I am used to seeing lots and lots of articles where sports analysts complain that the league has been watered down by too many teams.

That’s why I was surprised to see an article the other day on why there aren’t enough teams in the NBA. As evidence of this, the writer supplied the names of young NBA players who were very good, but, as of the writing of the article, had still not found a team. Some of them were restricted free agents and others just didn’t have enough spots on their current team for them AND for the players drafted in the off-season. The writer also noted that there were several retired players looking to make a return to the NBA, taking up roster spots that might have been used by these unrestricted and restricted free agents.

The arguments were persuasive, but I have to say that I still think that there are enough NBA teams.

Are there too many, as some other sports writers have proposed. They cite the lack of strong rivalries because teams can’t play each other enough to develop those rivalries. They also cite the fact that many of the teams cannot compete with other teams because cap conditions and other factors force them to take players that normally would not have even been considered.

I think that’s rubbish. Teams are bad because they have been mismanaged, badly coached, have drafted poorly, or have not developed their talent properly. Small market San Antonio does just fine, and has for years. The Utah Jazz has been at .500 or higher for two decades, except for one year a few years back, and they have a terrible time attracting free agents and are one of the smallest markets in the NBA.

If we cut the league down to 24 teams, would the league be any better?

What if we cut the league down to 12 super-teams! Would that make it more entertaining?

That would certainly create 12 very talented teams from player 1 down to player 15, and injuries would be much less of a problem, but would that really improve the league?

I’m not so sure that superstars would really shine if we did that. Kobe Bryant scored 14 points in a U.S.A. victory the other night. Would we all be buying Kobe Bryant jerseys if he was averaging 14 points a game?!?

For one thing, Fantasy Basketball would certainly become obsolete overnight. I definitely can’t approve anything that would do that to me!

Doesn’t matter what people argue, though.

I think 30 teams is fine.

Cutting out teams that already exist isn’t going to make a better league. We have talented veterans trying to make come backs.

We have talented young players trying to develop into NBA All-Stars.

So what is the answer?

We have the NBDL now for players that aren’t quite good enough to make an NBA squad yet, but, with a little development, might be able to displace a current player on a roster. If the NBDL is used effectively, we have the means to make the rosters of all of the teams better.

We honestly have a chance, believe it or not, to have an East with 8 great teams in it!

I do think that there are many ways that we could make the NBDL more effective in developing that talent, including allowing almost any players (not just rookies and sophomores) to be sent down there, but I think those ideas deserve a future blog.

Suffice it to say that we have the right number of teams. We just have to develop the talent on those rosters and we have the means, if we use it correctly, of actually accomplishing that.