Eastern Conference Finals: (1)Atlanta vs. (2)Cleveland

It was a great season Atlanta.

Spoiler

Lowe & Russillo:

ZL: ... If Hawks lose tonight or in 5, what should we take from their season? There will be a flood of analysis about how this is proof that what they did in the regular season is cute with system basketball but doesn't work in the playoffs unless you have a superstar.

RR: Love the topic. If you're married to the superstar thing, you'll use this. I don't think this proves the superstar thing does or doesn't work. The idea that Atlanta said let's build a sharing team with flowing offense, they wanted superstars too. They pitched Dwight. Your team is built on who's available. I have guys who I work with say I'll never build a team around James Harden. If I can have LeBron or Harden, yeah I'll take LeBron too but if you're Houston, you're not gonna say Harden isn't perfect so I'll wait until one of those 2 or 3 is available. The team building stuff is where you start with this discussion. It's really hard. It's built on luck or having enough assets in the right city with a decent team already, which is what some of these teams have done. Having said all that, when Atlanta was right, they were a difficult team to defend. If healthy, they had enough wing guys to throw at LeBron. They were built in a way, they thought they had a shot. If 100% healthy, why couldn't they beat this Cavs team? It could have happened. I don't know about the West but Horford is a superstar. I love Al Horford. He's a superstar in my eyes. Teague is in that second tier of PGs. Korver is the perfect compliment. Millsap and Horford are brutal big guys to deal with. The way they were built, not sure if all by design, but I don't look at this and say "Doesn't work!" Every team will sign a superstar if they have that option. Atlanta built it in a way that might be harder to be successful. Usually you aren't that good if you don't have that guy but it's simplistic to say well if you don't have a great player you can't be a great team. We can all figure that out on our own.

ZL: A) The takeaway should be they're injured. B) The whole definition of a superstar assumes rarity. Not everyone can have them. The Hawks showed you can shrink the gap by playing in a way that is difficult to defend. You can minimize the talent gap. They could have made the Finals. Maybe they got lucky that Wall, Love & Kyrie are hurt but they're also hurt. That's life in the NBA. Every team that makes the Finals and wins the title, somewhere along the line gets lucky with injury, match up or their own team staying healthy. They gave themselves a chance to make the Finals without a superstar. Would they like one? Duh. That said, they're an interesting team. They also thought about Carmelo. If you have Davis or LeBron, that fits nicely. If you get the traditional ball stopper superstar, you can't play the way they play. We have the same takeaways.

RR: Team building is my favorite thing to talk about. ... When I hear DeAnde Jordan isn't worth this, he is because someone else will pay him that. There are things I don't love. He has a problem with Chris Paul? He'll get all that money because Dallas will pay him. Some ask is Aldridge a max money player? What's wrong with you? Why would the Lakers want to keep Dwight? They want to keep him because they lose an asset otherwise and are in more trouble. Daryl Morey is as smart as anyone we know, great dude, great personality, that's why the media likes him but he wanted, he would have taken a shot at some of these stars who don't seem to fit his mold because he is smart enough to understand this is not about getting the perfect guy and hitting on all the right numbers. Its about the opportunity and am I loaded and ready to go when the opportunity presents itself? Daryl Morey brought in Josh Smith. What more do we need to say? He's cheap, he was a guy he could trust with minutes and no risk move because the financial implications. The most non-analytical player ever was brought in by the king in Daryl Morey because of what it meant. That proves how hard it is to add pieces that are even the right pieces to your roster.