Why I hate the NBA

Many people hate the NBA for the reasons I hate the Ocean's 11 movies (everyone is overpaid and doesn't try very hard) or the cast of the Real World (jealous of the lifestyle and the privileged few can't stay out of trouble) but that criticism is unfair. There are plenty of NBA players like Gilbert Arenas and Juan Dixon who bust their asses every play and do good work off the courts. My bone to pick has more to do with player movement.

I was watching the Heat take on the Wizards last night when I noticed Eddie Jones come in the game. Eddie Jones was on the Heat the year before last when they traded him to Memphis in a package for Jason Williams and Antoine Walker. Eddie Jones agreed to a buyout with the Grizzlies two months ago, and immediately signed with the Heat, largely because they were the defending champs. Much like Chris Webber, who agreed to a buyout with Philadelphia three months ago, signed with the Pistons, who have been to the finals twice in the last three years. There are only a few teams where everyone wants to play.

Eddie Jones is a good spot up shooter, he can guard three positions, he has good size. Why would the Grizzlies let him go with basically no compensation? This week the Grizzlies have locked up the worst record in the NBA, making them the likeliest winner of the number one pick, who will either be Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. If you aren't one of those teams, the only way to win a championship is to tank the season and land a transcendent talent.

Since Bird and Magic have entered the league in 1979 (both transcendent talents), the only teams to win championships have been Bird's (6th pick somehow) Celtics, Magic's (1st pick) Lakers, Moses Malone and Julius Erving's (the two prizes of the ABA dispersal draft) 76ers, Isiah Thomas's (1st pick) Pistons, Jordan's (3rd pick and Portland is still getting ripped) Bulls, Olajuwon's (1st pick) Rockets, Duncan's (1st pick) Spurs, Shaq's (1st pick) Lakers (with Kobe, 13th pick somehow) and Heat (with Wade, 5th pick somehow), and the lone exception, the 2004 Pistons.

It's so difficult to support a team that has no chance of competing at the highest level, and that includes every team but the Mavericks, Suns, Spurs, Pistons, Heat, or Bulls, and I only include the Bulls because they have the player resources to make a Shaq-like trade. Teams like the Nuggets, Wizards, Rockets, Jazz, Raptors, and Nets are just lacking enough in talent and aren't cities in which everyone wants to play. Unless the Lakers are able to pull Kidd out of thin air (which is possible because people want to play in LA and with Kobe) and Bynum turns into at least an Eddy Curry caliber center, no one outside of the lottery is joining that upper echelon of NBA teams. So whoever are the top two teams in the lottery leapfrog about 25 teams in terms of likelihood to win an NBA championship in the next 5 years. It makes it extremely discouraging as a fan.