Writing the Pine

Will we see these two form a powerhouse of their own in 2010?
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

With the Ron Artest and Rasheed Wallace signings, the basketball universe once again revolves around the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.  And while that thought conjures up memories of NBA basketball in the 80’s and the intense rivalry that went on, it also conjures memories of a growing trend not seen since the ’80’s: the NBA dominated by powerhouse teams stacked with All-Stars.  The ’80’s saw three dominant franchises with loaded rosters: the Lakers, Celtics, and Pistons.  Yet by the ’90’s as well as majority of this decade, that trend changed and we saw the top NBA teams of each season having at most two All-Stars on their teams.  It was extremely rare to see teams having three or more All-Star caliber players and rightfully so, the formula for having stacked All-Stars wasn’t all too successful.  Most notably, the Houston Rockets following their two championships tried to team Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen together but failed.  The Portland Trail Blazers (Jail Blazers in those days) had a team of stacked NBA All-Stars.  Their 1999-2000 team fielded the likes of Scottie Pippen, Rasheed Wallace, Steve Smith, Damon Stoudamire, Detlef Schrempf, Arvydas Sabonis, Isaiah Rider, and Jermaine O’Neal, but this team fell to the first of Shaq and Kobe’s three championship teams.  Lastly and certainly not least, in 2004, the Lakers signed Karl Malone and Gary Payton to team with Shaq and Kobe, but their age and lack of team unity (yes, Kobe I’m talking about you) proved to be a huge reason for their failure that year.

These teams were really anomalies and the exceptions to the norm during the era that they existed in the NBA. However, with the Celtics winning last year with that formula and the Lakers winning this year with that formula, it seems as though times are changing.  Teams are loading up in an attempt to overpower opponents through sheer numbers en route to a championship.  Not only that, but in order to keep up with opposing powerhouses, teams must stock up just to keep pace and match up with new acquisitions that their rivals make.  The Cavaliers seem as though they traded for Shaq solely to match up with Dwight Howard.  It can be argued that the Orlando Magic traded for Vince Carter and let go of Hedo Turkoglu to give Kobe a better match up should they meet again in the Finals.  The Los Angeles Lakers surrendered Trevor Ariza to sign Ron Artest at the cost of team unity and the risk of self implosion to improve on matching up against the likes of Melo, Richard Jefferson, and Brandon Roy in the West, while having someone else other than Kobe guard LeBron and Paul Pierce in possible NBA Finals matchups.

With the economy the way it is right now and teams looking to downsize in order to save money and weather this financial storm, this growing trend does not look like it’ll disappear anytime soon.  I would expect these powerhouses to continue to add and stay strong, while teams with a lot of room under the salary cap to follow suit and use this new formula for success.  It is still early in the NBA offseason for signing free agents.  The Lakers, Celtics and Magic have separated themselves from the pack.  Look for the Spurs and Cavaliers to be active these upcoming weeks.  My colleague YJ expects the LeBron to be out of Cleveland by 2010 and that implies very little action by the Cavalier front office for the rest of 2009.  One of the many criticisms about the NBA is the lack of consistent rivalries that some of the other major sports have.  Well, with the way that teams are growing in strength and separating themselves from the rest of the competition, the ’80s might be back and we might see certain teams reappear in the NBA Finals year after year.