Who's the great rim protector for Phoenix? Alex Len? Who were the great rim protectors for the Bulls in the 90s? Luc Longley? Bill Wennington?
I'm not saying rim protection is unimportant but the idea that it's the only problem we have is ridiculous.
Mike
The game has changed a lot since those days. Phoenix has not won a title but they are good enough to beat us, I bet half the teams in the NBA are and a lot of them have good big men.
Bill Russell won more than MJ and he was a great rim protector. I would bet you, I can name more teams who won it with a shotblocker than you can for teams without one. The 80s Laker teams had Kareem, Celtics team in 60s Russell, Celtics teams in 80s Parrish and McHale, Celtics teams in 70's had Cowens. Rockets had Hakeem, Shaq was a rim protector for a few Laker Champions. Duncan Spurs. I can go on and on and on.
The Bulls had guys who would knock you on your butt too.
That is over 25 titles. Your left with the Bulls and Heat what is that like 9 titles. Not a good ratio, get the picture now.