The NBA in 2011: Disco Dirk, trades & a lockout

The year 2011 may have been the most turbulent the NBA has ever seen.

The 2010-11 NBA season began with a bang as Blake Griffin finally entered the NBA, dropping thunderous dunks on anyone who cared to get in his way. The season also saw the introduction of the Big 3 in Miami, which gave NBA fans a new team to hate unseen since the likes of the Bad Boys of Detroit. Carmelo Anthony also forced his way out of Denver mid-season and made a move to Broadway to team up with Amare Stoudemire and rival Miami and Boston in the East.

Despite a new two-tier system developing in the NBA, the league captured fan’s attention like no other and it was all capped off by a tasty NBA Finals showdown that featured the Heat, everyone’s favourite villains, against an upstart squad of Dallas Mavericks.

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki increased his legend by carrying his team to an unexpected title in six games.

The off-season was about as turbulent as any that has ever been seen in pro sports.

A lockout that stretched into the fall and caused the team to cancel dozens of games before an agreement was finally reached.

Two weeks of frenetic wheeling and dealing followed, which was highlighted by Chris Paul and Dwight Howard each demanding to be traded, although only the Hornets granted Paul his wish. Even that deal was filled with high drama as the Hornets’ owners, the NBA itself, vetoed one trade between the Hornets, Lakers and Suns which left NBA writers and a few teams screaming angrily about conflict of interest and about Stern being a dictator.

Paul was eventually shipped to the once-lowly Clippers to team with Griffin and after years of being an NBA laughingstock the Clippers may finally be relevant.

Despite being a three-seed in the Western Conference, many pundits believed the Mavericks would be ousted in the opening round of the NBA playoffs by the Portland Trail Blazers. Not for the first time, the pundits were wrong. And boy were they ever.

With defences concentrated on Dirk Nowitzki, he elevated his play and the Mavericks disposed of the Blazers in six games and they were not done there.

In Round 2 the Mavs were again the underdogs against the Lakers, everyone’s favourite to reach the NBA final from the West but they quickly swept the Lakers in four games and moved on to handle the Thunder in the conference final. Throughout the playoffs, Nowitzki averaged 27.7 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game all while facing defences designed to shut him down.

In the NBA final, Nowitzki continued his outstanding play as the Mavericks beat the Heat in six games.

Nowitzki, who was named Finals MVP, will best be remembered for two things during the final series. First, hitting a back-breaking shot over Chris Bosh which allowed the Mavericks to complete a 20-2 run in Game 2 and kept them from being run off the floor in Miami.

Second, fans will also likely not forget seeing Ze Big German run off the floor after the Mavericks title win in Game 6 to hide his tears of joy from the cameras.

Runner-up: Had Wade’s Heat won the title it may have been a different story as he definitely outplayed his more-hyped teammate LeBron James in crunch time.

It feels like the NBA lockout ended four months ago rather than four weeks ago considering all that has transpired since it ended, but it is hard to argue its importance.

Fans were left helpless as they were left to watch a group of billionaire owners and millionaire players argue over how to split up millions and millions of dollars.

Games fell by the wayside as each side tried to win a public relations battle that was designed to put pressure on their foes. People on both sides of the labour war (David Stern, Paul Allen, Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher come to mind), saw their reputations stained by the ongoing battle.

The media leapt up in to full force every time there was a hint at another meeting between the players and owners but fans seemed to tune out the reports in great interest until the sides seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough.

After cancelling dozens of games it took the threat of the cancellation of the NBA’s Christmas showcase to get the owners to bend and a resolution was finally reached.

Who knows who won in the end? Last time we saw the cancellation of NBA games in 1998, the owners were widely declared the winners in the media but were left crying poor years later.

During the work stoppage, NBA fans huffed and puffed about how they would turn away from the game but once play began on Christmas Day they turned their TVs back on as the NBA saw record TV numbers.

Runner-up: The Chris Paul/Dwight Howard/Carmelo Anthony trade demands: The move of NBA stars to more glamourous locales continued in 2011 and shows no sign of slowing down.

His reputation was once held as a shining example for all sports commissioners on how to run a successful league but after an ugly lockout and an even uglier trade saga, David Stern’s reputation is tarnished.

Stern appeared many times to lose control of the owners he represented during the lockout which made his once-forceful grip upon the NBA appear to be slipping out of his control.

Stern made several “ultimatum” proposals toward the end of the lockout but the owners’ unwillingness to bend eventually led to the players decertifying the union and ultimately forced Stern’s side to give ground in order to get the season underway.

The NBA commissioner was also looked upon very poorly for the Chris Paul affair although I suspect that much of the noise made on that front is from the media rather than from NBA fans themselves.

This story began when the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets were forced to trade Chris Paul after the star said he would not re-sign with the team and wanted a change of scenery.

Hornets general manager Dell Demps began to shop the star point guard and eventually settled on a deal that would have seen the Hornets receive Lamar Odom, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Goran Dragic, the Rockets would have gotten Pau Gasol and the Lakers, Chris Paul.

But a number of team owners expressed dissatisfaction over the deal and Stern pulled the plug on it saying the trade did not give the Hornets enough youth in return.

A week later, Paul was on his way to Los Angeles’ other franchise, the Clippers, in a deal involving Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 2012 unprotected draft pick.

Now it is hard to argue that the Hornets didn’t do better in the second trade than in the first so I am not certain where many critics come off saying that Stern did the wrong thing for the league-owned franchise. Their main argument is the league’s conflict of interest; but doesn’t every GM ultimately have to answer to his owner?

The cries from the media over the nixed trade have rung loudly since Stern pulled the plug on the deal and this has ultimately led to Stern’s approval ratings falling even further.

Runner-up: From his Rookie of the Year award to his slam dunk contest title, Blake Griffin burst onto the scene like few others. Fans clamoured in hopes of seeing something spectacular when the Clippers were on the road.

1. Blake Griffin: Here are 10 spectacular dunks by Blake Griffin from last season although No. 3 would have to be considered his strongest of the year.

2. Derrick Rose: There were many great dunks last season but this trifecta from Bulls point guard Derrick Rose against the Miami Heat would have to be considered among the best, especially when you consider that they happened during the playoffs.

3. JaVale McGee: Many believed the Wizards centre should have taken home the top prize in the dunk contest.

For our gallery of some of the best dunks of last season click here.

There are many a great Ron Artest story out there if you take a quick spin around the world wide web. He once boarded a team bus full of Rockets sponsors in his underwear.

Artest also applied for a job at Best Buy when he was a rookie with the Bulls so he could get the employee discount.

This off-season Artest appeared on Dancing with the Stars and changed his name to Metta World Peace. The latter story wins for bizarre story of the year

Runner-up: Kris Humphries marriage to Kim Kardashian which lasted a grand total of 72 days. The wedding itself reportedly cost $10 million.

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