Four ex-Wizards woke up NBA champions today. Butler, Haywood, and Stevenson gave me some enjoyable experiences as an NBA fan, so naturally I'm happy those guys won, even if it wasn't here in DC. I still don't remember The Brian Cardinal Era in DC, but hey, he allegedly played here, so I'm happy for him too.
Not only can you not buy a champion, but you also cannot win it all without having gone through something together as a team. Dirk and JT learned from that loss in the Finals years ago. Kidd's been there and lost also. Guys like Chandler and Marion have enough playoff experience together. These guys were the better team because they were more familiar with each other. Simple as that. In a 7 game series, cohesion is going to beat talent.
The way Lebron handled himself in his postgame interview was completely lacking in class. And I suspect this soundbyte might haunt him much more than that "taking my talents to South Beach" line ever will.
He basically told everyone who criticizes him that he's rich (beeyotch!) and they still have to get up in the morning and go to jobs they hate. That might be true, but "haters" weren't stopping Lebron from getting in the paint, or forcing him to shoot contested 25 footers. This guy really needs to grow up, and it's no shock that he's likely cemented himself as the most hated player in all sports.
Miami isn't done. They have too much talent to not have a chance at winning it as long as that core of 3 players is kept together. The problem, of course, is that the NBA's new CBA might introduce a hard cap, making it impossible to keep them together. So, glass half empty, glass half full.
Interesting factoid: Miami only drafted two of their rotation players (Wade and Chalmers). Dallas only drafted one (Dirk). All the other guys were either trades (Terry), free agents (Marion), or undrafted guys (Barea, Haslem) who made the team. What does this tell you about the importance of the NBA Draft?
Does Dirk now enter the discussion of Top 50 players of all time? I think so.
DeShawn Stevenson will be at the White House in a few months. He will not have broken into it to gain entrance. He will take a photo with the President. Surely, someone is going to use this photo against him come election season.
As a casual "fan" of the Mavs, I'm happy to see this collection of classy vets win it all. But their window is going to close quickly. Too many of their key players are past their primes and the NBA's proposed hard cap will hurt them even more than Miami since they have the league's 2nd highest payroll (the Heat were only #17). So, savor the moment, Dallas. It might be a minute.
Lebron is not Jordan. He is not Kobe. Let's kill that noise, please.
Jason Terry, you won it all. That tattoo was a ballsy statement, but you backed it up.
Mark Cuban, you're gonna get fined for this...
But hell, who cares? You're a winner.
Question: What are your post-playoffs observations?
