I was just thing today about how Tyson was on the Mavs championship team, Cp3 turned the clippers in to contenders, and West turned the Pacers into contenders. If that Big 3 stayed together and matured could they?
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I was just thing today about how Tyson was on the Mavs championship team, Cp3 turned the clippers in to contenders, and West turned the Pacers into contenders. If that Big 3 stayed together and matured could they?
Probably not. I'd be shocked if they made a Western Conference Finals.
They did stay together for another season, and it all fell apart because of injuries
Originally Posted by Eman5805
If we wouldnt have over payed for peja yes
We had to pay role players like stars to come here.
We would probably have a Pacer like impact.. but we wouldnt win the finals..
CP3 has never advanced out of second round and the Pacers haven't gone as far as they have because of West. Our best shot was 2008 but lost to Spurs. WCF probably as far as we could have gotten
I think if we've learned anything from Demps it's that players are not impossible to acquire at a good price, you just have to be smart about who you go after. The Shinn regime was not. We chased down over the hill players that were looking for a paycheck or had little desire to come here without being overpayed. We drafted poorly and when we did draft well we let talent walk/never developed them properly(J.R. smith, Brandon Bass).
With that said I'm back and forth on whether that core could of been a championship squad.
We would of been competing in the middle of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. The lakers with Gasol, Kobe and at times Bynum who was looking like the best center in the league for spurts. Not to mention Phil Jackson.
Right after you had the era of Miami.
If somehow we had kept that core together through the lakers/celtics era and made better moves we might have had a shot at being that team instead of Dallas that upset the young Heat that first year.
Let's look at the teams who went to the finals and think about which one of those we could have beaten. None. Okay case closed.
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I doubt they would have won a championship. Terrible depth and the offense was way too dependent on CP3 to create offense. Shut down CP3 and you shut us down. Even now teams realize how it's more effective when you have more than 1 guy who can initiate the offense/attack off the dribble/create their own shot on the floor. It's why I'm so high on our Jrue/Tyreke backcourt.
Now that core with better role player acquisitions? Sure, but unfortunately we will never know. DARN YOU SHINN!!1!
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Depends on how we would have filled in around them. With Shinn as owner, could have been difficult. WCF certainly was a possibility.
I think that narrow window between the lakers/celtics era and the Heats dominance, where Dallas beat a still gelling Heat would of been our only chance.
And even then it would of required a lot of things to have gone differently. Different coach, different GM, better personnel moves and at least one more legit Borderline allstar type that could alleviate some of the scoring pressure.
Exactly and honestly, Dirk was unguardable that year. Chris Paul also has taken a small dip since his knee injury. You can see flashes of the old CP3 for a few quarters and at most a game, but he just isn't the same. He's still a top player, but he was without a doubt a top 5 player before the knee injury.
If we would have been more patient with Chandler, and not overpaid Posey, and Peja. I still never got the James Posey signing. I still think they signed him because he made big plays for the Celtics in the playoffs. I thought Pargo was a good bench player, but I still say he cost us game 7 against the Spurs. I thought he was trying to be Michael Jordan in that 4th quarter and Paul failed to take a leadership role and just kept letting him take shots.
This is the total list of caveats I have:
- If they had stayed together (CP3, West, TC)
- If Bower had been fired and somebody like Demps took over (really good at acquiring role players for cheap).
- If CP3/West/TC never got hurt with a major injury (i.e. one that took more than 15+ games to heal) after 2007-08 (Remember, the beginning of the end was when TC limped off a toe injury (I think) early in the 08-09 season).
- Benson buys the team, eventually.
I think by this time, they would be at or near the Spurs/OKC in title contention, maybe they could have won the 2010-11 chip (the one the Mavs stole from the early Heatles). I honestly think that.
It was a long time ago, but people forget how incredibly awesome CP3 was as a 22/23 year old superstar. The guy had consecutive 20/11/5/2 (with 49/36/86 percentages) seasons. He was a legitimate Top 3 player back then. If that knee injury had not forced CP3 to change his game, he would still be in the discussion with LBJ and KD as the Top 3 players in the game. He'd probably still be trotting out 20/11/5/2 seasons.
We were also a +5.8 team back in 2007-08. For perspective, most NBA finalist feature a efficiency differential of +6 and above (the 13-14 Heat are a +5.1 while the Spurs are a +8.1).
If Demps was able to grab some bargain low players from 2007-08 to 2013-14 (Ayon, Roberts, Smith, etc... all of them were solid role players), we'd be among the best in the West.
Alas, none of those came true (well except for the last caveat)
^^ Good times...
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