Column: Contraction still the answer for crowded, imbalanced NBA

There’s been a lot of criticism of the New Orleans Hornets’ name change, effective next season.

I’ll take it one step further and say forget about the name change — get rid of the franchise.

The NBA is crowded. It’s not a secret. But instead of doing anything about it, Commissioner David Stern has decided to keep a relatively unpopular team in a struggling city.

And I don’t just hope the Pelicans never take flight, but I would like to see the Bobcats fold as well.

Believe me, I have nothing against these two teams. I feel that the best interest of the NBA is to contract, and someone has to go.

The reasons I think it has to be New Orleans and Charlotte are because they are in opposite conferences, struggling in attendance and overall failing franchises.

The truth is, I don’t mind if the NBA cuts down from 30 to 24 teams.

The league needs contraction. There are too many mediocre teams and players in the NBA.

Think back to when there were about 16 teams in the league, and super teams were common.

Every team had multiple star players, and the average players could only hope to sit on the bench.

Today, you still see super teams. You also see teams that have nothing.
Kemba Walker is the Bobcat’s star player.

Don’t get me wrong. Walker is a very good player, but consider an average team like the Trail Blazers. Walker wouldn’t start on that team and would be their fourth-best player.

Now imagine if six teams were to drop out of the league. For argument’s sake, we’ll say the Hornets, Bobcats, Bucks, Timberwolves, Cavaliers and Kings were all nixed from the NBA.

You’d see many more star combinations with scenarios like Kevin Love playing with James Harden in Houston and Kyrie Irving teaming up with Al Jefferson in Utah.
Imagine if teams like that were the worst teams in basketball.

The level of competition and high level of play in every game would be a win for the league and the fans.

And think about free agency.

When LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Rudy Gay and Dirk Nowitzki were all free agents in 2010, there were only a few teams in play for all of them.

Those teams were all big market teams.

LeBron left a small market in Cleveland because the team couldn’t win a
championship.

The small market teams always have that problem.

Orlando had to trade Dwight Howard, and Toronto has had to trade stars like Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, and then Chris Bosh left for Miami.

The fact is that big name players don’t want to play in small markets — unless they’re winners.

Usually, they aren’t.

The recent championship winners include the Heat, Mavericks, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs and Pistons.

Since 1999, these are the teams that have lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Only San Antonio can be considered a small market team, and even then they’ve won the title four times in the last 14 years.

It would be a shame to lose some fan bases, but the best solution for the NBA remains contraction.