Mike Greenberg, in his capacity as host of ESPN's Get Up, has declared the era of the superteam in the NBA "totally and officially over."

The pronouncement was made on Tuesday's show as we gear up for the conference finals that feature four teams who do not qualify as superteams in the traditional sense—though reasonable minds could look into the New York Knicks' situation and walk away thinking they're sort of a superteam.

Lest anyone shed any tears over this demise, Greenberg explained why this is actually a reason for celebration.

"For too long, this league felt like a movie where you knew the ending before it began," he said.

"Suddenly now everything is different. For the first time in league history we're about to have our seventh different champion in a seven-year stretch."

All four teams left have not enjoyed much, if any, championship success in recent years. More fans are getting an opportunity to join the late-May party. And that does seem like a good thing.

But it's worth pushing back a bit on the idea that everyone knew who would be walking away with the title before the games were played during the superteams' reign. Those Golden State-Cleveland NBA Finals were incredible theater. The Miami Heat-San Antonio Spurs rivalry was intensely compelling. All offered their own surprises along the way.

No one is going to cry for the poor ol' superteams. Yet it's worth weighing the importance of having more franchises represented in the trophy room versus the intrigue that comes with a dynasty that must be challenged.

If sports has taught us anything, it's that these things tend to be cyclical and the superteam era could begin anew next season. It just takes deep pockets and an expensive plan coming together once to kickstart another round of copycats.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mike Greenberg Celebrates Death of Superteams in NBA.

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