DNA of a NBA team: What we think is easy to build, really isn't!
(Photo Credit: https://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/nba-signs-gaming-deal-with-mgm-resorts)
When building a team, what is it that management take notice too in a player, to have the correct genotype in efforts towards success? Looking over the ages of the game, we see the many different players, skill levels, IQ levels, physical abilities, offensive prowess, and defensive traits. Think about it, when you go back in time and revisit the history of the NBA while staying keen to the present, teams go along way looking for a great player alongside great fits in: personnel, presence, and pedigree. From all of the dynasties: Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Heat, Warriors, Pistons, Rockets, and Spurs, we have an idea of how they created their success and dynasties. What made (make) them great? Was it luck? Or was it planned? With long and diligent research on prospective prospects, General Managers or drafting officials are able to pick the certain type of player that will bring them a title; at least that is what they are hoping for! To this date there are 13 teams in search for their first ring, some seeking a title after a long period of unsuccessful attempts. Yet, they are still looking to build that perfect roster in efforts of being crown Champion of the NBA.
Draft night, 60 players can only be taken, with a pool of thousands, from across the planet, looking to make their mark on the highest stage. However, it isn't the players that have to make the toughest decision. It is upper management and the coaching staff whom sits in the draft room looking over notes: scouting reports, tendencies, plus and minus, on court issues, off court issues, support system, and drive. From there, the headache begins trying to build the ultimate team from geek to sheek.
Let's just go over some of the greats over the years and where they were ultimately drafted to take flight in the NBA.
Jordan - 3rd pick, Hakeem - 1st pick, Kareem - 1st pick, Bird - 6th pick, Wilt - territorial pick, Magic - 1st pick, Kobe - 13th pick, Shaq - 1st pick, Duncan - 1st pick, James - 1st pick, Garnett - 5th pick, Russell - 2nd pick, Nowitzki - 9th pick, Durant - 2nd pick, Iverson - 1st pick, Mutombo - 4th pick, Curry - 7th pick, Drexler - 14th pick, Miller - 11th pick, Wade - 5th pick, Oscar - territorial pick, Dr. J - 12th pick, and Barkley - 5th pick, Ewing - 1st pick, Wilkins - 3rd pick, Westbrook - 4th pick
Winning a title is hard and difficult task to accomplish. Some go without winning, some win one, some win multiple. Teams go searching for, trading for, and building players to birth the perfect build to stand the chance of competing for titles. They look for that general to lead the way. A commander to take charge. An enforcer to hold things in place. From there they look for the outer layer of the team with those whom fit within the abilities of those in which already obtain a place on the team. Some teams have one guy, some team has two guys, some team has three guys, four guys is a rarity (yet we have seen it). Organization’s do whatever they can to get the players they feel are the best fit for their team. Still, the team they have constructed can possibly not even make it to the playoffs. So, what does it really take?
At times we see players come into the NBA and they have excelled in levels preceding to the league and we find organizations looking to trade up in the draft to draft that particular player. Teams end up trading their pieces to another team, that may be a few pieces away from contention or bettering their future with multiple picks in future drafts (Brooklyn and Boston), end up hindering their own team chance at winning . To see the players they traded away excel in another coaches system and help them win, while the player they traded to draft ends up not making much impact at all in the NBA. For every LaMarcus Aldridge, there is about three to five Tyrus Thomas.’ Once they get there, things don't tend to always pan out the way they did. Some struggle, severely. Some are in a bad place and never get the opportunity. Time changes and player can’t fit the certain play style of the league. The thing is, not all of the draftees will pan out. That simple! It might be a bad fit, system doesn’t work, no opportunity, lack of ambition to develop, or the player can just be a straight bum from jump, and there is always an injury that prevents the player from even getting back to rare form. Nevertheless, it is your turn, and you have to pick! You have to pick based on the type of player(s) you want, that fits into your system, that can possibly stand out, help your team do the one thing that is on every team's agenda; win a NBA Championship.
Over the years here is a list of NBA teams that have made it to the finals and won a NBA title:
Celtics (17), Lakers (16), Bulls (6), Warriors (6), Spurs (5), Heat (3), Pistons (3), 76ers (3), Rockets (2), Knicks (2), Hawks (1), Bullets (1), Cavaliers (1), Bucks (1), Mavericks (1), Supersonics (1) and Blazers (1).
Some won prior to the birth of the NBA, back in 1949! Mind you, the Cavaliers, just set a remarkable mark by becoming the longest franchise without a NBA title, to win back in 2016 when they beat the Warriors. That should indicate how hard it is to accomplish such a compelling feat. With that being said, the NBA now has a total of 30 NBA teams. Think of March Madness in reverse order for the NBA, excluding the 64. You figured something that started as small as it did to kept growing. Now, to think that the Celtics and Lakers seem to have ran the league, that lets you know that the pedigree to build a champion is hard, even with small numbers. Think about all the teams that passed on Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. The Warriors dynasty wouldn’t be presently vicious had other teams drafted them earlier vs allowing them to slip as they did.
Now, you take those players and say, I want to possess a team with defenders, rebounders, shooters, scorers, playmaker and post ability to get you to the promised land. What makes it really easy is if you have a player or two from that list, mentioned earlier, that comes every blue moon. Then you have those once in a lifetime/generational type of players that just run the league making it hard for teams to even stand against them (LeBron James vs the Eastern Conference). Yet, still some of them hasn't won a NBA title.
So, you think having the 1st pick in the draft is easy huh? You can imagine how much stress upper management goes through to build a team via draft and to court free agents in their efforts towards winning a title. Something, they still may not get. Think about, all of the teams that have multiple titles, excluding the Cavaliers, had once in a lifetime/generational or the every blue moon type of players. The Warriors just crept up on that list. They even had to add Kevin Durant to help them prevent LeBron James from winning multiple titles in Cleveland as he did in Miami. Which is why I wrote this article. See how it sums all up and ties it back to the beginning? Who is to say history wouldn't have been different if the balls fell differently for the draft order; (which is another topic). We see owners ravishing about key market teams getting the high value picks as opposed to mid-market teams. Don't tell me that pick isn't a good thing to stress about. Unless, you draft a Kwame Brown, Michael Olowokandi, Pervis Ellis, Joe Barry Carroll, Greg Oden, or Joe Smith then your luck really can't be good. Now factor in the teams that passed on Dirk, McHale, Bird, Garnett, and Wade and many more greats that went on to win titles, you have to think about all the late nights upper management had for those other unlucky NBA teams.
What seems easy isn't so after all when you really think about. Fans roar, scream and yell in excitement and disappointment about winning games and losing games. However, what they really don't see is the time, effort, strategy, dedication, and sacrifice it takes to build that team. On top of that, there is the money factor (which is not the time to dive deep in), it takes to keep a team together once/if they are successful on top of other key personnel, to only be blindsided by what the opposing teams are doing to build their team. So, when there is only a few once in a lifetime/generation or every blue moon type of players, the rest of the league is scratching their hands on how they can stop that team and have that moment to taste victory of a NBA title. I started feeling more and more bad for the teams that haven't won period or in a long time the more I researched the numbers and years. I bet some wish they had a bill they could take to redo a couple of draft picks and free agents they let leave or didn't try to really pursue. Look at how the draft can do you well. The current Warriors team, I used them in an early example as well, built their starting 3 from the draft. That same 3, alongside Iguodala, went and courted Durant to join their team. Some strategy can go well and some, not so well. It just depends on whom you have making those decisions!!!!
Statistical Contributions:
https://www.foxsports.com/southwest/gallery/nba-franchises-still-without-a-championship-060618
http://www.82games.com/nbadraftpicks.htm
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