Author Topic: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far  (Read 1462 times)

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Offline perks-a-beast

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Who ya got


My top 5 best would be

1. Lakers
2. Spurs
3. Heat
4. Warriors
5. Celtics

Worst

1. Hornets/Bobcats
2. Knicks
3. Kings
4. Timberwolves
5. Bucks

Re: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2018, 02:20:54 PM »

Offline blackbird

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How are the Spurs not #1? They've been excellent every single year.

I get it that the Lakers have 5 championships to 4 for the Spurs. But the Lakers have truly stunk since their last one. The Spurs are always good and often great.

Re: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2018, 02:40:08 PM »

Offline GreenEnvy

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I think the top 5 are pretty clear, although the order is debatable. I personally have it:
Spurs (consistently a threat pretty much every single season)
Lakers (most titles, but also some franchise-worst seasons)
Warriors (long period of ineptitude but sheer dominance the last 4 seasons)
Heat (one more Finals appearance than GSW but also stretches of bad basketball)
Celtics (been to 6 ECF with 3 different regimes, injuries robbed them of more success)


The bottom five has some steep competition. I don’t even know where to begin.
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Re: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2018, 02:53:13 PM »

Offline Moranis

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Best
1. San Antonio - 1 less title than the Lakers, but far more relevance in non-title years (and no god awful teams)
2. Los Angeles - most titles and finals appearances
3. Miami - same titles, more finals appearances, longer period of relevance than Warriors
4. Golden State - last 4 years are the most dominant 4 year period since the 80's Lakers
5. Cleveland - the 5 Finals appearances (1 title) gives them the slight edge on a handful of teams just behind them (i.e. Boston, Detroit, Dallas, Houston)

Worst
This is way more difficult.  I mean how do you compare the Kings and the Clippers.  Both have 7 playoff appearances in the 00's, both have 3 1st round losses, but the Kings actually made the WCF, while the Clippers did not.  Both were dregs of the conference for a long period of time, but the Kings have been awful for the last 11 years, so are they worse than the Clippers even though they advanced farther in the playoffs. 

The Hornets seem to be the worst team, after that it is just a crap shoot but here is my attempt.

1. Charlotte
2. New York
3. New Orleans (though less years makes it more interesting)
4. Minnesota
5. LA Clippers (I give Sacto the slight edge on them b/c of the WCF trip and the 2 seasons of >70% win percentage)
« Last Edit: June 25, 2018, 03:02:01 PM by Moranis »
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Re: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2018, 03:47:34 PM »

Offline Big333223

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Spurs have to be #1. 4 championships and only one season where they won less than .610 of the games, which was last year and they still won 47 games.

The Lakers have won 5 championships but they've had 9 seasons winning less than .600 and have been under .500 six times. So they're #2.

Miami has 3 championships, 2 other Finals appearances, 8 season over .600, only missed the playoffs 5 times. They're #3.

The Warriors are tough. 3 championships in 4 straight Finals appearances but they missed the playoffs 12 times and only have 5 seasons over .600. Not that great. I think they're #4.

After that it's tough. The Celtics have only won 1 championship with 1 other Finals appearance but they've only missed the playoffs 5 times. 6 season over .600. The Cavaliers also have won 1 championship but made 5 Finals appearances and they have 8 seasons winning better than .600 or better but they've also won fewer than 20 games twice. Dallas has the single championship and only missed the playoffs 4 times and they have 12 season over .600, which has to be the most of anyone not the Spurs so I think Dallas is my #5.

Boston will leap over a few of these teams when they win the next 4 championships in a row.
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Re: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2018, 04:50:12 PM »

Offline action781

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Five Best:
1.  Spurs - They've made every playoffs, right?
2.  Lakers
3.  Miami
4.  GSW
5.  Cavs
I'd probably give #6 to Dallas then #7 to Boston.

Five worst: 
1.  NY Knicks - They have been very disappointing, but especially so considering how much money they have been willing to spend and how much premier free agents want to go there.  Six playoff appearances, three series won.
2.  Charlotte - Six playoff appearances in time span, two second round appearances
3.  Sacramento - No playoff appearances since 2006, last series won in 2004.  Had a strong start to the century, but truly disastrous since.
4.  Milwaukee - Last playoff series won was in 2001
5.  LAC - Six playoff appearances, three second round appearances.  Trading away Baron Davis + what became Kyrie for nothing was maybe the worst move of the century so far.  At least it felt like they had a chance some years.

Minnesota avoids the list because they have had more promise at the beginning and end (now) of the century than teams like Milwaukee or Charlotte have had at any point.  Also they have difficulty in being good because of their market, while LAC and NYK get docked for having actively blown lots of good opportunity.
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Re: Top 5 best and worst franchises of the 21st century..so far
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2018, 05:07:36 PM »

Offline Moranis

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Five Best:
1.  Spurs - They've made every playoffs, right?
2.  Lakers
3.  Miami
4.  GSW
5.  Cavs
I'd probably give #6 to Dallas then #7 to Boston.

Five worst: 
1.  NY Knicks - They have been very disappointing, but especially so considering how much money they have been willing to spend and how much premier free agents want to go there.  Six playoff appearances, three series won.
2.  Charlotte - Six playoff appearances in time span, two second round appearances
3.  Sacramento - No playoff appearances since 2006, last series won in 2004.  Had a strong start to the century, but truly disastrous since.
4.  Milwaukee - Last playoff series won was in 2001
5.  LAC - Six playoff appearances, three second round appearances.  Trading away Baron Davis + what became Kyrie for nothing was maybe the worst move of the century so far.  At least it felt like they had a chance some years.

Minnesota avoids the list because they have had more promise at the beginning and end (now) of the century than teams like Milwaukee or Charlotte have had at any point.  Also they have difficulty in being good because of their market, while LAC and NYK get docked for having actively blown lots of good opportunity.
Milwaukee has been to the playoffs 10 of the 19 seasons this century (with a ECF trip), and has had only 1 season with less than 26 wins.  They also have Giannis currently who is arguably a top 5 player in the world.  I'd much rather have that sort of team than the Wolves and it isn't close.  I mean Minnesota went 13 seasons without making the playoffs and had 4 straight seasons with under 26 wins (they also have another such season) and their last playoff series win was 2004 (so not much better than Milwaukee).  And unlike a team like the Sixers, those 4 straight awful seasons were followed up by 6 more seasons of not making the playoffs so there wasn't a payoff for being a dreg. 
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