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The last NBA champ that defended its crown with vigor was the '97 Bulls. They loved being "The Champs." They loved shutting up crowds on the road, fending off young upstarts and sending messages to potential contenders. On a nightly basis, Jordan (and most of the time, Pippen) simply wouldn't allow the Bulls to let up competitively, even carrying the slack for everyone else on the nights when nobody showed up. Beyond that, it meant something to that particular team, night in and night out, to show up as "The Champs" with a big bull's-eye on their backs and spend the next 150 minutes laying the smack down and proving why that bull's-eye was there.

For a variety of reasons, we just finished a 12-year stretch of defending champs that weren't wired that way. Either they were saving their legs for the playoffs (the '04 and '08 Spurs); they were overly arrogant and/or battling the usual array of demons that come after winning the title (the Kobe-Shaq teams, the '05 Pistons); or they were battling injuries/age/complacency (the '99 Bulls, '01 Spurs and '07 Heat). Only the '98 Bulls and '06 Spurs defended their title by winning 60-plus games and a No. 1 seed, but neither carried themselves with that definitive "Throw everything you have at us, we're ready!" swagger. (Important note: The '01 Lakers found that swagger in the playoffs and unleashed holy hell for two straight months. But since it didn't happen for nine months, they can't qualify.) I believe this Celtics team is wired like that '97 Bulls team. They won't have the ego/money/stats problems that develop sometimes after a championship. They won't mail in the regular season because Garnett and Pierce are too freaking competitive on a day-to-day basis to let it happen. They also developed two positive wrinkles: Pierce's "I'm an elite player, dammit!" challenge to himself, and Rajon Rondo's quest to make the All-Star team.

And then there's this: No team since Magic's last two Lakers teams has enjoyed a title more than last year's Celtics. They celebrated for six solid weeks. They celebrated in Boston. They celebrated in L.A. They celebrated in Vegas. They celebrated in Malibu. You could say that the veteran stars appreciated the significance because they could put it in the proper perspective, that the team was unnaturally close, that righting the league's most famous franchise pushed everything over the top. Whatever the case, these guys LOVE being the champs. They want to repeat for all the right reasons, and as a fan of the team, I'm looking forward to this season specifically for those 10-11 road games against good teams when they show up with their chest puffed out and their imaginary championship belts tossed over their shoulders. I don't think the Celtics will win a second straight title, but they will kill themselves trying. And that's really all you can ask for.

What is a sunk cost? In financial terms, it's a lost cause -- you're paying for something that has lost its value to you. Let's say I spent $200 on one of those beautiful, 6-foot-high, glass-blown water bongs and named it Barack Obonga. And let's say I smoked a little too much of the special hydro weed they give to cancer patients, decided someone was watching me through my front window, ran outside in my underwear with a baseball bat, and eventually spent the next two hours sitting in a tree waiting for the imaginary guy to come back before my neighbors called the police. And let's say the whole experience made me say, "You know what? I need to quit smoking pot, it's making me a little crazy." Maybe I'd try to sell the bong on Craigslist to no avail, and none of my friends would take it because there's nothing grosser than owning someone else's bong. At that specific point, Barack Obonga would become a sunk cost; that money is out the window. It's gone. I need to accept this fact and move on.

GuyClinch wrote:^^^ Agree. And again I can't wait for him to jump ship if we beat Cleveland in the playoffs and pretend he was with us all along. That article read to be me more like the work of a disgruntled Clipper fan then a Celtics fan.

Also i think his Miami love and Philly hate is really off-base. Who cares if Brand sucked for his REAL team Simmons - the Clippers. The guy escaped Clipper land and unlike most Clipper teams his team will likely make the playoffs and perhaps do some damage..

As for Miami - short people have no reason to live. j/k No seriously how he thinks Beasely, Haslem and Marion is a front line to be feared is friggin ridiculous.. It's time to get off the Dwayne Wade/Lebron ESPN hype train.. Oh and Shawn Livingston? Talk about an overhyped player - the hype with that guy was epic and I think honest to god TA has dominated more games then he has.

Pete

Rocky5000 wrote:Is he doing that anti-jinx thing again, because in his twisted mind, it worked last year?

LMAO. you haters are just jealous cuz Bill could be any one of us, but he somehow struck it rich. wouldn't we all love to get paid to watch tv all the time and write rambling half-baked stories about conversations with our dad and our buddies?

GuyClinch wrote:

LMAO. you haters are just jealous cuz Bill could be any one of us, but he somehow struck it rich. wouldn't we all love to get paid to watch tv all the time and write rambling half-baked stories about conversations with our dad and our buddies?

I know a guy who gets angry all the time - just like Stephen A. Smith? Does that make me a "hater" if I don't like that analyst either? WTF. You allowed to think someone isn't very good without being a hater.

Not very good analysts - Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe, Chris Berman, Mike Breen. and yes Bill Simmons.
Good ones - Jeff Van Gundy funny AND KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT BASKETBALL, Mel Kiper (the dude does know the draft), Doc Rivers. (Doc Rivers is one heck of a analyst commenator - honest to god).

And please don't go with the "he is just a comic" - he gives fantasy advice - makes predictions and so on. None of it with the air of comedy. He adds comedy in to liven up his columns. I wasn't criticizing that part of his writing as funny kinda depends on the audience.

I personally don't care about 902010 or whatever crappy TV show he tends to be loving. But I wouldnt' say its not funny.