Written by: Brian Tseng
If you want to build a good NBA team you start by assembling as many All-Stars as possible and then filling your roster around them. However, if you want to build a championship NBA team, how the roster fits together and how the pieces complement each other is just as important as the pieces themselves. Winning one championship means you were the best team in the NBA for one year. To win multiple championships and establish yourself as a potential NBA dynasty, you need a balanced roster with players that fill certain roles.
Winning two NBA championships solidifies your spot in history and demonstrates that you had one of the best teams of your era. Three championships in one decade proves your team was one of the best teams of all time with some of the best players of all time. I’ve created a list of certain types of players your team need to have in order to build an NBA champion.
Consider it a list of ingredients, except in this case the more players you have of these types will almost always improve your final product. Having players which fulfill multiple requirements is even better, but it’s important to cover as many of these roles as possible.
Next: Good Passers, Shooters, and Slashers
As ridiculous as it sounds, you don’t need a good passing point guard to win an NBA championship. In the past two decades, no NBA team has won a championship where the best player on the team was their point guard, minus the 2004 Pistons once again. Having a good playmaker helps your team win, but it’s not a necessity. It’s crucial you have a couple good passers on your team. Larry Bird wasn’t a point guard, but he was the best passer on his team.
For the Lakers, the team as a whole is full of good passers. Pau Gasol’s the best-passing big man in the league, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton are great passers at their positions, and the rest of the team are average and above passers (other than Andrew Bynum, who would be slightly below average, and Kobe Bryant when he’s on KILL mode.)
You also need a couple good shooters on your team. You don’t need an All-Star shooter like Ray Allen to win a championship, but you do need Steve Kerr, Bruce Bowen, Derek Fisher, type players. You need at least one or two players that can shoot the ball well consistently and make three point shots in the playoffs.
You need someone you can kick the ball out to and will knock down big shots. Every team in the NBA could use a designated shooter. In fact, every team in the NBA could use better shooters in general. It’s no secret that shooters spread the floor, create points in bunches, and destroy zone defenses. The Lakers have typically fulfilled this requirement by committee. Derek Fisher has led the way these past few years, with cameo appearances by Trevor Ariza, “The Machine”, and at times last year, Ron Artest.
Just as important as having good passers and shooters, you need at least one player that can penetrate the other teams’ defenses. Not only do they score easy buckets close to the basket, they cause foul trouble, collapse defenses, and create scoring opportunities for other players (which is why it’s even better if this guy’s a good and able passer.)
For the Lakers, this role has usually been fulfilled by Kobe Bryant. As his body has aged and his game has expanded, Kobe often settles for midrange jumpers (sometimes of the ridiculous variety). Kobe still qualifies as one of the best penetrators in the league, and he can be counted on to break down the other team’s defense when necessary.
Next: Perimeter Defenders/Stoppers
It’s the reason Bruce Bowen was a starter for three championship teams while never averaging over 8.2 points per game or shooting over 65% from the free throw line. It’s the reason why Trevor Ariza revitalized his career with the Lakers and players such as Matt Barnes, Raja Bell, James Posey, and Tony Allen have gotten so much coverage over the past years when their impact on the box score is minimal. If you’re trying to win a championship, you’ll inevitably run up against some great perimeter scorers.
Whether you’re going up against Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, or Lebron James, you need someone to guard the explosive swingmen that have populated the NBA since the Michael Jordan era. While it’s impossible to truly shut down a great scorer, you can make things difficult for them by doing your best to contain their penetration, forcing them to take bad shots, and by not giving them unnecessary free throws. Bonus points for being able to score and make them play both ends of the court.
The Lakers signed Ron Artest last year because even at 30 years of age he’s still one of the best defensive bullies in the league. This year they added Matt Barnes who’s a defensive pest, and has the versatility of Ron Artest that allows him to guard multiple positions. Don’t forget we have Kobe Bryant, a 10 time All-NBA Defensive player, (although his defense is often lackadaisical and he spends too much time playing off his guy and straying in the passing lanes than actually guarding his man), who’s also capable of shutting down players at multiple positions.
And we still have Sasha, who’s an underrated defender and capable of being a very annoying pest to the other team. This is one position we’ve got plenty of, in fact contrary to popular belief I thought the Matt Barnes signing was redundant and I thought we should’ve gone with an explosive scorer off the bench, eg: T-Mac.
Next: Veteran Leadership/Chemistry Guys/Energy Bench Players/Enforcers/GLUE Guys
All of these players fall under the general category of ROLE players. As my friend pointed out, any non-starring player has by definition an opportunity to become a solid role player under the right circumstances. Think of it this way, any time a non all-star player contributes in a big game, his reputation grows as a “role player”.
Every minute of experience a player gains during the regular season or in the playoffs prepares him to be a better role player. If someone were to just look at the career stats of Robert Horry and compare him to LaMarcus Aldridge, it would seem like Aldridge is a superior player and if he had been on any of the title teams Horry was on his team would have won the championship as well. This may be true, but since Aldridge doesn’t have any significant playoff experience we don’t know how good Aldridge is in the playoffs.
Robert Horry’s contributions as a ROLE player are immeasurable, and he made contributions to every single one of his seven championship teams. One simplified way to predict who could be considered a good role player is to look at the amount of playoff minutes he’s played. If he’s played a lot of playoff minutes that means he’s had a lot of experience in the playoffs which means he’s doing something right.
No NBA GM would consider picking up LaMarcus Aldridge to be a role player on an NBA team today, but in about 10 years regardless of his playoff success he’ll likely have logged enough minutes to be considered a good role player.
That’s exactly why Juwan Howard is considered a solid role player today. Every championship team needs a few role players, it doesn’t matter if those players are already established as role players whom have lots of veteran experience (like Derek Fisher now), or if he’s young but making contributions to good teams and playing deep into the playoffs, establishing himself as a good role player along the way (like Derek Fisher on the 2000-2002 championships teams).
Other qualitative factors such as attitude, locker room presence, reputation, respect, and leadership qualities are plusses, but the most important thing is experience.
The Lakers this year have a ton of good role players. Derek Fisher’s still Derek Fisher, and the addition of Steve Blake will help bolster the bench. Lamar Odom is essentially a versatile super-role player. Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff will provide more veteran experience. Much like Tyronn Lue and Jannero Pargo latched onto the Lakers teams and are now considered decent role players, Sasha and Luke Walton can now be depended on in big games as well (sometimes).
Next: The Big Man
This is THE easiest way to create an NBA dynasty. Countless articles have been written about the importance of having a big man in an NBA, so I’ll spare you the details. They’re really important. Trust me. I’m not talking about the Dirk Nowitzkis and Amar’e Stoudemires, I’m talking about the old-school, back-to-the-basket big men.
The big guys that are low-post threats on offense and intimidators on defense. On offense, they give you a high percentage scoring option that allows you to give it to one player and they muscle their way to two points or a foul (or both) and create scoring opportunities for other players (Shaq was an underrated passer who passed out of the double team very well).
True big men should have a dependable jump hook, with counters and fakes in case the defense is expecting it. Good footwork is a must, and having quick feet (for those deadly drop steps) is essential. Being athletic and physically fit is important, but just as important is having good hands and a soft touch around the rim (Two huge reasons why Andrew Bynum is better than Kwame Brown).
On defense, the impact of having a big man is even more pronounced. You need someone to protect the basket, grab rebounds, and prevent opposing players from getting easy buckets. They don’t need to block too many shots, they just need to intimidate players in the lane and alter their shots.
Sometimes the big man role can be done by committee (The Wallaces of the 2004 Detroit Pistons or KG + Kendrick Perkins in 2008), but the true big men do it alone. Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwan are the perfect examples of big men.
The Lakers are lucky they have two big-men that can be considered true centers in the NBA: Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. Both of them are capable of playing in the low-post with their backs to the baskets and scoring high percentage buckets. Defensively both of them are capable defenders who interfere with shots, and gobble rebounds.
Even though the demise of the big man is all but complete, if you want to build an NBA dynasty, your best bet is still to start with a big man. Just look at the current Orlando Magic team. Other than Dwight Howard, the roster is essentially filled with glorified role players and one or two difference makers. However, the impact Howard has on both ends of the floor carried Orlando to the NBA Finals in 2009.
Next: Superstar/Clutch Player
I’m not talking about Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, Antawn Jamison, or Vince Carter. I’m talking about the Kobe Bryants, the Tim Duncans, and the Dwayne Wades. Other than the 2004 Detroit Pistons, no other team has recently won an NBA championship without a certified superstar. As beautiful as it is to see a team with awesome teamwork and several consistent all-stars, you need superstars to win the championship.
Most often you want to have one or two superstars as well as one or two All-Star caliber players and contributors fulfilling other roles. It’s been shown time and time again that to be a champion, you need to have one of the top 10 players in the league. This player is your alpha-male, he scores a bulk of your points and has the ball in his hand during crunch time. His productivity in the clutch is the difference between whether he’ll have a Chris Webber or Tim Duncan career path.
This guy is a true franchise player, and only these players truly deserve max contracts. These guys are the Hall of Fame players, the players that produce legendary plays and can lead their team to victory. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant. The biggest superstar in the NBA today, and one of the best players of all time. His clutch performances and ridiculous array of shots is unmatched by anyone in the league today.
Next: Wrap Up
To win an NBA championship you need good players, duh. But this list shows what to look for when critiquing a team’s roster and trying to determine how well this team will work in reality as opposed to on paper. Every contributing player to a championship NBA team can be categorized under one or several of these categories.
It shows how well a team is put together and what key ingredients winning teams need. The Lakers have a team that is well-balanced and fulfills all of the above criteria. They have players at each required position: passers, shooters, slashers, stoppers, role players, big men, and superstars. They are poised to win one more championship and solidify their legacy as one of the greatest teams of all time.
One more championships ties the Lakers with the Celtics for most championships in league history. One more after that gives LA fans the honor of saying with no room for argument, that the Lakers are the greatest NBA franchise of all time. Let’s keep’em coming.