As the NBA season approaches the finale push to the play-offs it is apparent who the truly dominant teams are. The Lakers, the Blazers, the Spurs, the Kings, the Jazz and some people may even consider the 76ers. But who are the teams that could advance into the class of the elite in the next few years. Houston, Dallas, L.A. Clippers and Vancouver are four teams that I think are worth keeping and eye on. The Houston Rockets have the second youngest team and one of the best back court combos in the in the NBA. They also have a coach in Rudy T that has won two NBA championships and knows exactly what it takes to get to the big dance. Throw in Carol Dawson and the Rockets also have one of the most respected front offices in the league. Rudy T and CD have landed a major free agent or pulled off a major trade in four of the past 6 years. Rudy T is one of the best liked coaches in the league by the players in the NBA and has made Houston one of the most attractive places for free agents. Steve Francis is already considered the future of the NBA point guard. Greatness and a place in history have already been set aside for him. His performance this year, averaging nearly a triple double and leading his team in every statistical category for almost the entire year have done nothing to disappoint. Many in the league have already said that he may be the best point guard in the league. Teamed with Cuttino Mobley, Francis leads the most athletic and quickest backcourt in the league. Mobley has one of the quickest first steps in the league and no one has better hops than Frances does. When this tandem finally comes of age the league may be in for some serious damage. The two only hold 4 and a half years of NBA experience between them and they are both scoring almost 20 a game and have lead the Rockets in a very tight play-off race that will likely go down to the last game of the season. An acquisition of free agent Chris Webber could vault the Rockets into the class of the elite as early as next year. Some people have been concerned how a dominant low post presence in the paint would effect the game of Mobley and Francis but the resurgence of Hakeem Olajuwan has proven that a low post game can survive and even thrive when teamed with the Rockets backcourt tandem. In fact the Rockets only began their current push for the play-offs and have been playing their best basketball of the season since the team re-discovered the low post game. There is a worst case scenario for the Rockets. They could spend all of their time chasing Chris Webber and loose Mo Taylor, Shandon Anderson and Hakeem Olajuwan to free agency leaving the Rockets with Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and not much else in the form of front line players. But if Rudy T and CD pull off some of that old magic and land Chris Webber in the off season then we can all expect the Rockets to reach the stars a lot sooner than anyone expected after only two years of a major rebuilding process. Take that Jerry Krause. The Dallas Mavericks staring Mark Cuban. This may be the only team in the league where the owner gets more publicity than the star players do and this is a team with some serious stars. And why shouldn’t he get the publicity? All he has done is buy a team that was equaled only by the Clippers in futility over the last decade and turned them into one of the most consistent winning teams in the NBA. Winning and Mavericks in the same sentence? I still have to get used to that one. This is a team that is full of offensive talent at every position. O.K. well maybe not at center. The current super star of this team is Michael Finley but that may change over the next couple of years as up and coming super star Dirk Nowitzki continues to mature. Throw in Steve Nash who has been one of the better point guards in this league over the last year and a half and Juwan Howard who has been an offensive dynamo at the 4 spot since coming to Dallas and it is no wonder this team is on course for its first 50 win season in over a decade. The only thing this team is missing to be a true NBA Championship contender is a dominating low post defender. Someone that can swallow every defensive rebound, block shots and carry a big enough butt to keep the other teams dominating low post players out of the paint. What they need is someone with a serious attitude that is not afraid to battle in the paint with guys like Shaq, Wallace and Webber. That person may already be on the roster in the form of Donell Harvey. Many people think all this kid needs is a little growth and the Mavs could have a Dennis Rodman clone with out all the baggage. An exciting and creative owner that wants to win at any cost to his pocket book, an experienced coach that knows the NBA as well as anyone and a core of talent that is already as deep as any team outside the Blazers and it is easy to see why the Mavs fans are so excited. The Vancouver Grizzlies are the one team in the NBA that makes no sense at all. How does a team starting Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson and Shareef Abdur-Raheem just keep loosing? That trio is reminiscent of the three J’s that roamed the court in Dallas in the mid 90’s. As a whole the Vancouver trio might be a little better talent wise and yet something on this team just doesn’t click. With all the talk of this team moving (can you say Big Easy), locker room distractions and bad management it is hard to ignore the talent on this team and what they may get out of the upcoming draft this year. This draft according to many is the best big man draft in years. Guess what the Grizz need more than anything else? A dominating big man, a low post player that can give this team what Big Country can not. With Brendan Haywood, Loren Woods, Eddie Curry (if he selects the NBA over College) and Yao Ming at the 5 spot the Grizz should easily be able to significantly upgrade that position. A new NBA home (can you say BigEasy) can provide a much-needed change of pace. A dominant low post player at the 5 spot and a Stromile Swift that should be ready to move into the starting line-up at the 4 spot next year and the Grizzlies should be the most improved team in the NBA next season. I just can’t see a team with this much talent remaining the seller of the NBA much longer. Then again I still can’t explain how the Clippers have been there for so long with all the high draft picks that they have had over the last two decades. The LA Clippers may be the worst sports franchise in all of sports. But times are changing and there is a NBA giant growing in California and they won’t be wearing Lakers purple and gold. It’s the Clippers. Yes I know how silly that sounds but look at the team. They are loaded with players that have huge talent and huge upside that should be in their first, second or third year in college and imagine if they get Eddie Curry in this year’s draft? This is a team that has already shown flashes by beating some of the NBA’s powerhouses. Lamar Odom, Darius Miles, Corey Maggette, and Quentin Richardson provide the Clippers with the youngest and must athletic core of players in the NBA. If (and this is a big if considering the Clippers history) the Clippers can add another player like Eddie Curry to its roster through the draft this year and keep its players intact for a few years then this will not be a team that other teams will want to play. If they are allowed to grow together and become dominant together then in about three years the NBA may have a new powerhouse that could make life miserable for the rest of the league for the next decade and a half. ------------------ [This message has been edited by crash5179 (edited March 09, 2001).] [This message has been edited by crash5179 (edited March 11, 2001).]
This is a very well thought out, inciteful post and I agree with everything you said, but who is the fifth team? j ------------------ Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb! [This message has been edited by silent j (edited March 11, 2001).]
The Rockets and Mavs definitely. I'm hesitant to put the Clippers there, there are just to many questio nmarks with them. Will Donald Sterling shell out the money to keep the players? Will most of them stay? IS Alvin Gentry the coach to get them to the next level? Put Philly there, they'll be there for a while. Orlando is another team and Milwaukee. Questions about where the Grizzlies will be will hurt them. Two of their star players don't like each other. Despite their streak, they don't play well together, and they are horribly coached. Golden State could be a surprise team in a year or two. ------------------ Rocks2001 in disguise. . .
How about Atlanta? With the trade they just made, they'll have a team of: C: Mohammed/Ratliff/Wright PF: Ratliff/Crawford/Bowdler SF: Kukoc/Dermarr/Henderson SG: Terry/Glover PG: Knight/Sanchez They should be a team to keep an eye on also. ------------------
I think that we're going to see a changing of the guard in the next 5 years. The teams that have been there year in & year out will finally become the door mats of the NBA. Look what happened to Boston & now Chicago. That's what makes the rebuilding job that Rudy & CD are doing look so impressive. ------------------
I agree with crash5179 on every word except the Clippars-part. The owner of Clippers is an idiot. Clippers got the best rookie every year, but after this rookies contract ends, Clippers ain't got the money to hire him anymore. Odom is gonna go after his contract ends, no doubt. Olowokandi also. After that there will be other rookies wasting time with this crap team which ain't never going to achieve anything. Oh for f***s sake. Sorry for my bad english. ------------------ Lifeform Assembled for Violence and Intensive Sabotage [This message has been edited by Kewl Like The Fonz (edited March 11, 2001).]
