Portland Trail Blazers 1977. And I know what you're going to say, Bill Walton was a superstar but honestly he was respected but he received superstar status because of that playoff run, not before it.
Homer bash? Detroit is a long way from Portland. Welcome to 2014..history does not necessarily repeat itself but if you want to look back...a lot of "superstars" never won a championship. Let's put things in their proper perspective here. The Karl Malone Lakers comes to mind.
He was a 23 PER player during the season (all-star, but not superstar). Upped it to 25 during the playoffs, so I guess you could say he played at superstar level then. Aldridge has the talent to match that criteria.
Portland was the last team i thought of as well, and it's hard not to call Bill a superstar being on of the NBA's 50 greats and a HOFer
Lots of superstars never won a title. My point is that Detroit is the only team in the last 30-40 years that has won one without a superstar.
Team ball, and some may say Larry Brown was a superstar coach. I think we have the tools in Portland to do the same thing. To me LA and Dame are as dynamic as anyone on the Mavs championship and we now have their offensive coordinator as our head coach. I'm going into this season believing we can win it all. It's how I enjoy the team
And I enjoy them in reality. To each his own. The important thing to remember is that both of us want the same thing equally
He was a superstar but he didn't achieve that status until after the Blazers won the championship. No championship, no 50 greats.
I'd say the Spurs won this year without a current superstar. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili all had their moments, but are past their primes. That was a team win if ever there was one. And they kicked the shit out of the biggest superstar team with the biggest superstar of them all.
I'm not predicting a title, but I do think they have a shot. The Blazers are a well-balanced team now without any glaring holes. Their starters showed they could play with anyone last season and now the bench is stronger and doesn't have the big hole at center that they did last year. Couple that with the Spurs being older and the Heat being dismantled, and the path is a little more open than last season. It would take things really falling their way, but yeah, I think that they have a shot at it this year.
If the Spurs drop a notch, which they continuously fail to do, and the Thunder suffer another major injury in the playoffs, I think Portland would have a shot. I still think the Clippers would be better and the Warriors would be at least as good (if fully healthy, which is not necessarily likely), but the Blazers would have a puncher's chance at that point.
All this with picking up Kaman and Blake . . . imagine what the Blazer would have done if they got their main targets . . . dynasty!
The Clips have a Sterling chance of implosion. I think the West is too close to call. Healthy at playoffs wins.
The huge thing is being healthy. If Stackpole was really behind us being so healthy, he needs to do it again!
I think it's it's cute that you don't feel defense is a glaring hole Is it Blake or Kaman that changed your mind?
Well, we could be houston right now. They have so many holes, they chose defense as the main one. lol
