The 2022 NBA season was a return to normalcy in more ways than one. For the first time since 2019, the league played an 82-game season. And like 2019, the Golden State Warriors ended up being the class of the Western Conference and ultimately won the title. The Celtics were contenders in the East and made the conference finals, this time actually breaking through to the big show at the end before falling short.
Pace and Space chugged along, even though the site’s content dropped to weekly once my return to in-office work last fall officially put an end to any lingering thoughts of going back to freelance writing for me. I Great Resignation’d my way through a couple of temp gigs before landing in an accounts payable job that pays me $20,000 more a year than the job I had before the pandemic broke out. Moved into a real nice apartment in a much better neighborhood, too, so as I approach my 45th birthday next month, maybe “addicted to the hustle” doesn’t quite have the same appeal it had when I started this site way back in 2015.
That’s not to say I have any intention of leaving this site behind, far from it. As long as the NBA puts on a show and as long as there are hot takes to be written and statistical deep dives to be done, I’ll be writing about the show the league puts on.
Sometimes I’ll be horribly wrong. I thought the Warriors were going to ride off into a long, slow decline into Salary Cap Hell before finally doing a full rebuild back to relevance around 2023. Instead, the same core of guys who won the title in 2015 won it again seven years later, no Kevin Durant required.
I thought Andrew Wiggins‘ career was toast, an argument ever after to be made about whether he was the worst draft bust relative to salary earned in his career of all time.
Instead, Draymond Green whipped him into shape defensively, Steve Kerr cleaned up his offense, and Wiggins became a key piece on a title team and finally realized his potential.
Some players will continue to confound me and other analysts alike; looking at you, Russell Westbrook. Maybe the Lakers should try and trade him to Portland. He’d fit right in with that weird-AF city on and off the basketball court. Keep Portland Weird, NBA. Make this happen.
The Pacers were terrible last season, which at least took some of the bite off of my frequent “had to miss the game because I worked late or got stuck in traffic on the way home” situations. Their home games tip off at 4:00 West Coast time and I get home at 5 on a good day. Not last night, though; I got home at 9:30 after working a 13-hour day being the big damn hero on a project. I told you guys, my job has eaten my life.
I’m hoping to rejigger my schedule if the Pacers get good again. Wonder how the boss would feel about me coming in at 6 AM so I can be home by 3.
Stats-wise, we’ve had about 40,000 reads since the last time I checked in last July, so traffic’s down a bit. But then again, I’m not really all that surprised—the think pieces flow like Frank Herbert’s spice about how old-school traditional blogging is dead or dying or just plain not as relevant in the age of polished audio and video content from complete amateurs, and for sure I’d get more traction if I just went full Secret Base and did NBA videos on YouTube.
But that’s Seth Rosenthal’s job. I’m a writer with a hobby and an occasional hour to kill on the weekend.
The point of all this is that I’m looking forward to picking this back up ahead of next season. I don’t write much in the summer. I like to let my other interests have their own season, the way baseball fills the gap between the Finals and Opening Day in the NBA. I’m playing video games and hiking along the river and cooking the fresh produce I get from the farmers’ market right outside my building’s front door and across the nearby park.
That’s not to say I won’t write anything between now and September, only that I’m more likely to do so only when something’s truly burning a hole in my brain and I have to put thought to it.
Of course, in the run-up to the season I’ll be writing far more frequently. After all, I enjoyed writing about every NBA team’s best season of all time. So why not, in the spirit of Indiana’s disaster movie last year, look at what all 30 franchises are going to hope to avoid?
That’s right. I’ll be back in September with “Every NBA Team’s Worst Season.” And I’ll probably have something for you guys (and gals, and any variation you may identify as if you’re a transgender or nonbinary reader) between now and then.
Until then, stay tuned and thanks for reading!
