Hate to be overly cynical but my first thought when I read this quote was when's the last time a team won the championship with 1 Superstar? I here ya Crowder and love the way this team is playing but we're not quite where we need to be yet to contend.
If we add even 1 of Horford/Love/Howard I definetly think we can be right there with the elite teams though for the same reasons that Crowder mentioned. Any of those 3 would fit right in to what we do now and elevate the team to where we need to be in crunch time.and when the game slows down in the playoffs.
DETROIT BASKETBALLL
And don't tell me they were stars. None of them were stars until they started going deep into the playoffs and then won the title. They heard the same exact things about star power when they faced the Lakers.
We need continuity. We need to continue to emphasize teamwork. We need another gritty overlooked scorer.
History is written by the victors. The narrative is written by ESPN. If ESPN says we are starless and can't win a championship, then that is the assumption, until we win and win and win more. The narrative will be re-written every time we win another big game.
Rasheed Wallace wasn't a star???
In my opinion, if anybody was the star on that team it was Chauncey Billups (and yes, I consider him a star).
Sheed was the defining factor that put them over the top, but in terms of talent/effectiveness I would list it:
Tier 1
Chauncey
Ben extremely close behind him
No one in the 2nd tier.
Tier 3
Wallace
Hamilton extremely close behind him
And another thing people always leave out is how much having the best bench in the league really helped them.
I actually consider us a strong defensive team in the same situation as the Pistons pre-Wallace trade. We have our Billips (IT), Hamilton (AB), Prince (Jae), Big Ben (Smart/Johnson), and bench, we just need that 5th guy who can make his interior presence felt on offense AND defense, finally give IT a note-worthy partner in the pick and roll/pop, and catapult our defense to number 1.
Add a prime Wallace to this team without giving up too much personnel, and we give GSW one heck of a run for their money.