Hard to believe the calendar is about to turn to 2020, isn’t it? But alas, time flies whether you’re having fun or not. The Belly Up Hoops team is looking forward to seeing what the next decade of basketball brings. Will there be a drastic change to the season structure? Can the league figure out a way to boost ratings and limit injuries?
Only time will tell. For now, though, a few of our Hoops writers are reminiscing. Check out what some of our team thinks are the moves of the decade; moments of the decade and those times they got hit with all the feels.
NBA Decade: Game-Altering Move
Errol
James Harden to the Houston Rockets via trade.
This trade created one of the biggest “what-ifs” of the NBA decade. If the Thunder had signed Harden before they extended then elite rim-protector Serge Ibaka, the “what-if” scenario may have never happened. Both sides failed to reach an extension agreement. Harden was involved in a trade on October 27, 2012. The trade sent him to H-town for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and a host of picks.
If only the Thunder had found a way to craft a solid deal for Harden or even signed him before Ibaka. We could have been looking at a high potential team capable of pulling off several championships.
Harden has openly admitted that one of the biggest factors was money in turning down a four-year, $55 million extension. And reasonably so. He had just won the 6th man award and had every right to challenge his potential as a player. He deserved his money.
There is a flip side. We wouldn’t have been able to see the evolution of each player individually grow to superstardom.
The main core of Harden, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook all brought home an NBA MVP each in respective their years. Ibaka spent several years still as a solid shot-blocker for several teams within the league.
But one can only imagine if this group was capable of staying together.
Paul
If the decision was the moment of the NBA decade then the decision for James to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers has to be the signing of the decade. After years with the Miami heat and a couple of titles to show for it, James decided to take his talent and his new vision of how to win a championship, back to Cleveland. This was a move and a signing that just had to be made. This was James and the city of Cleveland. After he went to Miami and then won the titles he won it had just left a really bad taste in the mouth of Cleveland fans.
The kind you do not get rid of. “That should be our title.” You could hear it being said. The only way LeBron could ever make it up to the city of Cleveland would be to come back home and win a title for them. That is just what he did. He signed back with Cleveland and in 2016 he handed the city a title in most dramatic fashion. The Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the unbeatable Golden State Warriors. So the move on LeBron’s side, to move back home from Miami was indeed the move of the NBA decade.
Jade
My ‘move’ of the NBA decade isn’t going to be the kind of thing that would pop into one’s mind immediately. It’s not the hiring or firing of a coach or a blockbuster trade. But it is a move in a different direction. One that I think could have an impact on the NBA for years to come. That move is Masai Ujiri and the Raptors organization’s use of their G-League affiliate the 905.
Toronto has had a reputation for years of being unable to attract or hang onto star talent. The solution? Develop it in-house. Players like Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell and undrafted starter Fred VanVleet all spent time in the G-League and look at them now! Even within the past couple of weeks while the Raptors have been dealing with the injury bug, former 905ers Chris Boucher and Oshae Brissett have been able to step in as the next man up.
Pascal Siakam especially is worth mentioning. He was the league’s most improved player last year and has popped up in MVP conversations early this season.
We’re talking about a guy drafted 27th overall. A pick that the NBA community was shocked by. He was the number two scoring option for a championship team. Without time in the G-League that never happens.
I think other teams will be looking at what the Raptors have done with their development and look to follow suit. Especially smaller market teams who historically don’t have the clout the attract big-time stars. As it is, several undrafted rookies are making waves in the NBA this season; Terence Davis for the Raptors and Kendrick Nunn of the Miami Heat for example.
The Draft is an imprecise system and that’s putting it generously. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more teams looking to utilize their G-League affiliates to better advantage in the NBA decade to come.
Moment of the NBA Decade
Errol
June 19, 2016, will go down as the greatest moment in Cleveland sports history and easily the moment of the decade. With 1:55 left Andre Iguodala grabbed a rebound and sprinted down the court not knowing what loomed behind him.
6’8″, 265 lb LeBron James aka “The Chosen One” put the city on his back in his trademark moment doing something he had done so many times in his career. Like a lion chasing its prey, James turned on the jets and sprinted down the court.
Iggy had the ball in his hands and had escaped J.R. Smith and went up for what he thought would be an easy layup.
But King James had other plans.
James leaped in the air nearly hitting his head on the rim and chase down and swat Iggy’s shot attempt of the glass. The play, the moment, the atmosphere gave the Cleveland Cavaliers the last swing of momentum they needed to eventually have the game iced by a Kyrie Irving dagger 3-point shot in Stephen Curry’s face.
But without James’ block, the moment and Cleveland capturing a championship after so many years of coming up short would never have happened.
Paul
It was July 8th, 2010, the world had gathered around their TV sets and tuned in to ESPN for one of the biggest announcements by one of the biggest stars in all of the sports. LeBron James was going to tell the world all at once where he planned on playing for the next four years at least. Why was this different from any other player changing teams? This was a guy who grew up in the area and represented the city of Cleveland every step of the way. Being drafted by Cleveland was sort of like an ordained situation, one that just had to be.
He took that team to the edge of a title many times and gave them all the hope in the world that an NBA Championship would come to the city. He was the savior of the team and a city. To think he would entertain leaving his home was inconceivable. But there he was on ESPN telling the whole world at the same time he was taking his talent to Miami. The reaction by the city of Cleveland was, of course, to burn his jersey and take down his iconic poster that was bigger than life in the downtown area. For me, this was a moment that set a tone for the rest of the decade and the way teams would build a title contender.
It was more than a player changing teams. A player was changing the way the game was run. It gave an edge to players to dictate where they want to play and who they want to play with. The attitude had always been that stars wanted to beat other stars, not play with them. This changed all that and more as the success of the Heat only solidified that this was the method to take to a title.
Jade
Listen, it’s been a big year for Toronto basketball fans. I’ve got a little bit of tunnel vision going on. Sorry, not sorry. How could I choose a moment other than “The Shot”? I think I’d have my Raptors fan card revoked if anything else came to mind. What many basketball fans may not know is the insane symmetry that was at play at that moment.
You see, Kawhi’s game-winning rim-bouncer was the second “The Shot” in Raptors’ history. Come along on a little journey with me.
The year is 2001. The Raptors are playing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia. There are only seconds to play in the game and Dell Curry is set to inbound the ball hoping to get it in the hands of Vince Carter, then the best player to ever have suited up in a Toronto Raptors uniform. Carter pulls up along the sideline in an off-balance contested shot that gets off in time…
And bounces on the rim…
And out of the hoop.
Sheesh, you cannot make this stuff up.
Now, I know you’ve all seen what I like to call, The Shot 2.0. But have you seen it set to the Avengers’ theme music? No?
You are welcome!
All the Feels Moment of the NBA Decade
Errol
John Wall’s emotional post-game interview after a 133-132 double OT win over Boston.
The game came just a few hours after Wall learned that his good friend then six-year-old Miyah Telemaque-Nelson has passed away early that morning following her battle with Burkitt’s lymphoma.
The interview was set up following Wall’s 26 points, career-high 17 assists, 7 rebounds, and 3 steal performance.
Wall could barely make it through the interview as his emotions got the best of him as he spoke.
“This is for Miyah, one of my close friends that I lost,” Wall said in an on-court television interview following the win. “It’s just tough, man. To see a little kid fight so hard for cancer and can’t beat it, this game’s for her. My jersey, my shorts, I’m going to give it to her family. It’s a tough day for me, and I was really quiet today. . . . ”
That moment was an important reminder that basketball is often more than just a game. These players build special connections with their fans and even with tragedy occurring, we must never forget that we are ALL human including NBA players and go through so many ups and downs.
Paul
It may seem like a weird mommet for me but this is one that really tugged at me. This happened during the 2013 season for the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets were in a transition in the organization and the Nuggets were reaching for anyone who could have success as a coach. They resorted to hiring Brian Shaw to lead the team. At the time, Shaw was high on the list of many teams to be the head coach.
The Nuggets persuaded him and he came in with a different type of attitude that did not take well in the Nuggets locker room. There were a few on the team that felt Shaw may have some bias against some of the guys. This was due to the fact they had played against Shaw and had some run-ins with him during that time. One of the players was Andre Miller who had a streak of 239 games straight played. Shaw sat him out of a game for no reason, a coach’s decision, which caused, to me, the breakdown of a team for two grueling years. I have never forgiven Shaw.
Jade
I even allowed to have a more emotional moment that the Raptors winning their first championship in franchise history? Canada’s first NBA title? Finally, proof of what We The North have known the Raptors were capable of since, “@#$% Brooklyn!” I don’t think I can. All these months later when I see the montage of the moments leading to the claiming of the Larry O.B. I still get chills. What more can I say?
Keep an eye out for the second part of the series where we discuss our picks for the player of the decade; we look forward to who we think is the guy to watch for the coming decade; and in true Belly Up style, we award Belly Up Sports Dunce awards to three deserving candidates.
Follow us at @HoopsBellyUp.
