How's this for a starting lineup?
PG - John Stockton
SG - Pete Maravich
SF - Reggie Miller
PF - Charles Barkley
C - Patrick Ewing
That would be an incredible team.
How about this one?
PG - Steve Nash
SG - Adrian Dantley
SF - Elgin Baylor
PF - Karl Malone
C - Bob Lanier
What do those 10 guys have in common? 0 championships. Scoring titles. MVP Awards. All Star Games. But no rings.
You can look at a tennis player like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and say they control whether or not they win a Grand Slam tournament. Tiger is in complete control of seizing a green jacket at Augusta or the British Open title or the US Open. But basketball is a team sport.
Who's got the most rings isn't a good measure for how great a player is. Does Magic Johnson win 5 rings without Kareem Abdul Jabaar or vice versa? (Kareem also won one with Oscar Robertson in Milwaukee in 1971?) Michael Cooper has 5 rings as well with much credit to his fellow Lakers Hall of Famers. Do Tom Heinson, KC Jones, Tom Sanders and John Havlicek have 8 championships apiece if they had not had the good fortune of playing alongside Bill Russell? Guys like Steve Kerr (5 rings), Ron Harper (5 rings), Dennis Rodman (5 rings) without road the considerable coattails of Michael Jordan (and Scottie Pippin)?
It takes good fortune to win a championship. It is the perfect comfluence of just the right teammates during a stretch where there is no team that is more dominant. Michael and the Bulls kept Malone-Stockton and Patrick Ewing from hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy. If Magic hadn't joined Kareem at the Fabulous Forum, would Barkley have found his way to the NBA winner's circle?
Nobody does it alone. Who cares if Shaq has 4 rings and Kobe has 3.Regardless of what Shaq says, if he didn't have Kobe and Dwayne Wade as sidekicks, he might not have any titles to brag about. Winning a ring is about being with the right players at a time where there isn't a more dominant team.
I think that in 6 games or so, Kobe and Shaq will have 4 championship rings apiece, and it will not diminish Shaq. It will burnish Kobe's legacy, but he remains among the greatest even if the Magic pull off a staggering upset. It would be nice if every great player got that elusive title, but it doesn't happen. We judge the unlucky more harshly than we should.
Great post Steve. In a society where we judge everything as a numbers game, it is great to be reminded that it shouldn't be everything. Shaq and Kobe will forever be linked because of their championships, it will be interesting to see what happens if Kobe wins this year.
Posted by: Joseph Yi | June 03, 2009 at 10:27 PM
You can't forget big-shot Rob Horry and his 7 rings.
Posted by: Ryan | June 04, 2009 at 02:02 AM
Interesting post. I hadn't thought of it this way before. It's true that the players listed are great players even without rings, but they clearly lacked something that the winners had. It wasn't the lack of good teammates in all cases. There is an intangible 'winner' quality in all great players.
Posted by: Ares Vista | June 04, 2009 at 02:11 PM