SUPER FRIENDS

(left: Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul)

The sudden attention and criticism being given to what some consider a new trend in the NBA, is something that has been going on for years with no complaints, until now.  Fans, the media, former players and coaches, current players and coaches along with everyone else has something to say about All-Star players signing contracts with the same team.  This of course being fueled by LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors) joining Dwayne Wade in Miami, leaving their teams in which they were the franchise players for 7 years.  It is important to remember that fewer people were upset with Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Ray Allen (Seattle Supersonics) joining Paul Pierce in Boston.  I think it's fair to say, however, that those transactions did not use an hour long television special and the teams were aware they were losing their star players days before the announcement.

The common feeling is that with too many stars on 1 team is that legit and entertaining competition will disappear.  Others have said it will make it harder for other teams to survive financially based on attendance, maybe causing some teams to fold.  The very popular, "They can't win without help" and "Can't beat 'em join 'em", are other sayings used early in most debates concerning this topic.  However, discussing the topic with many sports fan, the major concern and perception is that this has never happened before.  Although some of the above opinions do have some merit, they are not all 100% accurate.

1.  "No more competition":  

This statement only rings true when these so called "super teams" play against a much inferior teams.  There will still be competition among teams with average to above average players competing against each other, just as there always have been.  Do we not predict the Lakers will beat the Bucks in an L.A. home game?  There have always been historically inferior teams depending on the opponent.  Out of an 82 game season, not all games are played against super teams, there is plenty of opportunity to win games and make the post season.  Based on '09-10 standings, if you were the Denver Nuggets,  losing to the Lakers is understandable, but losing to the Nets is your fault.

2.  "They can't win without help" and "This is a bad new trend":

This one  bothers me a lot.  No player on any team, in any sport, has won a title alone.  It does not and cannot happen.  Any one who pays close attention to sports would know this, so it's forgivable if the casual fan makes this statement.  Unfortunately, I don't consider NBA legends Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley to be casual fans.  All 4 made comments about never joining their rivals to win games, but somehow forgot they were already part of a "Big 3" or "Super Team" themselves.

Magic Johnson had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper by his side most of his career.  Michael Jordan, I'm sure, enjoyed his time playing with Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.  Larry Bird was never criticized for having Kevin McHale and Robert Parish by his side, helping him win games.  Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen all won their first championship the first year they played together with the Boston Celtics. Kobe not only won championships with Shaq, he is currently a back to back NBA champ with Pau Gasol and Ron Artest in the starting 5.

3.  "Other teams can't compete financially":

This is one I can see with a little meat to it.  Fans don't like teams that don't win and don't have stars giving them opportunities to win, which means they are not going to pay to watch their team lose.  Will the league shrink to 16 super teams, very unlikely, seeing as how there are not that many franchise changing players to go around.  That is the reason draft selection is done the way it is done.  The team with the worst record gets the best chance of getting 1st pick in the following draft.  Bad teams get good picks and good teams get bad picks.  New prospects with high expectations can revive any franchise from the bottom to the top.  LeBron James was a 1st pick in a draft, and we all know how that turned out.  Cleveland went from being a terrible team to a household name over night. Of course you never know how good a player will be in 7 years, but the bad teams get the opportunity to choose 1st, and thats what counts.

After all that being said, I chose to post a picture of Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul because they are the 2 new faces of this great debate.  Chris Paul wants to leave New Orleans to hopefully play with Carmelo Anthony in either New Jersey as a pair, or a trio with Amare Stoudemire in New York.  You can be sure this debate is not close to being over, and the more players request to be traded to teams with a chance of winning, everyone will have an opinion.