NBA Finals MVP Lebro.. Dirk Nowitzki?!
As the first significantly depressing date (namely the day training camps were supposed to start) arrives, I have decided not to look into the uncertain future of our league but into the past. This time last year, the term 'CBA' meant nothing to most of us and 'The Decision' was still the hot topic. This time last year, Jason Terry was getting another tattoo done. Of course, that is of no significance. At all.
I'm sure I am in no way in the minority when I say I love the start of training camp. Love. After a summer of flirting with the World Cup and Wimbledon, the idea of having my beloved NBA back is always tantalising. At a stage where you would happily watch Boris Diaw and Brian Cardinal play 1 on 1 for 48 minutes, all of the training camp coverage feels like Christmas come early.
The three that I'm sure everybody was looking at as contenders for the Larry O'Brien trophy were the 2010 Champion Lakers, 2008 Champion Celtics and newly assembled Miami Heat 'Big Three'. There was a lot of buzz around the young and talented OKC Thunder aswell as the compulsary "Gilbert Arenas is back to his best" and Orlando Magic buzz, but there wasn't much to think about other than these three teams.
The Lakers were the defending Champions and returned with the acquisitions of Matt Barnes and Steve Blake, two experienced veterans; they looked the real deal yet again. The Celtics steadied their Finals-worthy frontcourt with the addition of Hall of Famer Shaquille O'neal. Then there was the Miami Heat. The fanfair surrounding 'The Decision' had lead a large proportion of the basketball community to wish failure on this team, the rest of the NBA to hold a grudge and the media to watch their every move, praying for a slip-up. Sure enough, that first slip up came just days after the Big Three were put together, "Not one Championship, not two, not three"; the proportion of the basketball community wishing failure upon the Heat doubled.
The rest of the NBA was filled with young talent like Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon's Clippers and Perpetual choke artists like 67 year old Jason Kidd's Mavs. With this in mind we should remember that despite all the blogs, podcasts, play-by-plays, bar chat and Slam magazine articles, 99.9% had no idea what was coming.
Sure, the Mavericks had a talented roster. However, that's been true every year for the last decade. Aside from throwing away the 2006 Finals, what had this team achieved. Great players had come and gone, Dirk Nowitzki had had some truly remarkable years, and they had put together some balanced rosters. No championship. Why would this older version of the perpetual underperformers be any more successful? The answer? they wouldn't. We all knew they wouldn't. Right?
An entire season passes, we still had no idea what was coming. The Mavericks marginally get through a series with the Blazers, we still had no idea what was coming. The Mavericks reach the finals, we still had no idea what was coming. Just weeks later, Dirk Nowitzki has gone from the Finals Choke-artist to all time great, Jason Kidd finally has his ring and Mark Cuban barely said a thing for two months. None of us saw it coming.
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the cancellation of training camp, which is the first step to cancelling the season, we have to remember that great things are still possible. Great things that we don't know about yet.
We had no idea what was coming. Jason Terry's tattoo artist however..
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