The NBA, Where Anything Happens?

I'm not ashamed to admit it, but only four months into my first season of the NBA League Pass, I have become addicted. From the blatantly biased announcers every team has to the shameless local promotions that coincide with the local telecasts, I love it all. Especially the overdramatic "Where Amazing Happens" ad each team has.

In fact, I like the "Where Amazing Happens" idea so much that I decided to add a few of my own in, just to see what it would look like.

The NBA...

Where 50 Wins Gets You in Happens

It makes for a cute story, but realistically, I don't see a 50-win team missing the playoffs in the West. As of Tuesday, eight teams in the Western Conference are on pace to win at least 50 games. Denver, who right now would be the ninth seed, is on pace to win 48 games. It's hard to envision a scenario in which all eight teams maintain a 50-win pace and another team starts winning more often. It seems like the bar has been set out West: 50 wins gets you in.

Where Improving Happens

Congratulations to the Lakers for setting off a whirlwind of knee-jerk reactions after the Pau Gasol trade. You can argue until you're blue in the face that every team just made inevitable adjustments to their roster that most championship teams make. I'm not buying it.

Teams in the West saw that the Lakers and, on a much smaller scale, but equally as effective, the Utah Jazz made trades early on and said, "We are ready to win now." The rest of the league seemed to collectively accept that challenge and made moves of their own.

A few of those teams even succeeded in making their team better. They are, in no particular order:

Houston — I liked what the Rockets did at the deadline. They got rid of a locker room cancer (Bonzi Wells) and a bad contract (Mike James), and got back a serviceable backup point guard (Bobby Jackson) in return. If Houston fails to advance in the playoffs again this year, it'll be squarely on T-Mac and Yao.

San Antonio — The Spurs have been in this position too many times to get careless and try to make a splash just because the Lakers did. Instead, they made their patented bring-in-a-veteran-player-willing-to-take-a-lesser-role move twice and brought in Damon Stoudamire and Kurt Thomas.

P.S. While you were busy reflecting on the Shaq trade, the defending champs quietly moved to within a half-game of the top seed.

Where Not Improving Happens

Unlike those listed above, some teams did not improve at the deadline. They are, in no particular order:

Phoenix — Let me try and follow Steve Kerr's logic here. The Suns win a lot of games every year because they play fast and shoot well from outside. So this offseason, they bring in Grant Hill, who is neither fast nor a very good outside shooter. Then, as the season goes on, Kerr sees that he has the worst record within conference of any of the potential playoff teams (16-15) because everyone else has decided to play fast and shoot well, too.

So to counteract that, what does Steve Kerr do? He trades away speed and outside shooting for the slowest player in the league. Shaq in his prime is a terrible fit for this team. Shaq now is just mind-boggling. Be on the lookout for Seven Seconds or Less 2: Shaq Gets Into Position. I've mentioned in this space before that the Suns' style is too gimmicky to win, but now they don't even have an identity. Are they run-and-gun or pound the rock?

The trade was supposed to make the Suns better defensively, yet they give up more points with Shaq in the lineup (107 per game) than without (104). He is supposed to fit in offensively with what they do no problem, but they scored more without him (109 points per game) than they do with him (98.3 points per game). I know it's early and the rallying cry in the desert will be "adjustment period." You can hold off on judgment if you'd like until after the season, but I've seen enough. I've watched all three games Shaq has played with the Suns, and I can say with confidence that this Suns team will not win a playoff series.

Cleveland — Maybe the Cavs are hoping that LeBron doesn't realize that the trade was all smoke and mirrors. The Cavs did nothing but trade bad players with bad contracts for other bad players with bad contracts. Maybe the addition of Ben and Wally makes them slightly better, but they are still not better than the Celtics or Pistons, so the trade really doesn't accomplish much.

Delonte West will take some of the ball handling pressure off Lebron, but he's not nearly enough of an upgrade to make this team a threat in the East. Their strategy is the same as it was entering the playoffs last year: hope LeBron gets crazy hot.

Where Inmates Running the Asylum Happens

If the Taurean Green addition isn't the answer, the Nuggets are in big trouble. How can a team have two of the top five scorers in the league, the reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and not be a playoff team? The answer is George Karl.

If you watch enough of the NBA League Pass, every announcer says pretty much the same two things about the Nuggets: they like to throw alley-oops and they like to play a zone. You could say anything else in the world about a team, but when you tell me those are two distinguishing traits of a team, I'll show you a team that isn't a contender.

It shows that the team has a tendency to be careless with the basketball, and that they can't guard anyone. That is a fatal combination come playoff time.

What does that have to do with George Karl? He's the one who lets these things happen. Normally, I'm not a fan of interviewing coaches during the game. But George Karl said something one time that pretty much summed up why Denver isn't a factor out West. The Nuggets were playing the Lakers on ESPN and the Nuggets trailed after the first quarter. They had turned the ball over too much trying to run and it in turn led to several fastbreak points for the Lakers. When asked what he planned to do differently in the second quarter, Karl replied that they were not going to make any changes because "this is how the guys like to play."

The head coach is afraid to make in game adjustments because his guys like playing a certain way. Something tells me that approach might not get it done come playoff time.

Where Conspiracy Theories Happen

Since I mentioned the Gasol trade already, I feel like I need to mention something that I find awfully coincidental. Last year, Jerry West was calling the shots in Memphis, and refused to trade Gasol to the Bulls in various packages that reportedly included several different quality, young players. West had made it known that he was stepping down after the season, and decided to let the next regime deal Gasol.

West then conveniently takes on an advisor role with the Lakers who just so happen to pull off the basketball equivalent of the Latanza Heist shortly thereafter. Now, either Mitch Kupchak somehow overcame all his shortcomings as a GM and pulled off this deal or Jerry West is in the background pulling all the strings on this one. My money is on the latter.

Where Amazing Happens

That's exactly what this season has been. For the first time in a long time, there is no real clear-cut favorite in either conference. The West is going to be a dogfight all the way to the finish and the East is a two-team race with a King-sized wild card in the deck. The NBA playoffs are the greatest two months in sports, and this year is shaping up to be among the best of the best.

Unfortunately, sentencing for the biggest black eye in league history will occur on April 18th, the same day the playoffs start, leaving us with a dark cloud hanging over the second season that reminds us:

The NBA ... Where Tim Donaghy Happened