The Warriors are an embodiment of the NBAs twisted ring culture [View all]
There were two commercials during and after the last game of the NBA Finals that captured the culture of the league. First up was Dr. J giving a soliloquy: “The Finals. We’re talking about the ultimate stage. You will see men of remarkable presence. They will test your belief and put time and gravity on hold. But all that elegance. All that style. None of it really matters if you don’t win, because when it’s over: you either have a ring or you don’t.”
The other was a Nike ad that dropped right after the Warriors won and Kevin Durant was named Finals MVP. It’s titled “Debate This” and features a roundtable of critics disparaging Durant as clips from his career play on several screens. It ends with criticism of his move to Golden State, and then silence when it’s announced that Durant is an NBA champion.
The Nike ad misreads the criticisms about Durant’s move in a way that positions a Finals win as justification for it. Really, the anger was over the fact that he went to the best team in the league and skewed things so far in its favor that Golden State almost swept the defending champions. That Durant would win a ring was expected before the first game of the season, which is part of the disdain for the move. The debates won’t stop because he fulfilled that goal.
Both ads exemplify a problem that fans now face. If people are angry that Durant went to the best team and won a ring in relatively easy fashion, then they only have themselves to blame. These Warriors are the embodiment of rings culture. The ultimate goal of every team is to win a title, and adding Durant to a historically great team makes that process as straightforward as possible.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/6/13/15792404/warriors-kevin-durant-2017-nba-finals-rings-culture
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