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How The NBA Is Changing Before Our Eyes

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Anyone else notice that the NBA has gone from a dog-eat-dog world to a place where best friends can trade stickers and trapper keepers?

Somewhere Michael Jordan is smiling.

We could be just hours away from LeBron-Bosh-Wade. Doesn't that bother anyone? Aside from LeBron possibly knifing Cleveland fans in the heart for an hour on national TV, doesn't this just seem wrong to anyone else?

What the hell is happening to the NBA?

Maybe the Heat can trade for Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony next. What an absolute joke.

What the hell happened to wanting to be the best? Wanting to dominate? Wanting to be "the man"? What does LeBron-Wade-Bosh prove? That bullies in sixth grade can beat the crap out of the second graders? Let us all stand and applaud.

You know what made Jordan great? Wanting to prove to every single person watching that not only was he the best player in the arena that night, but he was the best player they would ever lay eyes on.

You know what made Bird great? The same damn thing.

Kobe? He wants to stick it to every team that passed on him in the draft. He wants to shove it up Shaq's pooper that he is the better player and that HE was the reason the Lakers won all those championships.

But Wade-Bosh-LeBron? They seem to be content with all piling in the same tree house and joining together. Are you kidding me?

You think Michael Jordan would have liked for the Bulls to add Larry Bird? Over his dead body. Why? Because Jordan wanted to beat the best. Adding Bird would have made Jordan look like a ordinary player, not the greatest player I have ever seen. Same goes for Bird. They needed other great players to push them to become better. Not join their teams.

Chris Bosh has never, and will never, be the focal point of a championship team. I can understand why he is so willing to ride shotgun. But LeBron? That is the puzzling one. Maybe LeBron doesn't have the drive. Maybe he doesn't have that F-You level of competitiveness to just destroy everyone in his path. 

No one seems to mind. ESPN will love showing the Heat 48 times a season. ABC will have them on Christmas and every other prime time chance. Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley will laugh as the Heat run circles around lesser teams.

Myself, I will weep. Not because my favorite player left my favorite team. But because the NBA will have changed, possibly forever. No longer will we see Titans of the Game go toe-to-toe, instead we will see them team up in school yard beatdowns. As Woody Hayes said, "Nothing that comes easy in this world is worth a damn."

Micheal Jordan can rest easily. His crown will be safe. Scottie Pippen and Kevin McHale now have to worry. The only question left is: "LeBron, how does Dwayne Wade's ass taste?"

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.