Dwight Howard and Competitive Balance


Not everyone's impressed (Not pictured: Danny Ainge).
With the news of Dwight Howard going to the Lakers, an obvious question emerges: "What happened to competitive balance?" We ask because we suffered through the 2011-2012 lockout, that cost 16 games and innumerable knee and ankle injuries, obstensibly to ensure this balance. Now, the league is very top heavy, specifically the top two teams (and maybe a third, although OKC took a more organic approach).

To illustrate this point, Nate Silver asked on Twitter if you would you rather have an 8-man rotation drawn from the Lakers and Heat or the rest of the league. To follow this line of thinking, I constructed two 9-man rotations (Bill Simmons 2012 Trade Value links in parentheses demonstrate how elite the Hot Lakes would be):


Lakers/Heat
PG: Nash (36) / Chalmers
SG: Wade (7) / Bryant (9)
SF: James (1) /Artest
PF: P. Gasol (17) / Bosh (18)
C: Howard (6)


The Field
PG: Paul (8) / Rondo (15)
SG: Williams (20) / Westbrook (12)
SF: Durant (2) / Carmelo (19)
PF: Love (4) / Garnett (28 in ’11)
C: M. Gasol (13)

There's plenty to argue with when it comes to these picks for the field (it's woefully Celtic biased and has four point guards, although I would argue Deron Williams and Westbrook are combo guards), but the fact remains clear. The Hot Lakes wouldn't just have a fighting chance, they might be favored. 

So what does the rest of the league hope for? Well, those teams can get old quick, especially LA. But short of twisted ankles or turned knees in May and June, the Larry O'Brien trophy can probably be postmarked for Miami or Los Angeles. 


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