Simmons is the Sixers best player and Philly was going nowhere until he was healthy. Spurs have Pop and such a great system they defy most any logic. However it’s Kawhi that makes them a contender. It’s a guard/wing league. Look at NOP. Two great front court players but no one considers them contenders.
The rest of their roster is utter crap though, I wouldn't say their case shows that teams built around bigs can't contend.
Blake is living the life. He signed a huge contract, has a mild injury and get some time off to rest his body and gets to F Kendall. That guy is living the Chandsome life
Two major problems with Griffin: 1. Injuries. He has played only three relatively injury-free seasons his whole career. 2. The tendency of disappearing in crucial time when the team needs him most. Part of the reasons we achieved the historic comeback against them in the 2015 playoffs is Griffin's choke job in the fourth quarter of that game.
I thought the Clipper curse usually started closer to playoff time. To be honest that team needs to trade D. Jordan before his value starts sinking more, as the need for a traditional big man is starting to disappear in this modern era.
Anthony Davis has been heralded as the best big man forever but his teams have been utter crap and he’s made the playoffs once as the 8th seed. Harden had crap for a couple years and always made the playoff, usually as the 4th seed. While I agree there always seems to be issue with NOP, it appears that the big men aren’t having the same effect on winning that they used to, because the game has changed.
NO has also done a crap job at building around davis tho. with a player like davis they need to surround him with shooters. they make moves that don't make any sense like bringing in rondo and tony allen who suck at shooting. it's no surprise they had their best year with davis with eric gordon and ryan anderson (good shooters).
