Were the 14-15 Spurs the deepest team in NBA history?

[DC23]

Been watching the Bucks walk through the playoffs pretty easily up to this point and it got me thinking about their depth. Bucks legitimately have 9 players who can produce double figures on any given night.

PG: Bledsoe - Hill
SG: Brodgon - Connaughton
SF: Middleton
PF: Antetokounmpo - Mirotic
C: Lopez - Ilyasova

When thinking about teams in recent NBA history that had this type of depth the only team that comes to mind is the 14-15 Spurs.

PG: Parker - Joseph - Mills
SG: Green - Ginobili - Belinelli
SF: Leonard - Anderson
PF: Diaw - Bonner
C: Duncan - Baynes - Splitter

Were the 14-15 Spurs the deepest team in NBA history, and are the Bucks the only team since them to assemble this level of depth?

[tbdog]

Well the spurs were seventh place despite the amount of injuries they had. So they were pretty deep.

I think 04 Pistons were one of the deepest teams in history.

[R. DeMurre]

'07-'08 Celtics were pretty deep.

Rondo, Eddie House, Cassell
Ray Allen, Tony Allen
Pierce, James Posey
Garnett, Leon Powe
Perkins, Glen Davis

[sananspursfan21]

I don’t know if you could call the 14 Spurs the deepEST ever. They’re up there, but I think they may have been one of the greatest examples of cohesion. Each player brought something different along with some of the same things to the table. You had a specialist in every basketball department. Belli, Mills, and Green were our 3s guys. Kawhi and Danny were our Defensive specialists. Diaw was our front court playmaker. Parker and Ginobili were our backcourt playmakers. Tim, Tony, and Manu were our veteran presence. Kawhi, CoJo, Baynes was our youthful energy. Manu was our 6th man. You could go down the checklist of what makes a team a success and the Spurs could easily check off everything. That team didn’t lack in ANY department that season.

When I think of “depth”, I more think of an excess of talent. Maybe even a little redundancy at some positions. Not discounting the importance of depth by any means. Depth is so crucial for injury and fatigue situations. But the Spurs were definitely “complete”. They had excellent depth, but more importantly, they had the most complete sum of parts I’d ever seen in my 24 years of watching basketball.

[slick'81]

Ever!? Most definitely not

[RC_Drunkford]

I don't know why you picked the 15 Spurs when the 16 Spurs were so good that they could rest the starting 5 and still blow teams out. Their garbage time line up used to extend the lead. Not only did they break the Spurs franchise record with 67-15, which is also one of the best records in NBA history, they also had historic numbers on defense and point differential.

Aldridge/Duncan/Boban
Diaw/West/Bonner
Leonard/Anderson/Martin
Green/Ginobili/Simmons
Parker/Mills/Miller

[DAF86]

According to Green, this Raptors team is more deep than the 2014 Spurs. :lol

[Chinook]

I don't know why you picked the 15 Spurs when the 16 Spurs were so good that they could rest the starting 5 and still blow teams out. Their garbage time line up used to extend the lead. Not only did they break the Spurs franchise record with 67-15, which is also one of the best records in NBA history, they also had historic numbers on defense and point differential.

Aldridge/Duncan/Boban
Diaw/West/Bonner
Leonard/Anderson/Martin
Green/Ginobili/Simmons
Parker/Mills/Miller

Yeah, even the 13 Spurs were good before Jack fell off. I like Anderson a lot more than most folks here do, but rookie Kyle wasn't better than Jack or even NDC. 16 is probably my pick, though. You're talking about five HoFer (considering Aldridge and West to total one HoFer, though I think it's more likely that both get in than both miss).

[ZeusWillJudge]

You never settle these "best in NBA history" discussions. Ever.

One that probably won't get mentioned is the Blazers. I can't remember if it was 99-00 or 00-01. But they were really, really deep. Couldn't put aside egos enough to win, but definitely stacked deep.

[SpursDynasty85]

Lol. Here we are trying to answer this question when the amswer has been in front of us the whole time. Pick any Warriors teams betwern now and 2015.

Next would be those crazy 80's Lakers, celtics, 70 something blazers, 60's celtics, 90's bulls, all day every day before any Spurs team.

[cool cat]

I don't know why you picked the 15 Spurs when the 16 Spurs were so good that they could rest the starting 5 and still blow teams out. Their garbage time line up used to extend the lead. Not only did they break the Spurs franchise record with 67-15, which is also one of the best records in NBA history, they also had historic numbers on defense and point differential.

Aldridge/Duncan/Boban
Diaw/West/Bonner
Leonard/Anderson/Martin
Green/Ginobili/Simmons
Parker/Mills/Miller

On paper that is such a stacked team. Even LMA stepped up in the playoffs. Unfortunately Tim's body was giving up on him and Mills shot 3 for 13 vs the Thunder.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

I don't know why you picked the 15 Spurs when the 16 Spurs were so good that they could rest the starting 5 and still blow teams out. Their garbage time line up used to extend the lead. Not only did they break the Spurs franchise record with 67-15, which is also one of the best records in NBA history, they also had historic numbers on defense and point differential.

Aldridge/Duncan/Boban
Diaw/West/Bonner
Leonard/Anderson/Martin
Green/Ginobili/Simmons
Parker/Mills/Miller

100% Agree


refs cost them against OKC