Parity or mediocrity?

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Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#1 » by FJS » Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:55 pm

Right now there's 20 teams with positive or 50% w-l. 2 teams more are 9-10.
Only 3 teams have 5 or less losses.

Is this parity or mediocrity.
Or it's parity due to mediocrity?
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#2 » by Statlanta » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:16 pm

Mediocrity.

The league is the most talented its ever been but the parity makes it mediocre. The teams from the 2021 Finals aren't all that exciting(1 teams is great but its a collective effort, the other has a great player but is full of injuries) and the reigning MVP is on a trash roster.

The fact that the Warriors are the best team despite a worse roster from years past tells all you need to know.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#3 » by SA37 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:34 pm

It's parity.

I wouldn't call anything about the NBA mediocre.

There has never been more talent in the league 1-15 and there aren't any easy games in the league anymore. Whether you are looking at players in the 30+ category (LeBron, Durant, Curry, Harden, Lillard, Butler, Paul, Kawhi, Westbrook), 25-30 category (Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, AD, Booker, KAT, Beal) or under 25 (Tatum, Zion, Luka, Lamelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Adebayo, J Brown, A Edwards, Morant, T Young, SGA) you have just a stunning array of stars.

There are easily 7-8 teams that could win the title.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#4 » by Kingsway_fan » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:39 pm

its good .. in spite of Lebron trying to stack LA and embellish his legacy ... or players flocking to sunny franchises or NYC .. there are lots of good teams out there and nothing is certain...
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#5 » by Lockdown504090 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:43 pm

SA37 wrote:It's parity.

I wouldn't call anything about the NBA mediocre.

There has never been more talent in the league 1-15 and there aren't any easy games in the league anymore. Whether you are looking at players in the 30+ category (LeBron, Durant, Curry, Harden, Lillard, Butler, Paul, Kawhi, Westbrook), 25-30 category (Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, AD, Booker, KAT, Beal) or under 25 (Tatum, Zion, Luka, Lamelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Adebayo, J Brown, A Edwards, Morant, T Young, SGA) you have just a stunning array of stars.

There are easily 7-8 teams that could win the title.

the only easy dubs are teams that are actively losing. hell, miami just lost a game to minnesota. The nba is good :lol:
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#6 » by Johnny Bball » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:44 pm

Neither. By the break it will sort itself out with teams picking a direction.

And I think a little bit of this may be recency bias because its the east with more of those teams all of a sudden, but who knows.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#7 » by Lalouie » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:08 pm

FJS wrote:Right now there's 20 teams with positive or 50% w-l. 2 teams more are 9-10.
Only 3 teams have 5 or less losses.

Is this parity or mediocrity.
Or it's parity due to mediocrity?


essentially one and the same.

take any year and remove the 4 best teams and you have parity, which is the remaining bulk of the bell curve

parity in the lack of greatness. it is NOT the mediocre getting better, it is the bad getter better and the good falling back, BOTH into the pack

the reason this is so in basketball is because the stars drive winning. well,,,all the past decade's stars are nearing their end and the young stars are not yet or nearing their peak. so the nba is in this transition period
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#8 » by jbk1234 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:08 pm

I think the rule change lessened the disparity. When the offensive player can initiate contact and go to the line, it really impacts how the player is defended. That said, I've seen the tell tale signs of the point of emphasis fading. I think star players chirping has worked.

Another factor is age. You've got young guys growing into their games while older players are beginning to show their age on the court.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#9 » by giberish » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:28 pm

There's better balance in the league for two reasons.

First the slight relaxing of max contract limits has made it more difficult on star-heavy teams. Now if you've got 3 high-salary stars you almost certainly have a cheap and probably very flawed depth. If your stars are truly elite you can overcome this but it tends to bring these teams down to where they're competitive with more balanced teams.

Second the play-in tournament has made more teams try. So there's only a couple no-hope/full rebuild teams dragging down the bottom.

So the top is a little weaker and the middle is deeper in competent teams.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#10 » by DCasey91 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:31 pm

Can’t have the cake and eat it too.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#11 » by MaxZaslofskyJr » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:38 pm

It's mediocre parity.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#12 » by Freighttrain » Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:44 pm

Kingsway_fan wrote:its good .. in spite of Lebron trying to stack LA and embellish his legacy ... or players flocking to sunny franchises or NYC .. there are lots of good teams out there and nothing is certain...


I think your interpunct key is stuck.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#13 » by Doctor MJ » Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:34 pm

FJS wrote:Right now there's 20 teams with positive or 50% w-l. 2 teams more are 9-10.
Only 3 teams have 5 or less losses.

Is this parity or mediocrity.
Or it's parity due to mediocrity?

I think I’d tend to call it parity via injury.

I think folks right now seem to be skeptical the Warriors are real, and I’d be inclined to say they absolutely are, it’s just a question of which other teams can figure out how to “get real” themselves.

In a league with true parity you’d expect a finals between two mediocrities - a la Bullets v Sonics in the late 70s. In this league, all of these mediocre teams right now need to see themselves as nowhere near contention unless they get a hell of a lot better.


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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#14 » by VanWest82 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:45 pm

Mediocrity. Stars are playing hurt. Players are tired from trying to make up games lost due to pandemic. Teams are adjusting to the rule change which has had a major impact. Lots of the basketball hasn't been great this year but the games are still competitive and the changes have been interesting wrinkle so NBA is still in a good spot imo.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#15 » by GusFring » Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:45 pm

NBA is best its been in 5 years or longer due to the rule change. Its great, the sophistication of the offenses/defenses remain while players are allowed to do more on the defensive end. Even a bottom dweller like the rockets slapped the bulls who have been playing well. No lead is safe because of 3 point skill held by nearly everyone, i'm enjoying it when the last 3 years I could barely get through a game. So short answer, parity.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#16 » by BenoUdrihFTL » Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:09 pm

Statlanta wrote:The league is the most talented its ever been but the parity makes it mediocre.

This is sig worthy

I mean wtf. You assert that the league is talent rich and that this talent is well dispersed (parity). Then you proceed to shoot yourself in the dick by claiming that this somehow translates to mediocrity. I'd love to know how this actually makes sense in your mind
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#17 » by mattao313 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:11 pm

Whatever it is I'll take it over the LeBron superteam era that seems to be finally phasing out.

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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#18 » by Buzzard » Thu Nov 25, 2021 9:58 pm

I think its parity. The new is passing the old when it comes to LeBron. The new is catching up with the old when it comes to Curry. Those who think its mediocrity are probably fans of the LeBron and Curry glory years...
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#19 » by Hornet Mania » Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:06 pm

Not knowing who is going to the Finals from day one is great for the league. It's anecdotal but everyone I know who watches consistently thinks this year has been an improvement on the last few seasons. The rule changes are part of it, but so is the fact only a handful of teams seem truly dreadful at this stage.

There is plenty of talent to go around and the title is very much up in the air even with the Brooklyn/LAL super teams in the equation. It's going to be exciting to see which of the new generation of stars seizes the moment and becomes a champion this year like Giannis did in June, or if the super teams rebound and pull away from the pack.

I 100% prefer parity to knowing Cavs/Warriors will be the Finals matchup from day one like 2015-2018. No hate for Lebron or the Dubs, but it made the regular season a slog when you know exactly how things will end except for the last few games.
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Re: Parity or mediocrity? 

Post#20 » by Jabroni Lames » Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:13 pm

lol. Is this some kind of Zen trick question?

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