Why are NBA championships spread among so few teams?

[Highpointer]

Why are NBA championships spread among so few teams? Since 1999 the Spurs have won 4 championships and the Lakers have won 3. The Lakers won five championships during the 1980's and recorded many other championships going all the way back to their early days as the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1950's. The Lakers have perhaps the best chance of any team of winning the championship this season.

The two teams from the Eastern Conference with the best chance of winning the championship are the Celtics and the Pistons, which rank first and third among Eastern Conference teams in terms of championships won.

My two favorite teams are the Suns and the Jazz. I really want either of those two teams to win a championship some day. I am tired of seeing either the Spurs or Lakers win a championship again. If the Spurs and Lakers can win so many championships, why can't the Suns or the Jazz win even one?

Why are NBA championships distributed among so few teams? The Suns and Jazz aren't the only two teams without a championship - there are many others. In this decade, the only team to win a championship for the first time was the Miami Heat in 2006, and they did that by playing another team that was making its initial appearance in the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks.

While the Jazz and Suns have had consistent regular-season success, they have always failed where it ultimately counts - in the NBA Playoffs.

 

[Errntknght]

Its easy to give the reason the Celtics were so successful for a long time - Red Auerbach. He was very astute in all aspects of running a team - particularly in picking players that had high basketball IQ. (That shows up in the number of top flight NBA coaches who played on his teams.) The Celts had lots of great players but no prima donnas, no head cases and no players who played for their own glory. Many of the greatest Celtics were the ones that did the dirty work, game in and game out - like Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Robert Parrish, Larry Bird.

Auerbach also changed the game - he emphasized defense and 'fast break' basketball when other teams were focussed on offense and half court play. (And he didn't just have good regular season W-L records to show for it.)

Its not so clear to me why the Lakers have so successful over the long haul. When I started following the NBA they had the best big man in the game in George Miken and somehow they've followed that up by getting far more than their fair share dominating big men - Kareem and Shaq most significantly, but they even snagged Wilt Chamberlain for few years. Even though he mostly played PG, you can almost put Magic Johnson on that list - as he could dominate in the paint if he had to.

Jerry West is given the most credit for keeping the Lakers in the thick of things - and it is probably deserved but I can't say as I've never followed them closely. One thing for sure is that they have had deep pockets but that doesn't mean much without serious backetball acumen guiding things, so someone in the organization knows what they are doing.
According to our local Lakers experts there is currently some turmoil in the FO, but what happens - Jerry West comes to the rescue all the way from Memphis, giving them Gasol for dreck! If the Suns ever made a trade that favorable the league would probably find an excuse to disallow it - which happened to them once. (Motumbo from Denver, IIRC) The league rubber stamped the Gasol trade without batting an eye even though I can't see how it is not somehow underhanded.

 

[D-Dogg]

Jerry West comes to the rescue all the way from Memphis, giving them Gasol for dreck!

Uhm, no. He wasn't involved.

And the rest of your drek is just homertastic whining.

 

[ecutch]

NBA Championships are spread between so few teams because teams generally have to get lucky and draft a superstar. The Bulls drafted Jordan, the Celtics drafted Bird, the Lakers drafted Magic, the Spurs drafted Duncan, the Pistons drafted Isaiah, the Rockets drafted Hakeem, the Heat drafted D-Wade... Pre-1970-ish, the dynamics of the league were much different, so not every team drafted their superstar. But in the "modern" NBA, it appears you must draft a superstar to win a title.

 

[D-Dogg]

Yep, which is why Seattle and Portland will be factors going into the next few years.

 

[Trophytown]

Uhm, no. He wasn't involved.

And the rest of your drek is just homertastic whining.

Could you kindly invoke to the gentleman that Jerry West isnt/wasnt the GM that orchestrated that Gasol trade ?

Chris Wallace..............who wanted draft picks (and got two number 1's) cap relief (9M coming off the books from Kwame's expiring contract) and the rights to a blossoming talented G in Crittenton along with the rights to another 7' bigman (Marc Gasol) made that call.

Conley PG/Crittenton
Miller SG/Crittenton
Gay SF
FA signing/M Gasol
Milicic C

2 - #1 picks this upcoming draft and 2 more #1's (theirs and LA's) in 2010

Not bad for rebuilding.

 

[TJ]

Uhm, no. He wasn't involved.

And the rest of your drek is just homertastic whining.

Well, as a Laker fan, what is Kwame Brown the equivalent to?? Moses Malone??

 

[D-Dogg]

Well, as a Laker fan, what is Kwame Brown the equivalent to??

Ten million dollars of cap relief.


Multiple question marks not needed.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Well, as a Laker fan, what is Kwame Brown the equivalent to?? Moses Malone??

Ten million dollars of cap relief.


Multiple question marks not needed.

I think so.

Judges would have also accepted Pau Gasol.

 

[chickenhead]

I think it's because the best player(s) in the NBA go further than the best players in other sports. Drafting a once-an-eras player can change the face of your franchise for years. San Antonio did it twice.

The big markets have the advantage of being where stars want to go, and stars do have a say in that. Witness the Lakers getting Shaq, and Shaq to the Lakers had a much bigger effect on its own than, say, Clemens to the Yankees.

In Boston's case, they had a great organization and great players at a time when the league was smaller and there were fewer variables. Montreal benefited from a similar situation in the NHL for decades.

 

[nowagimp]

NBA Championships are spread between so few teams because teams generally have to get lucky and draft a superstar. The Bulls drafted Jordan, the Celtics drafted Bird, the Lakers drafted Magic, the Spurs drafted Duncan, the Pistons drafted Isaiah, the Rockets drafted Hakeem, the Heat drafted D-Wade... Pre-1970-ish, the dynamics of the league were much different, so not every team drafted their superstar. But in the "modern" NBA, it appears you must draft a superstar to win a title.

this isnt the only reason, but IMO its the biggest one. I think 9 of the last 10 championship teams had shaq or TD. Getting great players and then managing them is what it has been about. Big men in particular have been critical: Russel(one of the best defensively), chamberlain, jabbar, olajuwon, Tim Duncan, Shaquille Oneil. The non big men who dominated the game were: jordan, magic, bird. The reason there is a salary cap is that big markets just bought the talent to win.

 

[Irish]

The only era which was not dominated by dynasties was the 1970's and that was distorted by the presence and later merger with the ABA.

A key to the Lakers has been the ability to attract superstars who all but forced their teams to trade them to the Lakers in the case of Kareem and Shaq (I don't know the story with Wilt, but it might have there as well). It's only been in the last decade that the money from endorsements stopped totally dwarfing anything a guy could make in salary (it is still bigger for many players).

The other side of the equasion is that many teams were either unable or unwilling to pay for talent. For all the griping about Sarver, he's far from the cheapest owner. Some franchises will never get out of the pit (I'm going to laugh like anything when all the rookie contracts in Atlanta expire).

 

[Highpointer]

More championship diversity in Major League Baseball

Many people think that baseball is the sport with the most competive imbalance. However, it is interesting to note that Major League Baseball has had six different teams win the World Series during the seven completed seasons thus far of the 21st Century. These include the first-time World Series champions of the Diamondbacks and Angels in 2001 and 2002 respectively and two teams that had won their most recent World Series over 85 years earlier, the Red Sox in 2004 and the White Sox in 2005. The Florida Marlins have won two World Series in the only two playoff appearances in their history, while teams like the Jazz and Suns in the NBA have made the playoffs at least 20 times or more times in the past 25 years yet have never been able to win a championship. Since 16 teams make the NBA playoffs each year, a team should be able to win at least one championship over a span of 20 playoff appearances.

 

[asudevil83]

Could you kindly invoke to the gentleman that Jerry West isnt/wasnt the GM that orchestrated that Gasol trade ?

Chris Wallace..............who wanted draft picks (and got two number 1's) cap relief (9M coming off the books from Kwame's expiring contract) and the rights to a blossoming talented G in Crittenton along with the rights to another 7' bigman (Marc Gasol) made that call.

Conley PG/Crittenton
Miller SG/Crittenton
Gay SF
FA signing/M Gasol
Milicic C

2 - #1 picks this upcoming draft and 2 more #1's (theirs and LA's) in 2010

Not bad for rebuilding.

not to devalue the thought of 2 #1s from LA, but i would consider them more like guaranteed second rounders. picks after about 25 or so are a crap shoot....and any could easily go in the second round.

 

[Errntknght]

Uhm, no. He wasn't involved.

And the rest of your drek is just homertastic whining.

How do you know Jerry West wasn't involved - surely you don't believe he doesn't have long established contacts at the highest levels of both organizations. He'd know well ahead of the competition that the Grizz we're planning on going into a rebuilding mode and were planning on trading Gasol for the pieces they wanted. A few words to the Lakers brass about what the thinking in Memphis was and they could put together a tailored offer before anyone else knew anything was afoot.

Gasol isn't Garnett by any stretch of the imagination but he was the best player the Grizz had - or have ever had, and they didn't let the word out and field offers from all interested parties the way Minnie did? Just that in itself looks fishy and throwing in the West connection, it looks doubly fishy.

As for the "homertastic drek" you allude to, are you saying the Suns did not have a trade disallowed by the league?
That was the only thing in my post that was about the Suns. If you know its wrong trot out your evidence.

Donald, you and your sidekicks, have suddenly dropped your masks the last few days on here. No longer the calm, rational basketball ball fans but spewing vicious insults every time one of us dares to say something against your beloved Lakers.

You have one thing right, we do hate the Lakers. You can't really be a Suns fan and not loathe the Lakers. You guys, dressed in your true colors, make it feel like a worthy cause.

 

[Phade]

Donald, you and your sidekicks, have suddenly dropped your masks the last few days on here. No longer the calm, rational basketball ball fans but spewing vicious insults every time one of us dares to say something against your beloved Lakers.

You have one thing right, we do hate the Lakers. You can't really be a Suns fan and not loathe the Lakers. You guys, dressed in your true colors, make it feel like a worthy cause.

true that

 

[nowagimp]

Donald, you and your sidekicks, have suddenly dropped your masks the last few days on here. No longer the calm, rational basketball ball fans but spewing vicious insults every time one of us dares to say something against your beloved Lakers.

You have one thing right, we do hate the Lakers. You can't really be a Suns fan and not loathe the Lakers. You guys, dressed in your true colors, make it feel like a worthy cause.

yeah it makes it easy to loathe a team when their fans are closet trolls. It can all be tuned out for the drek that it is, though. Hello diamondbacks, goodbye WWFNBA, come on football. The NBA and its preposterous homecourt advantage in the playoffs is dead to me.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Donald, you and your sidekicks, have suddenly dropped your masks the last few days on here. No longer the calm, rational basketball ball fans but spewing vicious insults every time one of us dares to say something against your beloved Lakers.

You have one thing right, we do hate the Lakers. You can't really be a Suns fan and not loathe the Lakers. You guys, dressed in your true colors, make it feel like a worthy cause.

Love it, Donald's forum biatches.

 

[Andrew]

I might be crucified for this, but Donald is a cool guy...just passionate about his team, y'all can relate...

I like Darth too...

 

[MiamiHeat]

I might be crucified for this, but Donald is a cool guy...just passionate about his team, y'all can relate...

I like Darth too...

no surprise there.

andrew's loyalty is passed around like a ...........

 

[Andrew]

If you have nothing to contribute to the discussion, why even post?

I find it amusing you post just to make little quips.

 

[D-Dogg]

Donald, you and your sidekicks, have suddenly dropped your masks the last few days on here. No longer the calm, rational basketball ball fans but spewing vicious insults every time one of us dares to say something against your beloved Lakers.

You have one thing right, we do hate the Lakers. You can't really be a Suns fan and not loathe the Lakers. You guys, dressed in your true colors, make it feel like a worthy cause.

lol

Whatever dude.

 

[MiamiHeat]

face it donald. the SUNS would have beaten the lakers had they matched up. they match up well vs lakers.

 

[Darth Llama]

Donald, you and your sidekicks, have suddenly dropped your masks the last few days on here. No longer the calm, rational basketball ball fans but spewing vicious insults every time one of us dares to say something against your beloved Lakers.

You have one thing right, we do hate the Lakers. You can't really be a Suns fan and not loathe the Lakers. You guys, dressed in your true colors, make it feel like a worthy cause.

Well, I will say I'm sorry you feel that way. I guess perception is different depending on what side of the fence you're on in the Lakers vs Suns debate. To me, I was just defending my team the way any loyal Suns fan would. The only posts that really got rude replies were ones that were rude to begin with, but it's an issue we're not going to agree on. You hate the Lakers, I hate the Suns, that won't change. I'm sorry some people find me to be a "troll" but my dislike is for the rival team, not for the fans of that team. None of us posted a word when the Suns lost, none of us have tried to rub it in, we're not here gloating about the Lakers, etc. Sometimes smack gets tossed around in the heat of the moment, it happens.

I never had a problem with you, the only part of your post that really bothers me is the "sidekick" part. Donald is generally the most vocal of our group, I admit I agree with him 90% of the time, but the rest of us have our own opinions. Doesn't matter though, people will think what they want. I respect your opinion, but I disagree, I think you're taking a few posts a little more harshly because we're laker fans. A lot of smack gets tossed around on this forum, but people don't look at it as much when it's by a Suns fan. Yes, I realize this is primarily a Suns forum, that's why I don't say anything about it, I expect it, and it's fine. Just explaining my side. Good luck to you and your team, I think a lot of us will get along better once football season starts. A lot of us are Cardinal Fans after all, we could use some common ground for a while to chill things out a bit.

 

[D-Dogg]

face it donald. the SUNS would have beaten the lakers had they matched up. they match up well vs lakers.

Would have beaten? I don't know about that.

Could have? Sure...it is a great matchup. Which is why I was happy that the Lakers got the 1 seed and in the part of the bracket with Denver, Utah and Houston, teams I did not worry about, which three teams I didn't like the matchup with..Phoenix, Dallas and San Antonio...had to slug it out.

What exactly am I "facing" here?