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A couple years ago, we watched George Karl’s Denver Nuggets win a franchise record 57 games. The Pepsi Center was rockin’ every night, they were playing a great brand of team ball and we all debated how far the team could go in the playoffs.
Plenty of people were saying, “They could get to the NBA Finals! Contend for the title!”
Nope. That’s not how this league works.
If you don’t have a gaggle of all-stars or a superstar, you have no shot. None.
And don’t tell me about the 2003-2004 Detroit Pistons. No, they didn’t have that <em>one</em> guy, that superstar. But they did have the defensive player of the year in Ben Wallace, a borderline Hall of Famer in Chauncey Billups — a guy, by the way, with the nickname “Mr. Big Shot” — and a host of other players with impressive resumes, like Rasheed Wallace — with four all-star game appearances — Richard Hamilton — three all-star games — and Tayshaun Prince, four times on the NBA All-Defensive team.
That team was full of stars of one type or another. And they had toughness — especially on the defensive end. Oh, and they had a Hall of Fame coach in Larry Brown.
And now, let’s look at what happened in the NBA playoffs this last week. The Clippers, Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers all won games with last second shots. And who made those shots? In order of the teams I just mentioned, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Derrick Rose and Lebron James.
See where I’m going here? All-stars. Perpetual MVP candidates. Future Hall of Famers. That’s how you win in this league. If you wanna still believe your NBA team can win playing “unselfish, good team ball — you don’t need stars, that’s a fallacy,” well, you’re being foolish.
That Nuggets team that won 57 games? Nice team. Unselfish. Ran the court well. But not tough. And not a superstar in sight. No one guy you could rely on to take over a game, take the team on his shoulders, take the last second, game-winning shot. Nope. And consequently, no chance to win an NBA title.
They didn’t even make it out of the first round. At the time, George Karl said, “We can do this. We can win this way. We don’t need no stinkin’ stars.”
Honestly, what was he supposed to say? That was his team — the cards he was dealt. He wasn’t going to say, “We have no hope to win anything.” He had to say what he said. I don’t think he really believed it. And you shouldn’t either. Because that’s not the way this league works.
Study the history. You need two to three all-stars to have a shot at winning a title. And it helps if one of those guys is a “superstar.” Every team that’s won an NBA title has had that makeup. Every single one. Michael, Magic, Larry, Kareem, Shaq, Kobe, Lebron. You must have one of those, and two is better.
And if you have three, you’re sitting pretty. Otherwise, you’re just a nice team that wins a lot of regular season games and not much else.
