport of basketball. Today more than ever, the NBA is becoming an international brand recognizable to almost anyone. The logo has not changed, but the perception of the league itself has never been better. Although the NBA lost a sort of cult following when Michael Jordan left the league, it is finally bouncing back to levels most never expected. Some say that the league has bounced back due to social media and mobile viewing offerings. Some say that Lebron James had a hand in propelling the NBA back into relevancy. Both of those are probably legitimate culprits, but that would take away from the vast amount of talent saturated throughout the entirety of the NBA. Although Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are the two most universally recognizable basketball players, the NBA more than ever is starting to create fan bases far and wide that are following teams and organizations more than they follow players. Fans that understand the game, the league, and what it takes to become a champion are good for the NBA. This is the first time I can remember in sports where fans are okay with their team coming in last place. This is the first time I can remember where fans understand that getting a top-notch prospect is probably better for their team as a whole than a first round playoff exit. This is the first time I can remember where fans are not disappearing during the rebuilding period just to show back up again once it is over. This is because fans are starting to understand the game more than ever, and that understanding is good for the NBA.

Although Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Boston, Utah, and Orlando all put forth lousy seasons, I have never seen fan bases more excited about what is to come in the future. Unfortunately, Cleveland ended up winning the lottery and snagging the prize of the draft in Andrew Wiggins, but the trade that sent Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota (along with several other quality players) and Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers simultaneously rejuvenated two fan bases. Now obviously Cleveland was already in high spirits with the return of the prodigal son, but for the first time in a while, the Cavaliers look ready to make some noise in a weak Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers are actually a great example of the changing tides of an NBA organization. However, now more than ever, fans are willing to ride out the lows in order to be around for the highs. This really is the Golden Age of the NBA. This next TV deal will make stars shine brighter than ever, and it will give a lot of teams the flexibility to put together super teams unrivaled by teams past. Although skeptics complain about parity throughout the league, it only takes a few right moves to go from the bottom of the NBA to an unbeatable dynasty. That is why I love this game. It is the only game that possesses two game changing talents in Lebron James and Kevin Durant that could single-handedly change the tide of an entire NBA franchise. However, being a Celtics fan and having to endure a bit of a rough streak recently, I have done a lot of scouting of the young talent around the league. Although it is impossible to quantify without pages upon pages of stats, I believe that the NBA is not only in the best financial situation that it has ever been in, but I also believe that the league as a whole is as talented as it has ever been.

Over the last several years, there has been a huge wave of tremendous young talent flooding the league. In 2009, we went through what was supposedly an extremely weak draft. Although the quantity of stars was low, the quality was tremendous. This draft class also took several years to show their worth. Blake Griffin, hobbled by an injury for what was supposed to be his rookie year, took the league by storm as soon as he was physically able to step onto the floor, and he has not looked back since. He has developed into a weapon from anywhere on the floor rather than just relying on his highflying acrobats to win over fans around the league. Harden was a unique talent almost immediately, but it took him getting the opportunity he needed to prove that he really was an elite offensive mastermind. And while we all knew Steph Curry could shoot, he had to get over some pretty crummy ankles in order to show that he was a bonafide star in today’s NBA that emphasizes floor spacing more than ever before. In a "weak" draft, we were gifted with arguably 3 top 10 players in the NBA. Along with those 3, we have other studs such as Demar Derozan, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, and Jeff Teague. Like I said, maybe the quantity wasn’t there in the "weak" 2009 draft, but the quality was top notch.

In 2010, we welcomed superstars John Wall and Paul George into the NBA. However, this draft turned out to be much deeper than expected. While Demarcus Cousins doesn’t get the respect he deserves, he is still one of the best young centers in all of the NBA. There are also borderline stars down the line in Gordon Hayward, Greg Monroe, Larry Sanders, Eric Bledsoe, and Lance Stephenson. Then there are other quality players like our very own Avery Bradley and Evan Turner. The 2011 draft brought Cleveland its first piece of its new and improved big 3 in Kyrie Irving. Had he never gone the Cleveland, it is doubtful that Lebron would have returned to help the city of Cleveland try to return to its former glory. This draft also brought the San Antonio Spurs their most recent NBA Finals MVP and the 2nd Splash brother to the Golden State Warriors. It also brought the tenacious Manimal who has helped Team USA stay afloat in the world cup along with a host of other quality players and young stars such as Nikola Vucevic, Brandon Knight, Alec Burks, Jonas Valanciinas, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Tobias Harris, Iman Shumpert, Reggie Jackson, and the euroleague star Nikola Mirotic. The 2012 NBA draft brought us the league’s brightest new star in Anthony Davis. He seems to be on pace to enter that top tier of players that can singlehandedly swing the fortunes of a franchise. It also brought the Celtics their most underrated player in Jared Sullinger who has played well despite playing the center position he so obviously was meant to. Damian Lillard is coming off his first playoff series in which he showed the maturity of a seasoned veteran and hit a shot to send his team to the second round. Bradley Beal is coming off of a playoff series that made most think he is the NBA’s next great shooting guard. Andre Drummond is to be on pace to become a truly remarkable center in an era few exist.

Then the weakest of all the recent NBA draft came in 2013. There seemed to be no franchise talents and few quality rotation players. Now while no players have truly separated themselves as the next wave of NBA superstars, there are quality players throughout the first round. Our very own Kelly Olynyk looks to be a truly versatile scorer as a seven footer who can shoot the lights out as well as put the ball on the floor effectively. The Dirk comparisons were probably a bit premature, but he has the look of a high level scorer at the NBA level. Victor Oladipo and Michael Carter Williams both looked like young stars in the making. Although, they will both need to improve their jumpers if they want to leap into that top tier of NBA guards. Trey Burke also had a solid year on a dreadful Utah Jazz team. We were also given three bigs that proved many people wrong. Steven Adams, Mason Plumlee, and Gorgui Deng have all proved that they belong in this league. There are also guys that had rough rookie seasons who looked incredible in summer league and should bounce back in their sophomore campaigns like Otto Porter Jr., Kentavius Caldwell Pope, Nerlens Noel (although he was injured), Anthony Bennett, Alex Lin, Cody Zeller, Ben Mclemore, and C.J. McCollum. This draft also gave us one of the most unique players I have ever had the pleasure to watch in Giannis Antetokounmpo. While I may not be as sold on him as some in the media, I do agree that his upside is astronomical. He is truly unlike anyone I have ever seen play the game, and it will be a joy to watch him grow in the NBA rather than toiling away on the bench in some Greek league. For such a weak draft, there are several guys that I would love to have on the Celtics roster. I believe in the next few years, these guys will start to earn some respect and change the moniker of their draft class from "weak" to "underrated".

Now the most recent 2014 draft class may or may not be the most hyped draft class ever, but it is definitely loaded with talent. As this draft class is fresh in most of our minds, I will not recap the players that truly have the ability to break out in the NBA. Actually, recapping past draft classes was never my intention at all when writing this article. My main point was to emphasize the direction in which the NBA is heading. Scrolling through some of the old draft classes, I would be lying if I said I was not overly excited. The amount of young and still developing talent throughout the NBA is arguably the greatest it has ever been.

If you are a true basketball junkie like myself, scrolling through some of the names that have come into the NBA in just the last 5 years has to get you excited about where the league is heading. I know that most of you that read this will be Celtics fans (and therefore fans of an Eastern Conference squad). Lately, it has become apparent that the Western Conference is far more competitive than the lowly East. However, I do not believe that this will be a constant over the next several years. The amount of young talent in the eastern conference is overwhelming. Although it will take a few years for that talent to develop, the East should slowly gain ground on the heavyweight Western Conference teams. I actually think the only thing standing in the way of the East catching up to the west is time, not talent, and when the Eastern Conference becomes as strong as the Western Conference, the league as a whole will benefit from it. Over the next few years, even more new talent will enter the NBA and existing talent will develop. As long as the fans of rebuilding squads stay strong through the rebuilding process, franchise ownerships will be able to follow through with the entire plan rather than throwing together some sort of quick fix to keep fan bases happy. This, in turn, will allow the current bottom feeders of the NBA to field competitive rosters around young foundational centerpieces who develop within their system. If more fans support their teams during the rough times as much as they do during competitive years, I believe we really will be enjoying the golden age of the NBA. If more organizations are allowed to build from the ground up without costing themselves millions, I believe the NBA will achieve the closest thing to competitive balance that it has ever seen. Fortunately, the amount of young talent flooding into the NBA gives hope to fans around the NBA that if they support their teams through these rebuilding years, they will once again know what it feels like to support a winning organization. Now that fans understand the process of building a team more than ever, it is allowing organizations to rebuild in the fashion they would like.



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