Franchise Players

[Findog]

Here is my thinking on that. LeBron, Kobe, Duncan, Wade when he's healthy, those are bona fide franchise guys. They are #1 options, or Batman. Give them a numerical value of 1. Manu Ginobili, Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol, those guys are Robin. They are #2 options. Give them a numerical value of 2. You can win a le when the numerical value of your top two players adds up to 3 or less. Anything over 3, and it's going to be difficult. The Shaq/Kobe Lakers I'd say were a 2.5, with Shaq being a 1 and Kobe at the time being a 1.5. That's why they were so dominant, because they essentially had two #1 options.

Guys like KG, Pierce and Dirk are difficult, because they are better than #2 options, but they are not as good as the #1 options listed above. Give them a numerical value of 1.5. I think Chris Paul is on the cusp of becoming a 1, but right now I'd say he's a 1.5. There's a LOT of #2 options in this league, a handful of 1.5 guys, but I would say there's only 4 #1 options. You can win a le with Dirk or CP3 as your best player, but you would have to have somebody almost as good alongside them. To date, the best the Mavs have been able to do is Josh Howard, who at his peak was a 2. These days he's more like a third option, for a numerical value of 3. Pierce and KG together were able to win a le because together they covered the other's weaknesses (Pierce not being a leader who can inspire his teammates and put his stamp on a team, KG not being a crunch-time go to guy).

The same principle applies to third options - you can win a le when the numerical value of your top three players is 6 or less, and so on. I think the problem with most NBA teams is that they ask #2 options to be franchise guys, #3 options to be Robin, rotation players to be starters, scrubs to be rotation players, and so on.

In addition to being top-heavy, championship teams need good chemistry and role players that complement the stars. That's been the secret to the Spurs' success. They've had a bunch of non-descript role players complementing their Big Three. If he were on Milwaukee, you'd look at Bruce Bowen and say he was a spare. But in the Spurs system, he's been a vital cog in their machine. Nobody cares about stats or contracts on championship teams, at least to the point that it comes before team success. What the Spurs have done is incredibly difficult to duplicate. I see it with the Celtics as well. Not only do they have a lot of talent and a well-put together roster, but you see KG, Allen and Pierce standing up and cheering on their scrubs in the waning moments of a blowout.

[Kai]

Yao and D. Howard are franchise guys just based on the fact that there aren't any decent big men to guard them in this league. Having a Center that can dominate gives you a good shot to win against anyone.