The Warriors are an embodiment of the NBAs twisted ring culture

[Mosby]

There were two commercials during and after the last game of the NBA Finals that captured the culture of the league. First up was Dr. J giving a soliloquy: “The Finals. We’re talking about the ultimate stage. You will see men of remarkable presence. They will test your belief and put time and gravity on hold. But all that elegance. All that style. None of it really matters if you don’t win, because when it’s over: you either have a ring or you don’t.”

The other was a Nike ad that dropped right after the Warriors won and Kevin Durant was named Finals MVP. It’s titled “Debate This” and features a roundtable of critics disparaging Durant as clips from his career play on several screens. It ends with criticism of his move to Golden State, and then silence when it’s announced that Durant is an NBA champion.

The Nike ad misreads the criticisms about Durant’s move in a way that positions a Finals win as justification for it. Really, the anger was over the fact that he went to the best team in the league and skewed things so far in its favor that Golden State almost swept the defending champions. That Durant would win a ring was expected before the first game of the season, which is part of the disdain for the move. The debates won’t stop because he fulfilled that goal.

Both ads exemplify a problem that fans now face. If people are angry that Durant went to the best team and won a ring in relatively easy fashion, then they only have themselves to blame. These Warriors are the embodiment of rings culture. The ultimate goal of every team is to win a title, and adding Durant to a historically great team makes that process as straightforward as possible.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/6/13/15792404/warriors-kevin-durant-2017-nba-finals-rings-culture

[bagelsforbreakfast]

1. Just read another article (on espn?) ...

It was a one-time result of the big jump in the cap. The warriers basically have till 2020 before $$$ and penalties for high payroll force a breakup. Figure Igodula and Livingston gone next year, then when the penalties hit Thompson first to go - can't pay SC, KD, DG and KT - and KT least valuable of the 4. Till then, though, they win unless injuries hit.

[LenaBaby61]

3. So in other words ...

This is the way sports IS.

I HATE that concept but like I say, that's sports in the 21st century.

[brush]

2. That's one way of looking at it. Another is that Durant improved upon Lebron's super team-building.

Lebron has done it twice now, first to Miami where he joing D Wade and Chris Bosh, then with the move back to Cleveland he already had Irving on the roster and he subsequently successfully irged management to sign Kevin Love.

How Durant, tiring of Westbrook's ball-dominate play, improved upon Lebron's model is he thought it through, took advantage of a one-time cap bump available to all the teams, and instead of engineering a super team with moves, joined an already existing super team.

Plus he wanted to play in the free-flowing, ball-movement type of basketball that the Warriors play that he knew would never happen with Westbrook who has to dominate the ball 90% of the time despite having the other transcendent, once in a generation (Lebron being the other one) player that is Durant on his team for nine years.

Durant one-upped Lebron pure and simple by his smart move.

Btw, all the teams had the cap bump but the Cavs were not able to go after Durant because they had already given max money to Love and Tristan Thompson.

[Bleacher Creature]

4. I think it cuts both ways.

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of superteams as it feels a bit like taking a shortcut to a championship. As a result, there's no real excuse for being "the best active player who's never won a title," as you can just wait out your contract and sign with a team with another star.

And while the salary cap changes make this all possible, don't sleep on the role of AAU basketball. As it's grown, it's become the norm for players to grow up together, by virtue of playing and traveling the country on AAU teams starting at a pretty young age. It's why LeBron, Chris Bosh, Carmelo, Chris Paul, and Dwayne Wade are so close, and why it was so easy for three of them to come together in Miami. It's also why you hear players like Jordan and Magic complain about the superteam phenomena. They saw their rivals as enemies, and never would consider joining together to get a ring.

That all said, it's also nice to see how players are willing to take less money - albeit not a lot less - to get a ring. Wade gave up a few million dollars to get LeBron and Bosh, and Durant is already talking about giving up something to help keep Curry. I don't begrudge any player for wanting maximum money. They certainly deserve it more than the owners. But it also speaks to how much they also want to win.

[demosincebirth]

5. Who is against free agency? Maybe we forgot when players were owned by the club owners.

[n2doc]

6. I remember when Gary Payton and Karl Malone joined Shaq and Kobe on the Lakers

I also remember Charles Barkley joining the Suns, then the Rockets. All were looking for rings. They failed.

I find the whole thing pretty humorous. If the same players were on the Celtics or Lakers, they would be heralded as a 'dynasty'. Most of the horror seems to be of the 'how dare the mere warriors build a superteam!' type.

[Mosby]

7. I think GS built their team the right way

But I really don't mind the superteam concept, the thing I agree with in the article is that league, fans and experts consider rings more than they should when evaluating a player.

Look at KG, he slaved away for a decade in MIN for nothing, the owners never really tried to build a team around him, can you really blame him for giving up on the wolves? Same with KD.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Late To The Party Here . . .

. . .but, it was the PLAYERS who made it all about rings. Magic, Bird, Jordan, Thomas, Shaq, Kobe, Lebron. They were the folks who caused a players worth to go up with a ring and down if they never won one.

The culture of the NBA was thus altered to be all about the highest level players needing a ring to validate their greatness. The commentators and reporters have simply assimilated into that culture.