Fluke Champions?
Scoop Jackson: "The Pistons and the Spurs are proof that winning an NBA title is the most difficult thing to do in professional team sports. There are no fluke champions in David Stern's league. There are no worst-to-first seasons. There are no Minnesota Twins or Florida Marlins. No Baltimore Ravens or Tampa Bay Buccaneers."
I think he's 100% right that there are no fluke champions in the NBA. Obviously seeding the teams 1-16 would be better. But, I'm not sure how I feel about MLB. I don't think any of those teams are "flukes." When the Marlins won twice, they were good teams. You could make the argument about the twins winning the Central (not. good. competition.), but they're not "champions" for that. So . . . what was the last flukey NBA champion? My only one would be the Spurs in 99, but only b/c that was the lockout season. And I don't really buy that they were a fluke.
posted by aaron @ 4:16 PM
1 Comments:
Hard to say the 99 Spurs were a fluke. You look at the make up of that team and it isn't that different than the current one (different players, same roles) except you have David Robinson, which is nice. Now, the 99 KNICKS, in that crappy shortened season, 8-seed getting to the finals...THAT would have been a fluke. You could also argue for either of the Rockets teams in the mid-90's who won simply because MJ "retired." But with the series of NBA "dynasties" (Bad Boys, MJ's Bulls, Hakeem's Rockets, MJ's Bulls again, the Lakers mixed in with the Spurs) its hard to call anyone a fluke.
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