Just a couple of days ago the Boston Celtics wrapped up their series sweep over the Brooklyn Nets. With that result I think it marks the end of the Super Team Era, the Big Three Era, or whatever you want to call it. For the past decade players have seemed to control the league. Holding GMs and front offices at their mercy determining where the league’s biggest stars would play.
There’s no shortage of big name free agents moving from one team to another – Dennis Rodman joined the 90s Bull’s dynasty. Shaq went west to the LA Lakers. The point is, players move. Big name free agents move from one team to another. However, the past 15 years these moves haven’t been determined as much by the front offices as they have been by the players. The 2008 Celtics were the start of this move – Kevin Garnett decided to join Ray Allen and Paul Pierce in Boston in a lopsided trade that no number of players being sent to Minnesota could make up for the talent gap of losing a hall of famer could make up. Even though the Celtics brought it in, Lebron perfected it. First with “the decision” in 2010. Then again with The Decision 2.0 when he moved back to Cleveland. Not to be outdone, Kevin Durant decided to make his own big move to the Golden State Warriors – making it seem like the rich were just going to keep getting richer with each move.
There were a few more moves, but that was all after the peak of the Super Team Era, though at the time we didn’t know it. The Nets and Lakers tried one more time to prove the Super Team model was the way to go. After Lebron went to Los Angeles he brought in Anthony Davis and eventually Russel Westbrook. The Nets, not to be outdone, combined Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Durant. Neither of these two mashups resulted in the results everyone hoped. The Lakers and the Nets are the last of a dying breed. And yet, the Lakers missed the playoffs – even with a play-in game expanding the chances for Lebron to end up on the NBA’s biggest stage. The Nets didn’t fare much better – they were swept out of the first round (even though the series overall was entertaining).
What this NBA post season signaled is the end of the Super Team Era. It showed that players aren’t the best at determining who they’ll play best with. They aren’t the best at finding who compliments their own skillset best. That’s where having a good front office and a good coach come in to play.
You can argue that every great basketball team has some form of a Big Three. But more than that it has a compliment of pieces to fit around it. It has a conductor that can put these pieces together to make a great team. Teams like the Boston Celtics and the Memphis Grizzlies are the premier models of this new era. They have a star player, with a solid group of role players around. No one will argue that Jarvis Landry and Ja Morant aren’t the stars of their team, they’re the engine that keeps them moving. But plenty of bad teams have star players. What makes a team great – and a playoff contender – is those roll players. You don’t need a team full of superstars. You need someone to do the dirty work, to get the rebounds, to run the offense, along with someone to score the points. The NBA is realizing that’s the best model for success.
The past 15 seasons were fun to look back on in terms of championship games – usually you’d have Super Team 1 vs Super Team 2. But I emphasize it’s fun to look back on. It’s not fun to live through. Every season is just a long wait to get to the finals. We’d know who would be there at the end. It’s what movies and documentaries are made of. When teams are built this way, fans see no point in watching anything other than the playoffs and the finals. The regular season is useless – and that hurts the bottom line for all the other teams and for the league. This is a better way for the NBA to move forward. 2022 is the end of the Super Team era. And I for one am all for it.