Where does this regular season rank all time?

[litex]

I've been following the NBA since I was a little kid in the early 90's. In that time, I can say without hesitation that the best regular season i ever watched was this year's. It had absolutely everything:

The most blockbuster trades I've ever seen in a single season. 3 Future Hall of Famers, a couple of all-star, loads of very good role players, and a number of extremely talented young guys (generally in exchange for the hall of famers) all changed hands, and in the process a number of franchises got complete facelifts.Teams became either staggeringly, overwhelmingly stacked, or went into full blown rebuilding mode and acquired a number of exciting young players, and consequently the number of mediocre, boring, go-nowhere teams went down (apart from a number of stragglers in the East). Whether its the prospect of winning now, or an actual glimmer of hope that someday down the road you might be capable of winning, fans got a reason to care again.

The fiercest regular season competition I've ever seen. And no, I'm not talking about the "who can lose the 8th seed in the East" race. The second half of this season out west was hands down, unequivocally the most competitive extended stretch of basketball outside of the playoffs of my lifetime. Every single night had at least one killer matchup between great teams desperate to keep their season alive. And the absolute, very best part? The presence of the Celtics and Pistons out East means that the Finals which actually be fiercely competitive for once too.

Some godlike individual performances. There is a bounty of great talent right now, and nowhere is that more true than the top. Lebron's statline this year was maybe the best all round since early Jordan, Chris Paul had the best regular season by an undersized point guard ever and that includes Isiah, and Kobe finally immersed his eerily perfect game into a team setting. In all three cases, the results were beautiful to behold.

Great teams. For several years the rule was basically 2 stars and some solid role players would get you to the conference finals. Now 3 basically is a playoff-minimum out West, and in the East you have the Celtics putting on probably the best regular season performance since the '96 bulls.

Controversy. From the early season Kobe soap opera to the horrific treatment of the Sonics, this season has had its fair share of that special ingredient which everyone claims to hate and which keeps everyone glued to their TV sets.

Factor in the bonus points for Stern completely sweeping the Donaghy and ref gambling controversies under the rug so that no one ever mentions them anymore (MLB should be taking classes from this guy. seriously. he's like Vladimir Putin- pretty clearly a ruthless, megalomaniacal dictator, but so damn good at it that you just sort of have to tip your hat. Mark my words, within like 3 years he'll have wiped out basically all public memory of the Seattle SuperSonics outside of the Northwest), and I really don't think there's been any regular season that measures up. Some seasons have had a few epic teams, or some stretches of crazy competition, or some spectacular individual performances, and many have had more egregious and exciting controversy. But taken as an entire entertainment package, this season is the best.


But, like I said, my basketball watching goes back only to the early 90's. I've read stats and watched ESPN classic, but neither really gives you a fan's perspective on an NBA season, and everyone says the 80's were the best anyway.

So, to everyone who has been watching for longer than me, was there ever a better regular season?

[dacher]

I agree. This has been great -- despite crash and burn of my Nets.

The West race is fierce. Chris Paul. Impossible to predict reemergence of the Celtics to elite from the depth of nowhere. The Lakers. Pau getting to really show his game on a good NBA team (likewise KG). 22 game Rockets win streak, even after Yao went down. Sixers defying expectation, making it to .500. Knicks tying their worst season record -- once again . Wizards keeping it together without Agent Zero. Shaq+Suns not blowing up. Spurs showing they are still the team to beat -- classic game yesterday.

[RJM]

Great post, this is the representative season of this decade.

[Joyeuse]

I agree, and I have one more thing to add. We had all these stars who had success earlier in the decade who ended up stuck on bad teams the past year or two, and now they're genuinely on really good teams. The obvious one is the Celtics with Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, but then you have Kobe, AI, Gasol, and I'd even include guys like Peja and Joe Johnson.