Is it possible to build a championship team around players who are shorter than 6'6"? In past eras, it was an assumed fact that bigger was better. Michael Jordan himself (6'6") was drafted 3rd behind 2 big men. Many people may think that Steph Curry might be the proof that its possible, but GSW was initially built around David Lee and Bogut with Iguodala winning finals MVP. Also, Curry has been paired with 2 6'7"+ All Stars in Klay and Dray, plus KD/Wiggins. Ignoring any personality, mental blocks, or game deficiency. Could Scoot Henderson, Kyrie, Jalen Green, Ja Morant, KPJ, Anthony Randolph, James Harden, Russ Westbrook, Damian Lillard or even Steph have a championship team built around them as a centerpiece the same way as taller players or will they need quality tall players in their supporting cast? Do Amen, Ausar, and Brandon Miller have a better chance at being a GOAT level player than Scoot Henderson due to their height? How many players under 6'6 are in your top 20 all-time?
Not sure your point or what team your thinking about, but the Rockets have several players over 6'6" expected to contribute and make the roster this coming season. Kenyon Martin Jr. 6' 7" Amen Thompson 6' 7" Cam Whitmore 6' 7" Tari Eason 6' 8" Alperen Sengun 6' 11"(6'9" and a half?) Jabari Smith Jr. 6' 11" https://www.espn.com/nba/team/roster/_/name/hou/sort/height/dir/asc/houston-rockets I do think we need another 6'10+ guy or two though.
The warriors did it....they won 2 titles without another HOF level player (i know dray/klay/iggy will make it, but not remotely deserving) so it's definitely possible. I know iggy got the troll/joke finals mvp but come on, it was laughable at best. Nets made multiple finals around Kidd, you could also argue wade was the best player on miami in 2006. Kobe also was the best player on a couple title teams.
Is Jalen Green still under 6'6"? Was talking about this in the other thread, but he claims he grew more the past couple years, and he does look like he might be taller than KPJ now, who measured at 6'5.5" at his combine. --- In any case, 6 of the last 20 NBA champions had their best player under 6'6" (Curry 4x, Wade 1x, Billups 1x). 10 to 12 of the last 20 NBA champions had a guy under 6'6" as their best or second-best player (those six championships, plus Murray 1x, Lowry 1x, Wade 2x, and arguably Parker 2x).
That would be micro ball, and I say that gets beat because of the little things such as Rebounds, Blocks, Deflections, Setting Screens, bigger players physically manhandling them takes a toll and reflects in poor scoring skills displayed. If the smallish team can shoot 3's from mid court like Steph Curry, maybe you can outshoot the bigger team.....but you got to negate all the easy points near the rim the bigger team will get.
Not sure how this si relevant to the Rockets, we got 6'7 pg, sf and 6'10 PF, C. Green and KPJ are 6'5. Rox are actually a tall team now.
Jesus Christ. Delete this thread. Isiah Thomas Jerry West Steph Curry John Stockton Jason Kidd Steve Nash Devin Booker Chris Paul Damian Lillard Allen Iverson Gary Payton Pete Maravich Derick Rose Tony Parker Kevin Johnson
It seems half of the board (including me) didn't read past the title and thought this is about the entire team being smaller than 6'6ft, as no one could assume OP would ask such a baffling question.
The question is CENTERPIECE 6' 6" OR SHORTER. Nah, this fool hasn't watched enough basketball to understand the game.
If those players can overcome their physical limitations and develop into good shooters why not? Right now our 6'6s, 6'5's are inefficient.
Lol, you have so many guys on the list who never won a championship to be so rude. I guess the thread title was misleading, so no one read the post or the poll. I'm just talking about team building strategy. There is a difference between making a 6'4 player a centerpiece and being the best player on a championship team. The centerpiece is usually the highest paid player or a max contract. Decisions are made based on how well they fit with the centerpiece vs just who is the best player. The centerpiece is off the table in any trade talks. Nash, Paul, Stockton, AI, KJ, Derrick Rose, Pete Maravich, Lillard, Devin Booker never won a championship. Jerry West and Elgin Baylor lost to the Celtics (Bill Russell) a whole lot before they got WILT on the team and West got 1. Tony Parker (Duncan) Payton/wade (Shaq), Jkidd (Dirk) Steph Curry was the best player on the Warriors, but they didn't build around him. They lucked into him being injured a lot early in his career/ better than most expected. He was 4th highest paid player (behind 3 guys 6'8+) on the Warriors, nowhere near a max player when they won their first championship. The team was intended to play around Lee as a centerpiece and had 8 of the 9 most played guys were 6'7+. They also went and found the best big man they could pair him with (KD) after he already led them to a championship. In the past, you look for a great big player, and if you find a good little man first, find a big to pair him with. The Rockets have several choices for a centerpiece and most are bigs, however the highest pick and one of the first ones up for a max deal will be Jalen Green. I just found out that Jalen Green may be 6'6 now if so, won't matter for the Rockets at all, unless they decide to build around nix or KPJ. Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, AI, Derrick Rose, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Kyrie, Kemba, Harden, Trae, Baron Davis, J Kidd, all had teams try to build around them as centerpiece and failed. Giannis, Lebron, Kobe, Shaq, Kahwi, Duncan, Dirk, KD all had teams that they were centerpieces on win championships.
The question is CENTERPIECE 6' 6" OR SHORTER. Nah, this fool hasn't watched enough basketball to understand the game. Idiot. Paul went to the finals. Rose got the worst injury basketball has ever seen. Booker went to the finals. Kidd went to three finals and won 1. Dame has never had a team around him. Harden has been one game away from the finals a number of times. Man, your **** is broke.
They typically always need a dominant big or just plain size advantages in the front court. Mike is unique to history in how he dominated with his Robin being a 2 way sf. Their C's were meh in old man cartwright and wennington to solid in luc. Their PFs were blue collar. Mike is also a really big 6'6 with 6'11.5 wingspan and hands that a proportional in length to a 7 ft 9 player and span to an 8ft player. He also had small feet for his height which maybe helped in his cat like quickness. He's just as much a physical anamoly at the 2 as lebron was at the 3. Outside of him, there's only Curry and Isiah Thomas. Kobe had Shaq for his first 3 and the underrated size and length advantage of Gasol/Odom/Bynum including Artest. So we never saw him get it done without dominant front court size like Mike. Stockton had Malone for his 2 trips. Lost. KJ had Chuck. Lost. West had Baylor. Lost more than anyone until Wilt. Oscar loser before teaming with Kareem. AI had trashcan competition in the east but still had dike. Lost. JKidd had #1 pick Kenyon but again trash ass conference. Lost. GP had Kemp. Lost. Etc etc Paul Westphal and Walter Davis backcourt mid to late 70s Suns had a hell of a run with no dominant bigs. Never won it. Seattle of the 70s won 1 in 2 tries, though they did have Sikma at C, but dj and gus were their small star backcourt. So the list is 3. Isiah, Michael, Steph. 2004 Detroit an anamoly, but dpoty and sheed = all star size advantage so they don't count
This is the truth: Dynasties are rare. Perennial championship teams are rare. They are almost never built around 1 player. In the past 20 years you have basically three "dynasties" GSW, Spurs, and LBJ. Notable teams build around one player are Houston Rockets with Olajuwon, 76ers with Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt Chamberlain was the best player to ever play the game by a mile and he only won 2 chips. Basketball is a team sport. You can build around a centerpiece and even the best centerpiece can fail you down the stretch. Defense was a bigger factor a mere 15 years ago. Now final scores of 84-78 are mostly unheard of. The NBA might have a few dynasties over the next 20 years. The question is who? Wemby's maybe. Rockets with Green and Amen? Possible. This **** is a crapshoot. LBJs and Duncans and Jordans come around once a generation. With the way contracts are now, there's no telling who plays where and for how long. This thread is idiotic. A rare player will step up and control the NBA for a few years here and there. NOBODY would have predicted Curry, Gianis, Luka, or Jokic. Fultz, Ayton, Simmons, Bennett all trash. You can't predict this **** and it certainly isn't based on a 6' 6".
