King James has finally been crowned NBA champion and its time for the Boys of Summer to take the reigns of sports world exposure.
We can’t go forward without looking back though.
Here are five things we learned from the 2011-2012 NBA strike-shortened season.
Dwight Howard isn’t LeBron James: Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard indicated he may lobby for free agency before the season completed and it created quite a stir, and not in a good way. Press and team officials looked down on him. You’re not King James. Check yourself, granted he is the best big man in the game, no doubt about it defensively, but offensively he still has a little more room to grow. The Jordan rules have been bestowed upon James, not you Howard.
New York Knicks Aren’t There Yet: Just winning that one playoff game was huge leap in the right direction but they still have a long way to go. The defensive is too inconsistent, granted it was an injury-plagued year but even when all their star players were on the court at the same time they still weren’t able to gel.
Chris Paul is a winner: You could put the point guard on a perennial loser and he’ll turn them into a playoff team. This year Paul showed the world he’s a great leader by taking a team like the Los Angeles Clippers to new heights.
Miami is Learning from its Mistakes: Miami Heat returned to the NBA Finals this year for the second consecutive year mainly because they made adjustments. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh altered their games for the better of the team. You saw less games that featured two big games from three of their stars, normally one of the big three stepping up to lead the tam. They cleaned up the younger and less-experience Oklahoma City Thunder in just five games. Its scary to imagine that the Heat may not even be in their prime as a team yet. Seven trophies just may not be out of reach after all.
The Boston Celtics Are Done: Yeah, they nearly made it to another championship but that’s as close as they’re ever going to get now. The aging Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen may have one more good year in them if that, its better to get ahead of the rebuilding process before letting bite you in the ass.
photo: tulanesally
