Pop quiz- how many teams were represented in this past weekend's NBA All Star game? Hint-30 franchises in the league so......30...20....how about 14? More than half the teams in the league did not send a player to the game. Of the 12 Eastern Conference all stars, Boston and Miami accounted for 7 players on the roster.Today, the long awaited trade of Carmelo Anthony from Denver to the Knicks adds even more star power to Gotham's roster and pairs him with the Knicks big off season signing in Amar'e Stoudemire. Parity? We don't need no stinking parity.... What the NFL spent years working for the NBA is undoing in a matter of 2 or 3 seasons. Why go to Golden State or Toronto when you can eat lunch with the cool kids and play in Miami, Boston, LA or NYC? The sports media blogosphere is ginned up and giddy with speculation that Melo is just the first of a few puzzle pieces in New York that potentially could add Chris Paul or Dwight Howard to the Knickerbockers bench. The NCAA has its power conferences and now the NBA has its power teams, franchises that are uber charged by the massive star power of its jersey wearing goliaths. If ever a league needed a San Francisco Giants or Green Bay Packers its the NBA, where a red headed stepchild of a franchise can exceed the glitter of the big city boys and go on a magical run to a championship, capturing our imagination along the way. You cannot blame the players for wanting to surround themselves with like minded talents and build teams for the ages, but in the overall consolidation of talent on team rosters like consolidation of money, power and influence in business, government or society leads to a disparity that robs the sport of its competitiveness, innovation and appeal. For the long term, let's hope this convergence of superstars on a select few teams is a fad and not a new NBA reality. Makes one pine for a Wizards-Kings final just to prove its possible.
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