Much Ado About No-Ring

If this basketball thing doesn't work out for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, they could probably form the world's tallest duo of magicians. How else do two humans make the NBA's conference finals disappear into thin air?

In case you've been too focused on basketball news that actually happens on the court, James and Wade are finally just weeks away from their much hyped free agencies. And with both stars now home for the remainder of the postseason, the media has completely opened the Where-To floodgates. Because after all, who cares about the most important games of this season when we can talk about what might affect next year?

In all seriousness, yes, the free agent class of 2010's final destinations are hugely relevant. The futures of at least a third of the league's franchises will swing violently based on which pieces of paper a few humans autograph. But the current coverage is madness.

The conference finals are rife with great parallel storylines. In the Western Conference, Steve Nash and the Suns, left for dead at the trading deadline, have exorcised demons of their playoffs past. In their path, Kobe Bryant continues to build his post-Shaq legacy. In the Eastern Conference, the Celtics are the ones risen from the dead, as most wrote off Boston as a casualty of time's devastating erosion of talent. And like the Lakers, the Magic return to this stage with legacy and rings on their minds.

Yes, we've seen these four teams before, but that's no excuse to take them for granted. Not when the Seven Seconds or Less Era has one last shot at vindication. Not when Kobe and Phil Jackson might be making their last title push together. Not when The Big Three raise their games one last time in their brief but historic Boston run. And not when Vince Carter finds himself in position to erase so many of those doubts. All four of these teams and what their title hopes represent should rivet us as sports fans. But by the level of LeBron/Wade-mania, you wouldn't know it.

Somewhere we lost track of what is important in sports. Consider the popularity of the NFL draft and college recruiting. For all of the attention those feeder processes get, you would think first round draft picks and blue chip recruits are guaranteed success. But many ignore the ugly truth, that for all of our "who's next?" hysteria, we often miss out on the stories at hand.

Remember A-Rod's 2007 resigning during Game 4 of the World Series? Critics skewered Rodriguez for stealing the Fall Classic's thunder, but why? Sure, Rodriguez could have announced it at another time, but he didn't force anyone to care more about next year's games than a championship at hand. He simply took advantage of a situation where we as sports fans simply couldn't help ourselves. In the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, we wanted to know what was for dessert next Turkey Day.

What's especially striking about LeBron and Wade is that neither has had much to do with the NBA title over the last few seasons. For all the hype and all of the Summer of 2010 obsession, you would think we were talking about guaranteed entries to the NBA Finals.

So don't worry, LeBron and Wade will still be there come July 1st to obsess and speculate over. But if this season is any sign, they might not have anything to do with next year's NBA title, either.