This has been the best NBA season for me in a while. A lof of that has to do with the fact that I am a huge Phoenix Suns fan and the Suns ended up with the best record in the league. But apart from that, the league as a whole had a great year. I think there were several reasons for it and I'll try to explain them here.
1) A whole bunch of teams led by the Suns resorted to playing an up-tempo style which is definitely fun to watch. A lot of these teams were successful as well and people got to watch their games on national TV and follow their fortunes. Apart from the Suns, the Seattle Seahawks, Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets and even the Golden State Warriors towards the end of the season played this style. This, in addition to the usual suspects like the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings, though the Kings have slowed down a little bit. Even the plodding Rockets coached by the defensive minded Van Gundy had to start running a little bit to start winning. I think this trend is good for the game.
2) Another reason for the great season was the ascent of some new teams in the NBA. The Suns and the Sonics come to mind immediately. Both of them missed the playoffs last year but they won their respective divisions pretty easily. These 2 teams did much better than just make the playoffs and this was a very interesting story in the early part of the season. But this really started last season. The good thing about Carmello and Lebron was not just they improved their respective teams dramatically, but they did it in 2 cities that were perennial door-mats in the NBA, Cleveland and Denver. Add Washington and Chciago to this list and the face of the NBA might be changing. It might have been fun to have Garnett and Kobe in the playoffs, but the new teams have kept this season pretty intriguing.
3) Of course breaking up Kobe and Shaq gave us 2 stories to follow. Though the Lakers story didn't end too well, it was fun watching these 2 teams in 2 opposite coasts. New teams, new situations and new results for both of them. Wouldn't it be awesome if Shaq goes all the way and wins it all? That would be an amazing story. That'll establish him as some kind of a NBA God and make it all the more tougher for Kobe to resurrect his career.
4) Another reason that this NBA season really featured a better brand of basketball is a theory I am proposing here. The level of play had dropped over the last 5 years primarily because of the influx of the high school kids and college under-classmen. Everybody knows this. But I think that was not the only problem. The problem was also that this was a new thing for the NBA and they couldn't handle this "transition" well. Coaches were forced to play these kids heavy minutes like they were Michael Jordan or Tim Duncan and the expectations of the fans were not adjusted to their skill level either. What has happened now is that the NBA has gotten used to having these kids come in early. NBA has kind of reached a "steady-state". Now these kids could be "hid" in the back of the bench even if they are a top pick like Darko Milicic. Fans understand this new setup better. The teams can use "veterans" who are just 24 or 25 years old, but who came out early 3 or 4 years back and keep their fan base interested without exposing them too much to the 20 year old kid who can't dribble, pass or shoot. A good example is somebody like Jason Rcihardson. His game is still getting better and is improving. But he has already been in the league 4 or 5 years and his game is at least watchable. He is still young and Warriors can still sell hope to their fans through him. So they are not forced to play the 19 year old Andris Biedrins all that much. 5 years back, the Warriors had no option but to play a J-Rich in his rookie season. Back then the teams, especially bad teams, had old, boring players or 20 year old kids coming in. Now there is a nice pipeline established of players of all skill level based on what stage of development they are in. This is what I mean by a "steady state". Any system subjected to a big change will take a while to reach a "steady state of equilibrium". I think finally the NBA has reached a steady state this year with respect to under-skilled players coming in early. Players like Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Al Harrington and even Darius Miles have finally started playing NBA level basketball on a semi-consistent basis and this improved the NBA game all around. I still hope the Commissioner implements the age limit, but even without it, I think the NBA has learnt how to live with it much better than 5 years back.
All these reasons and my Suns have made this 2005 season a great one.
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