The End is Here

By Jason Sigelakis


This Era’s End is upon us. 

The funeral took place on Wednesday, May 11 with a coup de gras dunk by Lebron James that slammed the door on more than the Boston Celtics’ hopes of winning a second championship in four years. It slammed the door shut on the Post-Jordan Era of stars, their window of opportunity no more. Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, the Four Greatest players of this Era, are all used to playing basketball deep into June. They had grown accustomed to it, even expected it. 

Now? 

Their teams are all on the outside looking in, able to do nothing more than watch as leading men of the New Era---LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook---battle deep into the playoffs and try to will their teams to the ever elusive Larry O’Brien trophy. 

Just three years ago, the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs, teams which had won 11 of the past 12 titles, duked it out with an NBA Finals berth on the line. 

Now?

These Conference Finals will feature four completely different teams and superstars. The greats of this generation (save for the ageless Dirk Nowitzki), especially the Four Greatest, all played like shells of their former selves this postseason. 

Shaq played a total of 12 ineffective minutes against the Miami Heat, and has been on a sharp decline since 2006. 

Kobe can only dominate single quarters, no longer games, and was held to 23 points per game (in part due to retro defensive efforts from Jason Kidd) against the Mavericks, a team he once outscored BY HIMSELF through three quarters. 

Duncan, considered the Greatest Power Forward Ever by many, got shoved around in the paint by Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.

KG followed his 28 point, 18 rebound effort in Game 3 against the Heat with one of the worst performances of his 16 year career (7 points on 1-for-10 shooting). 

This postseason has been hard to stomach, having grown up watching these players rack up All-Star selections, MVP trophies, and Championships, while thoroughly demolishing anyone standing in their way. But everyone who follows basketball cannot deny that their end is here. 

And we are all witnesses. 

Truth be told, the Post-Jordan Stars are just too old to carry their teams anymore. 

Father Time has---as expected---taken away much of the athleticism and energy that the Post-Jordan stars, now all in their 30’s, lack. Their will-power is greater than ever, seeing The End creep closer and closer as each season puts more wear-and-tear on their aching legs. These aging stars’ bodies no longer react as quickly or efficiently to what their instincts command.  

And this is why their brilliant era has reached its final chapter. 

A change this drastic should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the history of the NBA. Generational shifts always occur after a period of a select few players and teams seize control of the league. Fortunately, the NBA has a way of neatly splitting these eras into decades, with the 1950’s, ‘60s, and ‘70s each having their own unique identities. Magic Johnson’s Lakers and Larry Bird’s Celtics revived and ran away with the league for the better part of the 80’s before seeing their reign end prematurely, snatched away by HIV, Father Time, and Michael Jordan. 

The 1990’s was belonged to the heralded “Dream Team Era”, where members of the Dream Team dominated the league from the late 80’s through late 90’s, with Jordan at the forefront.

From 1991 through 1999, a player from the Dream Team won every MVP award. 

From 1991 through 1998, Jordan and Scottie Pippens’ Bulls captured six titles, while Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets won two of their own. 

But no good thing lasts forever. Even that spectacular era came to an end. 

By the time the 1998 lockout hit, these superstars---well into their 30’s---“hit the wall” with no second-wind, due again to the expected culprit, Father Time. The league post-lockout looked drastically different from the one a mere two years prior. 

This is when the Post-Jordan Stars, all drafted in the mid 90’s, put their permanent stamp on the hardwood. 

Finally, their time was upon them. 

The Post-Jordan stars earned every MVP award from 2000 through 2008 and headlined news stories for their on-court performances and off-court behaviors.  

All-NBA teams featured the usual suspects (the Four Greatest, Tracy McGrady, Steve Nash, etc.) year after year. 

Every Finals from 1999 through 2010 featured either O’Neal, Bryant, or Duncan, with the Lakers and Spurs winning NINE of the past TWELVE titles. Eviscerating the NBA in such a way is on par with the accomplishments of the great Lakers and Celtics teams in the ‘80s and Bulls teams in the ‘90s. 

Towards the end of the decade, however, power started to shift.

Suddenly, fans were more likely to watch Deron Williams play on All-Star weekend than Allen Iverson.

The 2008 Redeem Team featured nine players drafted in 2002 or later. 

LeBron James earned back to back MVP trophies in 2009 and 2010.

Leaders in statistical categories and All-NBA teams are now headlined by players drafted in 2003 or later. 

In eerily similar parallels, this Post-Jordan Era, in similar fashion to the Dream Team Era, comes to a close with looming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, and with Phil Jackson retiring for a second time, now with 11 rings instead of 6.

The Post-Jordan stars’ trump card was that their experience and team chemistry always prevailed over youth and athleticism in the playoffs. However, with only the Dallas Mavericks competing this postseason with Post-Jordan superstars (Nowitzki and Kidd) at the helm, a changing of the guard is nearly complete. Sure, the Mavs can still win this year, prolonging the inevitable for another year. But is it realistic to expect players to be as motivated next year if their veterans finally achieve their career-long goal of a championship?

Making circumstances even more dire for Post-Jordan stars is that James, Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams are all in their primes, and as witnessed last summer and this season, are no longer content to sit idly by on their couches in June watching traditional powerhouses win year after year.

The NBA’s molding in the near-future becomes all the more interesting when factoring in the emergence of Rose, Durant, and Westbrook, each only 22 and already leading their young teams to the Conference Finals, a trend expected to continue for years. 

The 2011 playoffs are the kick-start to what we’ll be treated to in the coming years. Sure, older teams can still retool without having to go through the dreaded rebuilding stage. But this will take savvy trades and free agency signings in order to add youth and speed, with superstars needing to take more of a backseat role on their teams (think David Robinson’s latter years with the Spurs). With a new CBA in the works, this will be an even more daunting task due to further salary cap restrictions.

Father Time, as always, snatched the Keys to the League away from the superstars we’ve grown so accustomed to watching. This means their twelve year supremacy has finally come to an end.

This Era’s End is upon us. 

The league is ready for new dynasties, new superstars, new blood. Another change, creeping up for the past four years, is finally here. The torch has passed hands, the throne wide open. The NBA is ready. Are you?