The '14 Spurs had Duncan, but it was a 37-year-old very good Duncan, not the all-time great Duncan. If you blanked out the names on the jerseys and in the box scores, was that really the kind of star-studded team that this Celtics squad can't hope to mimic with a little more development and maybe one more defense-first semi-star addition to the frontcourt?
Leonard is considered a top 10 player at least.
The Spurs are deceiving because they don't need Parker and Duncan to do too much due to the system. But when the playoffs come, you see Leonard, Parker, and Duncan imposing their will at key moments.
Yeah, Leonard is considered that now. But in 2014? No. He's taken a huge step up the ladder since. At the time he was not a star.
Duncan at 15 and 10 with his defense probably qualifies as a star, not to mention this is the Spurs and they don't follow normal rules. Regardless, if you count the 2013-14 Spurs as a superstar-less champion, that makes just two in the last two decades.
The '14 Spurs had Duncan, but it was a 37-year-old very good Duncan, not the all-time great Duncan. If you blanked out the names on the jerseys and in the box scores, was that really the kind of star-studded team that this Celtics squad can't hope to mimic with a little more development and maybe one more defense-first semi-star addition to the frontcourt?
Leonard is considered a top 10 player at least.
The Spurs are deceiving because they don't need Parker and Duncan to do too much due to the system. But when the playoffs come, you see Leonard, Parker, and Duncan imposing their will at key moments.
Yeah, Leonard is considered that now. But in 2014? No. He's taken a huge step up the ladder since. At the time he was not a star.
He was considered a star-level player by some fans of advanced metrics. He did not have the sort of PPG that makes the general public view him as a star.
Okay, so then what we'd need to begin looking like those Spurs is a big man who can put up 15/10 and provide excellent defense, plus a 3-and-D wing who's beloved by the databall set? Plus an All Star scoring PG? Hmmm.
Yes, "only" they and the '04 Pistons would qualify as superstar-less teams. But remember that those same teams both came within a hair in a 7-game series of winning two championships, the Pistons the year after, the Spurs the year before. That's exactly as good an outcome as our '08 Celtics.
I get that the ideal model is a superstar-fronted team. But you need to be incredibly fortunate to wind up with a LeBron, a Kobe, a Curry. If you're not that fortunate, while you're waiting to capitalize on an opportunity for a player like that, then why not aim to be a consistent superstar-less contender like the '04 Pistons or '14 Spurs? Worst that happens is you repeatedly compete for a title. Best that can happen is that you strike gold and add a superstar to that.
The '14 Spurs are not a good comparison. Parker was in his 3 consecutive year as 2nd team all-NBA. And as I already mentioned, LMA is a great example of how playing on the Spurs means lower stats -- just like Bosh in Miami with Wade, our Big 3 together, or Love in Cleveland.
The Pistons are a good comparison. Ben Wallace was a perpetual DPOY candidate, but not a superstar.
Of course, the Pistons starting lineup of Wallace-Wallace-Prince-Hamilton-Billups is in a different league than ours. If we ranked those 5 and our 5 starters, IT is the only Celtic that places in the top 6.
Pretty sure Sheed was a top 5 overall pick. Billups as well. Prince and Hamilton were great complimentary pieces. The idea that was a bunch of role players winning a title is absurd..
I don't think that anyone is making that claim.
However, none of those guys would be considered top 10 in the NBA. None were true blue superstars. However many of them were very, very good players ('Sheed was an All-Star 4 times, Billups 5, RIP 3 and Wallace 4) whose games complimented each other quite well.
But to go back to the title of this thread, all of those guys were "stars" and that's what you need to win championships in the NBA. Right now, we have one guy who is at that level on this team - IT. We have another who might be able to get there in Smart. So while we love guys like Bradley, Crowder and Olynyk, these aren't the guys who can ultimately get us to the summit unless...
...you get that one, true blue superstar who can make everyone else better. Someone like AI. Barkley. Kobe. Unseld. Bird. A guy like that can carry a team and while not all of those guys won NBA Championships, they made the finals and had a chance.
Either way, the Cs will need to upgrade to win it all. The nice thing is that they have the current talent to make it attractive to come here, the contracts to make these guys very desirable, the picks to make something happen in the draft and the flexibility to capitalize on any opportunity.
