"Winning As The Main Man" Feels Like An Obsolete Idea Now

[CTbasketball92]

It feels like the only two or 3 people were overwhelmingly the reason a team won a chip recently have been DWade ('06) LeBron (2013, 2016* w. Kyrie, but he did a huge amount of work), Dirk ('11) and arguably Kobe. Everyone else in recent history has won because they had an incredible team. The '08 celtics, the 2014 Spurs, the 2015 Warriors ... that's pretty much it. With superteams being a thing now, you need to have two superstars in order to give yourself a chance. Either that or an incredibly efficient and fluid offensive system with multiple stars and a great coach.


With that in mind, i think it's dumb to say you can't win a chip with James Harden, Westbrook or Prime Melo as your "main man." You can put any of those players on the Warriors or Spurs and you've got a good chance at winning a championship most other times in history. Put Westbrook on the Warriors there's a good chance they win this year. Same with the spurs. You can win with James Harden as your best man if you give him Boogie and great role players. You can win with Westbrook if KD shoots better than he did this past year's playoffs. You can win with Prime Melo if you give him a better second option than JR Smith or past his prime AI.

I could look into the advanced stats of this, but that just feels like a bit too much. Just felt this should be said.

[ISHGoat]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

[scuzzy]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

. True True

[warriorfan]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

This poster is extremely shook

[JT123]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

[InsanityKills]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

[BarberSchool]

Since the advent of Zone defense being made legal, the league has favored iso play less and less every season.

It is a motion & spacing league now. Iso ball doesn't win anymore, like it did when there was illegal defense. It's an outdated model that has seen it's time in the pros mostly evaporate. Look at the last champions, and look at their spacing, ball movement, look at their style and efficiency.

Low efficiency iso ball died with the Kobe/Iverson/Francis/Marbury era.

As defenses, mainly those crafted by Tom Thibodeaux, and the many offshoots since, do a very good job of limiting dominant iso wing players. And even the Miami Strong side overload, being a more simple scheme against dominant iso ball, was played like a puppet by Dallas shooting efficiency and ball movement and unselfishness.

It's a new league. "the man" aka a dominant wing iso player will always be a part of pro ball, but you cant win chips that way anymore, unless you're as efficient as jordan, which would be hard now with zones' expertise, and with the superior ball movement and 3pt efficiency seen by recent champs.

[Cone]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

[CTbasketball92]

Since the advent of Zone defense being made legal, the league has favored iso play less and less every season.

It is a motion & spacing league now. Iso ball doesn't win anymore, like it did when there was illegal defense. It's an outdated model that has seen it's time in the pros mostly evaporate. Look at the last champions, and look at their spacing, ball movement, look at their style and efficiency.

Low efficiency iso ball died with the Kobe/Iverson/Francis/Marbury era.

As defenses, mainly those crafted by Tom Thibodeaux, and the many offshoots since, do a very good job of limiting dominant iso wing players. And even the Miami Strong side overload, being a more simple scheme against dominant iso ball, was played like a puppet by Dallas shooting efficiency and ball movement and unselfishness.

It's a new league. "the man" aka a dominant wing iso player will always be a part of pro ball, but you cant win chips that way anymore, unless you're as efficient as jordan, which would be hard now with zones' expertise, and with the superior ball movement and 3pt efficiency seen by recent champs.

I agree with you, but I still think one of a team's two best players should probably have elite iso-scoring skills, and I think certain players get a biiiit too much credit for being cogs in a great system, whereas players like Westbrook and Harden -- both of whom generally work with fewer resources than GSW or SA -- you get labeled a chucker or as a loser. I guess what im saying is -- for my tertiary point -- I don't think those players are without a place in a well-rounded offense.

[GimmeThat]

Just as much as players who later on become a coach. or coaches getting fired after a brief stint

i.e. to say basketball players doesn't have their own philosophy/approach to how games can/ought to be win, would be an absolute lie.


you may say it comes down to after all the plays been drawn and ran out, what do players look for then in a team.

or what's the purpose of each individual beyond winning. both on, and off the court.

[Prometheus]

Just as much as players who later on become a coach. or coaches getting fired after a brief stint

i.e. to say basketball players doesn't have their own philosophy/approach to how games can/ought to be win, would be an absolute lie.


you may say it comes down to after all the plays been drawn and ran out, what do players look for then in a team.

or what's the purpose of each individual beyond winning. both on, and off the court.

... huh?

[SouBeachTalents]

... huh?

I don't think that dude speaks English

[GimmeThat]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

what % of your salary (thankfully the NBA is a soft-cap system) are you willing to devote to one position only in order to contend for a championship.

more importantly then, how efficient is that money spent on the position.

[GimmeThat]

... huh?

there are some people in here who are sucking on their bosses d*ck.
i don't know which guy you are.

[jstern]

It's fully possible to win with prime Melo or Harden as the #1 option. Surround them with a cast like the 09-10 lakers who can defend and putback bricks.

This is a classic example of it's funny because it's true.