Building a Championship Team

With all this talk about 2010 lately and dreams of bringing Wade, Lebron, Bosh, and Amare to Chicago to play with Rose, I decided to write something about a plan to craft a true championship team.  A real NBA dynasty.  The above team is first of all impossible (although not as impossible as a few years ago).  But what I would like to purpose is that it isn't even a good idea.  I have loved watching All Star games for years and in the same way, love watching Team USA, which is exactly what the above team is.  And it had trouble beating Spain, Argentina and even lost to Greece!  We shouldn't be trying to put this team together or emulate it in any way.

We should be looking at the dynasties.  Jordan's Bulls, Magic's Lakers, Bird's Celtics, Shaq's Lakers.  There are more, but these are the one's I know best, so I am going to "play within myself" here and stick with what I know.  Some of this information is old hat, but I thought it would be nice to put it together and see if we can build something special.

The Recipe

1.  You need at least two super stars. (Jordan & Pippen; Magic, Worthy & Kareem; Bird, McHale & Parrish; Shaq & Kobe)  The NBA is about superstars.  I don't think I need to elaborate here.

2.  You need an elite scorer.  (Jordan; Worthy; Bird; Kobe)  This is a little different than number one.  Bosh & Boozer are superstars, but neither are D. Wade or Kobe.  When I say elite, I mean that they have to be able to score 35-50 points at will in the finals, just because they refuse to lose.  When Pippen wasn't having a great scoring day, but was filling up the other categories, someone had to step up.  Jordan could at will.  So can the others on this list.

3.  You need a center who can score and play defense.  (Cartwright; Kareem; Parrish; Shaq)  Jordan didn't win until he got Cartwright, even though he didn't want to make the trade for him.  I guess it just proves that Jordan has never been good at being a GM.  Even the later 3-peat had Luc Longley and several other big back-ups.  I use the Bulls as an example, because they are the only ones on the list without a superstar center.  So they are the exception, not the rule, but they still needed size and some inside-outside game, even if it was only at the beginning of halves.

4.  You need a starter quality player on the bench.  (Paxson/Kukoc; A.C. Green; Ainge; Horry)  These teams were deep.  They all had someone who could come in and put some points on the board off the bench.

5.  You need aging All Star/Champion veterans.  (Ron Harper/John Salley, Kareem/Mychal Thompson; Bill Walton; Horace Grant/Ron Harper - with the Lakers)  We still see this a lot now as stars get older and want to win a ring, they sign for less and take a lesser role to be on a championship team.  I say All Star/Champion because they either had to be a former star player that was on the downside/tail-end of their career or were role players for a championship team.  Horry and Posey are excellent modern day examples and a big reason Posey got a inflated deal.

6. You need 3 point scorers.  (Craig Hodges & John Paxson/Steve Kerr & Jud Buechler; Byron Scott; Larry Bird & Danny Ainge; Derek Fisher, Rick Fox & Robert Horry)  Funny side note:  I just had a really hard time spelling Fisher's name (Derek) because of one Derrick Rose, even though Fisher's spelling is the common version.  While Bird and Ainge didn't have the percentages that the other did, they certainly could hit them when it mattered.  Obviously, having a great three point shooter  helps pread the floor and would allow Rose to operate.  Sometimes you need that big three to either get back in it, to put it away, or to knot it up at the end of a game.  Although break aways and dunks can be momentum changers, it is the three ball that is usually "the nail in the coffin."

7.  You need a top defender or two.  (Jordan, Pippen & Grant/Rodman; A.C. Green; McHale; Shaq & Kobe)  You are going to be playing against superstars and somebody has to stop them.  The Bulls and the most recent Lakers dynasties can thank their own superstars for being elite on both offense and defense.

One last note:  It seems that style of play is not universal, or that great teams could play any style might be closer to accurate.  You have to be able to score in transition and in a up tempo game, but also be able to run an effecient half court offense as well.  Also rate of play fluctuates.  Scoring over a hundred points a game is not the answer, just scoring more than the other team.  Some night's it's 148-110 and some nights it's 87-86.

So, on to the current Bulls team.

1. Superstars - We have Derrick Rose.  Who do we pair with him?  This has been bandied about here on BaB in the midst of the 2010 free agency extraordinaire.  Obviously we need another superstar (or two) to get back to the dynasty days and it currently seems that 2010 may be the best option.  But which one of the 2010 players is best for the Bulls and Rose?  I believe either Chris Bosh or Amar'e Stoudemire.  Bosh is better at defense, but Amar'e is someone who can take over a game with his scoring.  Also, Stoudemire would be the ultimate running mate on the fast break to throw it down.  Both Wade and Lebron, while better than Bosh and Amar'e, need the ball to operate, which would be a conflict of interest with Rose.

2.  Elite Scorer - This one is more negligible/fluid right now.  Rose looks like he may get there.  He is already showing flashes of taking over games.  If he is able to get there, it would pair nicely with Bosh.  But if he is looking more like Magic than Lebron, Amar'e might be better.  Ben Gordon is an elite shooter, but not scorer.  He has too many problems handling the ball in crucial moments.  Jordan and Kobe aren't dribbling the ball off their feet with the game on the line.

3.  Center who can score and paly defense - Chris Kaman would be nice.  He is 26 and would be 28 when the dynasty begins  He also would help us become a playoff team and therefore, more desirable to free agents.  Brad Miller is too old.  Joel Przybilla, meh.  Amar'e is a PF ideally.  Noah is a nice energy guy off the bench, but he doesn't cut it.  On the off chance that we are able or even try to sell everybody and go for two free agents, you could go for a combo of either Nowitzki & Bosh or Amar'e and Bosh.  Dirk and Amar'e couldn't play together due to defense.  Dirk/Bosh would bring Nowitzki's 3 point shooting to the table, where Stoudemire brings the pounding in the paint.  Both players have post moves, but so does Bosh as well.  But I think the way to go here is Kaman.  He is a solid scorer in the post and an very good rebounder.  He also provides a true center with size and defense.  Then you can more easily play Stoudemire along side and not worry about interior defense as much.  Or if you got Bosh, he could play his natural position at power forward.

4.  Starter quality bench player - We'll see, but Ben Gordon would fit perfectly.  Our current problem is that we don't have enough offense in the front court to start a defensive guard, so Ben can't take his proper role of instant offense off the bench.  But on a championship team with Rose and another superstar, he should be able to take this role and own it.  The question is money.  We can't afford to pay him 10 million and have a championship squad.  So, maybe he gets screwed this summer and can't find the contract he has been wanting anywhere and is forced to take a lesser contract with the Bulls.  Or maybe we trade him for an asset.  Or maybe he walks and we use his money to get an aging veteran who use to score 20+ points a game, a la Ray Allen.  I think we are going to have to wait to see who gets bought out and who suddenly becomes available closer to 2010-11.

5.  Aging Veteran - see #4.

6.  Three point assains - How about Matt Bonner.  He has been reported to be available.  JJ Reddick's use in Orlando has been sporadic.  Jason Kapono is unhappy in Toronto, but it's due to playing time, so he might not want this spot.  Of course, Ben also could help us here, but we'll have to see what happens with him.  It would be ideal if Thabo could really lock down on 3's.  If I were him, it would be all I worked on offensively.  If Thabo could hit the three, we would have our own Bowen/Raja Bell.  But following the dynasty blueprint, we should still trade for or sign a specialist as well for the bench.

7.  Top Defender - Thabo?  TT with his head on straight and his mind clear and focused?  Raja Bell is a FA in 2010.  Maybe we can get him on a veterans minimum with a chance at a ring.  Shaq and Nash will be pretty old in two years, so it may end up being time for him to squeeze out a last run while the Suns rebuild.  Raja would also give us some three point shooting.  Kaman is a good defender.  Deng is decent and I believe has the chance to improve.

My roster of choice.

PG - Derrick Rose - superstar

SG - Thabo Sefolosha or Raja Bell - defense and three point shooting

SF - Luol Deng - solid 3rd option

PF - Amar'e Stoudemire or Chris Bosh- superstar

C - Chris Kaman - solid defense and inside-outside game

Bench - Ben Gordon, Omer Asik, Joakim Noah, and a veteran playing for a ring.

Alright BaB, have at it.