A few good teams
A few good teams

By Steve Kerr, Yahoo! Sports
February 18, 2006




HOUSTON – With more than half of the season gone and the NBA ready to head into the season's stretch run, the league appears to be in good shape. Attendance is solid, scoring is up, teams are continuing a trend towards a faster pace of play and there is plenty of young, blossoming talent.

Still, there is something missing from the NBA that would make the league more compelling as we head towards the postseason in April.

An abundance of good teams.

The NBA has been dominated this season by a handful of clubs, and it appears that the list of true le contenders is as small as it has been in a long time.

In the Eastern Conference, only the Detroit Pistons have shown the synergy, depth and cohesiveness that defines good clubs. The Pistons are dominant because they are greater than the sum of their parts. They have good players but no superstars. Still, they defend, share the ball, have different players step to the forefront every night and are well-coached.

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The Miami Heat seem like the only other squad in the East that even comes close to qualifying as a good team. But the Heat have been a disappointment. Despite a roster full of talent and a celebrated coach, they have underachieved.

The Cleveland Cavaliers? Even with LeBron James' brilliance, they're still too young and inexperienced. Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks? Ho hum. New Jersey Nets? They're good enough to win a bad division, but not potent enough to run away with it. And those are playoff teams that I just mentioned! The bottom of the conference is filled with clubs that are really, really bad.

In the Western Conference, three teams stand out for their proficiency: San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. All come to play every night, they're unselfish and they have a sense of purpose and a belief in how they have to play in order to win.

The Spurs are their usual model of consistency, playing off of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and competing defensively every night. The Mavericks are trying to become the same type of club, and Avery Johnson is making it work. They share the ball, have great depth and defend. That's why Dallas has won 41 games at the All-Star break.

Phoenix plays the most distinctive style in the league. The Suns run like crazy at every opportunity, move the ball beautifully to the open man and seem to get good shots on every possession. Even without Amare Stoudemire, they are wearing people out.

But that's it: three good teams in the West and four in the entire NBA. If Miami comes around in the second half, we're looking at one more. But five good teams out of 30? That's not enough.

I realize some teams have to be bad; that's the nature of the league. There is a natural course of success and failure that comes in the NBA. But why aren't there more good teams? It seems to me there should be at least 10 good ones in the league.

Here are five more clubs that, for various reasons, could be – but are not – championship contenders:


Houston Rockets – The Rockets have been a disappointment and can blame poor health. Still, in two seasons Houston hasn't been able to surround Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady with the right pieces. The Rockets play a stodgy, boring pace that doesn't seem to enhance the talent on their roster. They can make some personnel improvements, but they need to adapt to the NBA's quicker style of play, open things up and run more.

New York Knicks – I know, they're the worst team in the NBA right now. But they should be one of the best. They have an unlimited budget, a hallowed arena, great fans and one of the most attractive cities in the country to recruit good players. Still, mismanagement over the years has led to bad teams. The Knicks should be the Yankees of the NBA, but instead, they've somehow become the Dodgers – a team with a big budget but nothing to show for it.

Los Angeles Lakers – Kobe Bryant is the most talented player in the league, but he can't compete for les without Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq's departure could have been avoided if not for clashing egos. If he and Kobe could have figured out a way to coexist, the Lakers would still be a championship contender.

Cleveland Cavaliers – Cleveland is probably a year or two away. LeBron is phenomenal, but his supporting cast has to grow. The Cavaliers are in the infant stages of figuring out who they are, but once they do, they'll be a contender for a long time.

Indiana Pacers – The Pacers were on the verge of becoming a championship team until Ron Artest imploded and tore the team apart.
So there you have it. Four teams – maybe five – will compete for the NBA championship this season. That's not enough.


Steve Kerr is Yahoo! Sports' NBA analyst. Send him a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.