NBA Stars Losing Their Shine

The playoffs this year has really taken the bright shine off the silver spoons that everyone thought they were born with. From Kyrie Irving to James Harden, the NBA playoffs have proven once again that the shiny stats of the regular season are worthless in the long run. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane when free agency was in full blown rock star mode and every major star was being wooed by NBA front offices with billboards, banners and videos in Times Square. Among the list of top NBA talent that everybody not named Bozo was cuckoo for cocoa puffs over, included Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler and Carmelo Anthony. The Bozo’s are going to establish current value of these once prized sterling silver collection of stars that are rapidly losing their shine.

Russell Westbrook: The MVP from just two years ago is looking like a runaway train with the track about to end at a cliff. Bobble heads fall in love with his triple doubles, his consecutive games with this stat or that stat and when it counts the most, he can’t get out of the 1st round. More importantly, his shooting percentage is in the mid 30’s in the playoffs, but that didn’t stop him from heaving 30.8 shots a game three years ago, 26 last year and almost 23 this year. He is World B. Free at this stage in his career. He is Matt Stafford of the NBA, big stats and no chance to win it all.

James Harden: Ironically Russell’s former teammate is rapidly joining his former running mate with huge stats, 25 games with 30 or more points, an MVP and not getting past the 2nd round of the playoffs. Like Westbrook, most of his teammates hang around knowing they will not get the ball and just wait for him to shoot and flop to the floor like a salmon in a fish market. How many more years will we have to hear the Rockets beat the Warriors 3-1 in the regular season only to see them get smacked down again in post season? He is Carmelo Anthony with a job at this point.

Chris Paul: For this Bozo, the shine has REALLY come off of this guy the last few years. There is always an excuse, an injury, a reason why he can’t win. I actually don’t think he is even a top ten all time NBA point guard. All the other guys in my list have at least won a title or at the very least played for one. CP3 still can’t get by the warriors and it’s time to admit… he is over rated. His Wake Forest team, Clipper team and now Rocket teams all under perform. He is a nice player if you want to win 55 games and get bounced year after year for 10 years. He is not even one of the top five PGs in the NBA right now and Steph Curry uses him year after year like a rag doll. Perhaps it’s time to admit he is not as good as advertised. He is basically Mark Jackson of the Knicks and Pacers glory. Great stats, and no titles or trips to finals.

Kyrie Irving: Let’s be honest, his shine hit new heights when he hit the dagger in the finals against the Warriors three years ago. Since then he has been Uncle Drew, believes the world is flat, doesn’t get along with his teammates and just hangs out throwing up shots and under performing in the playoffs. He has proven he is not “Da Man” as he wanted to be when he left LeBron and might have to go join Bron in LA to salvage what once was a shining star. At his point he is Allen Iverson who actually goes to practice. A Little guy, lots of shots, one winning year.

Jimmy Butler: Jimmy is proving once and for all that he is a good player, but he is no superstar. He couldn’t win in Chicago when Rose got injured. Couldn’t win in Minnesota as their leader and now can only get to the 2nd round and lose yet again. This Sixers team was loaded and yet Jimmy proved once again he (like Kyrie) is best as a 2nd fiddle not the main man. Rumors are that he will jump to NY or LA and be given a huge contract. Buyer Beware. Butler is the modern day version of Jimmy Jackson. He was great with Kidd and Mashburn but was lost without them.

Carmelo Anthony: For years Mellow Yellow labored under the belief that you should only shoot the ball as soon as you get it. Standing on the corner holding the ball and taking 28 shots and hitting 10 resulted in 24 ppg and people called him a star. These days, you can hire Melo for a veteran minimum contract and a pack of smokes. After being cut twice, no team wants this ball stopping ‘star’ on their team.

Perhaps this off season teams will take a much closer look at these players coming into free agency and decide to develop with the draft instead. Because tying up your teams net cap so you can lose early in the playoffs is not worth it. They are no longer shiny stars, just tarnished overrated wanna be stars created by media.

-BSB