Think about it, I'm looking at recent history in NBA but as well as NFL and MLB. When I am talking about a dream team, it is when a team has a busy offseason where they acquire many different players, most of them big names, and then media start calling them "dream team" and they are picked to be contenders, and championship caliber immediately. Last dream teams in the NBA 1. LA Lakers with Shaq, Kobe, Payton, Malone. The team started out as expected, but had injuries and just chemistry issues that made them lose the NBA Finals. They were then broken up in one year. Result: FAILURE. 2. Miami Heat with LeBron, Wade, Bosh. They got to the Finals, but lost to the Mavs. Result: FAILURE (in year one). But they are not a success. 3. LA Lakers with Kobe, Dwight, Gasol, Nash. Horrible season. Result: FAILURE. In MLB This year's Blue Jays and LA Angles both had huge off seasons. Both teams have some of the worst records in the entire MLB. Remember the Red Sox when they acquired Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford? That team was also a complete failure. In NFL All I can remember is the Philadelphia Eagles of a couple seasons ago. They were the worst team in the NFC East. In conclusion, based on recent history every single assembled "dream team" has been a failure. The only success has been the Miami Heat, but that was an unprecedented offseason. The best player in the NBA and a top 3 PF joining them. Even that team failed in their first season though.
2002 Detroit Red Wings. 9 hall of famers and the greatest coach in NHL history Steve Yzerman Sergei Federov Igor Larionov Brenden Shanahan Brett Hull Luc Robitalle Niklas Lindstrom Chris Chelios Dominak Hasek Scotty Bowman at coach.
Ok. Yeah, the super team thing as a whole hasn't been as successful as most think it should. I would say it's usually worth the risks, though. Would you consider the 2008 Celtics to be a super team?
Define "fail." Usually the teams are pretty good even if they don't win it all. Except for this year's Lakers. Dang, they sucked balls.
Some sports have more parity than others so having a dream team still doesn't = win. In basketball the best team usually almost always win.
Some of the examples you give, those teams had "stars" that were past their prime. '03-'04 Lakers. Payton was 35. Malone was 40 and retired after the season. They still went to the finals and were better than the previous year. It's almost like the Rockets post-Championships. The Rockets had Dream, Clyde, and Barkley but all were on the down slopes of their career. Then when Clyde retired they added a 33 year old Pippen to go with a then 36 year old Olajuwon and 35 year old Barkley. They were names, but they weren't the players they were when they made those names for themselves. This years Lakers reminds me of the 2011 Texans where Schaub, AJ, and Foster were only on the field together for a small handful of plays. How many games did Kobe, Dwight, Nash, and Gasol play together? And that's not counting how they botched their coaching situation. A healthy Lakers team plus Phil Jackson likely results in a dramatically different season. The thing about the Heat is that their 3 star players are in their prime together. That's what's rare. In baseball, it's been long proven that you just can't look at the absence of a salary cap and throw stupid money around expecting wins. You have to be smart as well. The Yankees have spent loads of cash, but they've usually been smart about it. The Dodgers? Not so much. A guy has one good year before FA and they'll gladly give him a huge long term deal. Then the player struggles to replicate his one good year and the Dodgers wonder why they're not Yankees-West.
Do you consider the 2008 Celtics a "Dream Team" or a team with players past their prime that clicked well together?
