The NBA Final Eight

Who I'm Rooting for, from least to most.

8.  L.A. LAKERS - They're the Lakers.  Kobe Bryant is not allowed to tie Michael Jordan's ring-count.  Nothing against true fans like Jack Nicholson or Penny Marshall, but I can't foresee me ever wanting the Lakers to win a playoff game again.

7.  BOSTON CELTICS - I like Rajon Rondo, I like Ray Allen, I like Paul Pierce, I like Doc Rivers, I like Danny Ainge, but Kevin Garnett has become such a dirty player that I like watching him lose more.  He got his ring, but time for that sun to set.

6.  L.A. CLIPPERS - They're fun to watch in spurts, but if you watch too long, you notice all the flopping that Chris Paul and Blake Griffin do.

5.  PHILADELPHIA 76ERS - They're a nice underdog story, but no one really wants an 8th seed to win the whole thing. I mean, I would have taken it if the Jazz had done it, but if they can't do it, no one can!  But I am happy for Andre Iguodala and company for tasting playoff success.

4.  MIAMI HEAT - Losing Chris Bosh has humbled this team a bit, and I don't dislike LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, but it really is a Two-Man show with guest stars in the other three spots on the floor.  I'd be happy with them in the Finals again.  And to lose the Finals again.  Unless they're in the Finals with an LA team.

3.  SAN ANTONIO SPURS - I can't help but respect this team, respect the roster moves they've made, respect the way Tim Duncan is playing within his abilities, the way Tony Parker's had an MVP season, the way Poppovich coaches.  Still hate Ginobili's flopping, but they have a good culture down there.

2.  INDIANA PACERS - I feel like the Jazz are one piece away from being the Pacers.  They don't have an MVP candidate on the team but they do have some All-Star reserves, they play as a team, and they compliemnt each other.  Haven't watched them much, but I like them more as I see them play.  Plus it'd be hilarious to have Reggie Miller not win a ring as a Pacer, but Kyrylo Fesenko does.

1.  OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER - Feels like it's their year.  It kills me they're not in Seattle any more, but Kevin Durant is to the 2010's what Tim Duncan was to the 2000's.  The franchise had some crappy drafts (Saer Sene?  Johan Petro?) but when they got KD and Russell Westbrook and James Harden, and then got coach Scott Brooks, they were finally able to build something up.

NBA Owners Deserve Most of the Blame

I acknowledge that the players may have become too powerful.  You look at how LeBron James left Cleveland in tatters, and how Toronto received nothing for Chris Bosh's departure.  Carmelo Anthony held Denver hostage while pushing for a trade to New York, and Utah traded away Deron Williams for fear he'd bolt in 2012.  Better get something for him now.  And the fanbases of New Orleans and Orlando have to be depressed about the odds of keeping Chris Paul and Dwight Howard, respectively.

But the primary reason there are no NBA games on tonight are the owners.  This is a lockout.  They are the ones forbidding their players from competing.

Here's a few columns I've found I agree with:

Money quote from the Boston Globe:

"In his memo to NBA players imploring them to make a deal, commissioner David Stern asked players to focus on the compromises owners have made. Then he mentioned backing down on a hard salary cap, roll-backs of existing contracts -- you know, the ones owners negotiated -- and the abolition of guaranteed contracts.

"How can you concede something you never had? It’s logic more twisted than a bread tie.

"NBA stars such as LeBron, Kobe, D-Wade, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose aren’t just employees. They’re the product, and that’s the irony here. The NBA is trying to slay a monster it created."

Money quote from Sports Illustrated:

"If Jerry Buss, Jim Dolan and other big-market owners had been willing to share their revenues earlier and more comprehensively for the greater health of the league, could the division among owners have been headed off?

"Or look at it from the other side of the owners' room. If so many of these small-market owners had operated their teams more wisely and efficiently, might the bigger-market teams have been more willing to share money with them on good faith that they were investing in the health of the league?

"And then could the owners together have not inched forward on a few points of contention here and there in order to ensure agreement with the players?"

There's still time to get a shortened season, while the majority of the remaining fans don't hold the players to equal or greater blame (which was not true in the shortened 1999 season).  But the owners are willing to lose a full season, and many of them are, then they need to be prepared for the NBA to fall behind the NHL and MLS in attendance averages.  Do they really want that?