Absolutely no reasoning behind this thread other than to create senseless debate, but whatever....

Assume that these 10 teams are all in a league together and they play every other team in the league 9 times(81 total games). What would you predict the final standings to look like? I'll include a brief description of each team so you don't have to look them up to remember their details.


06-07 Phoenix Suns- you guys should obviously remmeber them

89-90 Chicago Bulls- Lost in 7 games to the Pistons in the East Finals. This was the year before they won their first title.

94-95 Houston Rockets- Repeated as champs, but only a 6 seed in the regular season

99-00 Portland Trailblazers- Lost a heartbreaking game 7 to eventual champ Lakers

00-01 Philly 76ers- Year AI led them to the Finals. McKie was 6th man of the year, Brown was Coach of the Year, AI was MVP, and Motombo was Defensive Player of the Year.

01-02 Sacramento Kings-fast paced offensive team led by Webber, Divac, Peja, Bibby, etc.

96-97 Miami Heat- Many forget how good this team really was due to the Bulls/Jazz being so good, but they won 61 games this year

92-93 Phoenix Suns- Won 62 games, lost in 6 to the Bulls in the Finals

96-97 Jazz- Won 64 games, lost in 6 to the Bulls in the Finals

03-04 Pistons- Shocked the Lakers and won the NBA title in what, at the time, was considered a huge upset

As good as those early and mid 90's Bulls teams were, I can't figure out how the Suns lost those finals. Going 0-3 at home certainly did not help.

best - '96-'97 Jazz. Poor Stockton.

worst - '76ers. Don't think this one is close, though to be honest I'm not too familiar with the Heat team.

Umm, wtf? The Sixers didn't win the title in 01, they lost to the Lakers in 5 games.

Meant to say "Finals"...edited it.

Assani,

I'm going to meditate on this some more before casting my votes. I do know that 1993 Suns >> 1993 Bulls so they're definitely in the conversation among the best.

Using the classic game Statis Pro Basketball, I once ran a double elimination tournament among all the champions up to 1993 (plus the 1993 Suns). So that encompasses the years prior to your question. Playing a card game is a little different than IRL and doesn't account for changes in the game LDO but the 1967 76'ers absolutely destroyed everyone. I made the finals a best of three but they didn't need it (I think they beat the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks, but one of the early 90s Bulls teams went pretty far, and one season of both the 80s Lakers and 80s Celtics took it deep as well). They just owned everyone, blazing a trail to an undefeated record. Validating that is the fact that they had one of the best regular-season records in NBA history, snapped the Celtics' stranglehold on the NBA title at what, eight in a row? I'd run it again with all the teams you mentioned but with the advent of the internet doing so any other way than online is too cumbersome.

This continues to be my worst loss as a fan. The Giants losing the WS in 2002 is up there but doesn't hurt as badly somehow.

I'm not sure I'll get over it even if the Blazers win a title in my lifetime. It's probably not perfectly rational, but I really think the Blazers could have started a dynasty there and instead LA did that.

i love the jazz. but the suns team is the best. i voted jazz anyway.

btw, voted the sixers as last place, they were so overhyped. the east THEN was even worse then it is now. like... wow, the east sucked. the [censored] celtics made it to the ecf!!!

Was that Sixers team really worse than the Cavs that made it last year though?

Once he reaches his prime Lebron is clearly better than AI, but AI in his prime against Lebron now is at least close...although yeah I'd take Lebron if I had to make a choice.

Motombo?>>>Illgauskas(sp?)

Snow was on both teams

McKie imo was better than Boobie even though he had a great playoff stretch

I think a series between those two teams would come down to two things: The coaching edge for Philly(not even close) and Pepe Sanchez's clutchness. Philly wins 4-3.

03-04 Pistons would not be in first place. However, they would be tough as hell to beat in a Best of 7 playoff series. That was Ben Wallace in his prime, Sheed focused under LB, and everyone else working well together. Most wins is prob Jazz or Suns.

i think the cavs would win that matchup b/c a)you can't touch lebron, while ai takes tons of contact

I think Big Z > Mutombo. I remember Matt Harpring (HE PLAYS FOOTBALL) was the 2nd best scorer on that sixers team. Yaouch! (And I love Harp, he plays on the jazz, gotta love him, but... He's a decent 6th man, but 2nd scoring option gets a big WTF)

McKie, Mutombo, Snow were not scorers. That team was so 1 dimensional; AI scored like 33% of the teams points or something ludicrous.

The Cavs of last year are close, though. (As much as I dislike him, they also have Larry Hughes...) Basically, the core of Lebron (>AI) Z (>Mutombo) Hughes (>Harp) Sasha (>Snow) and Varejo (>McKie) is just stronger at every position.

philly does have the coaching edge though. I think the Cavs would win in 6.

bobbo why are you such a huge jazz fan?

'96-'97 Heat were down 3-1 to the Knicks in Round 2 until the bench-clearing brawl. They were then manhandled by the Bulls in the Eastern Finals, and it's a [censored] massive disservice to basketball that we didn't get to see the obviously pre-destined Knicks-Bulls in '97. That series would have gone 6-7 and been incredible.

They're my pick for worst.

i voted for houston cause they had hakeem the dream, can't remember who else.

i loved that guy. i'd take him over tim duncan, moses malone, nate thurmond, bill lambier (obviously)

i voted for the sixers as worst just on a hunch and it seems my hunch was dead on

Suns FTW, but man that Portland team was good and really choked.

I didn't vote for them, but the Kings deserve more love. The worst officiating in the last decade lost them that series (edit: which was basically the Finals).

in this league - i think that blazer team beats the piston team in the finals. not a portland fan but that team was tough.

and yeah - that sac team would finish 3rd.

Assani, I think it'd be inhumane to make anyone watch Eric Snow play against Eric Snow. There is clearly no worse form of torture.

because i loved stockton

Ugh.

can anyone make assani a mod?

Good pick. I agree.

Whoever said Ilgauskis this year > than Mutombo that year is crazy. Mutombo was teh awesome.