Inequality in Business and Talent

     There’s a huge dichotomy in this year’s NBA finals, and the contrast is stark. On one side is the San Antonio Spurs, a team that’s well managed, well coached, and has all the chemistry and camaraderie that one would want from the NBA’s best franchise in the past few years… a true team. On the other side is the Cleveland Cavaliers. They’re built around one superstar, and a group of one-dimensional players. The front office has committed itself to a few long term deals that have been considered very questionable, and their offensive game plan seems to have just one play: a pick and roll with Lebron James at the top of the key.
     The Spurs have shown that they’re the superior team, and in many ways represent the purists’ representation of good basketball; that with execution, teamwork, and high basketball intelligence, a great team will beat a good team with a dominant player. This is no knock on Tim Duncan, as I perceive him to be the best Power Forward of our generation, and quite possibly of all time. However, Tim Duncan is the consummate teammate, while Lebron James has the talent, but not yet the experience nor the chemistry with his teammates to get there. The Spurs are a true team, while the Cavaliers are led by a one man army.
     However, my biggest problem with the series is actually with how it’s being marketed. Lebron James, with his famed high school career, his rookie season which met and exceeded all the hype and expectations, and his up and rising career, should get a lot of recognition. However, it saddens me that the Spurs aren’t the focus. Maybe it’s due to their consistency, or their clockwork-like execution, but the Spurs have become known as a “boring” team, while teams with star power are the ones that get more recognition and they’re the teams that draw the biggest audiences. Kobe Bryant for the Lakers, Shaq and Dwyane Wade for the Heat, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony for the Nuggets, and Lebron James for the Cavaliers are all heavily marketed stars that help drive the fan base of the NBA. However, this has come at the expense of real teams that have helped the progression of league. Teams like the Utah Jazz, the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Phoenix Suns, and the Toronto Raptors. They might not be as marketable to casual fan, and also many of them are from small market cities, but they are the teams that are truly built to be successful in the long term, in this league.
     The NBA has decided to market the big name players over the real teams of the league. It’s understandable on one hand, but it’s also insulting, to the basketball purists, to the fans of the organizations that are well run, and most of all to those organizations that have done the research, work, and have built successful franchises without the support of a large metropolis.
     If there’s anything I want the 2007 NBA finals to bring, it is change. The league and its fans should understand that the team concept is one that can and should be embraced and marketed. That the teams that have drafted well, signed manageable contracts, maintained a good environment and facilitated a winning chemistry should be rewarded. I would also hope that Lebron James understands the rigors of this league, and that just by making the NBA finals this year, doesn’t mean anything. He’s played this season like a light, turning it on and off. I hope he learns that to get to the level of being able to turn on that switch at will, he needs a commitment to winning, and a real team built on ball movement, defensive rotation, good spacing, and execution. I want to see this league do well, as basketball, in its apex, is in my opinion by far the most enjoyable spectator sport, and it’s a shame what this league has turned itself into.