Hypothetically speaking, if all the winning teams suddenly disappeared, and the league were to continue going with all teams below .500, who would win the championship, and who would get MVP? I mean it is a valid question right? Lebron James himself said that some teams are so bad that the league should get smaller and eliminate at least 5 teams.
My guess, as to who those 5 teams that Lebron is thinking of, are Minnesota, Cleveland, Toronto, Washington and Detroit. Those teams have been losing for a while now (with the exception of Cleveland; although the losses this season has made up for their wins in recent years) and do not have a major fan-base. But if the opposite were to happen, and only the losing teams were to stay, we would be looking at the following scenarios:
Indiana would be facing Charlotte in the Eastern Conference finals, while Houston and Golden State would be battling it out in the West. Minnesota, Cleveland and Washington would continue losing and the Clippers could maybe even cause a few upsets and go to the Finals.
As far as MVP Rankings go, Kevin Love and Blake Griffin would be the first names to come to mind. Both players have been dominant all season long and have played in the All Star Game just a couple weekends ago. Both players work hard and hustle their way into getting their points and rebounds. Blake is more athletic but K-Love is more fundamental.
It’s a shame that players of such caliber are on losing teams. And it’s not like these teams were winning before and now hit a bump in the road, no, they have been losing for a while. Unfortunately, if those players wish to win games and possibly finish their career with a ring, they will have to leave their current teams. A lot of players have done that. Kevin Garnett, for instance, could not get it done until he moved to Boston and made friends with Pierce and Allen. Ron Artest, best defensive player in the league, joined the Lakers because he knew that if he wanted to win a ring, he would need to join a team that has offensive threats where he would not be the go-to-guy. What do you think Lebron and Bosh are doing? Everyone wants a ring and these players on losing teams will need to get traded or signed by good teams if they want to make some noise in their careers.
Players like John Wall, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin, Tyreke Evans, Kevin Love, Steph Curry, Monta Ellis, Brandon Jennings, and so on, are going to need to get traded if they intend to win championships. Luckily, most of these guys are young and still have a ton of time to do something in their careers.
Thinking about these things really makes you wonder whether or not the league would be better without some of these teams. But that’s the fantastic thing about the NBA: it is unpredictable. Boston goes from worst to best in one year. Cleveland goes from best to worst. Quick changes and trades make all this possible. All it takes is a good general manager, a ton of risk and a lot of good luck. And then, maybe you will start the year with a ring ceremony.
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