2022 NBA Playoffs thread

The scary part for the rest of the league may be not only did we see the Splash Brothers reunited, we saw great efforts from Poole, Wiggins, Kuminga, Looney and a cast of thousands.

If they don't fall into cap hell or a rash of injuries worse than what we saw this season, more Larrys could be headed to the Bay.

 

Multiple MVPs, at least four titles

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Bill Russell
Michael Jordan
LeBron James
Magic Johnson
Tim Duncan
Stephen Curry

 

While not fair since they didn’t have the award until 82-83, Jordan is the only one on the list to be named Defensive Player of the Year. At age 34, Russell was named to the inaugural All Defensive Team in his final year as a player. He likely would have won DPOY, multiple times, had it been around during his career.

 

I don't really think it's a question at this point. Plenty of teams could have imploded, between Durant joining and then leaving, Thompson's long injury layoff, Curry bouncing in and out of the lineup, Kerr's own health woes, the fact that the Warriors might have "whiffed" on two Top 7 draft picks... He's kept the ship from running aground, and it's really easy for that to happen.

I feel like these threads over the past couple years have sometimes been panic-filled "how can the league deal with these superteams?!?" The last two NBA champions are GSW and the Bucks, and the last four teams in the finals include Boston (mostly drafted) and Miami (originators of the super team, but Butler was the one FA). Even the Lakers' championship was more of a traditional "disgruntled star forces trade" than a superteam.

 

That iteration of the Suns that made the Finals last year was mostly homegrown, save for Chris Paul.

 

Shit, sorry, the years are just blurring together in my pandemic brain...

 

Congrats Warriors fans of SJ!

4 times a champ for Steph. Not bad.

And now a Finals MVP.

From Brad Botkin's column on CBS Sports.

 

Nobody had a problem with "Superteams" when it was the Lakers or Bulls. The Warriors are what every team in the league should aspire to be. Build a good organization. Draft smartly, but don't make the perfect the enemy of the good - get better every year, become a place where people want to play. A big part of that is having players that respect other players and have good relationships throughout the league. Yes, the Warriors got "lucky" with Stef, but they also were an organization that nurtured him, didn't anoint him the franchise savior when he was drafted and then turned on him when he struggled. Curry didn't average 20 a game until his fourth season.

 

Ws without Durant are not close to a “Superteam”. Of top 8 players, all drafted except Payton unwanted FA, Wiggins who nobody wanted and Porter on a min. No pick higher than 7.(thanks you Kahn!!!) A blueprint available to every other team in league.

 

The Warriors are pretty clearly the best NBA franchise right now. Their owner has no qualms about paying the luxury tax and their front office makes smart decisions with that money.

Phoenix would be on par with them if they didn't completely botch the Ayton situation.

 

Hard not to think of the Blazers, when thinking of the Warriors. They'll never snag a top of the market FA. But they too got "lucky" with Lillard, and McCollum is pretty good. And yet, they could do nothing with it. I think that Drexler era team was one of the best teams to never win a title, they just had bad luck to be playing in an era of Showtime, Jordan and the Pistons. Since then though, the organization has been adrift.

 

How were the Bulls a superteam? Rodman was probably the biggest player to join the team because of the roster already in place.