Best Championship Team

Since it's slow and I have no FA's to target I thought we could do a poll deciding who was the best championship squad. I came up with what I could from previous DC's and past champions page. Up first

The 2000 Mavericks
Starting Five:
C: Jamaal Magloire
PF: Karl Malone
SF: Glen Rice
SG: Aaron McKie
PG: Mookie Blaylock

They won in a 4-0 Sweep over Tim Duncan and the Cavs. It's a little hard to find any info since the key players have retired, but Karl Malone was a force and was the #1 scoring option with Glen Rice as the #2, and Mookie Blaylock as the #3. Looks like they ran a normal pace and balanced focus.

The 2001 Washington Wizards
Starting Five:
C: Ervin Johnson
PF: Brian Grant
SF: Corliss Williamson
SG: Kobe Bryant
PG: Darrell Armstrong

They beat the defending Champs, Mavericks 4-1. Kobe was the #1 scoring option and playoffs MVP and averaged 25/7/5 for the season, Brian Grant was the #2 who averaged 22 and 11 and the #3 looked to have changed some but went with Darrell Armstrong for the finals. Looks like Kelvin Cato was the main bench player and he averaged 8 and 8 in 28 mpg.

The 2002 Boston Celtics
Starting Five:
C: Greg Ostertag
PF: Chris Webber
SF: Donyell Marshall
SG: Eddie Jones
PG: Gary Payton

As the #1 seed in the East, they beat an injury riddled Spurs team 4-2. They ran a normal pace balanced focus with Webber as the #1 averaged 29 and 12 for the season, Eddie Jones was the #2 option who averaged 16/6/4, and Gary Payton as the #3 avg'd somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 and 9. Jamaal Tinsley and Kwame Brown were the key bench players, while Donyell Marshall and Ostertag played defense and rebounded.

The 2003 New Orleans Hornets
Starting Five:
C: Mehmet Okur
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Hedo Turkoglu
SG: John Salmons
PG: Erick Barkely

The Hornets were tied with 76ers for best record in the league with 57 wins and were either the 1 or 2 seed. They beat the Blazers in 7 games who had the best record in the West. Garnett was the #1 option in a Slow paced, Balanced attack averaged 28 and 12 with 5 apg too. Okur was the 2nd option and averaged 18 and 11, Turk as the #3 option averaged 11 and 7.

The 2004 Los Angeles Lakers
Starting Five:
C: Ben Wallace
PF: Pau Gasol
SF: Tracy McGrady
SG: Allen Iverson
PG: Jason Williams

The Lakers were the 2nd seed in the west and won 51 games in the regular season. They defeated the 2 seed in the East the 76ers (who beat the defending champs, the Hornets who won 67 games in the regular season) in 7 games. The Lakers made great adjustments all through the playoffs but seemed to use Gasol, AI, and T-Mac as scoring options. Gasol Avg'd 20 and 10, AI avg'd 27/6/4, and T-Mac avg'd 23/5/4. Othella Harrington was a key player off the bench and started some games avg'd 11 and 8 in 24.5 mpg.

The 2005 New Orleans Hornets
Starting Five:
C: Curtis Borchardt
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Hedo Turkoglu
SG: Leandro Barbosa
PG: Erick Barkley

The Hornets were the #1 seed in the East with 55 regular season wins and defeated the Lakers who were the #1 seed in the West 4-2. In the finals they went with a Normal pace and balanced focus with KG as option #1, Barkley #2, and surprise Borchardt as the #3. Garnett avg'd 25 and 13 for the season, Barkely avg'd 16/9/5, and Borchardt avg'd 12 and 7 for the season. Balls can tell you what he avg'd in the finals...it was much higher.*

*That wasn't a shot I really don't know.

Nice poll, unfortunately I've only been here for one season so I'm not sure. The 2003 Hornets roster seems stacked with talent.

Man I should have won in 04.. one ****ing point.

It was close between the 2002 Celtics and 2003 Hornets. I voted Celtics because they were dominant throughout the regular season.

I'm trying to model my team after the 2002 Celtics.

And the 2004 Hornets

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

It was close between the 2002 Celtics and 2003 Hornets. I voted Celtics because they were dominant throughout the regular season.

I'm trying to model my team after the 2002 Celtics.

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I'm flattered. I went with the 04 Lakers, I just feel like their big 3 were the best 3, Williams and Wallace fit their roles perfectly, and Othella as a 6th man was great.

That 02 Celtics team probably wont' get a lot of credit because of how bad Jones got, but he was awesome on that team, and that was one of the best defensive teams ever. I tried replicating the team up until I traded for Shaq.

I also voted for the 04 Lakers just because of the build of that team. He started that season really down, which triggered him to trade Dirk for McGrady and then trading for Gasol.

I'm kind of pissed more people vote for this than they do GM of the year, rule changes, and the like... lol

I voted '03 Hornets.