Wait... the NBA Finals are Over?

It feels like only yesterday that Dirk closed out Game 6 and thwarted Miami's hopes to fulfill their "destinies" of a second championship celebration in 11 months.  Well it wasn't yesterday but it wasn't last month either.  And now, less than two weeks later the Prudential Center will hold the 2011 NBA Draft.  The NFL Draft is the Draft that all other Drafts aspire to be.  It gets prime time coverage and viewership for three days.  It's a bigger spectacle than virtually every NBA regular season game. 

So why isn't the NBA Draft as popular?  (Other than the obvious fact that no other sport's popularity can match the NFL's)  The NBA doesn't leave the media enough time to build up any hype for it.  Any major sporting championship hogs the coverage for at least one week after the final game.  That leaves the NBA less than one week to hype the biggest nights of their off-season, you can hardly plan a fantasy draft in one week.  In addition to the short turn around, a quarter of the talent are from overseas.  No casual fan has ever seen Jonas Valanciunas play in a real game.  It's nearly impossible to promote players no one has ever "witnessed." 

That being said, with a lock-out looming this will be our last taste of NBA basketball for who knows how long.  I don't predict it'll be very long despite rumors that their CBA is by far more befuddled than the NFL's. The NBA has everything to lose, their popularity may never be higher.  The league as a whole would be absolute fools to allow this to have any effect on the 2011-2012 season.  So common NBA, let cooler heads prevail.