10 Takeaways from the NBA Playoffs

Well it’s all said and done. After months of debate and speculation, the Golden State Warriors have walked away as NBA Champions. Kevin Durant has finally hoisted the Larry O’brien trophy and silenced his critics who were upset with his decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors. Now that the finals have wrapped up it’s time to find things that we can take away from this series and what I means for the future of the

NBA so here it is, my 10 Takeaways from the 2017 NBA Playoffs.

1. Lebron is the best player of all time. Lebron has been the most criticized player to ever step on a basketball court and the only thing he has done to prove himself is put up numbers that no one else has been able to do and yet we constantly look for flaws and reasons we can put Jordan above Lebron on the list of greatest players of all time. The reality is that Jordan never played a team as good as the Warriors have been the last two years let alone beat a team like the Warriors. The truth is that Jordan never beat a truly great team. When Jordan entered the league it was dominated by the Lakers, Pistons and Celtics. Those were the great teams of the time and the supposed GOAT was bounced early in the playoffs by the Celtics or Pistons year after year. Then Bird, Thomas and Magic retired and the competition level in the NBA fell drastically. Michael’s 6 championships came against a Lakers team with an aging Magic Johnson who was months away from retiring due to having HIV/Aids, the Blazers, Suns, Sonics and Jazz. Although Jordan beat some quality teams you can easily make an argument that the 2013 Spurs team that Lebron defeated to win his second championship would beat any of the teams Jordan beat in a 7 game series. The reality is the Lebron has been to 7 straight NBA Finals, has the most triple doubles in a finals and has the most points in playoff history with much fewer shots than Jordan all while facing tougher competition. Despite losing the series to the Warriors Lebron showed throughout these playoffs and throughout the finals that he is capable of putting up ridiculous numbers and carry his team when it matters most. It’s time to accept reality that Lebron has surpassed Jordan as the greatest player of all time.

2. The Celtics are not close to competing with the Cavaliers in the East. As this NBA season went on the rumblings grew louder and louder that the Celtics could surpass the Cavaliers and make it to the NBA Finals. That prove to be complete bologna as the Cavs demolished the Celtics with the exception of one game where the Celtics were one bad bounce away from losing the game. The reality for Boston fans is that as good and as exciting as Isaiah Thomas is, you CANNOT defeat a 6’8 freight train with handles like a point guard and the ability to shoot threes named Lebron James when your best player is 5’8. The further reality is that adding a player with the caliber of a Jimmy Butler of Paul George will not help you leap frog the Cavs as the best team in the East. Imagine that the Celtics get Butler and someone beat the Cavs in a 7 game series and take on the Warriors in the Finals. If you think a core of Butler, Thomas and Horford can beat a core of Durant, Curry, Green and Thompson then you should never be allowed to watch another basketball game as long as you live. The Celtics best chance of winning a Championship is to sign Hayward this summer and pair him with Thomas and use the number one pick to draft Fultz. That will allow the Celtics to stay competitive now while building for the future that way when Fultz, Jaylen Brown and next year’s Net’s draft pick enter their prime the Golden State era will be coming to a close and Lebron will have been long gone.

3. The Washington Wizards are contenders. The Wizards shocked everyone as the made late run in the regular season and went on to defeat the Hawks before losing a tightly contested series to the Celtics. The Wizards were considered a real threat to the Celtics and Cavaliers and if they were able to find a way to win on the road you could argue they would have been competing with the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals rather than the Celtics. If the Wizards can make a splash in free agency this year and add another piece to add to their core of John Wall and Bradley Beal and help bolster their role players of Otto Porter, Markieef Morris and Kelly Oubre then do not be surprised to see Washington playing the role of a threat to Cleveland next season. I’m not saying they have a real chance to beat the Cavs but each year there emerges a “threat” to Lebron. Four years ago it was the Pacers, three years ago it was Atlanta, last year was Toronto and this year was Boston so who’s to say that Washington can’t play that role next season.

4. The Clippers championship window has been slammed shut. Three years ago the Clippers were up 3 games to 1 against the Houston Rockets. It was Game 5 and the Clippers were up by 19 points mid third quarter and were 18 minutes away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors for the first time in franchise history. Then the Rockets came back and won Game 5, and then Game 6 and finally Game 7. Since then the Clippers have failed to advance past the first round. The writing finally appeared on the wall this year when they allowed a 35 year old Joe Johnson to lead a Utah team, with it’s two biggest superstars hobbling up and down the court, to beat them in the first round. With Jazz and Rockets teams on the rise and a Warriors squad that looks unbeatable ruling the Western Conference it appears as if the Clippers opportunity to compete for a championship is coming to an end. And if that wasn’t enough, reports are coming out that Clippers’ Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin may be looking to leave LA during the offseason.

5. The Utah Jazz have finally taken the next step. The Utah Jazz have been rebuilding for the last 4 years and finally that rebuild has come to an end. After allowing Kobe Bryant to drop 60 points on them in his final career game to keep Utah out of the playoffs, the Jazz were finally able to take the next step and finished 5th in the Western Conference and earned a spot in the playoffs. Jazz fans would have been happy to have even made the playoffs but the team had bigger things in mind and defeated the fore mentioned Clippers in 7 games to win their first playoff series since defeating Denver in the 2009-2010 season. Perhaps the most impressive part of the Jazz’s season is that they were accomplish all of this despite losing more players to injury than any other team. Of course all of this will be for not if Gordon Hayward leaves to join Boston in free agency this year.

6. The Raptors are pretenders. This Raptors team has been mentioned as a threat to the Cleveland Cavaliers for quite some time and this year they had their best chance yet to upset the King. The Raptors were led by All Stars DeMar Derozan and Kyle Lowery and in order to compete with the Cavs they added Serge Ibaka and PJ Tucker at the trade deadline. All of this was wasted in the end as the Cavs made short work of the Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals beating them in 4 games. To make matters worse, Raptors’ Point Guard Kyle Lowery has discussed leaving to a new team in order to compete for a championship.

7. Russell Westbrook is his own worst enemy. Yes I realize Westbrook averaged a triple double for the entire season. Yes I realize Westbrook was breaking records all year long. Yes I realize Westbrook single handedly led his team to the playoffs. And yes I realize Westbrook will most likely be named the NBA MVP. However, with all that being said Westbrook is the reason he will never win a Championship. Not only did he drive the second greatest player in the league out of town but he also has shown that he puts his own accolades before the team’s success. It’s no secret that Westbrook had his issues with Durant before Durant split for Golden State which was most likely a huge factor into his departure. In addition to forcing KD out of town, Westbrook single handedly lost to the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. Westbrook shot terribly down the stretch against Houston and turned the ball over constantly. Westbrook may walk away from this season with an MVP Trophy but if he wants to walk away with a NBA Finals trophy he will need to make drastic changes to his style of play.

8. Durant is the second best player in the NBA. This year’s NBA Finals was a matchup of some of the greatest players the NBA has to offer. For the past two years the debate has been who the second best player in the NBA has been as it is a foregone conclusion that LeBron is hands down the best player in the world. It seems as if names have come and gone when discussing the runner up to Lebron’s throne. Players such as Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook and Kahwai Leonard have come and gone but it seems as if we finally have an answer. Kevin Durant put on a show as he led the Warriors to their second championship in three years and the first for Durant. Durant appeared unstoppable as he averaged over 30 points per game and was the Warriors’ go to playmaker when the games became close. Durant not only silenced his critics en route to a Finals MVP award but also showed the world that he is the heir to Lebron’s title as “Best Player in the World” and it’s not even close.

9. It’s time for the Cavs to end the Kevin Love era in Cleveland. It seems as if Kevin Love leaves Cavs fans expecting a little more each season. In his first year in Cleveland, Love missed the NBA Finals due to an injury. His second year he was lack luster in the finals and this year he was dreadful. Not to say that Love is not an important part of the Cavs roster and a significant reason for their recent success, however when a player with the amount of talent Kevin Love plays with the greatest player in the world you would expect him to score more than 6 points in an elimination game when Lebron is helping players like JR Smith and Channing Frye play well. If the Cavs want to have a chance at defeating the Warriors anytime soon the first thing they should do if look to swap Kevin Love for someone who can have a larger impact on the game. Perhaps Indiana would be willing to accept a package of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson in return for Paul George rather than lose George in free agency next year.

10. None of these takeaways mean anything because the Warriors are here to stay. Everything I have said so far means nothing if the Warriors can keep their core together and all signs point to that happening. Kevin Durant has already come out and said that he would be willing to take less money in order to keep the Warriors core of Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green together. Curry is also a free agent this summer however all indications are that Curry wants to remain with the Warriors for a long, long time. And despite the fact that Thompson or Green would easily get deals worth upwards of 20 million dollars a year from other teams around the league both seem to value winning and enjoy their roles on this current Warriors squad. As long as the Warriors can keep their core together and continue to bring in Veteran players who are chasing championships such as David West and Javalle McGee, at a low cost than they will continue to be in the Finals year after year. Teams like Utah, Portland, Washington and the Clippers just do not stand a chance against this juggernaut Warriors team.