^^^^^Los Angeles has the Clippers as well. So if the Clippers are doing great that should give LA the attention it needs.
It's a Laker town. The Clippers aren't going to be the same draw. Not their fault, mind you, but you could put a second NBA team in New England and it still wouldn't have the luster of the Celtics.
The Lakers can pound sand.
Okay. Is your team under that sand?
Shoot, If the Clippers win a title I would be very happy for them as it would take away even more attention from the Lakers.
If you were tea I'd say someone left the filter over the urn.
The longer the Lakers are terrible and the CLippers are good gives the Clippers more and more opportunity to turn the LA into a Clippers town.
Won't happen. It's history, gravitas. The Clippers would have to at least equal all of that WHILE the Lakers did nothing. I mean, look how long the Knicks have owned New York with far less reason. The Nets, unlike the Clippers, have a chance at that. The Clippers may get a bandwagon going for a bit IF the current team can win a ring or two, but that's a drop in the larger bucket.
Again why should the Lakers have the divine right to be elite?
Didn't I just answer this one? (checks) I did.
Did you care that the Warriors went 40 years between NBA titles?
God no. I couldn't have told you where the Warriors played before not too long ago. No reason to know or think about them.
How has the NBA been damaged with the Lakers losing the last six seasons?
By not having a real contestant in one of the largest markets in the NBA world, for starters. Beyond that, well, I've spoken to that too. The luster of traditional powerhouses and how much more satisfying it is to beat them or to watch the pretenders to that throne take their best shots.
The NBA is doing just fine.
It's not a question of that. The NBA is better with the Lakers as a serious challenger, as per my examples. And this years finals was the weakest rated in ten years, despite the overall health and growth of the sport. If the Celtics or Lakers had been in it the ratings would have been higher. Because those entrenched teams have more generational fans in the broader sports world then do teams no one cared about for generations, because they couldn't be consistently great.
This is good as new teams have established themselves as top teams (Warriors, Bucks Raptors, 76ers, Rockets, etc.).
Denver has a really good team too. The Rockets had a great team once. If they manage it again they take a serious step toward becoming one of those teams, teams with a separated history of dynastic runs. That changes the feel of them. Until they do they're that team that once had Olajuwon and company on it. The Bulls only have some residual luster because their single dynasty was driven by the Babe Ruth of the NBA.
I never claimed to be a fan of the entire league.
The sport. If you want basketball to be as big as it can be, part of that is found in the NFL lesson of celebrating the cornerstones and carrying the past into the present in terms of pitching rivalries and transcendence.
I want the Warriors to win as many titles as possible and the Lakers to be lose ans many game as possible. That makes me happy as s sports fan.
You mean as a Warriors fan who spent too many years looking up at an insurmountable challenge. I can understand how that must feel, being an old Bills fan back in the day. I mean, the last time your guys beat the Lakers in a playoff series was 1967. That has to sting a little.
Obviously, Anthony Davis makes the team better. But it takes more than just two superstars and a bunch of scrubs to win a title.
They have more than that. First, you shouldn't sleep on Kuzma. He's a really talented young player who if he keeps growing like he did over the past two years should be good for 20 pts or better, a handful of rebounds and a few assists. He needs to up his defensive game, but at his tender age and with that athleticism, there's no reason to believe he won't. And they just picked up Danny Green, who is both a good defender (a top tier parameter defender) and a terrific three point shooter. They've also signed DeMarcus Cousins, who could turn out to be the steal of the free agent gets. Rondo returns with his 8 assists and unselfish play. This will not be a team of scrubs.
EDIT: And they've picked up another outside shooter, taking Quinn Cook from your Warriors, along with his 40+% 3 pt prowess. Caldwell-Pope is under contract as well.
This is a playoff team (so they're going to play good basketball) and a contender for the vacated crown.
The league is way too deep for that. And the Lakers are racing against Father Time as LeBron gets older.
There's not a team this Lakers team can't play with and if James and AD are healthy come playoff time I won't bet against them.
