Responding to Charles Barkley's "State of the NBA" Address

Charles Barkley says:

To quote Nick Wright -

"(Charles Barkley) is bordering on not being taken seriously anymore." (link)


This last decade has been the most diverse NBA league we have seen since the 70s. Charles Barkley (as well as others)can't seem to remember the past. They think that there used to be so much parody in the NBA until recently. We'll lets take a look back on the different decades of the NBA:


NBA in the 60s - the Celtics won 9 of the 10 championships.
NBA in the 70s - was the decade with the most NBA parody. There were 8 different champions in 10 years.
NBA in the 80s - the Lakers or Celtics won 9 of the 10 championships.
NBA in the 90s - the Bulls won 6 of the 10 championships. There were only 4 different champions in 10 years.
NBA in the 00s - the Lakers or Spurs won 7 of the 10 championships. There are 5 different champions in 10 years.
NBA in the 10s - We've already had 6 different champions out of 7 years. That's more than any other decade except the 70s and there are still 3 more years to go.






Conclusion
60s = 2 different champions
70s = 8 different champions
80s = 3 different champions
90s = 4 different champions
00s = 5 different champions
10s = 6 different champions and counting.


The NBA has always been top heavy. This decade is actually the most diverse the NBA has been since the 70's. The sentence "the NBA is worse than it's ever been because there's only 4 good teams" is an oxymoron. It contradicts itself. There's been more good teams than ever this decade and we're not even done yet! There was only 2 good teams in the 80s and 2000s. There was only 1 good team in 90s. You either have to say "the NBA is worse than it's even been because there's more good teams than ever" or "the NBA is better than it's ever been."

The Most Overrated Starting 5 Basketball Team of All Time

The team I am talking about is, of course, the Monstars from Space Jam.

When talking about "Overrated," there is only one team that was viewed as super amazing and unfairly talented as the Monsters. But, if we're being honest, they were not that good.


Backstory - Aliens, known as the Nerdlucks, stole the talent from "five of the best NBA players" and made an ultimate team called the "Monstars." They were intimidating and, for all intents and purposes, an All-Star team.



But how good was that team really?

First let's break it down player by player

Muggsy Bogues. Point Guard. 5 foot 3 inches. Didn't make the Basketball Hall of Fame. Never won an MVP award. Never won a ring.

Charles Barkley. Power Forward. Made the Basketball Hall of Fame. One MVP award. Never won a ring.

Larry Johnson. Power Forward. Despite his name being a combination of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Larry Johnson didn't make the Basketball Hall of Fame. Never won an MVP award. Never won a ring.

Patrick Ewing. Center. Made the Basketball Hall of Fame. Never won an MVP award. Never won a ring.

Shawn Bradley. Center. Didn't make the Basketball Hall of Fame. Never won an MVP award. Never won a ring.

Together, that makes a combine 2 Hall of Fame players, 1 MVP award, and 0 rings.

Lets compare that "All-Star" team to the current Golden State Warriors (a real team).

If you take the starting 5 of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguadala, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green, you get a combined 4 MVP awards (3 regular season and 1 finals) and 4 rings.

Ps - And the Warriors are not done.

Now let's look at team chemistry

The Monstars had one non-HOF point guard, two power forwards and two centers as their starting 5. What else can I say? That was obviously never going to work.

Conclusion

It's no wonder why they lost to the Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, and the Loony Toons. A team of Bogues, Barkley, Larry Johnson, Ewing and Shawn Bradley wouldn't even be a good starting 5 in the NBA let alone an all-star team. They stole the talent from five guys who never won a ring, the majority of them didn't make it into the Hall of Fame, and only one of them was an MVP and it was just once. Comparatively, Michael Jordan alone has 11 MVP awards (5 regular season and 6 finals MVPs). It's no surprise the Monsters couldn't win the big game.

The AFC West is Very Overrated

Today, as I was listening to a sports radio station, I realized that many of us have fallen in love with the AFC West. I listened to these "experts" rank the NFL teams. Each one put the Oakland Raiders at #2 overall and the Kansas City Chiefs at #5.

The AFC West has tricked many of us into thinking they have the best teams in the NFL and that their's is the best division. However, if we look deeper and actually watch their games, we can see the truth. They not not among the NFL's elite.

Here's the proof:

Their records are good because the easy out-of-conference schedule.

Face it. The AFC West's schedule is the easiest. They get to play all the teams from the two worst divisions in the NFL: The AFC South and NFC South. Playing bad teams all season = good records. They get to beat up on bad teams like the Titans, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Saints, etc. For reference: The NFC South is the only NFC division without an 8 win team, and the AFC South is the only division that doesn't have a team with a winning record.

Oakland and Kansas City both keep winning close games to average teams.

None of them have played a top tier NFL team (Dallas, New England, Seattle, etc.) except when Kansas City got destroyed by the Steelers. And whenever they play a second tier NFL team, they've never won by more than one score. Have you watched an full game of either Oakland or Kansas City? They haven't looked like the "better team" in a lot of their games.

Here's a look at the best out-of-conference teams the Raiders have played:

W Saints 35-34

L Falcons 35-28

W Ravens 28-27

W Texans 27-20

W Panthers 35-32

Here's a look at the best "out of conference" teams the Chiefs have played:

L Texans 19-12

L Steelers 43-14

W Saints 27-21

W Panthers 20-17

W Falcons 29-28

Not one convincing win against a good opponent. Notice that every win against a decent team came by 7 points or less. And the best team either one of them have played (the Steelers) destroyed them 43-17. 

Neither AFC West team is a tier 1 team. Whichever one wins that conference will be relying heavily on home field advantage to get them to the superbowl. They are tier 2 teams with good records because of an easy schedule and winning close games to other tier 2 teams.