These days it seems like everyone outside of Oakland, California despises the Golden State Warriors, namely for signing Kevin Durant after a 73-9 regular season in 2016. The move essentially nullified any sense of parity and competition in the league.
Wednesday on ESPN radio, NBA League Commissioner Adam Silver left his thoughts when asked about the state of the league after this past NBA Finals featuring the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fourth time and how the 28 other teams have complained about it:
“Taking the east for example with Lebron [James], he of course has been to the Finals eight consecutive seasons, and he has played with 59 different teammates over the last eight years.”
He went on to state,
“I don’t think anyone was looking at Cleveland going into the Finals saying, wow what a loaded team, I can’t believe he has so many superstars around him, with complete respect to his teammates. In the case of the west, I get it in terms of Kevin Durant going there; It was a bit of an aberration in our system, we had a spike in our cap. The Warriors will tell you they would have found a way to get it done anyway, I don’t know.”
Silver did give the Warriors credit though, by stating that we should “celebrate excellence” and also remarked on the great drafting skills and the fantastic brand of basketball that they play.
This sentiment is one widely expressed by fans and members of the association alike, however one has to acknowledge that it has certainly galvanized teams such as the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Boston Celtics to strategically re-load their rosters with ammo and firepower, and fight back. Both conference finals went seven games this year, which was the first time in 39 years that this happened.
This year, Lebron James has a player option and is expected to opt out and meet with several teams and players in order to overcome the champions of the last two years.
What a time to be a fan.