Let's Face It, There Are No Perfect Teams

I have been on CTB for awhile now, and I do not think a lot of us have made the adjustment to the affect that the current CBA has had on the League.

Many of us are living in the past, where a team could have a few All-Stars as their "Big Three" and a bunch a superb role players to round out a team. Now, every team has at least one retread -- or a bum -- at a starting position and a bunch of lesser, lower paid role players on the bench.

I see many here dissing Jordan Farmar. He is about the best you can get for the allotted money. Period. We have a weakness at the three. Well, EXCUSE ME...can you find a Kawii Leonard for the League minimum?

I see people wanting to trade DJ. Yes, Unibrow is probably better. Will the Pelicans trade Unibrow straight up for DJ? I doubt it. And DJ is the friggin LEAGUE LEADER in rebounds. Hard to replace that, ya know. So he can't shoot threes and free throws. Neither could Wilt. Find me a perfect player, I will buy you season tickets. And what about chemistry? DJ gets along off court with CP3 and BG. What if Al Horford -- in that proposed trade for DJ --were a nightmare. Not to mention the bad will that the Clippers would engender by trading CP3 and BG's friend.

This is the team. Flawed. Exciting. Surely not the 1980's Celtics with a star at every position.�

And no, an NBA Championship is not guaranteed. What is guaranteed is a competitive -- and exciting, not like the dull Spurs -- team that is fun to watch, one that can go all the way and a great improvement over all the horrible Clipper years that preceded this decade.

Be thankful.

Spurs are not dull at all, watching the defense get lost from fluid ball movements is something I'll never get bored of.

We should be thankful for having a fun, competitive team now. But given the talent / continuity this team has, our expectations should also rise. When it gets to the 2nd round, others and even most people in this forum view us as underdogs. That needs to change this year.

Thank you, and please remind me of the team that has gone undefeated.

I totally agree. A lot of BBall fans in Europe think the NBA is boring because it is not a team game and all one-on-one. I say this is bulls**t because it is still a team game if not as much, and how can all that athletiscm be boring. Also NBA has the most of the best players on the planet. However a lot of NBA fans say that the Spurs(who play more European style) are boring, and I say that too is bulls**t. Dunks and KD doing his thing are fun, but what are we.................a bunch of kids? Spurs play the best team game on the planet right now, what's boring about that?

What's interesting about the OP is that the team that is most "perfect" (in terms of record) right now is the team we play next.

Does NFL count? 1972 Dolphins.

In that case I would accept UCLA or Indiana. But no, strictly saying in the NBA.

We can't find a Leanard for the minimum, but we lost out on Shawn Marion. His length and ability to guard multiple positions would have fit in well with our starters. It's sad but the best mid-season improvement we can afford or the ability to acquire is an almost 40 year old Ray Allen.

The title of this thread is something of a straw man. Nobody has ever said this team should be "perfect"... just better than they have shown so far. In my opinion, it's a reasonable expectation given that we have had a good deal of roster continuity and that we suit up two of the top-5 players according to many analysts' rankings.

Yes, some people take it too far and act like the team should win every game, but that's a very small minority.

Most people expect the team to play this its potential

Most people expect the management to actively make moves to remove or minimize the teams weaknesses.

There are no perfect teams, but there are teams that play to their ablilty, teams without glaring weaknesses and teams that have great balance, I think (I hope) that's what the majority of hope for this team.

This, of course, is a matter of opinion. Some like vegan, others like beef. Me, I never enjoyed watching Tim Duncan. Since BG came into the League, I would much rather watch him. But then, my taste runs to the spectacular athlete rather than a spectacular team per se. That is just me.

I do admit the Spurs sure know how to get the best out of every player they have. And where they dig these guys up -- Tiago Splitter, Manu, Patty Mills -- I'll never know. They sure do have a great scouting staff.

That said, I still would rather watch BG -- especially when he does his BG act like last year -- any day of the week.

^Apparently you're the kind of guy who used to enjoy the old long haired Andre Agassi commercials...."Image is everything"

He was wearing a wig!!!

It's my first post here but I've lurking for over 3 years now reading most of the posts. I agree with OP that in today's salary cap era it is very difficult to have a "complete" team. That is why your maximum salary guys have to be as good and as versatile as possible. In our case, CP3, although not the biggest and longest of PGs, is as good as it gets offensively and defensively at his position. There is even a precedent of a similar stature guy winning a championship as a team leader in Isaiah Thomas. BG however is another story. I think there has never been a superstar power forward with such a small wingspan and standing reach. Even undersized guys like barkley, malone and our own elton brand had huge wingspans and standing reaches. Other than his strength and weight BG-s physical attributes are more that of an average SF. Lebron who is comparabe in strength and weight to BG, is still a little longer. The physical attributes of our superstars pose a big challenge of having a championship team. We can see it from the current play of BG where in terms of rebounding and shot blocking he is playing more and more as SF or a small ball PF than a real PF. You can only try to outbully the guys with much more length for so long in the post without getting your shot blocked. The main talent BG has is his oterworldly explosive athleticism. But at 250-260 and with an average reach you can jump and dunk over bigger guys who try to bring you down only for so long before being too bruised and broken to continue that style of play. That is why his style of play is becoming increasingly perimeter oriented....

Actually, a great, well thought out post. Yes, we all have to adjust to the post CBA world. After all, many of us, were living in the "spend like a madman and win" era for as long as we were watching pro hoops. It's a hard perception habit to break.

That is why coaching is so important. That is why head coaching material like Alvin Gentry are actually assistant coaches. These "coaching teams" now have to figure out systems to cover up the glaring weaknesses in their squads.

People here wonder why Doc is sticking with Matt Barnes as a starter. Simple. Doc is hoping Matt returns to last years form. And while last year's form is not All-Star -- far from it -- Matt would be the best available small forward at his price. And JCross is bargain -- Sixth Man Of The Year at his salary? Amazing.

The Clippers, among all the other flawed teams, have as good a chance as any to win it all. David Stern got his way. Parity means any number of imperfect teams -- even with LeBron rigging the system -- can win it all.

We just have to adjust to it.

I think want many on this board have had an issue with this season is effort. We know shots won't fall, but effort is something each player has to decide they are going to give each and every night.

What we saw the first 8 games was no sense of urgency, lazy rotations, careless rebounding, ball watching, etc...

To make matters worse we'd get teased with one great qtr or half.

If this team plays with effort they are a championship contender as is.

Nice post. I think of CP3 as Isiah on steroids. The difference is Isiah constantly had elite defensive teams while we were always inconsistent defensively. I know that Blake has his limits just like Paul has his limits but he can still be a great all around player. Defensively he will never be elite but he can easily be above average. Rebounding wise he used to be very good but now he is average at best. Partially, because he is shooting more jumpers but also because he is leaking out a lot more which is bad. Offensively I am already pretty happy with Blake, he just needs to learn when its a good idea to take the jumper and when its better to go inside. However, defensively and rebounding wise he can do so much better. In fact, last season he was much better defensively and on the glass. Hopefully he goes back to Blake of last season and improves on that.

As we see with OKC (and Miami last year with Wade), injuries can really cripple your run to the title. We do not know why Blake doesn't play inside as much this year (where he was unstoppable during the period w/o CP3), but it might be that he is saving that for the playoffs. And shooting jumpers makes it less likely he will get injured.

I would rather have a jump shooting, healthy BG than a beasting Blake who twists his knee on some inside play. Phil Jackson (even Lakers haters can acknowledge he can coach) always took the regular season lightly and tried to have his team healthy and peaking for the post season. Could Doc be taking a page out of Phil's playbook?

I would always take my chances with a healthy, rested squad than one that tries to win 65 games at all costs.

Especially now, when home court advantage ain't what it used to be.

Beautiful post! Gotta rep this.