Congratulations Are In Order

I'd like to take a moment and congratulate the NBA. Congratulations on a year in which you've managed to have a situation in which I don't care at all for any of the four final playoff teams. In fact, in most other situations, I would be actively rooting for the team that they were playing. The problem is that I naturally want to root against all of the remaining teams. Here's why.

• Cleveland - I try to live my life on a strictly merit-based system. I don't deserve anything until I have earned it. That's why I can't stand it when someone comes into a situation and is immediately anointed as anything along the lines of "the best." This was the situation with LaBron James. He was a young man coming out of high school with a ton of hype surrounding him when he had done nothing but run circles around opponents that were significantly inferior to him physically. He hadn't earned anything. Is he one of the best players in the NBA currently? Yes. However he has the talent to be the best player in the NBA. One of the things that the Sports Guy has talked about regularly in his NBA articles is that he has noticed James taking time off on the court. He's not driving himself to be the best. There's an unfortunately long list of athletes that have failed to live up to the hype or potential for one reason or another. Vince Carter. Ryan Leaf. Darko Milicic. Mark Prior. Randy Moss. Yes, Randy Moss. I've said before that the worst thing to ever happen to Moss was getting his big contract extension. That caused him to get rid of the gigantic chip that he had been carrying on his shoulder about all the teams that passed on him. He lost his edge. He had it in him to be the best wide receiver ever. Then he stopped caring. I'm afraid that the same sort of thing could be happening to LeBron. He doesn't seem to have the fire that drives the Hall of Fame players. It makes it very difficult for me to cheer for them.

• Detroit - When it comes right down to it, I should like this team. There's really no one who is set apart as the star of the group. One night, Chauncy is the hero. Another night, it could be Prince, Wallace, or Hamilton. They play good team defense. I even really like their coach. I still believe that Flip got a raw deal in Minnesota, by the way. I just can't do it, though. Partially, it's the fan base. They're still remembered for a riot after winning a championship and the worst in-stadium riot this millennium. Partially, it's the fact that they have one of the worst sports in the game on their team in Rasheed Wallace. He holds the record for technical fouls in a season. They might as well call the current rule about being suspended after 16 technicals the "Rasheed Rule." I don't think that I can cheer for them.

• San Antonio - Ordinarily, I'd happily cheer for this team. I love how Duncan goes about playing the game. He works hard on both ends of the floor. He's consistent. He does whatever he can to make his team better. The Phoenix series ruined it for me, though. The refs were allowing San Antonio to get away with muggings on the court. Bowen should have been suspended at least two separate times during the six game series. The Horry play was the final piece. Gudy mentioned to me the other day that it really feels to him as though the league is trying too hard to have Duncan be the face of the league because he is such a fantastic player to have others be modeled after. I'm not about to say that the league mandated that the Spurs win, but there is no other league that seems to invite the conspiracy theorists more than the NBA. They have the frozen envelope conspiracy. They have the fact that so many fans feel that the refs are out to get their team. People are convinced that they know the outcome of the game based on who is officiating. The league will continue to have an image problem until this is cleared up. The San Antonio/Phoenix series is just the latest in the series. I really can't cheer for them this year.

• Utah - Huh? What could I possibly have against the plucky underdog? Well, as you can tell from my reasoning above, all it really takes for me to be against a team is a player or two that has lost my respect. In the case of Utah, it's Carlos Boozer. I still think it was incredibly under-handed for Boozer and his agent to ask to be released from his contract because he was out-playing it and then sign with a different team. Did Utah offer more money? Yes. Would 99 out of 100 people take the money and run? Yes. That's not the point. Play out your contract and then get paid. Don't stab in the back the franchise that drafted you and put their time and effort into developing you as a player. They're the ones who got you where you are. Think of the potential tandem of Boozer and James in Cleveland. That could have been special. As it is, I can't cheer for him or, by proxy, his team.
  

So, who's the pick? Well, to win it all, I'm going with San Antonio over Detroit in the finals. Who am I going to be pulling for during the rest of the playoffs? The Twins.