...has officially lifted the Bill Walton curse. The Blazers WILL win another championship. That's all. Good night! /
Since 1980, no small market NBA team has won a championship that didn't have either 1) Tim Duncan, arguably the best PF in NBA history 2) LeBron James, arguably the best SF in NBA history So, unless Lillard becomes the best PG in NBA history, the "curse" will continue, I'm afraid.
How many large market teams have won without superstar talents? Detroit? Even though they did have the Wallaces, Prince, Billups, Hamilton that's a lot of talent too. I think the moral of the story is you can't win anymore w/o superstars (multiple).
Before the Warriors got their first they were a low level team in a tough bay mid size market. That city isn't known for big market attributes at all.
Only because the superstars of today are complete pussys compared to yesterday. Yesterday, they wanted to show each other up. Now they want to join forces and coast along.
@Boob-No-More or @BrianFromWA had a comprehensive list. Don't know where it's at now. We also have recent reports: LBJ went to a big market for zero basketball reasons - he just wanted to play in the biggest market of them all. Davis wants to follow him there (yes, Davis put Milwaukee on his list, too, because it's close to home). Bosh recently revealed he wanted to leave Toronto because they couldn't attract FAs. ...
Funny though that today the top of the east is Milwaukee and Toronto, ok none of us believe they can best GS. Even in the west though, Denver (they’re a pretty big market I think), OKC Portland all competitive. New York has been terrible for as long as I can remember. Absolutely understand what you’re saying and I actually sort of agree. Just think small-ish markets can be competitive and break through here and there, just only one teams gets to win every year and its hard for every market to do it without stars. It sucks that stars tend to find their way to bigger markets but teams can find a way to get stars.
It IS possible that a small market breaks through, but unlikely: Free Agency is against small markets. The League is against small markets. ESPN HATES small markets. Young Athlete Culture is against small markets. Endorsement opportunities are larger is large markets. and on and on. But yes, there is some hope. Paul George re-signed in OKC. Denver signed Paul Milsap.....
I understand Toronto is in Canada, but they’re a really big market too. Is it just the border that keeps guys from going there?
If you are talking Oakland then i could kind of agree but if you are talking Bay Area like including San Francisco you are mistaken.
Yeah, its tough for any small market in any industry. For most companies in small markets they usually work harder at cultivating business and/or developing niche business. The plus side is in some cases those smaller companies are better run and more creative, they can thrive and survive.
East Bay Oakland.... They hardly filled their area when the team was mediocre. Wasn't until the went on a run they started to gain band wagon fans, much like are in Portland.
