Flagrant Fouls

April 8, 2007

The Greatest Team Ever

Is Florida one of the greatest college teams ever? Winning two national championships should qualify for this type of title, with how easily college athletes leave for the NBA after any sort of attention and headlines. Consider Florida a great team surrounded by mediocrity. Anyone taking Florida players in the top will be greatly disappointed, what Florida has is a system and players in the system, not superstars. Think about the Detroit Pistons beating the Los Angeles Lakers for the title, the Pistons had good players but no hall of famers, whereas the Lakers had Shaw, Kobe, Malone and Peyton. The Pistons had players who understood team and roles, the Lakers believed the headlines and adoring fans. Florida's accomplishment represents a top 10 accomplishment, but as a team they would not win against past great national champions. No stars just good players who understood their roles.

New York Knicks - You want to see a team that has lowered standards so far, watch the Knicks. Who would consider a sub .500 record and no playoffs to be a successful season? Watch schools dumping down the curriculum and you have the Knicks and their fans. I believe the FDA should be testing the food and water supply of New York for tampering. With no NBA teams in the Northeast competing, it becomes easy to explain problems with the NBA and the lack of fan support.

Denver Nuggets - Finally AI and Carmello appear to have some cohesion, and have worked out their marital problems. This team appears to be finally be gelling at the right time as the season comes to an end. Forget the beginning of the season, it has you end when you are a team that changes their makeup during the season. The only team that has a chance of the bottom 4 to slaughter in the west to reach the second round will be Denver. Whomever faces Denver will be at disadvantage if the do win as they will have had to play a tough NBA team.

Playoffs - The great part of college football and the national championship system is because the focus remains on the top teams and not the bottom feeders. The NBA has the focus upon teams that continue to compete for the 8th and last spot instead of the who will have home court advantage. It just like the NCAA and the whiners complaining about bubble teams that miss, who cares as these teams will be losers early. Imagine if only 4 teams qualified for the playoffs instead of the vegetarian meatloaf they currently force feed.

Kidd, Vince - They both completed a triple double in the same game, something that the last tandem of MJ and Pippen accomplished. Just as Florida is not the same as prior back to back champs, Kidd and Vince are not MJ and Pippen. Once again we see a great accomplishment, but they do not belong in the same sentence as MJ and Pippen. The Nets will not be a factor in the playoffs despite being in the weak conference, if MJ and Pippen were to play for the Nets, the Nets would be headed for the Eastern title.

Miami Heat - Dwayne Wade returns soon to the Heat as the sixth man. Even if he only plays two games as sixth man, he deserves sixth man of the year award. But more importantly the Heat may actually rumble in the playoffs and the Heat will be better team for not having had Wade. Just as people who lose a sense develop other senses, the Heat have actually become a better team without Wade, and will even do better with Wade's return. Unlike MJ who tried a horrible late season comeback, Wade will have played during the year and not taken all the time off. Heat or Pistons, who will be the sacrificial lamb for to the West.