con∙tent - /kənˈtɛnt / [kuh n-tent]
1. satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.
In every day speech, I am sure all of us have used the term above. Whether it's regarding your life, your job, your relationships, we have all felt contentment at one time or another. How many, however, who follow sports or play sports, have been content in the middle of a season?
Isn't the whole meaning of playing a game and playing a season, to win?
Let's take at another definition:
com⋅pete - /kəmˈpit / n [kuh m-peet] –verb (used without object), -pet⋅ed, -pet⋅ing.
1. to strive to outdo another for acknowledgment, a prize, supremacy, profit, etc.
Every NBA player has said they love to compete. They want to win. So why, each year when there is a major opportunity for the elite teams to get better, they express contentment over competing?
Unlike last year, there are no frontrunners. Unlike last year, there isn't one team dominating the league and the rest trying to catch up. Unlike last year, no one stepped up and said, "Let's get better at the trade deadline."
Last season, we had trades in the beginning of the season (Celtics) and trades at the deadline (Lakers, Mavericks, and Suns). All made a move with the idea that being content would lead to an early trip to the golf course. They all wanted to compete for an NBA title.
It worked for the Lakers, who went from a mediocre team to the NBA Finals and this year's frontrunner. It worked for the Celtics. Boston won it all.
So why this year, with six teams with actual chances to compete for the NBA Finals, did they all decide to stay put? The only team that gets a pass is Denver because they made a trade that has been an outstanding play for them. Moving Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups has produced a better brand of basketball in the Rockies and the Nuggets currently sit at No. 2 in the West.
The Lakers get a pass, as well, because they are still seeing the benefits of last year's trades. If Andrew Bynum can get healthy before the end of the season, Los Angeles has to be the clear-cut favorite, and when you're at the top, there's no reason to rock the boat.
Besides those two, every top-tier team has a need.
The Celtics miss James Posey more than you know. You don't think in Boston's two losses to Los Angeles, Posey would have hit at least one three? The Celtics need a sixth man to give them the intangibles. They need a big play guy who hustles, boards, facilitates. Right now, no one off the bench provides that for them. Posey provided the starters rest on defense by guarding anyone on the floor. Posey provided the starters rest on offense by scrambling for loose balls, setting up in the corner, and drilling the three-ball. Now you have Eddie House, who is a spot-up shooter, Glen Davis, who at times has acted like a "Big Baby," and a host of others who do not provide the "x-factor" Posey did.
And Boston had a chance to get better. Their old pal, Kevin McHale, had the one piece that would have put the C's over the top once again. Mike Miller is not the scorer he was last year, but his production has increased in every other stat category. He has been relegated to the six-man facilitator that Posey was, only on a mediocre team. If they were to somehow work out a swap for Miller, the Celtics could have been lighting up the cigars once again.
Instead, they chose to be content rather than compete.
The same could be said for the Cavs' lack of an outside shooter, the Magic's lack the toughness and the defense, the Spurs' need for an energy guy, and Portland ... well, the Blazers just completely missed the boat.
Raef Lafrentz's contract was the most ridiculous trade bait in the history of expiring contracts. $12.7 million. Do you realize how much a team would have saved by picking up that contract and in turn Portland getting a marquee scorer to take some of the burden off of Brandon Roy? Go get a Vince Carter or a Richard Jefferson. You can't tell me Portland feels confident sending Travis Outlaw or Nicolas Batum out into the lion's den come playoff time.
Instead, every GM in the league is worrying about his job. They all think playing it safe will get them into the playoffs, and if they make it past the first round, it is a success. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak knew last year his job was on the line and he went out and got better; the competitive nature in him would not stand for contentment. And Denver Nuggets GM Mark Warkentien got tired of watching his team collapse in the postseason and changed it up.
For every Kupchak and Warkentien, there are 10 general managers wanting to just ride it out and tell their owners that it all can change in the summer of 2010. In the meantime, we, the fans, will suffer.
Just like last year, the C's will own the league. The only difference is it may or may not be the Celtics this year, but it sure will be Contentment.
Leave a Comment