Dallas, Indiana, & San Antonio: Putting the Team Back in Super-Team

 

These are the guys currently beating up on Lebron James and Blake Griffin. Seriously.

It was supposed to be a foregone conclusion. When Lebron James took his talents to south beach in July of 2010, it was supposed to usher in the era of the super team. According to the script, James teaming up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami was supposed to start an arms race among a handful of NBA teams to put together the best 3-man team possible.  The Knicks were frantically doing whatever they could to bring in Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul to team up with Amare Stoudemire.  The Lakers were trying to see if they could upgrade Kobe Bryant’s sidekicks from Pau Gasol & Andrew Bynum to Dwight Howard & Chris Paul. The Bulls were rumored to be after every star player known to man to pair with Derek Rose.  The New Jersey Nets were furiously trying to come as close to a big 3 as they could for their move to Brooklyn.  The big market teams were supposed to get richer and the rest of the league was supposed to serve as a sort of minor league, developing the next generation of stars for the big markets to pluck in free agency or when the player inevitably demanded a trade to a “contender”.  “Competitive Balance” was to be thrown out the window.

Now, ask fans of these super teams how things are working out for them?

Dallas’ title run last year was supposed to be an anomaly, a blip on the radar.  After all, it took a completely unexpected meltdown from a supremely talented Lakers team and Lebron’s baffling reluctance to do anything in the Finals for this one-man band to come out on top. The assumption was that the Lakers would reload and be better than ever, that Pat Riley would have an off-season to bring in some help for Lebron and Wade, that the Knicks would do everything possible to bring Chris Paul to New York, and that one of these awe-inspiring collection of superstars would usher in the era of the manufactured super-team.

Well, what Dallas started last year, San Antonio and Indiana are continuing in this years playoffs, proving themselves as legitimate title contenders while being built the old-fashioned way.

The Indiana Pacers are by far the surprise of the playoffs.  They don’t have a single player that the casual basketball fan would know, and the biggest name on their team, Tyler Hansbrough, is only known for his college career and didn’t start a single game this year.  As might be expected of a team with no discernible star power, the Pacers play a deliberate pace predicated on team basketball concepts, getting contributions from the entire rotation. Everyone in the starting 5 averages double-digits, and while Danny Granger leads the team at 18.7 PPG, the rest of the starters average between 10.4 and 12.8 PPG. Going further, the Pacers have 3 players off the bench averaging at least 9 points per contest.  That balance has carried over into the playoffs as well. With Danny Granger being held in check against Miami, a different Pacer has led the team in scoring in each game of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.  The Pacers balance allows them to attack teams from all different angles and with all different styles depending on the matchup. Especially with Chris Bosh out, the Heat need Lebron and Dwyane Wade playing their best or they don’t have a chance. What the Pacers lack for in star power, they make up in flexibility, and right now they are twisting the Heat into pretzels.

Some people may want to consider the Spurs a super-team because of the name recognition of their big 3, but in reality their probably isn’t a squad playing a better brand of team oriented basketball than San Antonio.  The Spurs have a ridiculous 10 players averaging 8 points a game. Tony Parker is the only player who even cracks 30 minutes a game. 9 players play 20 minutes a night.  Their 3^rd & 4^th leading scorers started 14 games combined this year. One play in last nights drubbing of the Clippers typified how the San Antonio Spurs offense operates.  Screen, one dribble, pass, pass, pass, pump fake, one dribble, pass to corner, open 3, money.  It was beautiful to watch and really showed how little the Spurs’ “stars” have to do get open shots for them and their teammates.  If you didn’t know the names of the players on the Spurs’ and watched last nights game, you really wouldn’t think anyone on that team was a “star” they just play excellent team ball.

In the rush to put together these Avenger-like superstar filled teams, teams may have underestimated the difficulty in bringing in quality role players to gel with the main trio. With no depth, these teams are totally reliant on their three stars to carry the day, and if a single player is hurt or not playing well, the margin of error becomes razor thin.  Not only that, with so little depth these teams don’t have the luxury of adjusting styles depending on matchups.  The stars forge the team’s identity in a certain image, and that’s the way they have to play, come hell or high water.

The most important side effect of this development is the possibilities this opens up in the future.  Instead of it looking like the only way to compete was to try to build your own big 3, Indiana and San Antonio are showing that there may be another counter to that style.  If you can build a team that is amorphous and amoeba-like in its ability to change and shift styles at will, being a never-ending match up problem is a viable enough identity to make it to the Promised Land.  Instead of the small-market teams essentially being told they have no chance, they now have a blueprint to follow and just maybe have their moment in the sun.