So Warriors vs. Cavs in 2018. Just skip the season.
THIS is the problem.
The misnomer is that it's always been a problem, but that's not exactly true.
While the Lakers and Celtics were the last pair of teams that were this dominant, any of us who were fans and paying attention in the 80s went into every season with good reason to think that other teams were also in the mix for the NBA Finals in that year. Maybe it was the Sixers, maybe it was the Hawks, maybe it was the Sonics, or maybe it was the Suns... or someone else...
But that's different than THIS, which is that you actually have such a divide between THESE TWO TEAMS and the others, nearly anyone who considers him/herself an NBA fan not only perceived them as the practical-shoe-ins for THIS 2016-17 NBA Finals, but ALSO as shoe-ins for the 2017-18 NBA Finals.
Adam Silver, say what you want, because really, what else can you do... you have to pretend that we're all stupid and buying it that you think this is all great for the league.
But people supporting the other 93% of your teams (28 of 30) who otherwise would be enthusiastic about their own teams are just not... and, if it were something that had happened organically, and comparably with how other teams "got good," that'd be one thing, but in this, the integrity of the achievement "NBA Champion" is compromised b/c it's a result of players manipulating the system to their ring chase, avoiding the mantra "yeah but he never won a championship."
Make no mistake, GSW did everything right, and I have no qualms with them--if you have that kind of player knocking on your door asking to come in and join your party, then look, you drafted and acquired talent in the way it's supposed to be, and there's no legit criticism that you let that player join.
The rightful beef lays with the players themselves who took a shortcut to achieving what EVERY other team who had achieved that (a championship) has ever had to do. It's a mockery and it's just repulsive, no matter how Silver plays it... and of all people, LBJ is the last person who can speak about the topic with any authenticity.
One more thing... to this comment above about Deion, I just want to elaborate a bit...
Basketball is unique among the three big revenue US sports, in that, one given starter can routinely influence the outcome of a given game to the tune of ~75%... ie, if he's averaging in the neighborhood of 36 of the 48 minutes of games played.
Let that sink in.
In football, a player who plays every snap for the offense or defense only affects ~50% of the game... ie, because he only plays on one side of the ball of course.
In baseball, there's the same.
And whereas, in basketball, it is not uncommon for a player to touch the ball nearly every time his team has possession, and thus has fullest opportunity to affect the game, in football, only the QB has that degree of certainty he will control the ball, and similarly, in baseball, only the SP.
And finally, when you're one of only 5 guys on the floor at any given time, versus being one of 9 or one of 11, naturally, from the git-go, you have an incredibly higher degree of effect on games.
Truly, there is no comparison to be made there.... and that, even if Deion had been a high-caliber QB.
It's ridiculous. And imo, if the NBA suits refuse to acknowledge the problem, then our free enterprise economic context leaves it to us, the consumers of their product, to refuse to go along and demand that the emperor put some clothes on.
