NBA team of the decade
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The 1970’s Boston Celtics, the 1980’s Los Angeles Lakers, the 1990’s Chicago Bulls and the 2000’s..? What team made this last decade theirs? Conventional wisdom would suggest that the San Antonio Spurs have been the cream of the crop for the past 10 years; but is that entirely accurate? Let’s have a look.
From the 1999-2000 season to the 2008-2008 season, the Spurs have amassed a gaudy record of 576 wins and 233 losses, good for a 70.2% winning percentage. Not impressed? Well take this into account: the Los Angeles Clippers highest winning percentage for a single season is 59.8%. Back then, they were called the Buffalo Braves; and they posted a 49-33 record during the 1974-1975 season. The best season in franchise history for the Clippers can’t even measure up to the past 10 years of consistency of the Spurs. San Antonio has been so good for so long that we have begun to take them for granted. The team truly represents the personality of their superstar: low maintenance players, quiet, humble, team oriented and willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. Don’t get it twisted though, the Spurs have not only been a great team, they have also had talented players in this decade as evidenced by the All-Star game appearances and All-NBA nominations by players such as Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, David Robinson and Tim Duncan. So it’s a done deal, the Spurs are the best team of the decade….Right?
Not so fast. One team has a say in the conversation. Curious about what team it is and how it fits into this? Well from the 1999-2000 season to the 2008-2009 season they have amassed a 530-290 overall record, which represents a 64.6 winning percentage. The winning percentage is inferior to that of the Spurs, so surely this other team must have something else to offer for me to put it in the same conversation as the Spurs right? This mystery team actually has less All-Star game appearances then the San Antonio Spurs. So what gives? This team loses in pretty much every head to head stat against the Spurs for the past 10 years combined except one: championships. The Evil Empire (like the Yankees, that’s how they are perceived) has won four championships since 1999 whereas the Spurs have won three. The Empire will have more sustained memories in the future then the Spurs. 30 years from now, people will remember how dominant the Empire was but will forget how great the Spurs were. In case you have not yet figured it out, the Empire in this case would be the Los Angeles Lakers. The next generation will hear more about how marvelous of a tag team that Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were. Once done reminiscing about them, the conversation will turn to Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Keep in mind though, I am not choosing the Lakers as the team of the decade merely because I have a better recollection of their championship runs; rather I am picking the Lakers because they have more titles, because they gave the world two classic Western Conference Finals (vs Portland in 2000 & vs Sacramento in 2002), the career path of Kobe Bryant , the beautiful display of team basketball (look at footage of the Lakers from earlier and then later in this decade, two different teams, but two teams that understood basketball) and of course the unforgettable playoff moments. There is obviously a season left to close out the decade; so perhaps that will change the debate somewhat or perhaps it might just cement it. Let’s look forward to a great 2009-2010 NBA season and hope we get our wish and get to see the Los Angeles Lakers face off against the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals with a chance to completely close out the argument.
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It's like you said, you can make an argument for both teams; but in my opinion the dominant run the Lakers had earlier in the decade gives them the nod. That being said, someone else might look at another aspect and give the nod to the Spurs. As you said though, this season might prove to be the tie breaker, can't wait to see.
I am a Spurs fan, born and raised in San Antonio. Rght now, honestly, I would have to give the edge to the Lakers. As much as I hate to say that. lol..... As you said, the Lakers have been the most dominant, where as the Spurs have been the more consistent good team. This year may even out the argument if the Spurs can emerge as the Western Conference Champions, and win another title. Good article brother!
Thanks for the comment acanderson24. Not sure when, but I should be shortly writing something on the NBA.
Recreation Writer 2 years ago
There can be a strong argument made for either team. Really, I don't think that either team could claim to be "The Team of the Decade" in the same way the other teams you mentioned were. This is a decade that belonged to both teams, and they'll probably go down in history as sharing that title. If you have to pick one team as being greater than the next, I think the Lakers were much more dominant during their championship runs (especially the year they only had 1 playoff loss that came to Philly in Game 1). The Spurs have a better winning percentage because they have been consistently very good even when they were not great enough to win it all. It's funny because it's going to come down to those two teams in the west once again and I think either would be the favorite over their east coast opponent. I still like the Lakers to win it all this year and make it 5 in the decade.