Good article from the DMN today
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NBA champions have long been in a league of their own
Tim Cowlishaw
As the NBA Finals commence, we should bow down and show our appreciation. The ride of the "Magnificent Seven" continues.
In the quarter of a century of basketball played since 1980, only seven franchises have won NBA titles. This is a dominance by barely more than a handful of teams that is unseen in other professional sports.
Just seven champions since 1980. Consider the comparisons.
Despite New England's mini-dynasty, you can count eight franchises winning Super Bowls just by going to 1994. You can do likewise with the idling NHL by going to 1992.
And despite the New York Yankees winning four of five World Series between 1996 and 2000, you can find eight different World Series champions by counting back to 1991.
Since 1980, 11 teams have won Stanley Cups, 12 teams have won Super Bowls and 17 have won World Series. And baseball is the sport that is unfair and unbalanced, right?
The clash between the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs assures that the Magnificent Seven's rule will be 26 years and counting going into next season.
What's going on in the NBA?
The simplest explanation is that the NBA is a superstar-driven vehicle. The team with Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson or Larry Bird or Tim Duncan wins. There's truth in that, of course, but there's more to it than that.
Especially because, last year, the team without the superstars (Detroit) beat the team with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says it's a combination of money, luck and great talent evaluation.
"The Pistons got Rasheed [Wallace] because Atlanta wanted to get under the cap," Cuban said. "Heck, they got Ben Wallace because Grant Hill forced a sign and trade, and I guess you could say they got Larry Brown because they paid up to get him.
"A great coach and two All-Stars is great general managing and fortuitous spending."
The Spurs' run at a third championship is also fueled by luck and excellent management. Had David Robinson not been injured and missed all but six games during the 1996-97 season, San Antonio never would have been in the lottery, let alone have been in position to win it and grab Duncan.
That's luck.
Drafting Manu Ginobili in the second round in 1999 and Tony Parker with the 28th pick in 2001 is great scouting. Adding Nazr Mohammed, who is giving the Spurs eight points and seven rebounds off the bench in these playoffs, is great general managing.
Some of these clubs disappeared when their stars left. Boston hasn't resurfaced since the Bird era. Philadelphia won just one title when Julius Erving was their featured star and returned to the Finals once with Allen Iverson.
Houston won with Hakeem Olajuwon when Jordan took his two-year break.
The Lakers and Pistons are the only two organizations of the seven to have won titles with completely different rosters. The Lakers won five during the '80s in the Johnson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-James Worthy era. That ended when the Pistons won back-to-back titles led by Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars.
Now Dumars is the GM for a Detroit team that still wins with defense but obviously with a different roster. After going more than a decade without a title, the Lakers rebounded after Jerry West was able to get O'Neal from Orlando.
It should be noted that the reign of the Magnificent Seven goes beyond winning championships. More often than not since 1980, one of the seven teams has been the Finals loser.
That's right. When the Spurs and Pistons are finished, these seven clubs will have won the last 26 titles and they will have been the Finals loser in 14 of those playoffs.
The Lakers have not only won eight titles since 1980; they have played in the Finals 13 times.
Maybe this is another reason the NBA is the league most prone to generate conspiracy theories. Most of the seven are big market, high profile franchises.
But actually this provides us with the evidence that things are not being fixed at NBA headquarters. If they really were, you have to figure the New York Knicks would have won the title since Nixon left the White House.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/tcowlishaw/stories/060905dnspocowlishaw.12b86051c.html
