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Post by Miege22 on Aug 13, 2018 16:29:46 GMT -5
Reading through the discussion of Memphis' team, and how it came to be, gave me an idea. An idea that I though might be interesting and spur some lively discussion. Seeing as how this will be the 10th season of our league (can you guys believe that? Incredible...), I thought it would be fun to take a look back and figure out just who the greatest team in league history really is. Now, before I start, here's my criteria:
1. WINNING MATTERS
When it comes to comparing individuals, it's easier to give less weight to team accomplishments. However, we're talking greatest TEAMS of all-time, and, at the end of the day, winning matters the most. With that in mind, our 9 champions are all in the final conversation.
2. CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Were they a team that got hot at the right time? Or did they come to play every single week? While winning a title is the ultimate goal of every team, just how good a team was on a weekly basis is a key factor in determining the best of the best.
3. WHAT WAS THE COMPETITION LIKE?
As we're all well aware, this league has gone through a dramatic shift in power dynamics. When things started, the balance of power very much rested in the East. However, look at the landscape of the league today, and it's quite obvious the best teams reside in the West. As we start to reach the top of the mountain, who these teams had to get through to reach the top becomes even more important.
4. WHAT WERE THE STAKES?
A vital, but often overlooked component of greatness is the context in which that greatness was achieved. How was the team viewed as they entered the season? Were they expected to be a contender, or did they come out of nowhere? How did their previous season end, and just how important was it to win it all?
5. THE 'IT' FACTOR
Last, but certainly not least, how was this team viewed in the moment, and how will they be remembered? Was there any sense at all that they could be beaten? Did they ever give an opponent any hope whatsoever? What was their star power like? Stars may not always win a team championships, but they help differentiate the good from the great.
So how many teams are going to be ranked? Well, I'm going to go with 16. Our 9 champions will automatically be ranked, and 7 non-champions will be a part of this group. Everyone will be considered, but only teams that make the playoffs will TRULY be considered. I may post them all now, I may post them as I get time. Debate and conversation is HIGHLY encouraged.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 13, 2018 19:26:27 GMT -5
16. 2014 Orlando Magic (14-2): South Division Champs, Conference Finalist In the strike-shortened, and oft-forgotten 2012 season, the Orlando Magic burst onto the scene as the surprise South Division winners at 8-2. It had been a couple years in the making as Orlando steadily improved from 2-18 in year one to 9-9 in year two. With the massive improvement in 2012, the league prepared for Orlando to become a regular playoff fixture... and nothing happened. The Magic struggled to 9-7 in 2013, and the chance to capitalize on their momentum appeared gone. However, as fate would have it, the Magic's window was kicked wide open thanks to two things: Kyle Lowry's massive improvement, and South stalwart Tampa Bay going in the tank. The Magic may not have had star power, but what they did have was incredible depth. Goran Dragic and the aforementioned Kyle Lowry formed a two-headed monster at point guard. Marcin Gortat and David Lee were double-double machines, and pre-achilles injury Wes Matthews was holding down the fort on the wing. The Magic also benefited from breakout years by Alec Burks, Markieff Morris and Jared Sullinger, as well as the surprise late season charge by rookie Tim Hardaway Jr.
All of this helped the Magic sprint out of the gates to an 8-0 record, and cement themselves as the team to beat in the South Division. Of course, this was the loaded Eastern Conference, and the Magic were pushed every step of the way by the Atlanta Hawks, who finished 13-3. In the playoffs, the Magic defeated their division rival, Atlanta, to set up a conference finals match-up with the undefeated Brooklyn Nets. The Magic put up a solid fight, but Brooklyn cruised in the end. To this day, it remains the best team in Orlando Magic history. The Magic would return mostly the same team the following season, but they would fall just short of the playoffs and wouldn't make it back until the 17-18 season.
Bonus points for... Competing in one of the tougher conferences in league history. The Magic had to compete against the undefeated defending champion Brooklyn Nets, a 13-3 Hawks team featuring LeBron James, a Raptors team with DeMarcus Cousins, and a Rockets team with Steph Curry.
Held back by... a lack of star power. The Magic were the ultimate definition of the word TEAM, but a roster full of secondary stars doesn't always strike fear into the opponent.
Did you know...? The Magic actually had two big names at the end of their bench, rookies CJ McCollum and Rudy Gobert, neither of which would make much of a dent in their first season.
15. 2010 Utah Jazz (19-1): Pacific Division Champs, Conference Finalist The inaugural season of the league was essentially a free for all after teams designated two franchise players. The Jazz elected to keep Deron Williams, still in the prime of his career, and Mehmet Okur. With two solid fantasy players on board, the Jazz decided to fill out the rest of the roster with veteran talent they could count on. This included names like Tim Duncan, Shawn Marion, Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor and Raymond Felton. Buoyed by all this veteran talent, the Jazz dominated the Western Conference, finishing 19-1. At the time, their only competition was the Cleveland Cavaliers (18-2). The rest of the conference was filled with middling teams, many of whom would change owners (some multiple times over).
In the end, the Jazz would fall to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Western Conference Finals. Back in this phase of the league, each playoff match-up lasted just one week, so who knows if the Jazz would have been able to make the finals in a two-week match-up. What this did set up was the Jazz's dominance of the Western Conference. The Jazz would follow up their inaugural season with records of 16-2, 9-1, 16-0 and 14-2. It would also include three straight trips to the NBA Finals, and one of those teams will likely show up on this list. But it was this first edition that proved to be one of the best.
Bonus points for... kicking off the league with a plan and seeing that plan through. It should come as no surprise that the league's most successful franchises started things off by finishing near the top. Nor is it a surprise that continuity matters.
Held back by... the Western Conference just wasn't very good. The third best team in the conference finished a full 6 games behind 2nd place Cleveland. With the extremely unbalanced schedule in the league's infancy, Utah feasted on their fair share of cupcakes.
Did you know...? Remember the dynamic duo that led Utah to this 19-1 record, Tim Duncan and Deron Williams? Both were moved in the off-season right before seeing a drop-off in production. As always, timing is everything.
14. 2018 Houston Rockets (13-3): Midwest Division Runner-Up, Playoff Appearance I may be giving a little bit away about this list, but it just goes to show you how insanely good the 2018 Western Conference really was. The Houston Rockets finished tied for second with the Portland Trailblazers, but they lost the tiebreaker and finished third. Yet they also played nearly the entire season without Kawhi Leonard. One can wonder what may have been had he been healthy, but that's not the purpose of this list. The Houston Rockets were coming off back-to-back finals appearances and were defending champions coming into the 2018 season. If not for injuries to Jabari Parker and Kawhi Leonard, the Rockets likely would have been the favorites to defend their crown. With those two out, they came in slightly behind Memphis, but a second title would not be surprising.
Of course, with those two out, the door felt slightly ajar, and an early season lost to Seattle only gave off "this season is different" vibes. Houston would regroup following a loss to Memphis, dropping to 4-2, to win 9 of 10 and finish at 13-3. Houston was led by Steph Curry and Nikola Jokic, and Jokic really came into his own putting up numbers in every category. The star power on this team was off the charts, but it wasn't quite enough to deal with the depth of the Portland Trailblazers, the eventual Western Conference Champion. Houston may not have been able to defend their title, but not many teams do, and they put up one heck of an effort despite missing one of their two best players for the entire season.
Bonus points for... I mean, just look at the competition here. Memphis was undefeated, Portland won the conference, Utah went 10-6 and made the playoffs for the 9th straight time. Golden State, a playoff team the previous year, finished 9-7. The West was a dogfight week in and week out.
Held back by... lack of postseason accomplishments and injuries. The Rockets didn't win a postseason match-up, which really limits the ceiling here on their greatness. And, as pointed out in the synopsis above, not having Kawhi Leonard poses a very big "what if?"
Did you know...? Nikola Jokic was signed just before the start of the season in 2015 almost as an afterthought. The Rockets gave him a minimum deal, no one upped the ante, and by 2017-18 he was arguably the most valuable player in the league based on his salary.
Director's Cut - Rockets' owner, Moltreszwarriors, on the 2018 Rockets: "The injuries to Kawhi and Parker made it hard to compete with Portland in the playoffs. I think that despite the one championship in the three-year stretch, the 2016-2018 Rockets (and hopefully 2019 as well) should be remembered as the among the best teams, if not the best, in the history in the league. At the very least as the team with the most-ever star power."
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Post by fernans (MIAMI HEAT) on Aug 14, 2018 11:54:58 GMT -5
So good. Looking forward to the rest of the list.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 14, 2018 17:10:13 GMT -5
13. 2011 Brooklyn Nets (17-1): Atlantic Division Champs, Lost in Finals Coming off a shocking semi-final loss at the hands of the Charlotte Bobcats (now the Colorado Swannies), the 2010-11 Brooklyn Nets entered the season looking for redemption. The early exit sent shock waves through the organization, prompting a wild sequence of events that resulted in 10 trades. They traded Kobe Bryant and Tony Parker for Monta Ellis, Jason Terry, Ricky Rubio and the 11th pick to kick off the summer, then proceeded to move Terry, Rubio and #11 in three separate deals in the following weeks. They traded for Brandon Roy, then flipped Brandon Roy for Iguodala and a 2011 pick, then flipped Iguodala for a package including Eric Gordon and Ty Lawson. It was an absolutely dizzying summer that at times made little sense, but the results spoke for themselves as the Nets finished first in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row, at 17-1.
Kevin Durant was the MVP of the league, his 2nd in what would be a string of 5 straight MVPs. Monta Ellis turned in the best year of his career. Steve Nash was still putting up double-doubles while shooting 49/39/91. Eric Gordon broke out, and Al Jefferson played in every single game for only the 2nd time in his career. Everything seemed to be coming together for the Nets, and, after getting past Toronto in the semi-finals, then defeating the defending champion Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals, a title looked to be theirs for the taking. The Nets and Thunder battled all the way to the final day, with Brooklyn taking the lead. But in the last 24 hours, the Thunder managed to flip four categories and claim the championship. After such a dominant season, it was somehow an even tougher pill to swallow than the previous year. Little did they know, this wouldn't be the last heartbreak testing their resolve.
Bonus points for... being flat out interesting. So often when a team wins a title or comes close, the natural inclination is to run it back. Not these Nets. Brooklyn traded for, and subsequently traded out, 8 players/picks before the summer of 2010 ended.
Held back by... playoff upsets. The Nets beating the defending Eastern Conference Champion with a trip to the Finals on the line is a great story line, but the world was waiting for a Nets-Bull Sharks rematch. Both teams finished 17-1 and were the clear favorites in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta's stunning 5-4 upset robbed the Nets of a heavyweight opponent.
Did you know...? The Kobe Bryant/Tony Parker trade that kicked off the 2010 summer is STILL ACTIVE through next season. In that trade, the Nets received Ricky Rubio. Rubio was traded later that summer for a package that included the 2012 Portland pick. The Nets used that pick on Thomas Robinson, then traded him mid-season for Chris Paul. In December of 2015, Paul was traded to Atlanta in exchange for Rajon Rondo and Dirk Nowitzki. The Nets then moved Rondo in the middle of the 2016-17 season for Minnesota's 2019 pick which Brooklyn still owns.
12. 2018 Portland Trailblazers (13-3): Pacific Division Champs, Lost in Finals In March of 2018, the Portland Trailblazers accomplished something very few people thought could be accomplished: they defeated the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis came into the Western Conference Finals at 16-0, and they'd won 31 of their last 32 regular season match-ups. However, the Blazers held on by the skin of their teeth on the final day to complete the upset and cap off one of the more remarkable three-year runs the league has ever seen. To fully appreciate just how unique this run was, we have to go back to 2016 when it all started.
It's December 2016. The Portland Trailblazers sit 5-2 and look like surefire contenders in the Western Conference. It's a great start considering they were coming off a rather disappointing 8-8 season, but Portland is concerned about their depth and considering a big move. Then in week 8, it happens. The Blazers trade star power forward, Blake Griffin, and emerging center, Hassan Whiteside for Reggie Jackson, DeAndre Jordan and Robert Covington. It's a gutsy move that welcomed plenty of criticism, but it pays major dividends. The Blazers finished the season winning 8 of their last 9 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals where they fell to the Rockets. There was a lot of excitement in Portland, as people were ready to watch them challenge Houston the following season. Unfortunately for Portland, they didn't just get bit by the injury bug; they were hit with the injury plague. Half the roster missed multiple weeks, and the bottom fell out. The Blazers went from 13-3 to 3-13 in the course of one season.
Seeing as how it was simply bad luck that did in the 2017 Blazers, it was no real surprise to see the 2018 version back in the title hunt. Much like the team they lost the finals to, the Brooklyn Nets, the Blazers entered the season as something of a swing team. They were capable of being really good, they just needed injury luck and some internal improvements. They received both, then went out and brought in major in-season upgrades in the form of Eric Gordon, Goran Dragic and Rajon Rondo. The Blazers ended the season 13-3, improving by 10 games. Somehow, in three years, the Blazers went from 13-3 to 3-13 and back to 13-3. It was an incredible run, and the 2018 team cracks the top-16 teams at number 12.
Bonus points for... trusting the process. When most teams enter a season with high expectations only to fall flat on their face, conventional wisdom suggests a complete tear down. The Blazers refused to go into rebuild mode, instead cashing in on assets to land DeMar DeRozan, Thaddeus Young and Bobby Portis in the summer of 2017. When most teams would zig, the Blazers zagged and reaped the rewards.
Held back by... the greatest individual run in postseason history. Portland was banged up in the Finals, but the trophy was their's for the taking, as the Brooklyn Nets were severely hampered by injuries. However, they ran into LeBron James in the midst of the finest fantasy playoffs in his career.
Did you know...? Portland's 10-win improvement is tied for the best turnaround in league history. The team they're tied with will appear on this list later. Their 20-game swing from 2016 to 2018 is the largest such swing in league history.
Director's Cut - "My single most important GM move has been when I signed Draymond Green back in 2014- he's a stat stuffer and the centerpiece of this organization. That has allowed me to focus on specialists and depth to round out the roster, and the 2018 Portland team in my opinion was one of the most complete, well rounded teams assembled in league history. I can't help but look back at the 2017 offseason when I had the opportunity to bring in Oladipo with DeRozan if I would have added Winslow and the 11th pick to the deal instead of Aminu- huge missed opportunity that will haunt Portland."
11. 2013 Utah Jazz (16-0): Pacific Division Champs, Lost in Finals Despite the league being only three years old, there had been no shortage of great teams. All told, 6 teams had gone through the regular season with just one blemish, including the 2010 version of the Jazz who clocked in at #15. And yet, while perfection had been oh so close for 6 different teams, no one could have predicted it would happen in year 4. Even fewer would have predicted this Utah Jazz team to become the first in league history to achieve it. But that's exactly what happened in the 2012-13 season.
Looking at this team in hindsight, one would wonder why it would be outlandish to think they couldn't go undefeated. After all, Utah had already gone 19-1, 16-2, and 9-1 in the first three years in the league, and they were coming off their first Finals appearance. However, in the summer of 2012, the Jazz made a seismic move: they traded LeBron James. In exchange for James, Tony Parker and Emeka Okafor, they welcomed back Deron Williams and received big men Al Horford and Marc Gasol. While Williams wasn't quite his 2010 self, Marc Gasol and Al Horford were all-around monsters. Toss in second-year Kenneth Faried putting up double-doubles, and solid seasons from Jamal Crawford, Kyle Korver, Wes Matthew and Raymond Felton, and the Western Conference was simply no match. Utah rolled through their entire schedule, then cruised past the Thunder and Kings in the playoffs. The Jazz would fall to the Brooklyn Nets in the Finals, but their 16-0 run shattered the unbeaten glass ceiling, and it set the stage for the following season.
Bonus points for... taking a risk. Not many teams would be willing to move the best fantasy player in the game. Even fewer would be willing to trade him following a Finals appearance. And I can't imagine any team would trade him along with a point guard like Tony Parker. But they took a swing on Al Horford and Marc Gasol and hit a home run.
Held back by... this conference was a wreck. Both Kansas City and Las Vegas finished 12-4, and no other team finished above .500. By the time the playoffs rolled around, both the Kings and Gamblers fell apart due to injuries. You can't take anything away from 16-0, but it could have been even more impressive with one other team pushing them step for step.
Did you know...? In the 9 years of this league, 15 players have made at least 3 Finals. The first player to accomplish this? Anthony Morrow on this Jazz team. Morrow won a championship with the Hawks in 2010, then played on both the 2012 and 2013 Jazz teams that made the Finals.
Director's Cut - Razorbacks on how he builds his teams: "How I started with the 2010 team until now is I try to have 3-4 All-Star calibre players that compliment each other with all round stats, then build around them with proven / veteran players whose abilities (whether its in 1 stat or multiple stats) make my team strong & consistent in every stat (though I know I will rarely win FG% & TO's). I actually don't construct my teams for the future but build them to win now! Even though I haven't won a TITLE yet, I have been in 3 finals & never missed out on playing in the finals. I think that provides pretty good evidence that my strategy is working!"
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Post by fernans (MIAMI HEAT) on Aug 15, 2018 9:56:38 GMT -5
So a team built around Deron Williams, Al Horford, Marc Gasol, Kenneth Faried, Jamal Crawford, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews, and Raymond Felton went undefeated? :wtf:
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 15, 2018 20:14:51 GMT -5
10. 2012 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks (6-4): South Division runner-up, NBA Champions The first of our 9 finalists to crack the list. It was a weird year for the league; the lockout shortened the season to just 10 games, injuries were rampant, the Cornvan-led Timberwolves somehow went 8-2. Like I said, things... were weird. The oddities of that season make this Bull Sharks team hard to figure out. On the one hand, their record probably shouldn't warrant top-10 status. On the other hand, the reason for that underwhelming record is their two main injuries, Manu Ginobili and Amare Stoudemire, happened at the same time during the toughest part of their schedule. (It's also hard to not consider the 2011 Bull Sharks that went 17-1 with largely the same roster. A team that easily could have been on this list, and is probably the most controversial omission.) Once they were back, the Bull Sharks ripped off three straight wins to finish tied with the Hawks at 6-4 for the last playoff spot. The Bull Sharks defeated the Hawks twice in the regular season, winning the tiebreaker and setting up a playoff match-up with the top-seeded Brooklyn Nets. A playoff match-up that the Bull Sharks owner didn't realize was happening until after the games on day 1 started.
Despite the mishap, the Bull Sharks clawed their way back to an incredibly slim lead on the final day. In the fourth quarter of the final day of the match-up, the Nets needed Kevin Durant to make two free throws to advance to the Conference Finals. The 88% free throw shooter missed both. The Bull Sharks advanced, and once they moved past the Nets, Chris Paul was not going to let them lose. Paul dominated the Utah Jazz (the same Jazz that finished 9-1 and would go 16-0 the next season). Paul Pierce and Tayshaun Prince put up numbers in one of their final two seasons of relevance. And Randy Foye was actually useful on the court. The Bull Sharks closed with 6 straight wins to win their first of three championships.
Bonus points for... going through a murderer's row in the playoffs. The Bull Sharks had to take down the defending Eastern Conference champions in the semi-finals, then they had to defeat the 8-2 Orlando Magic. Finally, they took down the 9-1 Utah Jazz. The Nets, Jazz and Magic had the three best records in the regular season.
Held back by... that regular season record. Again, weird year, but every team played under the same conditions. Had Tampa Bay won 2 or 3 more games in the regular season, they certainly would have been higher on this list.
Did you know...? 9 years in, and the 2012 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks remain the lowest seed to ever make the Finals. Of the 18 Finalists, 16 have been 1 or 2 seeds. The only other non-1 or 2 seed to make the Finals? The 2015 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks, that won a title as the #3 seed.
Director's Cut - Bull Sharks' owner Richardson239 on the Finals: "2012 was in fact a weird year. After not setting my lineups the first day against the Nets, I rallied my troops and asked them to fight back. I asked them if they wanted to be here. Did they want a championship? I didn't worry that I hadn't set the lineups for one day - champions adjust. Championship caliber teams overcome little obstacles. After we got past the Nets, I knew we'd win the championship. I knew our guys wanted it. Dirk (chuckles), Dirk, that son of a bitch wanted to get to Disney World to ride Space Mountain. I told him, 'Dirk, you bring this home and we get to go.' We had some stumbles along the way, but we always believed we had a championship team. One day wouldn't break us. It didn't break us. That experience is why we've got 3 trophies right now. I wouldn't change it for the world."
9. 2018 Brooklyn Nets (11-5): North Division Champs, NBA Champions The Brooklyn Nets entered the 2017-18 season in unfamiliar territory. In the first 7 years of the league, the Nets were either the favorite or 2nd favorite to win the East. In year 8, they were in a full rebuild. Last year, though, was almost like purgatory. The Nets had a solid team, but they weren't the favorite, nor were they a lock to make the playoffs. The Wizards were coming off a Finals appearance, the Raptors were stacked, and the Magic, Bulls and Cavaliers had talent up and down their rosters. The Nets had James Harden and the newly acquired LeBron James, as well as the mercurial Hassan Whiteside, but the rest of the roster was full of question marks. However, the Nets took the Grizzlies down to the wire in week 1, then ripped off 6 straight against the easy part of their schedule.
The moment of truth for the Nets came in week 10. The Nets had lost two straight, dropping to 6-3 with the Raptors and Wizards coming up in back-to-back weeks. Lose 1, and the playoffs would become tenuous at best. Lose both, and that likely would have been the season. The Nets...squeaked out two wins and hopped into the driver's seat in the East. With a playoff spot locked up, and an aging superstar playing at the top of his game, the Nets' front office spurred into action. Much like the Trailblazers, the Nets were incredibly active at the deadline, completing deals for Robert Covington, Courtney Lee, and DeMarre Carroll, and signing Ed Davis and Cody Zeller. While none of those five players were stars, they helped the Nets compete in categories they otherwise wouldn't have had a shot at. With this newfound depth, and a determined LeBron James, nothing stopped Brooklyn from winning their third title in franchise history.
Bonus points for... STAR. POWER. LeBron James, at age 33, played in every game and had the best offensive season of his career. He won Finals and regular season MVP. He was flanked by James Harden, who averaged 30-9-5 with 1.8 steals and 3.7 threes per game. He finished 2nd in MVP voting. It could be argued that the Nets had the two best fantasy players in the league.
Held back by... the surprising collapse of the Eastern Conference. For the first 6 or 7 years of the league, the East was far and away the better half. But the tide started to turn in year 8, and by last year, all four West playoff teams had regular season wins over the Nets. Then in the postseason, the competition fell apart. While Orlando was more or less at full strength, the Raptors lost both DeMarcus Cousins and Kristaps Porzingis to season-ending injuries. Then the Wizards got banged up. The Nets were given an inch, and they took a mile.
Did you know...? With Brooklyn's title, 6 of the last 7 championships have been won by either the Nets or Tampa Bay Bull Sharks. 7 of 9 titles have been won by an Eastern Conference team.
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Tampa Bay Bull Sharks
Moderator
2012 NBA Champions, 2015 NBA Champions, 2016 NBA Champions, 2024 GM League Cup Champions
Posts: 2,921
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Post by Tampa Bay Bull Sharks on Aug 15, 2018 20:42:55 GMT -5
10. 2012 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks (6-4): South Division runner-up, NBA ChampionsThe first of our 9 finalists to crack the list. It was a weird year for the league; the lockout shortened the season to just 10 games, injuries were rampant, the Cornvan-led Timberwolves somehow went 8-2. Like I said, things... were weird. The oddities of that season make this Bull Sharks team hard to figure out. On the one hand, their record probably shouldn't warrant top-10 status. On the other hand, the reason for that underwhelming record is their two main injuries, Manu Ginobili and Amare Stoudemire, happened at the same time during the toughest part of their schedule. (It's also hard to not consider the 2011 Bull Sharks that went 17-1 with largely the same roster. A team that easily could have been on this list, and is probably the most controversial omission.) Once they were back, the Bull Sharks ripped off three straight wins to finish tied with the Hawks at 6-4 for the last playoff spot. The Bull Sharks defeated the Hawks twice in the regular season, winning the tiebreaker and setting up a playoff match-up with the top-seeded Brooklyn Nets. A playoff match-up that the Bull Sharks owner didn't realize was happening until after the games on day 1 started. Despite the mishap, the Bull Sharks clawed their way back to an incredibly slim lead on the final day. In the fourth quarter of the final day of the match-up, the Nets needed Kevin Durant to make two free throws to advance to the Conference Finals. The 88% free throw shooter missed both. The Bull Sharks advanced, and once they moved past the Nets, Chris Paul was not going to let them lose. Paul dominated the Utah Jazz (the same Jazz that finished 9-1 and would go 16-0 the next season). Paul Pierce and Tayshaun Prince put up numbers in one of their final two seasons of relevance. And Randy Foye was actually useful on the court. The Bull Sharks closed with 6 straight wins to win their first of three championships. Bonus points for... going through a murderer's row in the playoffs. The Bull Sharks had to take down the defending Eastern Conference champions in the semi-finals, then they had to defeat the 8-2 Orlando Magic. Finally, they took down the 9-1 Utah Jazz. The Nets, Jazz and Magic had the three best records in the regular season. Held back by... that regular season record. Again, weird year, but every team played under the same conditions. Had Tampa Bay won 2 or 3 more games in the regular season, they certainly would have been higher on this list. Did you know...? 9 years in, and the 2012 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks remain the lowest seed to ever make the Finals. Of the 18 Finalists, 17 have been 1 or 2 seeds. Anything is possssssiiiiiibbbbblllleeee
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Post by MemphisGM on Aug 16, 2018 1:50:01 GMT -5
Awesome job Miege, great read! I really like the additional info and context you provide, curious to see the rest.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 16, 2018 16:39:06 GMT -5
8. 2010 Atlanta Hawks (17-3): South Division Champs, NBA Champions This league, and the NBA as a whole, has gone through something of a revolution over the last decade. Starting in 2005 with the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, we've seen the league move from the iso and post dominated sport it was in the 90's to the frenetic, spread pick and roll game it is now. The mid-2000's and early '10s were something of a transition period for the NBA, and this league. Nowhere was that transition more evident than the 2010 Atlanta Hawks. There are a number of things that can be used to illustrate the difference 8 years makes, but it can best be distilled down to this: in 2018, 48 players attempted 6 or more threes per game. In 2010, only 10 players took 6 or more threes per game, and the only player to take more than 6 was Danny Granger at 7/per game. One more number to really hammer home this change: in 2010, only 7 teams took more than 20 threes per game. By 2018, no team took FEWER than 22.5 threes per game. Now, what does that have to do with the 2010 NBA Champion Atlanta Hawks? Well, look at these names: Chris Bosh, Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala, Tayshaun Prince, Rajon Rondo, Shaun Livingston, Taj Gibson. Those seven players took 6.8 threes per game, and Iguodala and Prince were responsible for 5.2 of them. You just don't see that nowadays. So... just how did the Hawks do it?
The simple answer is that the Hawks were a brilliantly constructed team. Atlanta started their franchise with Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, then proceeded to immediately trade Johnson and their rookie draft pick for Chris Bosh. For those that don't remember, 2010 Chris Bosh was PEAK Chris Bosh. The man was a double-double machine that chipped in 2 assists per game, contributed defensively, and took no percentages off the table. They took Rajon Rondo with their first pick in the expansion draft, an assist machine and iron man at this point in his career. The Hawks surrounded Bosh and Rondo with 3 wings (Andre Iguodala, Tayshaun Prince and Josh Smith) that did everything. Peak Iguodala, all-around maven Tayshaun, and Josh Smith the one year he decided to stop chucking threes and shot over 50% from the floor (the ONLY time he shot over 50% from the floor). Knowing that three-point shooting was a weakness, they signed Anthony Tolliver, Ben Gordon (right before he fell off a cliff), and Anthony Morrow, who may as well have been the first splash brother. Looking at that starting five through 2018 lenses, it's easy to see why this Hawks team has never really gotten it's due. Prince and Smith toiled away as bit players for years before leaving. Chris Bosh had his career taken from him. Rondo and Iguodala have found second lives as wily vets, obscuring their early career fantasy dominance. However, in 2010, this was a nasty team that could beat you in every category, and that's usually what happened. The Hawks went 17-3 in the regular season to finish tied for first in the East with the Brooklyn Nets. They blitzed Tampa Bay in the semi-finals, 6-3, then cruised past the upset-minded Charlotte Bobcats in the conference finals, 7-2. In the Finals, the Hawks survived without Chris Bosh, thanks to some truly eye-popping performances by Rajon Rondo. The Hawks have never quite reached the same heights they did in 2010, but they will always be the first champion in league history.
Bonus points for... winning a marathon. In the league's first year, the regular season consisted of 20 games, while the playoffs featured 4 rounds. Today, those numbers have been chopped to 16 and 3. The Hawks won 20 games in 2010, which remains tied for the most in a single season, and likely won't be topped unless the scheduling changes.
Held back by... recency bias. As pointed out above, many of the Hawks' top players had inauspicious ends to their respective careers. It has made the Hawks' title team somewhat forgettable.
Did you know...? There were a lot of league firsts the Hawks accomplished. In addition to being the first team to win an Eastern Conference crown and an NBA Finals, the Hawks also made Rajon Rondo the first pick in the expansion draft. They also completed the first trade in league history, sending Joe Johnson to Toronto for Chris Bosh.
7. 2015 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks (10-6): Southeast Division Champs, NBA Champions On first glance, this looks like a mistake. How does a 10-6 team, albeit one with a championship, crack the top-7? In order to fully understand what made this team so good, you have to take into consideration what happened the year before. The 2013-14 season was a miserable one for the Bull Sharks. They'd gone all in to win a title in 2012, and it paid off as they accomplished their goal. The problem when you go all in, is that it eventually comes crashing down... hard. That happened to the Bull Sharks in 2013-14. They'd traded Chris Paul the year before, and while Ty Lawson was a nice consolation, he wasn't Chris Paul. The Bull Sharks made a huge gamble prior to the 2013-14 season, trading Jrue Holiday, Dirk Nowitzki, and a remarkably cheap Kenneth Faried for an injured Russell Westbrook and LaMarcus Aldridge. Russ never really got healthy, and the team spiraled. Tampa Bay finished dead last at 0-16.
Of course, finishing with such a bad record landed the Bull Sharks the #2 pick, which they used on Andrew Wiggins. An earlier trade helped them land another lotto pick, which they used on Zach LaVine. With Russ, Lawson and LMA fully healthy, and still useful Devin Harris, Manu Ginobili and Wilson Chandler, the Bull Sharks had pieces to be interesting. The jury was still out as the season came to a close, however. While LMA was turning in his best season, and Russ appeared to have made the leap, the Bull Sharks weren't going to win anything of importance without their rookies upping their game. And boy did they. Wiggins and LaVine took off in the last two weeks of the regular season, and they kept it up in the playoffs. Tampa Bay dispatched the Boston Celtics, making their first and only playoff appearance, then won an absolute thriller against a KD-less Nets team. The Bull Sharks won by just 1 steal to advance to the Finals against the #1 team in the west, the Las Vegas Gamblers. Just two days in, it appeared disaster had struck as LaMarcus Aldridge tore a thumb ligament and was expected to miss the rest of the Finals. But in a shocking, Willis Reed-esque twist, Aldridge got a custom-made splint that allowed him to keep playing, and he averaged 23 and 9 on 47% shooting. The aforementioned rookies? Well, Wiggins only put up 23-5-3-1-1 in the Finals while LaVine chipped in 18 points and 1.6 threes per game. At the end of the day though, it was all about Russ. The Finals MVP put up 29-9-7-2 to put away the Gamblers and kick off a Tampa Bay dynasty.
Bonus points for... avoiding a long rebuild. Tampa Bay may have gone all in back in 2012, but they spent the better part of the next two years making moves in an effort to make a quick turnaround. They traded Pau Gasol in January 2013 for Boston's 2014 pick (the pick that landed LaVine). They traded a late first in 2013 for a 2015 pick that helped land Wilson Chandler. The Russ/LMA trade has already been covered. They also signed Omer Asik and Marcus Morris late in their disastrous 2014 campaign. All those moves resulted in this run.
Held back by... the classic early season rookie struggles. Had LaVine and Wiggins played the whole year the way they did the last few weeks, this team certainly would have finished better than 10-6.
Did you know...? In the never-ending "one-upsmanship" (a new word I just created) that is the Bull Sharks-Nets rivalry, Tampa Bay matched Brooklyn's two titles immediately after the Nets won two straight. The Bull Sharks not only won their second title, but they also ended the Nets' hopes of a threepeat in the ECF, moving their playoff record to 2-1 (at the time) against Brooklyn.
6. 2013 Brooklyn Nets (14-2): Atlantic Division Champs, NBA Champions The story of how the 2013 Brooklyn Nets came to be can be told in three parts. The first details the heartbreaking defeat in the 2011 Finals against the Thunder which has been touched on earlier in this list. The second is the even tougher to swallow loss against the 2012 Bull Sharks when Kevin Durant missed two free throws. The last, and probably most important took place on June 27th, 2012. That was the day the Brooklyn Nets completed a 4-team deal that landed them James Harden. Through his first three seasons in the league, Harden had been a solid role player. Made free throws, knocked down threes, did a bit of everything. But in the 2012-13 season, he took off. Harden put up 26-6-5 with 1.8 steals and 2.3 threes per game. He also shot 85% from the line on over 10 attempts per game. He gave the Nets the dynamic wing playing alongside KD that they'd lacked in their first three years.
Locked in as the favorite early in the season, the Nets pushed their chips to the middle of the table by acquiring Chris Paul. At that point, the Eastern Conference race was over. Behind the three-headed monster of KD, Harden and Paul, the Nets overwhelmed the competition. Throw in Joakim Noah, quietly averaging 12-11-4-2-1, Thaddeus Young, rookie Jonas Valanciunas, and Greg Monroe holding down the front court, and no one could touch this team. The Nets rolled through the last 3 games of the regular season, took down Tampa Bay and a 14-2 Houston team, then put the 16-0 Jazz away late. It was the start of the most dominant run in league history.
Bonus points for... going through an incredibly difficult playoff road. The Nets had to take down the 11-5, defending champion Bull Sharks in round 1. Then they went up against the 14-2 Houston Rockets in the Conference Finals. Finally, they took down the undefeated Utah Jazz.
Held back by... two losses? We're reaching the point in this list where you can't really say a team was "held back by" anything.
Did you know...? Despite the heated rivalry on the floor, the Nets and Bull Sharks have shown they can compartmentalize that competitiveness. Tampa Bay and Brooklyn have a surprisingly good working relationship, and it's helped the two teams work out a number of deals. The Bull Sharks were a part of the 4-team deal that landed the Nets Harden. They completed a deal sending Paul to Brooklyn, which helped the Nets to two straight titles. Not to be outdone, Ty Lawson, who went from Brooklyn to Tampa in that deal, helped the Bulls Sharks claim the title in 2015. The two teams worked together on a deal that sent Gortat to Tampa, and then, in a separate deal, Gibson to Tampa for Tampa's 2019 pick (which Brooklyn still owns). Finally, the two teams were a part of a 4-team deal this past off-season.
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Post by HawkEye on Aug 16, 2018 18:59:15 GMT -5
8. 2010 Atlanta Hawks (17-3): South Division Champs, NBA ChampionsThis league, and the NBA as a whole, has gone through something of a revolution over the last decade. Starting in 2005 with the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, we've seen the league move from the iso and post dominated sport it was in the 90's to the frenetic, spread pick and roll game it is now. The mid-2000's and early '10s were something of a transition period for the NBA, and this league. Nowhere was that transition more evident than the 2010 Atlanta Hawks. There are a number of things that can be used to illustrate the difference 8 years makes, but it can best be distilled down to this: in 2018, 48 players attempted 6 or more threes per game. In 2010, only 10 players took 6 or more threes per game, and the only player to take more than 6 was Danny Granger at 7/per game. One more number to really hammer home this change: in 2010, only 7 teams took more than 20 threes per game. By 2018, no team took FEWER than 22.5 threes per game. Now, what does that have to do with the 2010 NBA Champion Atlanta Hawks? Well, look at these names: Chris Bosh, Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala, Tayshaun Prince, Rajon Rondo, Shaun Livingston, Taj Gibson. Those seven players took 6.8 threes per game, and Iguodala and Prince were responsible for 5.2 of them. You just don't see that nowadays. So... just how did the Hawks do it? The simple answer is that the Hawks were a brilliantly constructed team. Atlanta started their franchise with Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, then proceeded to immediately trade Johnson and their rookie draft pick for Chris Bosh. For those that don't remember, 2010 Chris Bosh was PEAK Chris Bosh. The man was a double-double machine that chipped in 2 assists per game, contributed defensively, and took no percentages off the table. They took Rajon Rondo with their first pick in the expansion draft, an assist machine and iron man at this point in his career. The Hawks surrounded Bosh and Rondo with 3 wings (Andre Iguodala, Tayshaun Prince and Josh Smith) that did everything. Peak Iguodala, all-around maven Tayshaun, and Josh Smith the one year he decided to stop chucking threes and shot over 50% from the floor (the ONLY time he shot over 50% from the floor). Knowing that three-point shooting was a weakness, they signed Anthony Tolliver, Ben Gordon (right before he fell off a cliff), and Anthony Morrow, who may as well have been the first splash brother. Looking at that starting five through 2018 lenses, it's easy to see why this Hawks team has never really gotten it's due. Prince and Smith toiled away as bit players for years before leaving. Chris Bosh had his career taken from him. Rondo and Iguodala have found second lives as wily vets, obscuring their early career fantasy dominance. However, in 2010, this was a nasty team that could beat you in every category, and that's usually what happened. The Hawks went 17-3 in the regular season to finish tied for first in the East with the Brooklyn Nets. They blitzed Tampa Bay in the semi-finals, 6-3, then cruised past the upset-minded Charlotte Bobcats in the conference finals, 7-2. In the Finals, the Hawks survived without Chris Bosh, thanks to some truly eye-popping performances by Rajon Rondo. The Hawks have never quite reached the same heights they did in 2010, but they will always be the first champion in league history. Bonus points for... winning a marathon. In the league's first year, the regular season consisted of 20 games, while the playoffs featured 4 rounds. Today, those numbers have been chopped to 16 and 3. The Hawks won 20 games in 2010, which remains tied for the most in a single season, and likely won't be topped unless the scheduling changes. Held back by... recency bias. As pointed out above, many of the Hawks' top players had inauspicious ends to their respective careers. It has made the Hawks' title team somewhat forgettable. Did you know...? There were a lot of league firsts the Hawks accomplished. In addition to being the first team to win an Eastern Conference crown and an NBA Finals, the Hawks also made Rajon Rondo the first pick in the expansion draft. They also completed the first trade in league history, sending Joe Johnson to Toronto for Chris Bosh. Miege was spot on with this. Back then I wanted good all-around players. Selected Joe Johnson and Josh Smith left out Al Horford. Took Rondo as the 1st overall expansion pick for his double-double potential and steals. Cris Bosh was a monster back then and trading for him was a big factor. My trio of Smith, Rondo and Bosh covered every catergory that year.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 16, 2018 21:37:44 GMT -5
So here we are. Down to the top-5. I can't imagine there are any surprises left, but people may be surprised by the order they end up in. I know I'll get through 4 and 5 tomorrow, but the top-3 will likely have to wait until Sunday. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on the order once it's all been posted, and if I missed anyone.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 17, 2018 9:40:17 GMT -5
5. 2018 Memphis Grizzlies (16-0): Midwest Division Champs, Conference Finalist It's amazing how fragile a season can be. One good or bad day can make the difference between hoisting a trophy or going home empty-handed. Nowhere is this represented better than this iteration of the Memphis Grizzlies. Going into the 2017-18 season, the Grizzlies were the clear-cut favorite to win the title. Frankly, that sentence doesn't quite do it justice. They were the overwhelming, no one else is winning barring something catastrophic, can we just fast forward to next year favorites. After going winless in 2015, the Grizzlies used the first pick on Karl-Anthony Towns. The rookie was an immediate force, putting up 18-10-2-2 en route to a Rookie of the Year trophy. The Grizzlies didn't make the playoffs, but they went 8-8, improving by 8 full games. With big man Joel Embiid set to make his debut the following season, the Grizzlies had a budding dynasty forming. With a core of Towns, Embiid, Paul George, Bradley Beal, Ricky Rubio and Dennis Schroder, the Grizzlies exploded onto the scene in in the 16-17 season. They went 15-1, winning their final 10 games, and they looked poised to make their first Finals in franchise history.
It didn't happen. The Grizzlies, forced to play without star big man Joel Embiid, struggled in round 1 against the Utah Jazz. They fell to Utah by just one shot. It was a shocking and bitter defeat, that could send most teams spiraling. The Grizzlies, though, aren't most teams. In the off-season, they cashed in their chips, moving Thon Maker and three draft picks for Al Horford and Victor Oladipo. Horford continued to be his usual stat-stuffing self, but it was Oladipo that pushed the Grizzlies into the stratosphere. Oladipo flourished after a change of scenery. He won the Most Improved Player award and was in the running for MVP. Memphis rolled through the regular season, never truly tested after a somewhat close call in week 1. Not satisfied resting on their laurels, Memphis made a deadline move for Otto Porter, Jeff Teague and Nic Batum. If there was one weakness this team had, it was a lack of depth at SF. In one fell swoop, the Grizzlies fixed that problem. It truly looked as if nothing was going to stop them from becoming the second undefeated team in league history. Of course, there's a reason they're 5th instead of 1st. As the conference finals kicked off, the Grizzlies were mysteriously absent. While Memphis responded to make it a fight, that lost first day will forever haunt them as they ended up losing to Portland by just 2 rebounds. One shot and two rebounds. That's the line between, potentially, back-to-back titles and... nothing. There is little doubt that Memphis is one of the most talented teams of all-time. They became only the third unbeaten team in league history, and they led the entire league in 5 categories, tied for the best ever. In any head-to-head contest, this Grizzlies team would almost assuredly be the favorite. But in a list like this, with so many great teams, it's a thin line between great and historically great. Memphis is right there.
Bonus points for... pure domination. Ask anyone, and they would likely tell you they thought there was no chance Memphis would lose. They were the living embodiment of the "IT" factor. No one could touch them in one-week match-ups in the regular season. A two-week playoff match-up? Forget about it.
Held back by... two rebounds. It may sound like a broken record, but it should give you a good idea of just how close this team came to immortality. TWO REBOUNDS is all that separates this team from best of all time status.
Did you know...? Memphis' 31-1 record over the last two regular seasons amounts to a .969 winning percentage, far and away the best two-year run in league history. In fact, in the first 7 years of their existence, the Grizzlies won 31 games COMBINED.
Director's Cut - MemphisGM on the 2018 Grizzlies: "With the offseason acquisitions of Oladipo and Horford and Beal's succesful resign within cap, I started the season very confident. When Oladipo exploded in the second week it was clear that trade put me over the top. Then in January I was able to shore up my SF problem with a trade for Otto Porter, Jeff Teague and Nic Batum shipping out Schroder, Bazemore and Iggy. At the same time, it was beginning to look like Kawhi was not going to play a lot this season which led me to believe it was my season to lose with Houston being crippled. There were only 2 matchups during the regular season in which I lost 3 categories and just 1 in which I lost 4, all others were 2 or less. I just hope that one unfateful matchup against Portland (not only the unset lineup but also the schedule and rejections) doesn't reduce the greatness of this team."
4. 2011 Oklahoma City Thunder (17-1): Midwest Division Champs, NBA Champions One of the most interesting things about putting together this list has been going back through the years and essentially going through a refresher course on this league. We like to think of the best teams in this league as being far stronger than the teams of the past, and there is some truth to the that. 2018 does have 4 teams on this list, after all, more than any other year. However, only 7 teams of the past 4 years are in the top-16. As I went through the early years, I realized the most important aspect of this wasn't determining the best of the best. It was making sure that true greatness wasn't forgotten as time quickly flew by. This became even more important for those teams that have gone through ownership changes, because new owners, naturally, aren't concerned with the history of their teams. That's not a negative, either. Typically, teams that need new owners don't have much history to speak of. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, this is not the case. If there's one team that jumped off the screen when looking back at past winners, it's this team. Holy. Crap. Were they good.
The 2011 Oklahoma City Thunder were actually the Indiana Pacers when the league was formed, but they were moved once a new owner came in. That 2010 team went 10-10 and were mostly an afterthought. A fresh start and new ownership changed ALL of that going into the 2010-11 season. This Thunder team was loaded. Dwight Howard at his absolute zenith putting up 22-14-2 on 60% shooting. LaMarcus Aldridge making the leap. Russell Westbrook turning into a triple-double threat before our very eyes. Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom, each in their last season of fantasy relevance, doing what they do best. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, still putting up numbers, as 6th and 7th man, respectively. Grant Hill, Jamal Crawford, and Ben Gordon, all averaging double-figures. And don't forget about Leandro Barbosa, who was still lightning quick. Even Nenad Krstic and Shawne Williams were decent spot players. Hell, Marcus Camby was putting up 10 boards, 2 assists and 1.6 blocks per game! This team was so loaded, especially in the front court, which may be the greatest of all-time, and they proved it on the floor winning 20 games, still the most any team has ever won in a single season. As time has gone by, and OKC has gone through owners (they're now on their 6th, but this one should stick), the dominance of this 2011 team has kind of faded away. It may have been short-lived, the owner left after winning the title and a number of key pieces fell off due to age and injury, but never again will it be forgotten.
Bonus points for... the best front court ever? It's hard to argue they aren't at the top. This was Dwight Howard's best season, LMA's breakout year, and both KG and Odom were still excelling. If you include the small forward position in the front court, it gets iffy. But just power forwards and centers? This just might be the best.
Held back by... ownership instability. The Thunder returned to the playoffs in both 2013 and 2015, but they never truly challenged for a title. With each ownership change came a new vision, a new plan, and it's hard for a franchise to consistently compete without stability. Not only is it hard to compete, but the stories of that particular franchise are more or less gone once an owners leaves.
Did you know...? This Thunder franchise is actually the second iteration of the team. The Seattle Supersonics actually started this league in OKC, but they were moved to Seattle before the first games were played. They then moved to LA and back again.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 17, 2018 11:35:39 GMT -5
3. 2016 Tampa Bay Bull Sharks (14-2): Southeast Division Champs, NBA Champions Where one stands on the 2016 Bull Sharks likely depends on how much importance one places on living up to expectations. Is it more important to live up to expectations or exceed them? And what happens if anything less than a championship is considered a failure? These were the stakes for the Bull Sharks coming off their unexpected 2015 championship. The 14-15 Bull Sharks entered the season as a team with potential, if things broke right, to make some noise. The 15-16 Bull Sharks HAD to make noise. With the Brooklyn Nets on the brink of a rebuild, Tampa Bay could sense that it was their time to strike. They moved Ty Lawson for Pau Gasol just before Lawson fell off the face of the Earth. Gasol would go on to average 17-11-4-2 for Tampa Bay. They struck gold on the free agent market, signing JR Smith, Gary Harris and Marvin Williams, all of whom averaged double figures. And their mid-season trade for Kenneth Faried, still a double-double threat, solidified their front court. Tampa Bay could have sat back and hoped for some internal improvement, which they did receive in the form of Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Marcus Morris and Al-Farouq Aminu all drastically improving, but they were proactive in adding talent.
Despite all of that, the season still started off rocky. Tampa Bay, shockingly, lost their first two games of the regular season. Russell Westbrook and LaMarcus Aldridge underwhelmed, and it wouldn't be long before panic and doubt started to creep in. For any other franchise, that may have happened. But this was the Tampa Bay Bull Sharks, the defending champions, a team that had won a title as the last team in the playoffs. No team has more trust in itself to win on the biggest stage quite like this one. The Bull Sharks rallied, and smashed through the rest of the schedule. They won their final 14 games of the season, including a dominant thrashing of the Brooklyn Nets, to claim the #1 seed in the East. Their reward for finishing first was division rival, Atlanta, who stumbled into the playoffs at 7-9. The Bull Sharks had a scare early, but easily prevailed in the end to set up a 4th playoff showdown with the Brooklyn Nets, the #2 seed. In Tampa Bay's previous two playoff wins over Brooklyn, they squeaked by on a free throw in 2012 and a steal in 2015. This time, they would leave no doubt. Tampa Bay stomped the Nets, 7-2, advancing to their second consecutive Finals. The Finals, as it turned out, would be a rematch of week 1. This time it was Tampa Bay on the winning end. The Bull Sharks took down the Houston Rockets to become the second team in league history to win back-to-back titles, and the first to 3 championships. Russell Westbrook won his second straight Finals MVP, and owner Richardson239 claimed the GM of the Year honor for a third time.
Bonus points for... seizing the moment. It would not have been a shock for the weight of expectations to crush this Bull Sharks team, but ownership went out and found all the right pieces to help gird this team from the pressure.
Held back by... a lack of competition. Once you get to this point, it's basically splitting hairs. Tampa Bay was really, REALLY good this season, but the East... it just wasn't. Toronto and Brooklyn were 12-4, but they were simply no match for the Bull Sharks. Atlanta made the playoffs with a losing record, a rare occurrence in the East. The West had 6 teams .500 or better. The East had 3.
Did you know...? We talked earlier about how only 15 players have made three finals appearances. Of those 15, only 4 have won three titles. Two of those players? LaMarcus Aldridge and Russell Westbrook, teammates on the back-to-back Tampa Bay championship teams AND the 2011 OKC Thunder.
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 17, 2018 15:45:36 GMT -5
2. 2017 Houston Rockets (14-2): Midwest Division Champs, NBA Champions No team knows the slow and steady climb to contention quite like the Houston Rockets. After finishing first in the Eastern Conference in 2013 and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rockets looked poised to challenge the Nets and Bull Sharks for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, things fizzled out in 2014, and the Rockets finished a disappointing 8-8. Of course, that was the summer that changed everything. The Rockets, thanks to some lottery luck, jumped from the 9th spot to the #1 spot and took Jabari Parker. They re-signed Khris Middleton to a remarkably team friendly deal, and he, Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard all made minor improvements to their respective games. The Rockets were also moved out of the loaded East into the much friendlier Western Conference (my, how things have changed...). All of these minor improvements boosted the Rockets to 12-4 and got them back in the playoffs, and that, in and of itself, was impressive. Of course, no one could have predicted what came next.
In 2016, the Rockets made the leap. Steph Curry turned in the best season of his career. Kawhi Leonard took another step forward. Khris Middleton improved as both a scorer and playmaker. Jabari Parker, who had his rookie season cut short because of an ACL tear, came back and played almost a full season. The Rockets traded the 8th pick for Jrue Holiday, and they signed unheralded rookie Nikola Jokic to a minimum contract. Everything came together for the Rockets as they went 13-3 and advanced to the first NBA Finals in franchise history. Where they promptly lost to Tampa Bay Bull Sharks. The Rockets had gone from 8-8, to 12-4 and the conference finals, to 13-3 and the NBA Finals. The only thing left to do was win the whole damn thing.
The problem for Houston? This was about to be the toughest year yet to actually accomplish the feat. Tampa Bay was coming off back-to-back championships, and had upgraded in the front court with the additions of Marcin Gortat and Carmelo Anthony (oh, and Russell Westbrook was about to average a triple-double). The Memphis Grizzlies, after years of waiting, were finally going to have a healthy Embiid and were deep at every position (they would go 15-1). The Golden State Warriors, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls all finished with 10 or more wins. It was the first time since 2011, when the regular season was 18 games which skews the win totals a bit, that 8 teams finished with double-digit wins. And they started the year with a Finals rematch against the Tampa Bull Sharks, a match-up they played without Khris Middleton, who missed most of the year with a hamstring injury. The Rockets lost that in a tight battle, 5-4, but they did rebound to win 8 in a row. After a closer than the score showed loss to the Grizzlies, the Rockets won their final 6 games to finish 14-2. Unfortunately, Jabari Parker tore his ACL for the second time in his career in the final week of the season, meaning Houston would have to go through this gauntlet short-handed. It didn't matter. With Kawhi Leonard making the MVP leap, Steph Curry cemented as one of the best players in the league, and Nikola Jokic making the leap, Houston took down Golden State in the playoffs for the second year in a row. After the basketball gods smiled down on them with Utah's upset of Memphis, Houston took it to the Jazz, and by week 2, it was over. All of this was setting up for a Finals rematch with the Bull Sharks, but Tampa Bay didn't hold up their end of the bargain. The Rockets, instead, faced the 14-2 Washington Wizards led by superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Despite Washington's depth, the Rockets led throughout, and the championship was never truly in doubt. After years of steadily improving, the Rockets had finally done it. They'd won it all.
Bonus points for... surviving the toughest year yet. Teams 2 and 3 are remarkably close on this list, and, frankly, they could go either way. The one thing separating the two is that Houston won in a year in which the competition was at it's stiffest. It's a razor thin margin, and that's the difference.
Held back by... not going undefeated. Seriously. I'm giving away the #1 team here, but that's really what there is to it.
Did you know...? No team has benefited more from changing conferences than the Houston Rockets. In their four years in the Western Conference, the Rockets are 52-12. They've never won fewer than 12 games in a season in the West.
Director's Cut - Moltreszwarriors on the team's mindset in the 2016 off-season: "I didn't really make any moves or trades that year. I lost 5-4 in the finals the year before and I was happy with my team. It's hard to win a championship in this league, and even though I wouldn't say my team was much stronger than the 2016 or 2018 version, 2017 was the year it happened. With the Jabari injury in the final week of the regular season, I wasn't sure it would, but it worked out with Middleton coming back at the same time. Jokic emerged as a star that year, which helped (on a side note, I think he's really underrated. He's the only good player I've had who no one has tried to trade for, even now)."
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Post by Miege22 on Aug 17, 2018 17:02:48 GMT -5
1. 2014 Brooklyn Nets (16-0): Atlantic Division Champs, NBA Champions At the end of the day, as difficult as it was to put this list together, the choice for the top spot was rather easy, relatively speaking. No other team on this list checks all five boxes like this Nets team. Winning matters? The Nets won the division, the conference, and the championship. Consistency? They didn't lose a game all year, won their three playoff match-ups by scores of 7-2, 8-1 and 8-1. They also finished first in the league in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and free throw %, 2nd in threes, 4th in field goal % and 5th in blocks (a feat only matched by the 2018 Grizzlies). How was the competition? The Nets had to go through the best Magic team ever, a 14-2 Jazz team making their third straight Finals trip, and a solid Raptors team. The stakes? Only as high as you can possibly get. Anything less than a second straight title would be a failure. Finally, there's the "IT" factor. There may never be another team that embodies this point quite like the Nets. Kevin Durant was in the midst of his 5th straight MVP. Joakim Noah would be named Defensive Player of the Year. Chris Paul averaged a double-double. James Harden was entering his prime. Dirk Nowitzki was still averaging 20 points per game. Gerald Green turned in his best year ever. Channing Frye, Kent Bazemore, Jonas Valanciunas and DJ Augustin all averaged double figures. Some of the individual stat lines thrown up by Nets' players that year seemed like something out of a video game. Here's a small taste:
Kevin Durant - 51-12-7-1-1 and 7 threes; 54-4-6-1-2 and 5 threes; 48-7-7-1-2; in the Finals, he averaged 32-6-6 on 51/93% shooting
James Harden - 41-10-6-1-6 and 7 threes; 48-2-8-3 and 6 threes; 35-9-5-2-4; in the Finals, he averaged 30-6-7 and tossed in 21 threes and 13 steals
Joakim Noah - 21-18-5-3-3; 26-19-6-2-2; 19-16-11-3; 23-11-8-5-3
Chris Paul - 42-2-15-6; 38-3-12-3; 21-10-9-5; 28-4-15-6
Dirk Nowitzki - 33-11-3-1-2; 32-10-6-1-4; 38-17-3
Gerald Green - 41-5-2-1-3 and 8 threes; he knocked down 192 threes in the regular season and playoffs
Every week, it was someone new putting up the best numbers of their career. The Nets signed DJ Augustin just before Christmas, and in January he was putting up 16-6 with nearly 3 threes per game. The Nets picked up Kent Bazemore just before the end of the season; he averaged double figures in their playoff run. Jonas Valanciunas was held to 4 points and 3 boards in the first game of the Finals. He finished the series averaging 14-9. Just about everything the Nets touched that year turned into gold. After winning the last three games of the 2013 season, and their three playoff rounds, the Nets ran their streak to 25 by the end of this season. That streak would get up to 28 before the Jazz ended it in week 4 of the 2015 season. It remains the longest winning streak in league history. The Nets GM would win GM of the Year, giving the Nets the MVP, DPOY, GM of the Year and Finals MVP in the same season. It was the first time a franchise claimed four awards in one year (a feat matched by Tampa Bay the following season). It's hard to overstate the greatness of this team. It was the perfect storm of events. 3 superstar level perimeter players smack in the middle of their primes. We're talking the best PG, SG, and SF in the league. A stat-stuffing big turning in a career year. An aging big turning back the clock for one last run. Home run after home run on the free agent market. It's something we may never see again.
Bonus points for... the greatest free agency on the fringes ever? The Nets picked up Gerald Green, DJ Augustin, Kent Bazmore, and Steve Blake in free agency for the combined salary of $2,500,000. The only free agents the Nets spent any money on were Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, both of whom signed one-year deals for $5,000,000 and $4,000,000, respectively.
Held back by... not much, really. If there is a TINY quibble, it's that the Jazz were extremely banged up in the Finals and didn't provide much resistance. It's hard to imagine the Jazz winning that series even at full strength, but it would have been nice to see that rematch.
Did you know...? To this day, only three players in league history have ever won a major award in back-to-back years. Kevin Durant won 5 straight MVP awards from 2010-2014, all with Brooklyn. Joakim Noah won back-to-back DPOY awards in 2013 and 2014 with the Nets. The third player? Dwight Howard, who won DPOY in 2011 with OKC and 2012 with Seattle.
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