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I wouldn't count out lakers...
The way I see it, there are only 3 "complete" teams that have everything in place to win a championship.
That means a "team" concept that has focus on both ends of the court, unselfish players who put the championship and the "team" above individuality, and the combination of players and coaches who are all dedicated and talented enough to accomplish the feat.
Celtics and the Spurs are 2.
I don't see anyone from the West giving Boston trouble in a finals...except for the Spurs. Spurs have everything Boston does and the experience to compete with them at that level. Not saying Spurs win it, it's too close to call (Spurs have prooved enuf times the unimportance of regular season matchups), and the Spurs age is a factor. But, from the top down...the Spurs are the only team in the west that is complete enough to battle the Celtics in every aspect of the game. If the Spurs make it...
And...if Boston makes it.
There is one other team out there that could give Boston a run. That's built for the championship, and has the experience and talent to actually do it.
I wouldn't be at all surprised, or unhappy, to see another classic San Antonio/Detroit series.
I wouldn't count out lakers...
Cleveland will win it all. You heard it here first.
There are more than three teams in the league built to win a championship.
Sounds like someone is wishing the rest of the West away.
I'm not sure if I know what "built to win a championship" means. Balance? Depth? Dominant post and perimeter play?
Not trying to be sarcastic, by the way. I'm thinking of Cleveland last year, who at least made it to the Finals. Basically, they had above average team defense and not a whole of a lot else. (I would mention LBJ, but he was Bowened.)
Thanks, stretch. I had thirty large burning a hole in my pocket. Now at least I can invest it wisely...
There is Cleveland, then Minnesota. No one else comes close.
Is wrong.
Of course you wouldn't Spurs fan. Everyone else in America would be outraged.
They didn't win, so they weren't built for the championship. If they had better guard play (10X defense and offense) they would have been close.
Teams "being built for championships" don't necessarily win championships. The Stockton-Malone Utah Jazz were built for championships but they never won any. To me, depending on how things go with which teams get hot at the right time, which teams get favorable match-ups on the road to the Finals, which teams stay healthy, and with a little luck here and there, there are probably 5-7 teams that "could" win a championship this year if everything went right for them.
1. San Antonio
2. Boston
3. Phoenix
4. Lakers
the Jazz are more built for a championship than the Suns are. Have you watched the Suns play defense?...I haven't either.
btw your signature is annoyingly too big
Yessir.
And LA is not definitively better than Utah either. They do play defense and Kobe could go off, but the Jazz are an offensive machine and a deeper team than the Lakers. I'm not sure Utah would win it, but that's going to be a of series.
The Suns can compete if they ever get their together.
If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his ass a' hoppin'.
Utah can score in a lot of different ways, they play solid defense, they're next to unbeatable at home, and they've got a great coach. I'd put them ahead of New Orleans and up there with L.A. and San Antonio as the West teams best-equipped to win it all.
I'm really skeptical on Detroit. They've got the experience, their starting unit is as good as anyone's, but there just seems to be a mental fragility about them. And as for Flip, well... the less said the better.
IMO if Cleveland moves on to face Boston, the winner of that series will be the one that comes out of the East.
You forgot the Bobcats.
On a serious note, I agree with JamStone. There were a lot of teams "built to win a championship" in the 90s. The problem was that so were the Bulls...
You did see the 4 games between the two teams this season right?
And how does anyone figure they are deeper than a team that goes 8 deep with players playing big minutes (same as Utah) except LA has 2 more starters who are out?
Well the Spurs are already a given...last time I checked theyre still the champs.
Thunder Dan.
I salute you for your avatar.
Problem Child FTW!
The Bulls werent built to win a championship. They were built to everyone up and steal all kinds of le hopes away from other great players. Still the best team of all time, and not because of their wins. Because they had the perfect balance between star power and role players, they played very hardnosed-suffocating defense, had an extremely high powered offense that could run you to death or could kill you in the half court with Jordan getting whatever he wanted, played very smart ball that started inside going out, and might be the most confident team ive ever seen play, because they all believed in Jordan, which equated to everyone being a threat in one way or another on the court making it even harder than it already was to double/triple Jordan so much.
Those Bulls were a perfectly built team. I think the two most well built and balaced teams are Jordan's Bulls, and Duncan's Spurs. I know a lot of people will tell me the 80s Celtics/Lakers would dominate, blah blah blah... that. Those teams didn't play NEARLY the amount of defense that the Bulls and Spurs play. Not to mention the Spurs are arguably the best defensive dynasty of all time, in an era where all kinds of rules were made to tone down defenses, such as hand checking, etc... and mentally, the Bulls and Spurs are two teams that are as strong as anyone ever, and the mental aspect of basketball IMO is always the most important one.
Yes. In three of them we lost by 10 pts or so. In one of them we blew you out by 24. The regular season means nothing.
Because-
A. Your 2 starters are in fact out so why would they count?
B. Millsap, Harpring & Korver are hands-down better than Vujacic & Walton. Farmar is a push because your two pg's each play about 20 mins while Deron plays 40 and he's far better than the two of them put together.
I'm not even saying we're the better team, LA scares the out of me, but I do think we are the deeper team right now.
We'll see in a week.
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