The 2023 NBA Finals do not directly relate to the future of USC basketball, in the sense that the outcome won’t have an effect on the Trojans’ upcoming season. The outcome won’t affect LeBron James’ future plans. It won’t therefore have an effect on Bronny James’ career trajectory. Andy Enfield won’t be in a better or worse position relative to his roster or the Pac-12 Conference due to anything which happens over the next fortnight. We can be clear about that.
However, there is certainly a lesson to be found here for USC basketball and its fans. There is meaning to be found in the matchup between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets. Enfield might be able to draw meaning from this turn of events and use it to fuel his team for the coming season.
The lesson provided by the Heat and the Nuggets is not a complicated one. This is a non-traditional finals matchup. It’s not Lakers-Celtics, the clash Adam Silver and ESPN/ABC wanted. You’re going to hear a lot about the television ratings and the national interest in this series. Some pundits are already saying the Nuggets have had the softest path to a championship in NBA history, which feels like a way to diminish this series before it even begins. (It also diminishes what the Heat have achieved, which is a separate but somewhat related topic.)
The big point, though, is that having a big brand name and an established national identity did not help any team make these finals. Being in a big market with the best-known players did not get these teams here.
Hmmm. That’s something USC basketball can identify with.
The Trojans can’t hold a candle to UCLA or Arizona in terms of national reputation or brand name in college basketball. UCLA is a blue blood. Arizona has been an established power for most of the past 40 years. USC doesn’t have the track record or the tradition or the mainstream visibility.
And? So what?
The Trojans can be in college hoops what the Nuggets and Heat have been this NBA season. The Nuggets got the top seed in the Western Conference; the Trojans can be the top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and a No. 2 seed in the West Region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans can be like the Heat by beating the Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, the teams which are regularly expected to win the Eastern Conference. UCLA and Arizona are regularly picked to win the Pac-12, but the past doesn’t mean the future has to be the same way. USC can change the script and thwart the conventional wisdom which — in the NBA — had every expectation that the Celtics and Bucks would play for the Eastern Conference championship, and that the Warriors, Lakers, or Kevin Durant Suns would win the West.
Some teams have the big brand name and a national presence, but that guarantees nothing. Miami and Denver have outplayed every opponent they faced in these playoffs. Media visibility didn’t help the Celtics or Lakers.
USC basketball — competing against Arizona and UCLA — can author the same story. Andy Enfield can absorb this truth as he watches the 2023 NBA Finals along with his Trojan players.
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