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Parity be damned Lack of dominant team is hurting league
Posted: Thursday February 17, 2000 12:55 AM
It seems that everything is pretty finalized as far as the eight playoff spots in the West, and in the East, there's a chance for a good scramble for position. But one of the things we lack this year overall is the battle to make the playoffs. Another thing lacking is a dominant team. While the final couple of weeks of the season will be fun because of that scramble in the East, this season hasn't been a blockbuster for the fans, as the TV ratings for the All-Star Game showed. People say parity is great, but I disagree entirely with that. It's a negative for the league that we're getting very close to parity. I'd much rather see dominant teams. While I personally didn't enjoy the Bulls' great run because I was coaching at times, fans enjoy greatness -- they enjoy star players, and they enjoy great teams. West's size may not matter in JuneIn the days leading up to this year's All-Star Game, one of the big topics of conversation was whether the balance of power has shifted to the Western Conference. Well, the game did show us where the size in the league is, and I'd much rather have the dominant big men than the smaller men. That game was dominated by the front line of Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal, and it went the way you thought it might go. But it wasn't just the outcome of the game that answered that question. Looking at the talent assembled there showed that the physical power has swung to the West. And one thing about the big people in the West is that they're very quick -- they're not lumbering players. I'll take big quick over little quick any day. But when you get to one team against another in the Finals, it could come down to a matchup situation. The team with the best record in the West, Portland, really doesn't have dominance at the big positions. So with all that size we saw at the game, it might not have any bearing on the Finals.
Coach's breakdownThe Lakers have just embarked on a six-game, nine-day road trip through the East. While that doesn't sound like a lot of fun, I think it could turn out to be a plus for them.It's pretty well-documented that Kobe and Shaq aren't the greatest buddies, and sometimes a long road trip like that can pull a team totally together, particularly if it has success. You're traveling together, and you're with one another almost the entire day. If they don't do well, it could be different, but they should be able to handle the teams they're facing on this trip. Kevin Loughery is a former NBA player and head coach. He appears each Sunday on CNN/Sports Illustrated's "This Week in the NBA."
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