Offseason - Storylines

Did Kevin Durant ruin the NBA season by joining the Warriors?

A question that has been raised for many months now, since Kevin Durant announced that he would join the team that beat him while up 3-1, is an issue that has kept many NBA analysts, reporters and even players busy all season long. After last night's 26 point win on the road against one of the best teams defensively who allowed 126 points (!), the Warriors swept the Jazz and advanced for the third straight time to the Conference Finals. With a record-breaking point differential (17.1) the Warriors are showing the world what they are capable of doing night in and night out. But, the question is, did Kevin Durant ruin the season by joining the Warriors, if they are going to win the title so easily as it seems to some? The short term answer is no.

Credit: NBA Facebook 

When an NBA season begins, in most cases, and especially the last five to eight years, we have a pretty good case of which team will be in the Finals, which team will compete and which teams are the final four teams competing for the championship. This year is no different. We had an unbelievable regular season, with Westbrook averaging a triple double, Harden challenging Westbrook for the MVP award. The very solid Spurs who continue to be on the top and challenging for a title, the struggles of the Cavaliers in the regular season, the story of Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics, John Wall and the Washington Wizards who can challenge the Cavaliers, the emergence of the Greek Freak and more. This season has been fascinating, and fun to watch. Now, someone could argue that we already know what is going to happen, and the Warriors will be champions for the second time in three years. The Warriors are now unstoppable and are playing excellent basketball on both sides of the floor. LeBron James however and the Cleveland Cavaliers are also playing great basketball in the Eastern Conference and have swept their opponents as well, so this is going to be an epic third round in the Finals with two teams going at it. The Cavaliers, in fact, don't have the point differential the Warriors have but are shooting the basketball at 49% which is amazing, even better than the Warriors.

Kevin Durant's injury in the season affected the regular season of being more interesting and having more close games, even though the Warriors did more than fine without him and had an outstanding record. Last year they had a record breaking 73-9 in the regular season but lost the title, this year they had 67 wins for the third straight year, but will they become champions in June? The Warriors look better than last year, and with the addition of Kevin Durant, they are more capable of becoming the next champions in the NBA.

Finally, each person has their opinion on this topic and views it differently. Mine is that if the Warriors struggle, the Spurs or the Rockets challenge them to six or seven games, and we see an epic Final series against the Cavaliers, Kevin Durant did not ruin the season because the other teams are good as well. If however, they sweep the Spurs or the Rockets and the Cavaliers or whoever comes out of the East does not even challenge them, then yes he ruined the season, because the competition is lost. But at this precise moment, Kevin Durant did not ruin the NBA 2016-2017 season. It will be something that will keep as busy in the future and the next years where the Warriors could be even better, but for now, I don't think we have seen a bad NBA season with no competition, and no fun.


Highlights Game 4: 

credit: Ximo Pierto

‘The Evolution of the 3point line and Super Teams’

The NBA is changing, as it is adapting a new system, new offences, the 3point line system. And I know that this statement has been stated a thousand of times with the evolution of the three point line, the Splash Brothers and the Warriors, James Harden and the Houston Rockets, and other teams who have to change now their way of attacking and add the 3point shot to their arsenal. However, it is not only the point guards, and the shooting guards who have adapted to this new way of playing basketball and becoming successful, it is also the big men, the centres of this league. Kristaps Porzingis, D

emarcus Cousins, Karl Anthony-Towns and even Pau Gasol late in his career has started adapting to this new system of basketball. The numbers don't just speak for themselves, they scream, that no matter your position on the court, point guard or centre, having a 3point shot is a direct advantage, while not having one is considered a significant disadvantage. Records are breaking each and every season, each and every game right in front of our eyes. NBA records from this season include the 3point field goal attempts and 3point field goals made, but also most of the teams don't even take that many mid-range shots, as they shoot threes, or they drive inside the paint. The Houston Rockets made an NBA record 14.4 threes per game. Moreover, they shot more from the three point line, than from inside. These stats are mind blowing and argue how the NBA has changed and has become more spectacular to watch and enjoy. Not having a 3point shot in your arsenal as a player, nowadays is considered a disadvantage. Imagine Giannis Antetokounmpo with a 3point shot. Instantly becomes a player on another level. This shows how basketball over the course of the last five years, has changed.

To a large extent, Stephen Curry has affected the game to the degree that Michael Jordan enhanced and changed the game back in the 80s. Earlier this year we saw him breaking Kobe Bryant’s record of 12 threes in a single game. Another interesting fact is that when Kobe Bryant scored 12 three-point field goals in a single game, people, NBA analysts, and broadcasters did not even believe that something like that could happen again. It was something rare, unusual, and unreal. The record-breaking machine, named Steph Curry has affected all 30 NBA teams, in the way they viewed their respective defence, as well as how they shape their offensive strategy. But the most interesting stat is that children and basketball players all over the world are changing their strategy of how to score, as well. The game is changing, the evolution of the 3point line is huge, and I will not be surprised if in the next 10 years commissioner Adam Silver adds another line, and make it a 4point line or a 5point line. 

On another note, ‘super teams’ has also become an NBA topic that has been discussed a lot of times during this regular season. Since, Kevin Durant decided to join the team that beat him in the Conference Finals, while being down 3-1, ‘super teams’ have become a storyline throughout the NBA regular season. Starting with the Miami Heat in 2011, when LeBron James decided to take his talents to the South Beach, joined by Chris Bosh to team up with Dwayne Wade made a ‘big 3’ who eventually ended bringing two NBA titles to Miami. Something that originally started the talk of the 'super teams' and continuing with today’s ‘super teams’ the Cleveland Cavaliers (2016 champions), and the Golden State Warriors (2015 champions), the NBA has changed in that regard as well. In this case these two teams have already met twice in the NBA finals, and is possible that they can meet a third time this year, it can be argued that they do not destroy the NBA season but make it more spectacular. With the Washington Wizards emerging, with the Cleveland Cavaliers struggling, with the explosion of Kawhi Leonard and the exceptional coaching of the San Antonio Spurs, the two ‘super teams’ have not destroyed the NBA season, but have made the NBA season spectacular, and a joy to watch. 

GSW 2016-2017

To conclude, rivalries is something that has been missing in the NBA the last decade as well. From the Boston Celtics and their ‘big three’, and the Los Angeles Lakers of Kobe Bryant, to these  two ‘super teams’, the Golden State Warrios and the Cleveland Cavaliers. An NBA rivalry that started in 2015 and is on the merge of becoming an old time rivalry in the history of the game. Finally, also with some young NBA stars emerging into superstars, and young teams as well, the NBA will find back this passion that has been missing, and these rivalries and will become as amazing, and spectacular as it has ever been over the course of the next five years.