There's always a bright side

Think of it as a "right of passage."  Think of it as a "learning experience."  Maybe they're "paying their dues."  But there's a bright side to the events occurring with the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as the Chicago Bulls.  They're both young, relatively inexperienced teams.  They're both up and coming, extremely exciting teams.

They weren't supposed to win this year.  The Bulls vastly over-achieved this year (were projected to be a 4 or 5 seed before season began).  The Thunder over-achieved, building on last year when they took the Lakers to 6 games, and gave the eventual champions all they could handle.  They were supposed to take the "big" step this year.  They took the "next" step, but there's no skipping steps in the NBA.  One at a time.  That's the rule.  Know your roles.

The Thunder are in a great position for the future.  Three young stars (yes three, Harden is greatly overrated and will be 6th man of the year next year, put money on it today) and a defensive mentality are a recipe for success.  People want to rip Russ Westbrook for taking more shots than Durant, and having too many turnovers.  Well, he's not a point guard.  He's a shooting guard playing point guard.   He's also 6'6".  He brings the ball up the court and sees a defender who is usually 3-4" shorter than he is.  You're telling me you wouldn't want to shoot it every time with that kind of height advantage?  BS.  Of course you would.  Or if you wouldn't, that's why you've never played basketball.  Sorry, but it's true.  You see a mis-match, and you want to exploit it.  You have the ball in your hands already, and you're going to do what you want.  It didn't hurt that Durant didn't exactly "light it up" in the playoffs.  He played well, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't exactly Mr. Efficiency (aka Dirk Nowitzki).  Stop killing the kids.  They're young.  They will learn from this.  Hopefully they remember how bad this feels right now, and use that as motivation to never want to feel it again.

Who is going to top the West next year?  The aging Lakers?  Maybe... but if you ask me, Kobe is way more past his prime than people want to admit, Bynum won't be healthy (surprise!), Ron Artest is, well Ron Artest, and Pau Gasol may be in a shell the rest of his life.  Oh yeah, and Lamar Odom might get eaten by a dinosaur, the Kardashasaurus-Rex.  What about the Spurs?  If Duncan can use a walker on the court, and Tony Parker doesn't sleep with any of his teammates wives (doubtful), and Manu Ginobli gets some Rogain, then maybe.  But I doubt it.  The Mavericks?  That's wild card.  Dirk is old, but he's German, and spends most of his time outside of the lane.  But Jason Kidd is on his last legs, Shawn Marion's shot is going to have to stop going in eventually, it's hideous, Tyson Chandler is a free agent, and J.J. Barea can't be Mighty Mouse forever.  The Grizzlies and the Blazers will be your other teams of the future, barring injuries and airborne gambling rings.  But the Thunder are in a great position to be at the top of the West for the next, oh, 5 to 6 years.


The Bulls are the new-age Cleveland Cavaliers, except I can't drive from work to watch them, and they have Joakim Noah.  Ugh.  How do you make the NBA and still shoot with two hands?  Nobody taught him?  High School?  College?  Come on now, it's embarrassing, for all of us. Alas, that's not the point.  Derrick Rose is only going to get better.  Don't think he's not going to have an outside jump shot next year.  Some people, who's opinion is worth little more than mine (Cowherd), want to bash Rose because he can't play defense like LeBron.  I don't need to go into all the reasons on why that's a ridiculous argument, but here are a few: 1) LeBron is a freak athletically; 2) Derrick Rose is 6'3" 190, a freak athletically, but still small by NBA standards.... did I mention that LeBron is 6'9" 280 lbs?  Oh yeah, Cowherd, Derrick Rose should definitely be able to lockdown Lebron.  Idiot.  I did it again, that's not the point to be made.

The Bulls have arguably the best young point guard in the game, they have a lockdown wing defender in Deng (nobody shuts down LeBron, so don't use that as an argument), they have their high-energy defender/rebounder in Noah, and they have their overpaid waste of space player necessary on every time in Carlos Boozer.  Wait, that's not right.  It's true, but isn't part of a delicious plan for a championship.  The Bulls are either going to trade Boozer for a SG (go after OJ Mayo.. just do it already), or they need to spend the whole summer and lockout to work on Boozer's awful defensive ability, and shrinking confidence.  (Oh yeah, the lockout.  Forgot about that.  See ya Boston.  Bye-Bye Lakers, Au Revoir Spurs.)  The Bulls are one piece away (sound familiar Cleveland... ugh... damn you Delonte! Chipotle!) from taking that next step, to be able to beat the Heat, and stop the travesty that is happening in the NBA today.

But what about the Heat?  Isn't this the worst that they're going to be in the next 6 years?  They're going to cut away all the crappy players who they signed to 1 year contracts and bring in the big guns to fill in around the Big 3 and the small 2 (Haslem and Miller).  They're going to be so much better when they get that point guard they need, and an established big man.  They're going to be so much better.  It's such a good thing they'll have cap room after this year when all those players come off the books.

Oh yeah... about that... with the combination of around 6 (takes the roster size down to around 6 active players) players coming off the books, and increases in annual salary of the "big three (d-bags)," the Heat will have a whopping $2 million coming off the books.  The Heat will have $2 million in cap space?  For six players?  Who are better?  Ohhh... that's okay, they'll just trade some assets to get that cap room.  Like... Zydrunas Ilgauskus... and Mario Chalmers... who wouldn't want them (I do love Z... but come on, give it up Z)?  Oh, and the kicker.... remember that lockout thingy?  Yeah, the salary cap is around $65 million dollars right now.  More than half the league's teams are losing money.  The cap is going to go down.  So the $2 million under the cap could become, oh, $5 million over.  Uh oh... now there's trouble in South Beach.  Yeah.. this might be the worst that we see the Heat, because they'll begin to mesh a little better... but it could also be the best we see the Heat for awhile.  Don't worry about them.

The rest of the East?  The Knicks?  They don't play defense, and are still waiting for that 3rd star who will never come... sorry New York.. keep telling yourselves that the NBA is better when you're good.. becuase it's not.  When was the last time New York won a title?  Oh yeah, I was -14 years old.  I think the NBA's done alright without those Knickerbockers (maybe they should officially change their name back to that, and wear Knickerbockers, that could help).  The Magic?  Yeah.. maybe if they get Penn and Teller to conjour up a magic trick to get Dwight to stay.  Oh yeah, and Gilbert Arenas... enough said.  The Hawks?  Here's a bold prediction- they will make the playoffs, probably a 4 or 5 seed, and at some point they will lose 4 games by about 100 points total.  The Celtics?  The Celtics are like that team at open gym, you know, the 40 year olds that still come to play with the high schoolers?  They come, and they'll win a couple games, but after a couple games to 16, they're not getting up and down the court very well, their shots aren't falling, and the only advantage they have is the amount of sweat lubricating their inexplicably bare backs.  Sorry C's... Rondo can't carry your sweaty backs forever.



The Cavs?  Lol.