With the San Antonio Spurs winning their fifth championship on Sunday, the book is now officially closed on the 2013-14 NBA season.
Let’s take a look back at another entertaining campaign that had both its good and bad moments…
Super San Antonio
Of course, the Spurs will undoubtedly be the first storyline we remember when reminiscing.
Following their heartbreaking loss in the Finals in 2013, San Antonio came back and not only accomplished their goal, but did it in impressive fashion.
Spurs stormed through the regular season with the best record in the league before taking out MVP Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder and then ending the two-year title run of LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
With their unselfish and visually appealing style of play, combined with just how overpowering they were, San Antonio’s 2013-14 squad has to be considered as one of the better teams in history.
Sterling saga
The next plotline we unfortunately cannot ignore is the Donald Sterling controversy.
The former Los Angeles Clippers owner’s discriminatory remarks against African-Americans was a large blemish on the league, not only for the defaming opinions against a major group that make up the NBA, but for bringing to light the lack of action against Sterling in the past.
Newly-appointed league commissioner Adam Silver did well to act swiftly, however, both banning Sterling and forcing a sale of the franchise.
Silver’s popular standing is the only good to come out of the mess and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain that.
East-West divide
The dichotomy between the Eastern and Western Conference has been uneven for some time now, but that division was exaggerated this season.
While the West boasted contender after contender, the East was always a two-team race between the Heat and Indiana Pacers.
Along with having a team with a losing record in the Atlanta Hawks as the No8 playoff seed, the conference also had the four worst records in the league.
The Phoenix Suns finished with 48 wins in the West and couldn’t earn a post-season berth, but would have tied for the third best record in the East.
The effects of the imbalance will be felt as future free agents and stars wanting a chance at a title will choose the currently-weak East as their best route to the playoffs.
New faces on the sidelines
This campaign also saw nine first time head coaches hired – Mike Budenholzer (Atlanta), Brad Stevens (Boston), Jason Kidd (Brooklyn), Steve Clifford (Charlotte), Brian Shaw (Denver), Dave Joerger (Memphis), Brett Brown (Philadelphia), Jeff Hornacek (Phoenix) and Mike Malone (Sacramento).
The combined winning percentage for the debutants was 44.8 and only Budenholzer, Kidd, Clifford and Joerger led their teams to the playoffs.
But the change from recycling known commodity coaches to giving up-and-coming talent a chance was established and it’s already led to three more first-time head coaches – Derek Fisher (Knicks), Steve Kerr (Golden State) and Quin Snyder (Utah) – being hired since the end of the regular season.
Forward march
The power forward position is undergoing a transformation into a much more hybrid role and the days of lumbering, stout players occupying the four are gone.
The league has been moving away from the notion that power forward should just be the second biggest player in your line-up for some time now and this season was a culmination of a shift in playing style.
Now combining elements of both the small forward and centre roles, it is an almost necessary position for success.
Look at the 10 leaders in points-per- game in the regular season.
Three in that list – Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge – played exclusively at power forward, while the top three scorers – Durant, James and Carmelo Anthony – were all used heavily at the four spot in small-ball line-ups.
Defensively, power forwards are needed much more to guard the perimeter in pick-and-roll situations, while still maintaining some rim protection in the paint.
After point guard, power forward has easily become the most densely-talented position in the ever-changing league.
