Morey: "Bubble championship will forever be marked by asterisk"

[SK21209]

It’s fine to acknowledge that there was pandemic and the entire playoff format was different. But the Lakers were pretty clearly the best team that year. It wasn’t the Clippers, who were coached by Doc Rivers and whose supporting cast really wasn’t very good in hindsight. It wasn’t the Bucks who got backdoor swept the year before and hadn’t yet moved Bledsoe for Holiday. It wasn’t the Nuggets who didn’t have KCP or Gordon yet. And no one else was even close.

So long as you acknowledge the Lakers were probably winning it all anyway had the season played out normally, I’m fine with an asterisk.

[tribulations]

The discourse was about how Portland was the best 8th seed ever, especially after they won the 1st game. Then Rockets' smallball experiment was a solution against the Lakers smash mouth basketball. Then there were the Clippers who chocked the most amazing 3-1 lead like ever and acted like it was because they did not want to be there.

The funniest part is LeBron and Davis got rest to heal talk. First of all at the time when the league got postponed, the injured player was Giannis. Lakers were the 2nd best team in the NBA record wise, and with Giannis' injury could've easily be the 1st and coasted the last month. Lakers did not needed the 4 month break, Bucks did.

I think the Lakers benefitted from rest, but everyone did. It's not like one team got extra rest. The Lakers are one of the most disliked franchises and LeBron has a lot of people who don't like him, hence a loud crowd who grasp at straws to discredit a very strong team.

I mean go back and look at that roster, it's a great team.

My argument is the Lakers benefited from rest the most. The bubble was effectively the perfect environment for an older player like LeBron and an injury prone player like AD. Who benefits more from having a 3 month break in the season, then playing the bubble with no back to backs or travel? A 25 year old or a 35 year old? Clearly the 35 year old. Part of succeeding in the NBA is overcoming the grind that puts wear and tear more heavily on older players. The bubble heavily mitigated that wear and tear.

I don’t say this to necessarily discredit the Lakers title but the bubble was an ideal environment for older or injury prone players to succeed in. We have not seen LeBron be able to repeat that type of performance since as he has always worn down as the playoffs go on. It’s not the Lakers fault they had that type of team but if you were to draw up a schedule to help an older team you’d draw up the bubble.

Given LeBron’s age and AD’s injury history I don’t know if the Lakers could have won the title in 2020 if they were forced to play a normal season. Maybe. But if you told me LeBron would get a 3 month break mid-season I would have increased their title odds.

The bubble allowed older teams to close the gap by removing the normal stress of a full NBA season.

^^well articulated point

[Lakers In 5]

Asterisks don’t exist and are only a talking point because people want to diminish the accomplishments of a team that ain’t theirs, or sweep the failure of their own team under the rug. Doesn’t matter wether it’s covid, a lock out or injuries. All bogus.

These things just come down to the question which team won the championship. If the answer is a team they do not like, they’ll just place an asterisk in order to make themselves feel better about the situation. It’s a coping mechanism.

[ScrantonBulls]

Asterisks don’t exist and are only a talking point because people want to diminish the accomplishments of a team that ain’t theirs, or sweep the failure of their own team under the rug. Doesn’t matter wether it’s covid, a lock out or injuries. All bogus.

These things just come down to the question which team won the championship. If the answer is a team they do not like, they’ll just place an asterisk in order to make themselves feel better about the situation. It’s a coping mechanism.

On the contrary, there's actually one guy who does it to his own team! That way the asterisk diminishes LeBron's title and he can justify ranking Kobe above him. Yes, this is a Lakers fan

If this is the case

Then Lebron only has 3 rings with the 4th being asterisk. Give me Kobe 5 with 3 being sidekick any day of the week

[SlimShady83]

Asterisks don’t exist and are only a talking point because people want to diminish the accomplishments of a team that ain’t theirs, or sweep the failure of their own team under the rug. Doesn’t matter wether it’s covid, a lock out or injuries. All bogus.

These things just come down to the question which team won the championship. If the answer is a team they do not like, they’ll just place an asterisk in order to make themselves feel better about the situation. It’s a coping mechanism.

On the contrary, there's actually one guy who does it to his own team! That way the asterisk diminishes LeBron's title and he can justify ranking Kobe above him. Yes, this is a Lakers fan

If this is the case

Then Lebron only has 3 rings with the 4th being asterisk. Give me Kobe 5 with 3 being sidekick any day of the week

I said "If this is the case" I'm not implying I'm saying it deserves an asterisks or not. Just simply saying "If it's true", believe what you want to believe.
If you feel like it deserves an asterisk then it does.

[FarBeyondDriven]

most championships in the past quarter century have asterisks to be honest. 2002 WCF is still the most egregious display of biased officiating in NBA history rivaled only by the 2010 Finals and 2016 Finals which were both clearly rigged. Seems like every championship since 2015 had major injuries marring the playoffs and Finals. That said, the 2020 Finals shouldn't even be part of the discussion of suspect championships because frankly it's like comparing apples and oranges. It's like comparing a SL championship to a NBA Finals championship. 2020 is a complete joke and deserves zero respect.

[bkkrh]

Well,Daryl, at least all of the titles you were invovled in are viewed as legit^^.

[Bloodbather]

Every season has its unexpected development and factors of luck built into it. The asterisk talk is silly.

[Revived]

I hate on the lakers all of the time but that season pre bubble. The Lakers were far and above the best team in the league record wise. Didn’t they start off like 20 and 3 to begin the year or something

And the Cavs were the best team in the regular season this season and they got humiliated by the Pacers in rd 1 or rd 2 in the playoffs.

So what’s your point about regular season again?

[pepe1991]

It was basically two seasons in one, called as single.

2019-20 season started around October 20.

Season ended at March 11.

Season than again started at July 30, but not with 30 but only 22 teams.
Absurdity of a season is best viewed through Wizards- Hornets co-relation.

Hornets weren't one of 22 teams elected to play bubble additional games. Wizards were elected to play. By not playing Hornets improved in seeding because Wizards only won one game .
Because how it created paradox, NBA had to announce that it won't impact lottery odds.


Season ended at October 11, 2020.


Literally, "season" lasted one year. Had no road games, nor home games in playoffs, there was no traveling. Random positive tests popped up before every game, making whole watching experience- unwatchable.

In reality, they should have simply called season finished at March 11, when it ended, had some tournament for title like Cup and call it a day. Because whole season was nothing but complete mess.

Lakers won fair and square. But this ain't about them. It's about whole system that was complete joke.

[Jedi32]

I hate on the lakers all of the time but that season pre bubble. The Lakers were far and above the best team in the league record wise. Didn’t they start off like 20 and 3 to begin the year or something

And the Cavs were the best team in the regular season this season and they got humiliated by the Pacers in rd 1 or rd 2 in the playoffs.

So what’s your point about regular season again?

I think the point they were making was the Lakers play in the bubble wasn't a fluke. They had been that team all year

[ballzboyee]

Lakers deserve credit for winning an in-season mini-tournament that year, but it should not be called an NBA championship title. In retrospect, since nobody really respects the outcome, the league should have just cancelled the remainder of the season and called it day after the lockdowns started. The way the whole thing played out was surreal and resembled more of a hostage situation than an actual competitive event. You can't field a champion without the fans being involved to witness. Playing the games in some random gym with fake fans is no more meaningful than pick-up exhibition. If the Lakers want to pretend they won a title that year, then that's fine. But nobody else has to acknowledge it.

[hauntedcomputer]

Have you noticed that only losers apply asterisks?

[gavran]

[dhsilv2]

When you're looking at the box score and you see 50 games, it's gonna jump out.

No young person is looking up box scores from all the way back in 1999, bro.


Similarly, no one will care about the bubble asterisk two decades from now.

Now this is nonsense! 70's fan on this very board is in his 20's i'm pretty sure and he's paying money to find videos of Wilt! I see 20 year olds with Jordan Jersey's. Getting nerdy into sports history of a right of passage to being a sports fan. I still get frustrated that early NBA seasons weren't all 82 games.

[Jedi32]

Lakers deserve credit for winning an in-season mini-tournament that year, but it should not be called an NBA championship title. In retrospect, since nobody really respects the outcome, the league should have just cancelled the remainder of the season and called it day after the lockdowns started. The way the whole thing played out was surreal and resembled more of a hostage situation than an actual competitive event. You can't field a champion without the fans being involved to witness. Playing the games in some random gym with fake fans is no more meaningful than pick-up exhibition. If the Lakers want to pretend they won a title that year, then that's fine. But nobody else has to acknowledge it.

Lol you sound bitter. Hostage situation it's not pretend it's in the record books where it belongs. Now if YOU want to pretend it didn't happen by all means go ahead. The imagination is free

[God Squad]

The bubble was wack af.

[SK21209]

I think the Lakers benefitted from rest, but everyone did. It's not like one team got extra rest. The Lakers are one of the most disliked franchises and LeBron has a lot of people who don't like him, hence a loud crowd who grasp at straws to discredit a very strong team.

I mean go back and look at that roster, it's a great team.

My argument is the Lakers benefited from rest the most. The bubble was effectively the perfect environment for an older player like LeBron and an injury prone player like AD. Who benefits more from having a 3 month break in the season, then playing the bubble with no back to backs or travel? A 25 year old or a 35 year old? Clearly the 35 year old. Part of succeeding in the NBA is overcoming the grind that puts wear and tear more heavily on older players. The bubble heavily mitigated that wear and tear.

I don’t say this to necessarily discredit the Lakers title but the bubble was an ideal environment for older or injury prone players to succeed in. We have not seen LeBron be able to repeat that type of performance since as he has always worn down as the playoffs go on. It’s not the Lakers fault they had that type of team but if you were to draw up a schedule to help an older team you’d draw up the bubble.

Given LeBron’s age and AD’s injury history I don’t know if the Lakers could have won the title in 2020 if they were forced to play a normal season. Maybe. But if you told me LeBron would get a 3 month break mid-season I would have increased their title odds.

The bubble allowed older teams to close the gap by removing the normal stress of a full NBA season.

^^well articulated point

No, it’s really not. LeBron and AD had been healthy the entire season to that point. There were 20 regular season games left and the Lakers had a 6 game lead on the 2 seed. They would have had ample time to rest down the stretch. LeBron didn’t start getting hurt consistently until the next year after Solomon Hill dove into his leg. Oh and in his last three seasons with the Pelicans before he came to the Lakers, AD played 75 games, 75 games, and 56 games because he was forcing his way out. His run of injury plagued seasons also didn’t start until the season after the bubble because of the abbreviated offseason.

The “I don’t know if they could have won if they had to play a normal season” is such a moronic cop out. As if because LeBron and AD hadn’t gotten hurt yet that season they were more likely to in the last 20 games. That’s not how probabilities work. The season was suspended in March. By March, everyone has a favorite to win the title. Tell me, who was the favorite to win the title had the 2020 season played out normally?

[ballzboyee]

Lakers deserve credit for winning an in-season mini-tournament that year, but it should not be called an NBA championship title. In retrospect, since nobody really respects the outcome, the league should have just cancelled the remainder of the season and called it day after the lockdowns started. The way the whole thing played out was surreal and resembled more of a hostage situation than an actual competitive event. You can't field a champion without the fans being involved to witness. Playing the games in some random gym with fake fans is no more meaningful than pick-up exhibition. If the Lakers want to pretend they won a title that year, then that's fine. But nobody else has to acknowledge it.

Lol you sound bitter. Hostage situation it's not pretend it's in the record books where it belongs. Now if YOU want to pretend it didn't happen by all means go ahead. The imagination is free

Not even. I am not even saying I don't respect it, but you just read around about what is said, go on forums, youtube, etc., and the general consensus is that the Bubble did not produce an authentic title. Mostly there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that the players treated it like Airbnb staycation and a lot of them wanted to just be at home with their families.

[queridiculo]

He's not wrong, but it's also not his place to comment on it publicly.

I'll wait until Morey wins anything meaningful as the head of a basketball team.