By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News, 2024-05-21 16:14:25
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
格雷格·波波维奇在他入主篮球名人堂的致辞中发言，而主礼人从左到右的大卫·罗宾逊、托尼·帕克、蒂姆·邓肯和马努·吉诺比利在 2023 年 8 月 12 日周六马萨诸塞州斯普林菲尔德聆听。（美联社照片/杰西卡·希尔）
王朝已死。
他们曾大行其道。在他们鼎盛的四十年里，人们喜欢抱怨他们，但又忍不住观看他们的比赛。从魔术师·约翰逊和拉里·伯德的到来，到勒布朗·詹姆斯和斯蒂芬·库里的巅峰，他们将 NBA 打造成为了享誉国际的庞然大物。
但王朝不复存在了。
现在的问题是，如果它们能复兴，它们会何时复兴？
我们肯定知道它不会在下个月复兴。在周日西部季后赛第 7 场比赛中，丹佛输给了明尼苏达队的那一刻，联盟确保了六年来将产生第六位不同的 NBA 冠军。自 1975-80 年以来，这种情况从未发生过，当时观看总决赛的美国人相对较少，而且经常是录播延迟。
在那时和这个新的大同时代期间，至少有六个有时重叠的时代要么是不折不扣的王朝，要么至少具备王朝的资格。
湖人在 1980-88 年赢得了五个冠军。凯尔特人在 1981-86 年赢得了三个冠军。迈克尔·乔丹的公牛队在 1991-98 年赢得了六个冠军。蒂姆·邓肯的马刺队在 1999-2014 年赢得了五个冠军。科比·布莱恩特的湖人在 2000-10 年赢得了五个冠军。库里的勇士队在 2015-22 年赢得了四个冠军。在所有这些冠军之间，还有活塞队、火箭队和热火队的两连冠。
迈克尔·乔丹在比赛上半场将马刺队的杰伦·杰克逊转身运球后命中跳投。道格·西雷斯/工作人员拍摄。胶片摄影。1998 年 3 月 14 日。文件 981074。
看吧，在很长很长一段时间里，很容易押注谁会赢得所有冠军。你只需要选择一支已经赢得过冠军的球队。
但这个策略不再奏效了。事实上，最近它甚至不接近成功。掘金队刚刚成为连续第六支卫冕冠军，未能进入分区决赛。
部分原因可以从老化过程中得到解释。詹姆斯，那个连续 8 次、总共 10 次进入总决赛的家伙，已经 39 岁了。库里在 8 次总决赛中进了 6 次，他已经 36 岁了。世界所有最出色的球员都会遇到这种情况。他们变老了。
现在不同的是——与拉里和魔术师不同，与迈克尔不同，与科比和蒂姆不同——勒布朗和斯蒂芬没有被另一位或两位统治性的超级巨星所取代。
事实上，有人可能会争辩说，他们正在被一群新超级巨星所取代，而这些超级巨星一直让他们中的任何一个人无法保持一年的成功。同样的道理也可能适用于，即使没有王朝吸引到的观众和难以言表的财富，NBA 的发展都是不可能的，但大同将使联盟能继续发展。
芬格：哈里森·巴特克和斯科蒂·舍弗勒的欢呼声中，旧原则发生了改变
规则似乎表明，这是联盟想要的。最近对工资帽的更改，对超支团队采取越来越严厉的惩罚措施，使“超级球队”模式几乎不可能运作。
如果你花足够的钱组建三名明星，你必须用年轻人和最低工资的老将填补剩下的名额。当你的一个明星受伤时，就像明星们经常做的那样，一切都会很快分崩离析。更多详情，请询问布鲁克林或菲尼克斯的某人。
尽管如此，这并不能完全解释为什么连续卫冕冠军——甚至在四年内赢得两个冠军——已变得几乎不可能。当雄鹿队赢得 2021 年冠军时，扬尼斯·阿德托昆博看起来不会统治东部联盟很多年吗？本赛季，丹佛的尼古拉·约基奇表现得是否和去年带领掘金队夺冠时一样出色，而且他身边不是还有大部分相同的阵容吗？
这可能归结为，当今的潜在王朝没有像，比如说，乔丹的公牛队那样的容错空间。尽管阿德托昆博和约基奇是公认的伟大，但他们并不比杰森·塔图姆或安东尼·爱德华兹好很多，以至于他们可以在季后赛系列赛中承受几场表现不佳的比赛。
是的，对于比以往任何时候都更多的 NBA 球队来说，赢得总冠军更现实。到 6 月底，联盟的五个中将有一支可以宣称在过去六年里戴上戒指。但保持好的势头却很少如此困难。
这就是为什么现在坐落在积分榜垫底的位置上，拥有世界上最引人注目的 20 岁运动员，还有很多选择和一些耐心，并不是一件可怕的事情。在维克托·文班亚马的所有超凡才能中，我们不应该忽视他的完美时机。
1980 年，王朝似乎已经灭亡，但事实证明，它们只是休息了一段时间。在经历了几个后起之秀轮流上位然后滑回原处后。拥有合适的超级巨星和正确计划的几家特许经营权已做好准备，跃跃欲试。
如今，平价可能将成为常态。历史可能不会重演。但如果重演了呢？
至少一个王朝可以再次兴起。
甚至可能在它以前存在过的地方。
2024 年 4 月 12 日星期五，在圣安东尼奥的弗罗斯特银行中心，圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 在他们与丹佛掘金队的 NBA 比赛前兴奋起来。
原文如下：
Mike Finger: After death of NBA dynasties, will another arise?
[Image]
Gregg Popovich speaks during his enshrinement at the Basketball Hall of Fame as presenters David Robinson, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, from left, listen Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Dynasties are dead.
They had a heck of a run. Throughout their four-decade heyday, people loved to complain about them, but they couldn’t resist watching. From the arrival of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird to the peaks of LeBron James and Steph Curry, they built the NBA into the internationally popular behemoth it became.
But dynasties don’t exist anymore.
And the question now is when, if ever, will they come back to life?
We know for sure it won’t be next month. The moment Denver lost Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals to Minnesota on Sunday, the league assured itself of crowning a sixth different NBA champion in six years. That hasn’t happened since 1975-80, when the relatively few Americans who watched the Finals often did so on tape delay.
In between then and this new age of parity, there were at least six sometimes-overlapping eras that either were no-doubt dynasties or at least qualified as dynasty-ish.
The Lakers won five titles from 1980-88. The Celtics won three from 1981-86. Michael Jordan’s Bulls won six from 1991-98. Tim Duncan’s Spurs won five from 1999-2014. Kobe Bryant’s Lakers won five from 2000-10. Curry’s Warriors won four from 2015-’22. And in between all of those, there were back-to-back championships from the Pistons, the Rockets and the Heat.
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After turning Spurs Jaren Jackson around the Bulls Michael Jordan hits a jumper during first half at the Dome. Photo by Doug Sehres/Staff. Shot on Film. 3/14/98. File 981074.
See, for a long, long time, it was easy to bet on who would win it all. You just picked a team that already had done it.
But that strategy doesn’t work anymore. In fact, lately it hasn’t even come close. The Nuggets just became the sixth defending champion in a row to fall short of the conference finals.
Part of this can be explained by the aging process. James, the guy who appeared in an astounding eight Finals in a row and nine out of 10, is 39 years old. Curry, who made it to six Finals out of eight, is 36. This is what happens to all of the best players in the world. They get old.
The difference now is that — unlike Larry and Magic, and unlike Michael, and unlike Kobe and Tim — LeBron and Steph aren’t being replaced by another dominant superstar or two.
One might argue, in fact, they’re being replaced by a bunch of new superstars who keep making it impossible for any one of them to sustain year-to-year success. And one might argue that even though the growth of the NBA would have been impossible without the eyeballs and untold riches attracted by dynasties, parity is better for the league moving forward.
FINGER: Amid cheers for Harrison Butker and Scottie Scheffler, old principles change
The rules do seem to suggest this is what the league wants. Recent changes to the salary cap, with increasingly punitive measures for teams that overspend, have made it almost impossible to make the “super team” model work.
If you spend enough money to put three stars together, you have to fill out the rest of the roster with youngsters and minimum-salary veterans. And when one of your stars gets hurt, as stars often do, everything falls apart in a hurry. For more details on this, ask someone in Brooklyn or in Phoenix.
Still, this doesn’t completely explain why repeating as champion — or even winning two in four years — has become darn near impossible. When the Bucks won the 2021 title, didn’t it look like Giannis Antetokounmpo would rule the Eastern Conference for years to come? This season, didn’t Denver’s Nikola Jokic look every bit as amazing as he did on the Nuggets’ title run last year, and wasn’t he surrounded by most of the same cast?
It might just come down to how today’s would-be dynasties don’t have the margin for error that, say, Jordan’s Bulls did. As indisputably great as Antetokounmpo and Jokic are, they aren’t so much better than Jayson Tatum or Anthony Edwards that they can survive a couple of off nights during a playoff series.
Yes, winning a championship is more realistic for more NBA teams than it’s ever been. By the end of June, a full 20% of the league will be able to claim a ring in the past six years. But keeping a good thing going has seldom been harder.
This is why it’s not such a terrible thing to be sitting at the bottom of the standings now with the most spectacular 20-year-old athlete in the world, and a whole bunch of options, and some patience. Among all of Victor Wembanyama’s otherworldly talents, we shouldn’t overlook what might prove to be his impeccable timing.
In 1980, it looked like dynasties were dead, but it turned out they were just taking a break. And after years of one up-and-comer after next taking his turn, then slipping back into the pack. A couple of franchises with the right superstars and the right plans stood ready to pounce.
These days, parity might be here to stay. History might not repeat itself. But if it does?
At least one dynasty can live again.
Maybe even in a place where one lived before.
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San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) gets hyped up before their NBA game with the Denver Nuggets at the Frost Bank Center on Friday, April 12, 2024 in San Antonio.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News