For most basketball pundits and fans, it was a foregone conclusion that the 2016-17 NBA campaign would culminate in a third consecutive Finals matchup between the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors added Kevin Durant to their already potent lineup, and we waited for each of the other 28 also-rans to be brushed aside at various points of the season – with perhaps the only real threat to be presented by the San Antonio Spurs or an injury to Lebron James – setting up a star-laden, dream final series thought to be well worth the seven-month wait.
Adding to the frustration was yet another wait – of over a week – between the end of the conference finals and the start of the league finals. This after a largely non-competitive first three rounds (or about six weeks) of playoff basketball, including several series – most notably the conference finals – which featured teams without their top players, specifically Boston’s Isaiah Thomas and San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard.
The finals matchup happened as predicted, but for everyone except the established and new fans of the Golden State Warriors or those who dislike Lebron James, the dream series never materialized.
The final series was a fitting end to a season of waiting, complete with 2-3 day gaps between games once the series finally got underway just to drive the point home.
The season wasn’t a total disaster. We saw the emergence of some real star power with the breakout seasons of youngsters like Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver’s Nikola Jokic, along with the strong individual seasons posted by veterans like Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Houston’s James Harden. And then the Phoenix Suns’ 20-year-old Devin Booker scored 70 points in Boston.
We also witnessed strong rookie performances by Milwaukee’s Malcolm Brogdon (a second-round pick), and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (early) and Dario Saric (late), who came on strong in the second half of the season. And we finally saw Washington’s John Wall utilize his tremendous gifts, become a force and lead the Washington Wizards to the postseason. Utah’s Rudy Gobert revived the rapidly declining influence of the defensively-dominant big man in the NBA, becoming arguably the Jazz’ most important player while leading his team to the postseason and a second-round berth as well.
But in the meantime:
We waited for #1 pick Ben Simmons to step on an NBA regular-season court for the Philadelphia 76ers after showing flashes in the summer league, then injuring his foot prior to training camp. There was even talk of him hitting the court around the All-Star break. It never happened. Imagine his angst.
Knicks’ newly-acquired PG Derrick Rose showed up to training camp, saw Carmelo Anthony, rising sophomore Kristaps Porzingis, Joakim Noah and himself in attendance, and immediately anointed the Knicks as one of the leagues two “superteams” along with the eventual champion Golden State Warriors. While most NBA enthusiasts knew this idea was, to put it mildly, zany, some Knicks’ fans nonetheless waited for the team to at least mesh to the point where they could end the three-year playoff drought in the mediocre Eastern Conference. Even that never happened.
At season’s end, Knicks’ management waited for Porzingis to show up for his exit interview. That didn’t happen, either.
In Brooklyn, the Nets’ hopes for at least a competitive season, especially with the Boston Celtics salivating over the right to swap first-round draft picks at season’s end, never materialized largely due to a frustrating series of injuries to PG Jeremy Lin, hired to be the engine of their new spread-the floor, ball-movement offense.
The folks in Toronto were looking forward to building on their first trip to the conference finals last spring, even adding Serge Ibaka to the roster to bolster the front line. They never made it past the second round.
The Portland Trailblazers were looking to build on their 2015-16 season which saw the emergence of C.J. McCollum and other young players, resulting in a surprise playoff berth after the summer of 2015 saw four of their starters leave town. Their acquisitions during the summer of 2016 included another perimeter player in Evan Turner when their frontcourt was screaming for upgrade. They eventually climbed the down escalator all season long and in the final week of the season earned the eighth seed, and the honor of getting swept by the Warriors.
Fan bases in Orlando, Minnesota, Denver and Sacramento were ready for their young rosters to finally turn a corner – especially during the second half of the season – and make a strong run for at least a low seed in the post-season. Sacramento was never a factor and eventually dealt DeMarcus Cousins to another disappointing outfit, the New Orleans Pelicans, while only Denver made a serious playoff push.
The Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets kept their fans waiting as well. Detroit was looking to build on the momentum started a year earlier after securing a playoff berth under Stan Van Gundy, while Charlotte was looking to prove their strong 48-win performance from 2015-16 was not a fluke. Both teams took a step backwards and missed the Eastern Conference playoffs.
During All-Star Weekend, we waited for somebody – anybody – to get into a defensive stance during the All-Star Game. It never happened, resulting in a combined 384 points on 58 percent shooting. Perhaps a cash bonus to the Defensive Player of the Game might change this trend.
At the February 23 trade deadline, we waited as names like Carmelo Anthony, Jimmy Butler, Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio and others were tossed around in rumors as possibly moving to other teams. Never happened, but this isn’t unusual.
In basketball venues throughout the continent, fans experienced the frustration of paying exorbitant prices for tickets to watch a live game only to discover right before tip-off that certain star players chose THAT night to rest their travel-weary, playoff- prepping bodies, a trend that only got worse later in the season and one the league must address.
With the top players on the Golden State Warriors all under 30 years old, we’re probably looking at a few more years of dominance, especially with Lebron James, who will turn 33 years old before the 2018 All-Star Game and having played virtually year-round for over a decade, beginning to slow down. But with a strong group of rookies coming in 2017 and beyond, there remains hope that the competitive balance will grow in the coming years to the point where there’s more than one or two legitimate championship contenders out of 30 teams.
We’ll just have to wait and see. Again.
