In Search of Good Times

For my money, the NBA has the perfect formula for how its teams operate financially. Sure, the NFL is hailed as our best and most exciting professional sports league, but its concerns about making sure everyone is on equal footing have left it with one inevitable flaw: the lack of true dynasties in the sport.

The NBA has no such problem, though, as teams are able to spend as much as they need to in order to keep players (or trade for others, if salaries match), so long as they are willing to pay the luxury tax if they go over it. That has helped lead to a type of nuclear arms race over the past two weeks, with several of the league’s best teams going out and improving themselves in order to position themselves as the favorites to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy next June.

We’ll start with the logical team, the recently crowned champion Los Angeles Lakers, whose decision to sign Ron Artest instead of Trevor Ariza is, without question, the best and shrewdest move of the offseason so far. Ariza, for as well as he played in the Finals, was nothing more than an average small forward last season. Ariza is a young, athletic wing who is a solid defender, but he is a below-average shooter (32 percent from 3-point range, 71 percent from the foul line last season). Artest, however, is a true impact player who has the ability to change a game.

Not only is he a better shooter than Ariza (40 percent from 3-point range, 75 percent from the foul line last season), but he is arguably the best on-the-ball defender in the league. Most importantly for the Lakers, he’s one of the few players in the league strong enough to guard two potential matchups for the Lakers in next year’s Finals, assuming they make it that far: LeBron James and Paul Pierce. Mitch Kupchak has been accused of being a less than stellar general manager in the past, but time and again he has made moves that were both bold and wise for his team, and has now positioned the Lakers to maximize Kobe Bryant’s title window.

As for their opponent in the Finals, the Orlando Magic, they may have lost Hedo Turkoglu and (probably) Marcin Gortat, but the Magic have likely improved entering next season with the acquisition of Vince Carter. While Turkoglu is an interesting player, Carter is undoubtedly a better one. He has the ability to create points for himself – something even Magic coach Stan Van Gundy admitted his team lacked last season. Not only that, but the Magic can plug Mikael Pietrus in at small forward in order to play defense and make 3’s.

There still is work to be done (perhaps either Toronto’s Shawn Marion or Anthony Parker, players who would make sense for the Magic in a complimentary role), but Orlando has boldly moved to improve its team.

As for James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, if the Lakers made the smartest move getting Artest, the Cavs have made the biggest move – literally – in landing Shaquille O’Neal from the Suns. It’s a trade that probably came a few months too late for Cleveland, which seems to always be the case for its general manager, Danny Ferry. If he had made this deal at the trade deadline with Wally Szczerbiak’s expiring contract, he would have still had Ben Wallace’s expiring deal to go out and make a run at another player now. Instead, he had to use Wallace’s deal to get Shaq – which will help Cleveland if they run up against Dwight Howard again – but now limits the Cavs in their efforts to do enough to keep LeBron in Cleveland past the upcoming season.
After an uncharacteristic season for the Spurs, who suffered through a disappointing and injury-plagued campaign a year ago, they began this retooling amongst the NBA’s elite when they dealt for Richard Jefferson in the days leading up to the draft. With a crunch-time foursome of Jefferson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs will undoubtedly have a chance to compete with anyone. The real question now is where the Spurs will go from here; they unsuccessfully chased Rasheed Wallace, and now are probably scrambling to find another option to help fill out their team. But given their experience and knowledge of what it takes to win, they will be there in the end.

And then there is the Boston Celtics, the most fascinating of the group, for sure. Still under the belief that they haven’t really been beaten with their best, after pushing the Magic to the brink despite not having Kevin Garnett play at all in the playoffs, the Celtics landed another enigmatic character in the multi-talented Wallace. The Celtics know their window is closing, and they are doing their best to maximize their window by bringing in talented players who, while on the downside of their careers, know what it takes to win and are driven by the chance to compete for titles.

Wallace should be just that kind of fit with the Celtics, who should have no trouble incorporating him into their locker room after doing so with the near-insane Stephon Marbury last season. They also are the likely front-runners (assuming he would rather compete for a championship than a bottom-rung playoff spot with the Knicks) to secure the services of Grant Hill, which would make Boston an even more interesting team for historical purposes.

None of this even takes into account the fact that the Denver Nuggets should be back and intact, a year older and wiser after last year’s run to the Western Conference Finals. Even though we’re just a week into the heart of the offseason, already the NBA’s elite are gearing up for an 82-game plus war. There’s certainly more to come in the coming weeks and months leading up to the start of the season, but in the end, there is one clear group of winners at the end of the day: the league’s fans.

Sit back and enjoy it. The NBA, thanks to the spending spree among its top teams, is getting more intriguing by the day.