Kobe had it all, but he couldn’t bear to share the spotlight with the man who made it possible -- Shaq -– and was forced him to Miami, where the big man proved his value last year when paired with Wade.

And if your greatest players aren’t fighting each other for titles, who really cares how many points they score or how many times they dunk? It’s not as if there’s any great drama in a dunk, not like there is in a home run. When Ryan Howard steps to the plate, the battle between him and the pitcher is a mini-drama whose outcome you don’t know. When Kobe goes to the hoop on a fast-break, there’s no drama at all.

And there’s too much of that in today’s NBA games, most of which are unwatchable by any but the most devoted fans. Watch the Olympics or a major international championship -– heck, watch a college game -– and you’ll see actual basketball with picks and passes and defense and everybody involved. Watch the NBA and it’s all about clearing out and going one-on-one. These guys are the most talented players in the world, but if they can’t beat Argentina, there’s something wrong with the game they’re playing.

Special report NBA set with this wave of young talent

Once upon a time, there were great players on great teams. Today, there are great players who are great profit centers. People who were fans of teams are fans of individuals, and when that’s the case, it’s hard to recapture what you once had.

The NBA fostered all of this, of course. It bought into the cult of personality and the happening culture that followed the new breed into the game.

And now it’s discovering that wasn’t the best way to go. That happening culture brought to Las Vegas the same crowd that used to follow Mike Tyson around, inflicting another black eye on the league’s reputation.

The game’s defenders keep saying there’s nothing wrong with a great league, but if that were true, all we’d be talking about right now would be the race to get in the playoffs. But we’re not, and that’s not our fault, it’s the game’s.

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