CelticsStrong
Celtics Basketball => Celtics Talk => Topic started by: sinbad on February 02, 2013, 05:52:09 PM
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Just some obvious facts that I thought was interesting. Of course having an MVP caliber player gives a team a better chance of winning the title. Just thought I'd break it down.
Moses (3), Bird (3), Magic (3), MJ (5), Olajuwon, Shaq, Duncan(2), KG, Dirk, Kobe, & LeBron (3). These 11 MVPs have won a combined 34 titles.
In 27 out of the last 30 years, the team that won the title has had at least one of these players on their roster. That's a 90% batting average. Ironically the only franchise ever to win a title without a MVP caliber player on its roster during this time period was the Detroit Pistons who did it 3 times (89, 90, & 04)
Having an MVP caliber player will not guarantee that the team will win the title but winning it all without having one is extremely difficult to do. We all know Karl Malone, Nash, Iverson, & Barkley never won a title.
Question is how does DA get one. Hard to envision how he can do it considering the cap situation we're currently in and two of our most valued assets are done for the season with injuries. Good news is he's one of the few men to be able to pull it off. Getting KG is still Danny's crowning achievement.
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Think you could make an argument for Isiah Thomas being an MVP caliber player for those Pistons teams from the late 80s, too.
So really the '04 Pistons are the only outlier. And they had an All-time great defensive center (4 time DPOY) in Ben Wallace.
So yeah, it's pretty much a no brainer that you need the sort of player who can win an MVP if you want to have a good shot at winning a championship. Even if that player is a bit past their prime, they could go on a run in the playoffs where they return to form, as Dirk did in 2011.
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Yeah, the rule of thumb has always been to either have a legendary player, or be the Detroit Pistons if you want to win a title.
The most likely way to get one is to get lucky in the lottery or to hope like hell one becomes available in FA.
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Think you could make an argument for Isiah Thomas being an MVP caliber player for those Pistons teams from the late 80s, too.
For sure.
And while the Pistons championship teams were really good, especially on defense, I have to say that I think the NBA was quite weak overall at that time.
But yeah you need great players to win. Not sure how we make it happen.
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So, what you're saying is, we have a shot at it? Hehehe come on KG, get us 18!!!!! Who are we competing against in the East, Mia and Chicago (if DRose is healthy)? Does any other Eastern team have an MVP besides those 3? I like our chances!! LOL
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The 08 Celtics were actually pretty close to not having a superstar. You can maybe make an arguement that that was KG's last season in his prime but it's pretty close and he at least was on the downside.
'10 Celtics as well although obviously we didn't win it. But again, when you lose like that I don't think the reason is because we didn't have an MVP player or whatever on our team. We could have just as easily one that game 7.
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To be able to have MVPs playing for you and leading you to a title you have to first be able to get MVP potential caliber talent on your team. Sadly, about the only way I see the Celtics being able to do this right now is to sign Greg Oden. Greg Oden is the only player available to the Celtics that, if he got healthy, has the potential to develop talent that has a chance to be so great as to be able to get an MVP.
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The 08 Celtics were actually pretty close to not having a superstar. You can maybe make an arguement that that was KG's last season in his prime but it's pretty close and he at least was on the downside.
'10 Celtics as well although obviously we didn't win it. But again, when you lose like that I don't think the reason is because we didn't have an MVP player or whatever on our team. We could have just as easily one that game 7.
The 2010 team came within a whisker of winning a title and none of PP/RA/KG were anything close to MVP level that year. Same with last year, where we had a shot at getting to the finals. The question going forward is whether you're better off trying to assemble a cast on that level around Rondo over the next few years or trying to a) get a franchise player and b) trying to build a contending team around him before he decides to move on.
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Just some obvious facts that I thought was interesting. Of course having an MVP caliber player gives a team a better chance of winning the title. Just thought I'd break it down.
Moses (3), Bird (3), Magic (3), MJ (5), Olajuwon, Shaq, Duncan(2), KG, Dirk, Kobe, & LeBron (3). These 11 MVPs have won a combined 34 titles.
In 27 out of the last 30 years, the team that won the title has had at least one of these players on their roster. That's a 90% batting average. Ironically the only franchise ever to win a title without a MVP caliber player on its roster during this time period was the Detroit Pistons who did it 3 times (89, 90, & 04)
Having an MVP caliber player will not guarantee that the team will win the title but winning it all without having one is extremely difficult to do. We all know Karl Malone, Nash, Iverson, & Barkley never won a title.
Question is how does DA get one. Hard to envision how he can do it considering the cap situation we're currently in and two of our most valued assets are done for the season with injuries. Good news is he's one of the few men to be able to pull it off. Getting KG is still Danny's crowning achievement.
Right now in the NBA there are two players who are head and shoulders above everybody else. I doubt I even have to name those two players. There's no debate about who are the two best players in the game.
After James and Durant, there are a bunch of really good players (probably twenty or thirty or so) that are in the category of star player or potential to be star player. That next list is much more fluid and much more debatable. Rondo's on that list. Building a championship contending team around him will assuredly require getting one or two other players who are on that list or who have the potential to join that list.
If we want Danny to build around a "transcendent superstar," he'll need to get either James or Durant. Alternately, he can try to build a team around Rondo and add some star talent to play with him. The latter scenario seems much more realistic than the former.