The ‘No-Star’ System

It has often been said that in order for any NBA team to be successful in the playoffs and inevitably win a championship, there has to be a star player or two or three on the roster.

In case there are any confusions as to what a star player is, one just has to look at the roster of most of the teams that are expected to succeed or win it all this year. With the exception of maybe two or three teams, every other teams has players that are either legitimate stars or are stars that somehow carried a larger share of the load for their teams in order to be in the playoffs. In other words, this star system does not mean the player has to be on the same level as a Lebron James or a Carmelo Anthony. Players like Paul George of the pacers, Stephen Curry of the Warriors, and James Harden of the Rockets, all belong in this star system.

These are players that, nine times of out of ten, will have the ball during the last few minutes or seconds of a close game. It is important to make note that being an All-Star does not qualify, in my opinion, as the benchmark of what a ‘star’ player is.

Stars of the “No-Star System”

The Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies are the only two teams in the 2013 NBA playoffs and both are somewhat divulge of legitimate stars, by NBA standards — the Milwaukee Bucks have Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings whom without both they would be the Charlotte Bobcats.

By NBA standards, the Denver Nuggets do not have any stars or potential stars-in-the-making type of players on their roster. An argument can be made that Ty Lawson has potential star qualities but I would argue that Lawson has a scoring ability that makes him efficient on the offensive end but lacks the consistency of a player like Stephen Curry. Curry has shown – when healthy – that he can carry his team with his lethal scoring, shooting and passing abilities.

By all accounts, Andre Iguodala was supposed to be a top-tier NBA star.

Drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers back in 2004, Iguodala was supposed to be the do-it-all player that would catapult the 76ers back into playoff contention. At six foot seven, many experts touted him as an ultra-athletic player that could potentially give you 20+ points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, a couple steals and a block per game. In Iguodala’s eight years in the league, he has averaged 15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and .5 blocks per game. These are very good numbers but they only position him as a well-rounded role player that adds value to his team but is not the focal point of his teams offense.

Why should Iguodala be the focal point of the Nuggets offense when what he brings to the team is part of the reasons why they are currently third in the standing for the Western Conference and are about to take on the sixth seed Golden State Warriors, in the playoffs. Iguodala brings a defensive intensity that makes me rank him as a top-ten perimeter defender in the NBA. This makes his career averages quite impressive when one compares his stats to another top ten perimeter defender in Tony Allen of the Grizzlies. Iguodala does more offensively while locking down the best scorers in the league.

Andre Igoudala is best described as a Swiss Army knife type of NBA player

In a league that goes above and beyond to promote its star players, Iguodala and the Denver Nuggets are doing something that not even the Bucks or the Grizzlies are trying to do – they are embracing their ‘no-star’ system. Their head coach, George Carl summed it up best:

"This is the way the game of basketball is supposed to be, it's supposed to be a team game. It's supposed to be five players playing as a unit that magnifies unto a special team. It's an 82-game season, and depth is important. We can overcome an injury ; there's a lot of teams that can't overcome an injury."

Is coach Carl on to something here – something that might re-revolutionize the NBA? Will the future of the league be more about parity? The answers to these questions can only be answered in the future. It requires a mind shift by the league itself and then by those who make player decisions for their respective teams. If more general managers and coaches embrace the George Carl philosophy, then maybe someday there will be ten teams in the playoffs with a roster much like the Nuggets.

Making the case for success in the NBA playoffs and inevitably winning the championship without a ‘star’ player is very difficult. Personally, I cannot think of  a team, in recent history,  winning the Larry O’Brien trophy without having a legitimate star on its roster. What George Carl and the Denver Nuggets are trying to accomplish is extremely difficult but not impossible.

If you asked me who will win this years championship, I would say the Heat have the best odds of doing just that – but then, I would go further by saying I hope they go seven games against the Nuggets, in the NBA Finals.

The Heat Model vs. the OKC Model

With the NBA draft less than twenty-four hours away,  I wanted to open up a dialogue on something closely related to the draft. The issue regarding what some NBA pundits feel will be the new model for winning the NBA championship.  Will the Miami Heat model entice other teams to seek instant success by clearing cap-space with the hopes of luring two or three big name players? Of course there will be some attempt by a few teams; the NBA is sometimes called the 'copy-cat' league but ultimately, this model will not yield the same reward as the Miami Heat.

Drafting well in the NBA will often result in post-season success!

Take for example the Oklahoma City Thunder and their recent run to before falling short of winning it all. They are the modern day epitome of how an NBA team should build for a bright future - draft really well and then surround the young talents with a few veteran players to round out this important but elusive formula for building a team. Another team that is following this model is the Chicago Bulls (hoping Derrick Rose makes a full recovery). The last eight NBA championship teams have all had star players that were drafted  by their respective teams; from the 2004-2005 season, the list includes Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki. Although the Miami Heat just won their championship through the 'Superstar Acquisition Model' (SAM), they had to go through a formidable OKC team that is on the cusp of becoming a consistent opponent of any Eastern Conference team (ahem.....Miami?) in the Finals, for the next few years.

A lot has been made about this Heat model of winning the championship that they are ushering in a controversial new era of team building in basketball. I for one think this is all nonsense! This formula is like lightening in a bottle that worked for the Heat but history and other factors will likely not favor other teams and players that might try this model (ahem...New York Knicks  a la Melo and Stoudemire). The formula for relative success in the NBA still falls on drafting well and trading well for pieces that balances out the roster. The Heat Model might have worked this season  but the fact still remains that teams like the the Oklahoma City Thunder are doing it the smart way; one might even say the right way (depending on the context and who you ask).

Trades are part of the game and one cannot separate it from how teams build and develop but that is not what SAM is all about. It is about the failed attempt of the 03/04 Lakers signing Karl Malone and Gary Payton to join Shaq and Kobe. It is also about the 96/97 Houston Rockets bringing in Charles Barkley to join Olajuwon and Drexler - this experiment lasted for two season with no trip to the finals. Drexler retired but the Rockets tried the SAM once more by bringing Scottie Pippen on board. The result was another season without a championship. In other words, this model has more failures than it has successes.

SAM worked for the Heat because it was the right timing with the right players. Chances of the timing being right and the availability of the right players aligning like this has a very slim probability of reoccurring. OKC has the right model and it might pay off next year when they face the Heat again.

(Ahem, that's a bold prediction!)

On a related note:

I would like to congratulate the Miami Heat.........actually, I would like to congratulate LeBron James on winning his first championship and in the process, temporarily silencing the critics and what seemingly looks like half the population of North America. In my honest opinion, it was well deserved. I was never a LeBron hater but more of an unbiased observer of all things LBJ. I scolded and applauded him when either was genuinely warranted. He is definitely undeserving of the level of hate that gets thrown at him - s0me of it is warranted but not that much!

...and what about the Raptors draft?

As for the draft itself, I am refraining from making any predictions about the Raptors but I will let my opinion be known. I have read all about the Dion Waiters and the Damian Lillard possibilities but the player that intrigues me the most is Royce White. White is projected to be drafted in the mid to late first round - he is a 6'8 forward that can do it all. He led is Iowa State Cyclones in points, rebounds, assist, steals and blocks and has the tenacious mentality that the Raptors really need. Although there have been rumblings that Waiters has the makings of the second coming of Dwyane Wade, the fact is that Waiters potential is erratic at best. He could end up being a poor mans D.Wade -  which is still very good - or end up being an exact replica of Smush Parker. Nuff said!

It would be ideal if the Raptors could work a trade in order to secure another pick before the twenty-first pick - where he is being predicted to be picked by the Celtics. I would trade Ed Davis because I thing White is already a better basketball package and has a higher developmental ceiling than Davis.

Selecting Waiters with the 8th pick would be nice but the icing on the cake would be orchestrating a trade that would somehow allow the Raptors to pick Royce White.