I think most would acknowledge that the NBA has entered an Era where 2 All-Stars like the good old days are NOT enough anymore to win championships. Case in point, Lakers last year had 2 superstars and could not pull it and now every team is loading up with talent, including Lakers, Mavs, TWolves, Spurs, amongst others, seemingly acknowledging that 2 superstars or all-star caliper players are not enough anymore to truely compete. I loved the fact that the Spurs might have destroyed that notion last season when they won it all, but they themselves have retooled and have numerous high-talent and excellent role players to complemint their stars. I still think that the Rockets are in excellent shape and I believe that with the advance of Yao Ming and the Maturity of Steve Francis we will be serious contenders 2-4 seasons from now. I myself am a proponent of "distribution of wealth" around the league, by wealth I mean talent. I would love to see the day when almost every team in the league would be on an equillibrium of talent. And with the influx of young new athletic talents into the NBA I think that within 10 years from now the NBA will become more like the NFL, unpredictable and exciting in the fact that almost any team any given year can win it all. I am wondering how many would agree/disagree with me on this notion of 2 all-stars not being enough anymore to support consistant contention year after year for the championship in the NBA? (This example of course would be exemplified in the Rocks)
Two stars is enough. MJ/Pippen The Dream/Drexler or just Dream Shaq/Kobe Duncan I think Dallas is proof that you can have too much flash and not enough grit. We have enough, we just need buy-in and playoff experience. Quality PG High energy defensive 2G that can score A variety of tallented roll players at the 3 A defensive rebounding enforcer in Cato A dominant post presence. A quality bench Scoring: Pike, JJ, MoT Defense: A. Griffin, JJ Our weaknesses are Big Man depth and PG depth. But that is depth which can be had without trading major contributors or spending huge amouts of cap.
To rephrase Willis -- it depends on WHICH two all-stars and what kind of players you build around them. Lakers had two superstars and won championships with them. Eventually they reached the point where there was NOTHING around them and it didn't work any more. I pretty much agree with your 2nd paragraph, but I fail to see how Steve and Yao missing the playoffs by one loss to CLEVELAND in Yao's first season with offensive schemes which weren't even designed to take advantage of his talents makes the Rockets an example of how 2 all-stars aren't enough to support contention year-after-year. Put the right cast around Yao and Steve and let them work together to develop fluidity as a team, and I agree that we'll be serious contenders in 2-4 years. The key, however, is just as much having both Yao and Steve continue to improve over that period of time as it is building the supporting cast.
Check my signature. I still think that this team needs a 3rd star type player added to it. I think the only way you can win with 2 stars is if one of those 2 stars (Duncan, Garnett, Shaq) are the absolute best players in the NBA. Otherwise you need 3 star players. In the past this might not have been in the case but in the landscape of the western conference TODAY, I think 3 stars and fill the roster with role players gets it done. I think we would have liked Mobley or Griffin to have been that 3rd star player but Griffin is not here and Mobley is just too inconsistant. Sac: Webber, Bibby, Peja LAL: Shaq, Kobe, Payton, Malone SA: Duncan, Parker? Min: Garnett, Cassell, Sprewell Pho: Marbury, Marion, Stoudamire Dal: Nash, Finley, Jamison, Dirk, Walker!! Hou: Francis, Yao, Mobley???
Sacto: Webber, Peja Great Role Players: Divac, Bibby, BJax LAL: Shaq, Kobe, Payton Great Role Players: Malone SA: Duncan Great Role Players: Parker, Ginobili Min: Garnett, Sprewell Great Role Players: Cassell, Sczerbiak Pho: Marbury, Marion Great Role Players: Stoudamire Dal: Nash, Finley, Jamison, Dirk, Walker (GRRRRRR) Great Role Player: No Comment Hou: Yao, Francis Great Role Player: Mobley thats how i see it. cassell, parker are about as inconsistent....and in cassells case, about as erratic, as mobes.
you don't need a 3rd star player. 2 is enough. heck having 2 is more than some teams. the most important thing to have are role players that understand what their role is and go out and succeed in doing that. role players are essentially the X factor. if you can provide the X factor, it most likely will lead to wins.
to win a championship your player has to be the top player in the leaugue. Last year - Duncan 2000-2002 Shaq 1999 Duncan 1996-998 Jordan 1994-1995 Hakeem 1991-1993 Jordan So the last 13 champions the player that was best in the leaugue won the championship. Its that simple
Having TWO stars is absolutely enough in this league if you have a good system and servable role players. Nowdays, people through the word "star" too easily. You cannot call someone a star just because the guy was elected a couple of time as "all-star". In my book, a star has to be consistently DOMINATING at his respective position on both side of the floor. I only can see a handful stars in this league, Currently, only LA has it, the Rockets have two good players with star POTENTIAL. If those two developed into star, then, yeh, the Rockets should be fine.
What team are you asking about with two potential All-Stars? The Rockets have two straight up, verified All-Stars in Francis and Yao. You're only potentially an All-Star until you make the All-Star team. Once you do that and so long as you're capable of continuing to do so, then you're a friggin All-Star. So, we're a team with two All-Stars. It will be many years before either of them isn't voted on to the All-Star team. (barring injuries) Now that we have that straight- San Antonio has one All-Star and they probably don't even have a 'potential all-star' on the roster. just alot of good role players. Minnesota has one All-Star as far as I'm concerned. Sprewell is over the hill and his stats have been on the downward spiral for years. He's a former All-Star. He won't be an all-star in the west. Sam Cassell? Another former All-Star. He won't be an All-Star in the west. Sczerbiak? I think he actually made an All-Star team once if my memory serves me well but I can't for the life of me figure out why. Olowakandi? naw. Sacramento- Now they may have two All-Stars in Webber and Peja but good luck getting either of those cripples on the floor at the same time. They certainly don't have more than two All-Stars. Dallas- They definitely have a crap load of All-Stars, former All-Stars and potential All-Stars. We'll see if it pays off. I don't think this current roster can work. Playing Dirk out of position is ridiculous. You build around your super star. You don't just grab ahold of any talented player you can and hope it all falls together. Lakers- at least three All-Stars. Maybe 4. but for how long? Malone is 40 years old. Payton is what? 35 or 36? They won't have this roster for more than two years tops. Dallas and the Lakers are really the only teams in the league to have more than two all-stars and this is the first season for that (unless you count Nowitzki, Nash and Finley last year even though Finley wasn't an all-star last year technically). We've yet to see if it will prove to be benificial to either team. So yeah, for now I'm saying two all-stars is great and it's at least one more all-star than most teams have, including the defending champs.
2 potential? We already got 2 All Stars. We need great role players to surround them. Yao will be the MD center in the future. Francis..well I don't know what will happen to him...maybe improves into a better team player and still be awesome...or just gets old and can't do his exciting stuff anymore. Role players! TEAM! Having a 3rd star would be nice though...which should have been Eddie Griffin... Bostjan Nachbar could become a star... Mobley can be considered a star...just may not be right fit for Houston. I would rather have a taller shooting guard who can catch and shoot and defend a little better than him..or a good power forward who can rebound and defend and block shots.
tigermission1, I agree to a point... But it's not that cut-and-dry. You just don't have two stars, and the rest are average role players. You need real depth. The team must have a gradual level of talent. That's the best, IMO, way. One player might even "take a back seat" to the better star. What that means is that the 2nd best player will restrict his game in order to let the star player take the lead. Even the 3rd and 4th best players should do the same. Which means that they COULD produce more on lesser teams with more responsibility. Now the 94 Rockets did not have this luxury. But the following teams did... Case in point: Celtics of the 80's: Bird, McHale, and Parish. Lakers of the 80's: Magic, Kareem and Worthy. Pistons of the late 80's: Isiah, Dumars, Laimbeer Bulls of the early 90's: Jordan, Pippen, Grant. Bulls of the late 90's: Jordan, Pippen, Rodman Lakers of 2001: Shaq, Kobe, Rice Now, here's the key. The other players can be starters on lesser teams, but not necessarily "stars" themselves. But pretty damn good! Maybe even close to All-Star quality. But since they are role players their stats don't show it. Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Byron Scott, Michel Cooper, BJ Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, Vinnie Johnson, Denis Rodman. None of these guys were "super stars" per say, But they weren't scrubs either. They were excellent "basketball" players. I put Mobley, JJ and Pike in the above group. Solid players!!! These guys are not "just" role players. They could be starters on other teams. I'd put Griffin in the list if he'd ever get his chit together!
This league is so water down that all you need is 1-2 All-Stars & you can get the job done. It's the bench/role players that can be the deciding factor. Remember it is team sport.
Sam, I said the other players could be good staters on other teams with more responsibility, or near all-stars....It's gradual talent. The level of talent between Rodman, Parish, Grant, Laimbeer, Rice and Worth are all realtive. It doesn't matter. They are all very, very good. But they are not the "super stars." The top three are the best in the litter, but their are gradual in talent. Even though all of them will take a back seat to the team leader. Why is everything all or nothing with you?
Don't forget that All-Star is fan picked. It's an anointment of most popular. The Coaches pick for All-Stars would be quite different.
