Can anyone remember a team being really good, getting a player, sucking, and when that player leaves, being really good again. Is style more important than talent?
Dude, I had to read that first sentence like 5 times... I'd like to say Allen Iverson on the Nuggets, but I'm not sure if that's just addition by addition with Billups.
Yes, that trade made no sense. The Suns are a fast moving team, even more back then. They get Shaq and they can't keep that up.
Stephon Marbury Suns made playoff every year under Jason Kidd and only made playoff once as an 8th seed with Marbury. After sending him back to New York in 04, they started the Steve Nash era next season.
It's not about finding the 5 best players, it's about finding the 5 players that play the best together...
Not always. The Olympics? Kidding. But yeah. It would be funny to see the championship team of that year participating as the USA Men's team in the Olympics.
This is where coaching comes in. A good coach can mold his system to incorporate good players. Unless he plays a similar role to one of your best players adding a good player shouldn't make the team worse.
If I remember correctly, the mavs record improved after they let steve nash go. They did not suck with him, but they improved when he left
OP said what good team got a player and then the team sucked. Denver did not suck with Allen Iverson. Rockets did not suck with T-mac. Maybe the Shaq one is a legit one since they missed the playoffs but they also changed coaches that year to Terry Porter who they later fired.
Stephon Marbury: T-Wolves, Nets, Suns, and Knicks. Scottie Pippen with the Rockets: Suprised none of you guys have mentioned that. Reggie Theus Lived Atlanta, I definitely remember these two stints; Dominique Wilkins (near the end of his career): The Hawks from 1989-1993 (94) never won more than 43 games in a season, finally a trade comes off the Human Highlight and the Hawks steadily improve to 57 wins coming very close to finish 1st in the Eastern Conference, losing on a tiebreaker to the Knicks (it would've been the first time the Hawks would've finished first in the East, while being in Atlanta). It wasn't because the guy was malcontent or anything, like that, it was because Lenny Wilkins decided that they needed someone, like Danny Manning who had multi-dimensional skills for an extended playoffs run. It's strange, because remember that trade happening like yesterday. I do not think he made teams worse, they just wouldn't get better with him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Wilkins#1990s ------------------- Isiah Rider: I thought he was very good player, but he really did not add anything to the T-Wolves, Lakers (where he didn't even play in playoffs, butted heads with Phil Jackson), and the Hawks. The one team he was able to contribute to and win was the Trailblazers. Most of all, you have to reward the guy with be an otherworldly dunker.
