Prior to this season, whispers were all about how the NBA was on a downturn.  However, summer shakeups by Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics and mid-season robberies by Mitch Kupchak and the LA Lakers produced a dream Finals for the NBA. 

What can we take from the 08 Finals notwithstanding the thrashing in the Game 6 clincher by the Celtics?  Kobe failed to dominate a series everyone was assured he would and KG proved what many of us knew all along; he is probably the best sidekick in league.  What does a ring mean for Finals MVP Paul Pierce or Ray Allen who hit an NBA Finals record 7 threes in Game 6 and a Finals series record 22 threes?  Will the Lakers be the team to beat next year with the return of Andrew Bynum who should fill a big hole in the middle which a soft Pau Gasol only managed to patch up?

Before delving into these issues, the regular season was one of the greatest in recent memory.  Consider that the West had 8 teams who won at least 50 games and a 48 win team that just missed the playoffs.  The 8^th seeded Nuggets and the Warriors who just missed the playoffs would have both been 4^th seeds in the East. 

In addition, the majority of teams in the West have the opportunity to be significantly better next year.   LA will hopefully have Bynum and Gasol healthy at the same time to start next year and will field one of the best frontlines in the NBA.  Cinderella New Orleans will be in prime position to upgrade at the 2 in the draft, their weakest position.  Phoenix will have a full offseason to integrate Shaq into their lineup and transition to more of a half court style.  Portland who finished .500 will finally get Greg Oden on the court, along with Rudy Fernandez from overseas and a decent draft pick.  Houston will see the return of Yao Ming and beg, hope, plead, and pray that him and Tracy McGrady can stay healthy at the same time for longer stretches.  Finally, Dallas will have a full offseason to redesign their offense around Jason Kidd and without their fallen general Avery Johnson.   The remaining Western Conference powers, San Antonio, Utah, Golden State and Denver will likely see major roster changes to try and keep up with the explosion of talent in the West.

The (L)Eastern Conference’s stock is finally on the rise thanks to the divine intervention of the Ping Pong Gods, as the Heat and the Bulls obtained the first two picks in a talented 2008 NBA Draft.  Adding Beasley and Rose to these two teams should cut some of the excess fat off of the East’s playoff offerings of this past season, likely eliminating Philadelphia and Atlanta from the playoff hunt.  Detroit fans should expect at least one core piece to be traded and Lebron fans should enjoy another year of Lebron doing it all with limited support in Cleveland. 

So what can we take from this epic season?  MJ/Kobe comparisons are completely and utterly disallowed from this point forward.  I don’t know how many times I got text messages during the Celtics/Lakers series to the effect of, “Mike would have never let this happen” or “Mike would have scored 25 in the 4^th to stave off the Celtics 24 point comeback in game 4.”  (Glad to have unlimited texting)  Frankly, these messages assured what I think everyone knew, but had been led to believe otherwise, by great Kobe performances in the past two seasons.  No metric exists by which a competent argument can be made that Kobe Bryant is in the same class as Michael Jordan as a player.  Both of them are shooting guards, probably the 1^st and 2^nd best shooting guards or all time, but the gap between them is wider now than ever.

In fact, even if you assume that Kobe at age 29 has a very generous 5 good years left at his current level of production and even if the Lakers were to reel off 5 championships in that time span, I think you would still have to argue that MJ was the better player.  Some will argue that Kobe would have the edge at that point because of a daunting 8 championship rings.  However, considering that he would have “led” a team to only 5 of those rings, compared to MJ leading his teams to 6 rings, with 6 Finals MVPs and a 6-0 record in the NBA Finals, his resume would still be the most impressive of the two.  Kobe knew this when he played with Shaq and was part of the reason that he gradually became more unwilling to defer to him as the years passed. 

These Finals not only indicate that such comparisons are completely insane at this point, but that Kobe Bryant may not even be hands down the best player in the NBA at this point.  It is arguable that Lebron James’ overall performance against this same Celtic team was much more impressive and dominating.  Furthermore, the Cavs managed to take the Celtics to 7 games, with a team I’m sure no one would argue has talent approaching that of Kobe’s Lakers. 

The second issue brought up by the Finals is, what does this ring mean for Kevin Garnett?  Early in their careers there were comparisons between Garnett and Duncan and hot debates about who was the better player.  As time progressed, this debate lost steam as Duncan amassed rings and KG amassed first round exits, losses, and one Western Conference Final appearance.  Garnett supporters argued that he never had the supporting cast to win and they are sure to argue that this ring is a direct result of the solving of that issue.  Unfortunately that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Garnett is undoubtedly one the best rebounders and defensive players of his generation.  He has always had the “talent” to be the best player of his era.  But for whatever reason, Garnett has never been a dominate force offensively.  Considering that Paul Pierce’s performances in the playoffs, in crucial games, (Game 7 against the Cavs comes to mind) and a brand new NBA Finals MVP, and it more apparent now than ever that Garnett is better suited for a complementary role. 

This is not necessarily an insult to what he has accomplished.  There are many players who are considered all-time greats who did not have the offensive mindset to lead a team to a championship.  (Scottie Pippen and Grant Hill immediately come to mind)  Garnett is one of a rare breed of immensely multi-talented players who are unselfish to a fault and for whatever reason, treat the ball like hot potatoes in clutch situations.  This championship is definitely an accomplishment, however, it does not move him past other PFs on the all-time list that led their teams to the Finals and came up just short.  (See, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley who both were in position to win championships and ran into the greatest player of all-time in the Finals)

Paul Pierce stands to benefit most from his performance as he was clearly the dominant player on the Celtics throughout the postseason.  In a Dwayne Wade-esque fashion, the media has already promoted him to Kobe/Lebron status amongst NBA swingmen.  Although this definitely cements Pierce’s legacy as one of top 5 swingmen of his era, you would be hard pressed to name a year that Paul Pierce was a top 5 player in the league.  Pierce has never been higher than 3^rd team all-NBA and has never finished higher than 11^th in MVP voting.  However, his finals MVP definitely cements his status in that class right below that of Kobe and Lebron.   Paul Pierce is a great player, but I’m not going to go Mike Bibby on him just yet.  (See his 2002 playoff performance and subsequent media headlines)

One thing is for certain, the 08-09 season sure looks exciting.  We can look forward to an infusion of young talent, with Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, and our first look at last year’s first overall pick Greg Oden.  We can expect shakeups from some of the staler traditional powers as the Pistons, Mavs, and Spurs will likely reshape their rosters in the offseason.  Finally, underachievers like the Heat and Bulls will have the opportunity to jump right back into the playoff picture following answered prayers from the Ping-Pong Gods.  Now if we can just find something to watch until September.