205 Drop: Top 12 ways to improve the NBA Playoffs

Today's list over on 205 welcomes the return of the NBA playoffs, that 40-day crucible of entertainment where the expected happens, and yet demands viewing anyway. Beyond the snark on the site, I'm genuinely excited, if for no other reason than to see if anyone in the Association actually has the stones to stand up to the James Train.

What normally happens in the NBA Playoffs is that the team with the best player wins, mostly because hoops at the highest level involves getting lifelong alpha dogs (which is to say, every player on an NBA roster) to subvert their ego and do the grunt work. That includes giving up your own stats to devote all of your energy to stop the other team's key offensive player, run through or set picks against the same guys you've been running into for the better part of a week, take charges and get on the ground for loose balls and all of the other things that don't show up in a box score.

The way for the team with the lesser star to win is be less selfish about, well, everything. That also includes giving up your good reputation to thug it up (what, you think Bruce Bowen enjoys being hated?), if need be. But the problem with thugging James is similar to thugging Shaq in his prime; the man's just (much) more physical than the people trying to bring the wood. He's also been such a good teammate that when you try it, you better have teammates that have your back, because the Cleveland bigs are just waiting to prevent your crime.

That's why the Cavs are the presumed champion; they just don't give you much of an opening to overcome their advantages. But they aren't the champion (yet), and if the Celtics can get healthy in the long and easy opening round, they could take four out of seven using the same system they did last year -- having stars (especially Paul Pierce, but also Kevin Garnett) that are willing to play as role players. When the Celtics had to take Game 7 last year against James, it wasn't with Tony Allen, Leon Powe or the departed James Posey taking the train on; it was Pierce. My guess is that he'll try to do it again.

In the West, you get feel-good regular season stories like the Nuggets and Blazers against time-tested teams like the Spurs and Jazz, which should provide rooting interests for casual fans who are tired of the same-old same-old. It all seems like a sideshow to the Kobe Koronation, especially if the Lakers can work Andrew Bynum into effective minutes. There's also the possibility that a dark horse team (my favorite: the Hornets, though some people will get fooled into the eternal tease that is the Rockets) could go deeper than they should and make people forget that Kobe just has the horses this year.

But that's what the NBA Playoffs are: a relentless grind that almost always winds up with the best player holding the trophy. You watch to confirm what you know... and part of what you know is that the best basketball in the world is worth watching, no matter how predictable the outcome.