Teams whom did the worst job in terms of building around their franchise players

[game3524]

There have been several FO in NBA history whom have just flat-out failed to build competent teams around there franchise players. The three guys that come to my mind are Barkley, Garnett, and AI.

[Suguru101]

Cleveland too.

Look at what OKC did for Durant, Spurs for Duncan, Lakers for Kobe....

[Smook A.]

Tracy McGrady w/ the Magic and Rockets.

With an injured Grant Hill, TMac literally had to carry the team on his back. In Houston he had Yao, but other than him there was no one else.

[game3524]

Tracy McGrady w/ the Magic and Rockets.

With an injured Grant Hill, TMac literally had to carry the team on his back. In Houston he had Yao, but other than him there was no one else.

I think T-Mac suffered from poor luck more so then flat-out incompetence by the FO.

[3peated]

garnett game to mind immediately for me. i feel like most teams tried something. cleveland for lebron was p bad too. 76ers build a hugely defensive minded team to compensate for ai's playstyle. if it wasn't for him facing the lakers in the finals, he would have had a chance i think. they were just too stacked

[mr.big35]

Denver nuggets

[game3524]

Cleveland too.

Look at what OKC did for Durant, Spurs for Duncan, Lakers for Kobe....

Cleveland is an interesting case. They had put the ideal role players around Lebron, but they missed on not getting a legit two. I have said before if they had somehow gotten Amare in 2010, they may have won the championship that year.

[Solefade]

Cleveland is an interesting case. They had put the ideal role players around Lebron, but they missed on not getting a legit two. I have said before if they had somehow gotten Amare in 2010, they may have won the championship that year.


except they failed horribly and could only muster up mo williams the 7 years lebron was there

[game3524]

garnett game to mind immediately for me. i feel like most teams tried something. cleveland for lebron was p bad too. 76ers build a hugely defensive minded team to compensate for ai's playstyle. if it wasn't for him facing the lakers in the finals, he would have had a chance i think. they were just too stacked

Disagree, AI needed guys whom can provide spacing and Larry Brown and Billy King just never were able to get anyone who could hit a jump-shot consistently.

[chocolatethunder]

There have been several FO in NBA history whom have just flat-out failed to build competent teams around there franchise players. The three guys that come to my mind are Barkley, Garnett, and AI.
Don't really follow you on AI. They built a team specifailly for him and went to the finals. AI was most effective when used in the capacity that he was used w LB as the coach. He handled the bulk of the scoring and everyone made up for his defensive deficiencies. They had the 6th man of the year and the DPOY. I would say that in LBs years as coach their teams were quite competent. Remember, it's a team, it's not always about scoring. I actually think the Philly finals team was one of the best actual teams in a long time. It was refreshing to see everyone have a role and be happy playing it. I mean guys like Lynch and McKie and Snow gave 100% every night and both Snow and McKie made big game winners that year. Barleys Phoenix team made the finals as well. In Philly he didn't, so if you're talking about Philly then yeah I'll give you that. In KGs case, his contract was bad and hamstrung the franchise. His teams were nowhere near as bad as the myth they have become. It is very difficult to get to the finals let alone win and the front office isn't at fault all the time. It's not the Philly or Phoenix front offices fault that they had to face Kobe and Shaq and pip and Jordan. No one was going to beat those teams.

[Bandito]

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/bwe/images/2010/07/lebron-fingernails-bwetv.jpg

[JimmyMcAdocious]

I think T-Mac suffered from poor luck more so then flat-out incompetence by the FO.

FO didn't do him any favors in Orlando. Rockets was bad luck, although I don't know why they thought Rafer was good enough for Yao and McGrady. And then, of course, one of Yao or McGrady was always injured.

[game3524]

Don't really follow you on AI. They built a team specifailly for him and went to the finals. AI was most effective when used in the capacity that he was used w LB as the coach. He handled the bulk of the scoring and everyone made up for his defensive deficiencies. They had the 6th man of the year and the DPOY. I would say that in LBs years as coach their teams were quite competent. Remember, it's a team, it's not always about scoring. I actually think the Philly finals team was one of the best actual teams in a long time. It was refreshing to see everyone have a role and be happy playing it. I mean guys like Lynch and McKie and Snow gave 100% every night and both Snow and McKie made big game winners that year. Barleys Phoenix team made the finals as well. In Philly he didn't, so if you're talking about Philly then yeah I'll give you that. In KGs case, his contract was bad and hamstrung the franchise. His teams were nowhere near as bad as the myth they have become. It is very difficult to get to the finals let alone win and the front office isn't at fault all the time. It's not the Philly or Phoenix front offices fault that they had to face Kobe and Shaq and pip and Jordan. No one was going to beat those teams.

I think people exaggerate the whole Iverson needs to be surrounded by defensive players because his two seasons in Denver basically proved otherwise. AI in a lot of ways isn't all that different from most ball-dominant perimeter players(aka Kobe, Lebron, Wade etc.), they need guys whom can provide spacing. The Sixers were an awful team shooting wise in AI prime and it is a big reason why his efficiency(besides hand-checking) was mediocre. Honestly, the ideal roster for AI would be Lebron's 2009 Cavs.

And KG's contract wasn't the problem, I remember reading that even if Kevin played for free, the T-Wolves would still be over the cap. Seriously, the best help he ever got was an aging Cassell and Sprewell.

[Eric Cartman]

Knicks around Patrick Ewing.

John Starks as your second option? Get the **** out of here.

[Xiao Yao You]

Jazz. Handed two of the greats in back to back drafts and nothing to show for it.

[aboss4real24]

as of right now

The cavs with kyrie

[Milbuck]

http://houndsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/user10138946_pic23791_1316708192.jpg

http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/.a/6a00e54f7fc4c58833017c32d58f5d970b-pi

http://www.ozguryazar.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/1488434_display_image.jpg

http://www.cowbellkingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IZ0A3826.jpg

http://breakthehuddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Kevin-Love.jpg

[russwest0]

Not that Kyrie Irving is really a franchise player, but Cleveland did a shit job building around him regardless. They had what, four top 4 picks in 3 straight years and ****ed it up? Two of those picks being number one picks?

Goddamn Cleveland. At least with LeBron you could say he was too good early on for them to tank and get the proper talent around him, but with Kyrie they had all the high draft picks in the world and still ****ed up big time.

[chocolatethunder]

I think people exaggerate the whole Iverson needs to be surrounded by defensive players because his two seasons in Denver basically proved otherwise. AI in a lot of ways isn't all that different from most ball-dominant perimeter players(aka Kobe, Lebron, Wade etc.), they need guys whom can provide spacing. The Sixers were an awful team shooting wise in AI prime and it is a big reason why his efficiency(besides hand-checking) was mediocre. Honestly, the ideal roster for AI would be Lebron's 2009 Cavs.

And KG's contract wasn't the problem, I remember reading that even if Kevin played for free, the T-Wolves would still be over the cap. Seriously, the best help he ever got was an aging Cassell and Sprewell.
He made the finals with that team, he did not make the finals with Denver. That team was good. They just lost to a better team.

[russwest0]

He made the finals with that team, he did not make the finals with Denver. That team was good. They just lost to a better team.

That team had no business being in the Finals that year. The Bucks got screwed by the refs.

[mr.big35]

what about the bucks with ray allen, they traded him for gary payton and never got good.

[sammichoffate]

Would Carter or Jason Kidd apply in this scenario with their respective teams?

[Milbuck]

Not that Kyrie Irving is really a franchise player, but Cleveland did a shit job building around him regardless.

They had what, four top 4 picks in 3 straight years and ****ed it up? Two of those picks being number one picks?

Goddamn Cleveland.
Just a few cores Cleveland could've assembled with those 4 picks.

Kyrie Irving
Klay Thompson
Harrison Barnes
Nerlens Noel

Kyrie Irving
Victor Oladipo
Kawhi Leonard
Andre Drummond

Damian Lillard
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Kenneth Faried
Nikola Vucevic

Michael Carter Williams
Dion Waiters
Tobias Harris
Jonas Valanciunas

The first 3 are potential championship cores, and the 4th one could be as well if they pan out well.

[game3524]

He made the finals with that team, he did not make the finals with Denver. That team was good. They just lost to a better team.

True, but the East wasn't that strong, while the Western Conference in 2008 is the strongest conference of all-time.

[Dr. Ice]

clippers and elton brand?

[chocolatethunder]

True, but the East wasn't that strong, while the Western Conference in 2008 is the strongest conference of all-time.
Yeah but they still came out of the East in 2000-2001. They were tied w the Lakers for the second best record in the league. No one won 60 games that year. They were easliy one of the best teams in the league and they were excellent defensively. They were a really good team.

[fpliii]

TWolves

[97 bulls]

I think what separates the top 10 from the rest is the teammates. And not only that, but the length of time or amount of seasons they had having one of the top 2 most talented teams during their career.

Magic, Bird, Russell, Jordan, Duncan, Bryant, Shaq have really had the best teams throughout their careers. Thats why they won so much.

Give Garnett the best team for 10 years built around his strengths and weaknesses and im positive he would have four to five championships.

Barkely, Garnett, Drexler, West, Malone, have only been on legitimate championship contenders two to three years max.

[RoseCity07]

Cleveland right now.

[secund2nun]

Cleveland with Lebron
Orlando with Tmac and Howard
Minny with KG

[Le Shaqtus]

as of right now

The cavs with kyrie

You can't built around Kyrie, he's not good enough to be a first option.

Otis Smith did us dirty building around Howard, what a moron.

[Straight_Ballin]

Danny Ferry is one of the biggest failures of all for getting players like Hughes and Williams to play with LeBron.

[Straight_Ballin]

Not that Kyrie Irving is really a franchise player, but Cleveland did a shit job building around him regardless. They had what, four top 4 picks in 3 straight years and ****ed it up? Two of those picks being number one picks?

Goddamn Cleveland. At least with LeBron you could say he was too good early on for them to tank and get the proper talent around him, but with Kyrie they had all the high draft picks in the world and still ****ed up big time.

When the hell has any GM in Cleveland ever done anything right?

[sammichoffate]

When the hell has any GM in Cleveland ever done anything right?Drafting Lebron, although that wasn't too hard to do :oldlol:

[Straight_Ballin]

Drafting Lebron, although that wasn't too hard to do :oldlol:

If Bron wasn't from Akron where he was so visible to Cleveland, they would have probably screwed up even that pick.

The saying "but at least we're not Detroit" is getting overused.

[sammichoffate]

If Bron wasn't from Akron where he was so visible to Cleveland, they would have probably screwed up even that pick.

The saying "but at least we're not Detroit" is getting overused.I doubt it, Lebron was that good of a talent coming out of high school. You'd have to be living in a Third-World Country to not know who he was at the time. It kinda is, considering they won the title the year after they lost Lebron :lol