Is Lebron, Wade and Bosh Too Much—Nope, Just Enough
Set aside “The Decision” on ESPN special, which David $tern accurately described as “ill-conceived, badly produced and poorly executed,” and I’m excited as hell about LeBron James accepting the opportunity to be Dwyane Wade’s Scottie Pippen. Throw Chris Bosh into the mix (Seriously, when will a signing the magnitude of Bosh’s ever be cast aside more readily?), and I’m happier than a meth head scrubbing bricks.
Apparently my sentiment isn’t shared unilaterally. More so, I’m hearing complaints about LeBron giving up or the Heat now being “too good.”
Too good, you say? What exactly is too good? Let’s look at the greatest teams throughout the NBA’s history.
1. Minneapolis Lakers 1949-1954
2. Boston Celtics 1957-1969
3. Philadelphia Warriors 1967
4. Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers 1959-1973
5. New York Knicks 1969-1974
6. Portland Trail Blazers 1977
7. Los Angeles Lakers 1980-1988
8. Boston Celtics 1980-1987
9. Detroit Pistons 1987-1990
10. Chicago Bulls 1989-1998
11. Houston Rockets 1994-1995
12. San Antonio Spurs 1999-2007
13. Los Angeles Lakers 2000-2004
14. Los Angeles Lakers 2008-present
Bill Russell had the assistance of Hall of Famers Bob Cousy, Bill Sharman, Ed Macauley, Frank Ramsey, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Tom Heinsohn, Clyde Lovellette, Bailey Howell, Arnie Risen and Wayne Embry along his journey to 11 championships in 13 years.
The Lakers lived on the dynamic duo of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. Forget being all-time greats. West created the shooting guard position and Elgin created the mold for Dr. J, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. At their greatest, Wilt Chamberlin rounded out the star-studded team.
The Knicks had one of the greatest collections of stars ever in Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier, Bill Bradley and Dave DeBusschere.
If Bill Walton wasn’t cursed with busted feet, the NBA would be 15 years ahead of itself right now.
Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Bird, McHale, Parrish—the Lakers and Celtics ran the 80s with three all-time greats. They were so good that the third best team of the 80s, the Sixers, are forgotten despite their cast including Dr. J, Moses Malone, Andrew Toney, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones and Charles Barkley.
Both of the latest editions of Lakers title teams had all-time greats playing together (whether or not they liked it).
The Bulls had two of the ten best players ever, Scottie and Mike, and had the most underrated player of the last 30 years, Dennis Rodman, for the last half of the dynasty.
As for the other greatest teams of the generation, the original Lakers played in a time when one white dude with glasses and knee pads could control the league, the ’67 Warriors were always a mess thanks to Wilt, the Pistons had one transcendent player and a bunch of really good ones, the Rockets took advantage of MJ’s hiatus, and the Spurs used Tim Duncan to overtake a watered-down, over-expanded league.
And now we have the Heat. The talent this team will posses for the next four or five years will be the greatest collection of athletes the NBA could ever hope to see assembled.
And this disappoints us?
Because America is a football nation, and because sports are packaged as such by the media to seem like they are comparable, we’ve been fooled into thinking pro basketball should be a sport of parity. It most definitely should not.
The greatest eras of the game have been marked by dynasties—or even better, two teams clamoring for supremacy (e.g. Russell/Chamberlin in the 50s and 60s, Lakers/Celtics in the 60s, 80s and 2010 or Pistons/Bulls in the late 80s).
The worst eras are marked by parity. There were the cocaine days of the 70s when the champion was whatever team stayed the cleanest for the longest period of time, and then there was the post-Jordan/pre-Celtics/Lakers resurgence when Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse were considered big-time players. It got so bad that at one point, a team without a single star at all beat a Phil Jackson-coached, Shaq-Kobe-,Karl Malone-and-Gary Payton team in five games for the title.
No thank you. I’ll take LeDwyane Bosh-ames any day. Not to mention Kobe and Co. don’t appear to be headed anywhere. Do I smell another power struggle? If so, I have two things to thank. The first is LeBron recognizing his own limitations (and possibly Dwyane Wade’s good looks resulting in the artist formerly known as King James developing a man crush).
The second, of course: Ron Artest’s hood.
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This article was originally published by the author at www.dailyutahchronicle.com/butte-report
