assuming that team has a buttload of talent. penny hardaway, horace grant, and a bunch of 3 point shooters is a nice way to start off one's career. it appeared from watching the nba this season that that kobe bryant guy is an ok player. having him around is nice. add one of the clutchest guys ever in robert horry who has 3 other rings, and a bunch of other solid role players who play D and hit 3's, and it's a nice way to spend the prime of one's career. and even after that falls apart, you add 2 future hall of famers for nothing (but don't win the title). and considering he's the best player on the team, it appears dwyane wade has a bit of talent as well. oh, and they added a former all-star in antoine walker, james posey, gary payton, and jason williams to their team. an enjoyable way to ride off into the sunset. how ever does shaq win with these guys? shaq is averaging about 20/9.7/1.7 in the playoffs right now. very nice numbers. in hakeem's 14th season (though he was 34 and shaq 33) hakeem put up 23/11/2.5. even another year into the future he put up 20/11/3.2. so it doesn't appear hakeem comes up short compared to shaq in playoff performances, even in the later stages of their careers. shaq just never has anything but an amazing supporting cast. and they both lost on their HOFers-past-their-prime teams (shaq with malone/payton/kobe, hakeem with barkley/drexler), though shaq actually had one in his prime (kobe), at almost the exact same stage of their careers. shaq isn't exactly turning water into wine here. hell, he's been swept out of the playoffs 5 times in his career, so it's not like he just wills teams to victory. he's an all-time great who has had some of the best supporting casts of his era and, not surprisingly, has been to 6 finals because of it. put a kobe bryant on hakeem's team for his whole career and see what his finals appearances/titles total is.
I didn't have much confidence in that team, even less with Rasheed, they just weren't the same team they were with Larry Brown, and Rasheed became Juwon with a 3 pount shot. Bill Simmons explained it best, he basically said they go too cocky after the All Star break, when 4 of their 5 starters made the All Star team. Oh well, Rasheed is still my boy... He still has one championship belt. Sorry, I won't post a pic though, I know how much you love em'...
oh, and the fact neither SA or detroit are in the finals is kind of amazing considering how predictable the nba usually is, especially in the playoffs. both of these teams were seemingly finals locks, teams that had been there the year before, neither with old centerpieces, neither losing any real role players, and yet neither team makes it? that isn't how the nba works. san antonio and detroit was about as consensus an nba finals prediction as you'll see these days and now both are gone. they were consensus picks last year and made it, so it seemed right to pick them again. even if you can look at who they lost to and say it seems reasonable that they lost, the battle-tested, talented teams just seem to always make it through in the nba. and yet dallas and miami just had what it took, and detroit fell apart enough. just weird seeing the nba playoffs not play out like you would think as you can usually tell who the best team is and, in the nba more than any other sport, the best team almost always win.
LOL! I love the detractors, when they run out of excuses and things to say, they just rehash the same old tired arguments. Shaq detractors and Hakeem detractors have a lot in common. Just don't get pissed off when Hakeem detractors say what they say, because you're no better than they are in refusing to give Shaq his due...but as a dedicated Kobe fan, I understand where the jealousy/envy is coming from. "Jealousy in their eyes, that's what it is boy, envy in their eyes, that's what it is boy, the team that's on the rise".
I missed the Bill Simmons article but that point you mention makes a lot of sense. 4/5 starters make the All-Star team and they read too many press clippings about how great they were. Before the playoffs, silly Colin Cowpatch was debating a guy on his radio show on whether these Pistons belonged among the All-Time great teams. This just proves again that NBA champions aren't crowned in February and March. A championship season is a 100-110 game marathon where the strongest finishing kick wins the race.
Question No. 12: Are the Pistons done? Let's rephrase the question: How are the Pistons still alive? The Cavs should have finished them off in Game 6 and lost because Detroit banked home two lucky shots and tipped in a couple of rebounds. Truth be told, the Pistons haven't played a quality, all-around game since Game 1 of the Cleveland series, when they annihilated the Cavs and apparently decided that "we can turn it on and off whenever we want." You can do that if you have a great team. But as we're learning, this isn't a great team anymore. First, Joe Dumars did nothing to help his bench other than sign Antonio McDyess two years ago -- none of the draft picks or trades helped, and the Darko debacle, from beginning to end, ranks among the most mishandled personnel sagas in the history of the league. Second, you can't grind out those 72-70 wins anymore, not when the various rule changes reward teams that can shoot 3s and attack the basket, and it's just too much of a chore for these guys to score against good defensive teams (especially when they're playing four-on-five with Ben Wallace). Third, they have the wrong coach -- it's obvious now -- and it seems like he's getting more overwhelmed with each game. In their heyday, they resembled one of those boxers who overpowered opponents simply by outpunching them, by knocking the crap out of them, by coming forward again and again and breaking their will. Since the All-Star Game, they morphed into something different, more of a finesse team, definitely more inconsistent, the kind of team they would have gobbled up two years ago. The wakeup call happened in Game 4 of the Cavs series, after Rasheed guaranteed a victory, when they squandered a winnable game against an inferior team. Great teams show up for those. Even during Game 5 of the Miami series, a deceiving double-digit win for the Pistons at home, the Heat were in striking distance despite shooting an abysmal 6-for-20 from the charity stripe. Six-for-20! And they still had a chance to win? Sure, the Pistons still can salvage the Miami series. But Young Flanagan taught us that everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end, and this Pistons team reminds me of some other fading powerhouses that were symbolically blown out in a series to end their reign (the '88 Celtics, '91 Pistons and '04 Lakers, to name three). I don't think they have a chance tonight. More importantly, I hope they get knocked out -- not because I'm tired of watching them, but because I'm bored by the whole we're-trying-harder-tonight-because-our-backs-are-against-the-wall mind-set. Is that an acceptable excuse anymore? Just look at the Western Conference, where the undermanned Suns have been killing themselves for 19 straight playoff games (and counting). No excuses, no empty promises, no tough talk ... just a gritty team that loves playing together, keeps showing up and seems determined to keep winning or go down fighting. And you thought Detroit was the tough one. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060602
I'm pretty much shocked that Detroit lost this series. Just shows the difference between Larry Brown and Flip.
LB wasn't the difference in this series, Pat Riley was. Riley's bold off-season moves were vindicated, I thought they would work, just not this year. Thought that the team needed more than 1 season to gel but it happened sooner than I expected. Depth was the key, if someone like Wade had an off night, JW picked up the slack. If Shaq was in foul trouble, Alonzo played like a beast.
I agree. LB wouldn't have made a difference. The Ben-Sheed-Prince-Rip-Billips team has run its course. The Pistons now need to be bold. In my opinion they may well go after KG with a package (one of the Wallace's + filler--e.g., McDyess, Evans + Orlando #1 pick + future 1st). They need to infuse some life in their bigs, if they can do it and keep Prince and their guards they could get right back there.
Correct, a less talented version of Miami's team was going to beat Det last year. When healthy Miami has been one of the best 3 teams in the league the last 2 years (with SA and Det), it should be a big suprise except the severity Miami handled Det in the close out game. Det knew who the better team was but usually they have more fight.
