This Cavs-Warriors Rivalry Is Going the Way of WWE’s Attitude Era

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The Cavaliers have looked into acquiring Paul George and Jimmy Butler. Which one is a better fit?

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This is nuts. This is what it takes to win in the NBA these days. We are smack dab in the middle of the era of the “super team.” The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors are the standard bearers for this trend.

It’s been, what? 10 years since Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce teamed up in Boston? Since then, it’s been all about a “big three,” and parity has been scarce. For three years now, we’ve had the same NBA Finals match up. Before that, we had back-to-back Miami Heat-San Antonio Spurs Finals, which was apart of a greater run of four straight Finals appearances for the Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Dwayne Wade-led Heat.

And, that trend’s not going anywhere as long as this kind of stuff keeps popping up. Kevin Durant goes to the Warriors…so now Cleveland is looking to add a couple more pieces to keep up for Round 4 next Spring.

I’m sitting here reading about how Jimmy Butler and Paul George could become Cavs next season, and I can’t help but think, “this is like the WWE’s Attitude Era.”

First of all, this James and Draymond Green beef is straight out of the WWE playbook. Both are cutting electric promos on each other, though I will say, James took it to a weird place by shaving his head bald the day of the Warriors parade.

But, think about it – back then, wrestlers were going to great lengths to stand out and entertain the fans. Mick Foley was diving off cages, Sable was exposing body painted breasts on television, and all of the hardcore wrestling brought blood, guts, and gratuitous violence to our living rooms.

Nowadays, NBA teams are going to great lengths to win championships.

That style is not sustainable. Eventually, the bar was raised so high that the talent was either going to have to legitimately murder someone or air hardcore porn on pay-per-view to top what they did last month.

It’s like Kevin Durant joined The Corporation and now, D-Generation X is trying to recruit Butler/George.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s definitely an effective strategy to win a championship. If you have all of the best players, you’re more likely to have the best team. But, I just wonder how long the NBA can hold the public’s attention with only a small handful of teams having a realistic chance of winning the title.

How do the other teams top this? It’s like peak Austin-McMahon or Rock-Austin….Warriors-Cavs….the rivalry of a generation. And, maybe this is just me being out of touch with the reasons people enjoy the NBA, but I think it’s probably bad for the organization. I know I, personally, skipped the entirety of the NBA season. I watched…maybe two…Memphis Grizzlies games, but it all felt futile.

We all knew it was going to be Cavs-Warriors III, so what was the point? Eventually, the NBA is going to be looking around for its John Cena. Some team that can pull it out of its post-super-team-era slump.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley@WrestlingNewsCo

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