I'm a little perplexed by this...

...so I'll write a little post about it! Isn't that neat?

As with most ESPN roundtable discussions, there's plenty of silliness and weird opinions (if only they let Scoop participate), and I could probably make a whole post parsing the various bizarre proclamations regarding the future of the Spurs. But this one from Ric Bucher might be the strangest, bar none:

Sure, they haven't won back-to-back titles, but maybe that's a reflection of overall increased league parity more than the Spurs' being unworthy of entrance to Valhalla. In the five years since the Lakers' three-peat, seven different teams have been in the Finals. If the Lakers and Celtics advance, it will be nine different teams over a six-year span. From a cursory glance at the NBA Guide, I didn't see a five-year stretch that ever saw that much Finals turnover.

So now, we're talking 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The finals teams from those six seasons are as follows:

2003 - Spurs (1) and Nets (2)
2004 - Lakers (3) and Pistons (4)
2005 - Spurs and Pistons
2006 - Mavericks (5) and Heat (6)
2007 - Spurs and Cavaliers (7)
2008 - Lakers and Pistons/Celtics (8?)

So if the Celtics advance, that'd bring the total to eight different teams. But how the hell do the Lakers add to that total when they already appeared back in 2004? Am I missing something really obvious about his math here? I'm not even really try to make a joke; I just am honestly kinda perplexed that one of ESPN's top NBA analysts doesn't remember the Shaq/Kobe/Malone/Payton trainwreck, which was pretty much the actual equivalent of what so many people thought those star-studded early 00's Yankee teams were.

Also, Ric might want to take a slightly longer look at that NBA guide. Check out 1973-1978 (hey...that's exactly thirty years ago! SPOOKY!!!):

1973 - Lakers (1) and Knicks (2)
1974 - Bucks (3) and Celtics (4)
1975 - Warriors (5) and Bullets (6)
1976 - Suns (7) and Celtics
1977 - Trail Blazers (8) and 76ers (9)
1978 - SuperSonics (10) and Bullets

I think that means I win.

I mean, there is a reason why the 70's are known as the "Age of Parity" and the 00's are known as the "Age of Dear Lord do I fucking hate the Spurs and Pistons I'm sick of seeing them in the finals."

I'm just saying is all.