Offseason that sent the NBA into a superteam spiral
December 11, 2017
The NBA has had a very eventful offseason with some of the league’s biggest stars heading to teams with other stars to form a “super team.” These super-teams have been on the rise lately with Kevin Durant starting the trend in the summer of 2016 when he decided to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder. He later decided to join the Golden State Warriors that already had three other superstars on its team, This created the 67-15 Golden State Warriors which would then end up winning the championship with ease going 16-1 in the playoffs.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017 and more teams seem to be following the same blueprints. Stars such as Paul George, Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler, Carmelo Anthony, and even Utah’s own Gordan Hayward have all jumped ship on their mediocre teams. All the power has now shifted towards the Western Conference as most of these teams were formed out of the west depleting all the Eastern teams into seemingly nothing.
This offseason is sure to affect some of our student’s favorite teams when asked who his favorite team was Ulises Amaton said, “I simply like the Utah Jazz that is my hometown team but the west is overpowered, and the east just sucks now.” While others, such as Junior Yafed Mendez said, “I am opposite I like the Los Angeles Lakers.”
When asked about his opinion on the Jazz future Amaton said, “Gordon Hayward wasn’t loyal he was just looking for money and a championship, but he still might not even win with the Celtics.” While when asked about the Lakers future Mendez said, “Even if we don’t get anyone who is already a super start we still got a young up and coming team and I am excited for the seasons to come.”
When asked what they thought about all these trades going on this past summer they both said, “It’s crazy how good every team is in the west, and we just don’t know who is going to make it to the finals now with all these super teams.”
However, not all NBA fans feel the same way. Jr Quijada said, “My favorite team is the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I think this offseason has been great for the NBA it will finally give us teams that can compete with the Golden State Warriors.”
Varsity Basketball player Tristen Madsen said, “I hate what has happened to the NBA this offseason every team in the west is overpowered now, and it’s going to be a struggle night in and night out to see who earns a playoff spot in the west while in the east it will be easy that’s not balanced.”
Some of these newly -formed teams include the Houston Rockets adding Chris Paul to pair with James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder adding Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to pair with Russell Westbrook, and the Minnesota Timberwolves added Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague to Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, there is no longer one true super team in the west, the Golden State Warriors now have some real threats.
The Eastern Conference, on the other hand, is weaker only having two surefire super teams because of all the stars moving to the west and abandoning their Eastern Conference teams. These two super teams are the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers while the rest of the east appears to be rebuilding because of this offseason.
Bleacher Report said, “The NBA does the offseason better than any sports league, and each summer session is usually defined by some type of drama.” The drama this offseason happened to be a number of major trades, and it is sure to translate into an intense season come opening night and beyond.