Diesel's top 15 teams of the 90s-2000s.

[Diesel]

1. The Bulls. Pippen, Mike, Rodman... That team won 72 games in a season that had talented teams. People think that any of the Lakers championship teams could have competed with the Bulls? BS. Pippen in his prime would have shut down Kobe. I can see Rodman pissing Shaq off and Jordan further fustrating him with his from behind defense. That plus the 18 fouls they had to give on Shaq means that the Bulls would have won in 5.

2. The Bulls. Pippen Mike, Grant... Not quite as good as #1 but they had Paxon instead of Kerr. And Grant instead of Rodman.

3. The Spurs. Duncan, Robinson... This championship team swept through to the playoffs and beat up a game Knicks team. IN that sweep, they beat a Healthy Laker team with Shaq and Kobe.

4. The Lakers. Shaq, Kobe, Jones, Campbell, Horry, Van Exel.. This is probably the best team ever put together. Couldn't win because they were not well coached.

5. The Lakers. Shaq, Kobe, Rice. This team was not as good as #4 but they won the championship in the yr after... By the hand of D. Stern, they got past Portland.

6. Houston. Hakeem, Drexler, Horry, Cassell. I would like to see this team play against today's lakers. I think that Houston's second Championship team could have competed with the Bulls.

7. Orlando. Penny, Shaq, Anderson. Even though this team got swated by Houston, this team was a really good team. With an uninjured Penny and a Young Shaq, this team could've competed against anyone.

8. The Jazz. Stockton, Malone... Can you say Execution. The old men beat up some really good Laker teams. Probably deserve to be higher. Had it not been for JORDAN!

8. The Lakers. Shaq, Kobe, Lue. The Lakers Second Championship team was good but not great. They would have easily lost to Utah in Utah's championship run yrs.

10. The Pacers. This unit was really good. With Both Davis' and Smits this team put up a really good fight.

10. Philly. Deke, Iverson, McKie. Say what you want about this team, they won ever award you can win in a given yr except ROY. In the championship game, Stern's officials allowed Lue to Rape Iverson without making a call after a surprising game 1 loss in LA!

12. Portland. Wallace, Smith, Stoudamire. Why didn't this team win? D. Stern!

13. Seattle Supersonics. with Payton, Kemp, and Shrempf.. .This was one of the better teams to go after the title. Again, they met up with Jordan in his PRIME.

14. NY Knicks. Ewing, LJ, Mason, Starks. This Knicks team was the best to be put into a championship series. Their whole game was Defensive intensity. If this Knick team were playing today, they would outplay most of the teams that call themselves elite.

15. Sacramento. Webber, Peja, Vlade, Bibby. This team had it all. Save defense. However, this team is probably one of the best scoring teams ever assembled. I would like to see 14 vs 15!!

[Guest]

The Philly team doesn't belong.The east was

HORRIBLE that year.They were the best the

east had that year but the only problem is that

really wasn't saying all that much.No other team

in the east was really any good that year besides

the Bucks and Raptors.The Magic were not a great

team.Had the east been stronger they wouldn't

have even won 44 games that year.44 wins is

nothing to brag about anyway.The Knicks were

already on decline by then.That was the weakest

year the east has ever had.Besides that one year

Philly has been nothing but a medicore east team

like they were last year and like they will hope to

make the playoffs this year.Their trashing by the

Celtics shows the direction Philly is headed in.

Us

NJ

Boston

Detroit

Cleveland

Chicago

Miami-Getting old you saw them in the playoffs that year

NY-Getting old

Wizards sucked

Pacers-They were in a bit of transition period

with Jermaine/Harrington/Bender all young.

Philly really had little competetion that year.The

east should be the best it has been in a few years

which might throw Philly's not so impressive roster

into the lottery.But this really wouldn;t be bad for

Philly because if they do land the lotto and get a

good pick a FA to go along with Iverson they could

easy bounce back the following year.

I can't argue with any of your other choices Diesel

good overall post here,

[chillzatl]

that team was not great in any way. They would have gotten beaten by any team on that list, if not swept. They benefited from an ungodly weak eastern conference.

The jazz also deserve to be above that #4 media friendly lakers teams. Mainly because they beat them year after year after year. They got to the finals two years in a row. That was an excellent team. THe #4 lakers team was very good, at best.

[Diesel]

Iverson - NBA MVP, Steals Leader

Deke - NBA Defensive Player of the Yr.

McKie - NBA Most Improved Player.

Brown - Coach of the Yr.

I don't think any team has had that much individual talent.

Everybody on that team knew their roles.

If they were healthy, they would compete well in the east in any of the yrs you want to mention because:

1. They were a very strong defensive team.

2. They were very deep when you consider:

Lynch, McCollough, Gieger, Jones, Claxton, and Bell were all coming off the bench.

Maybe not able to beat the bulls but definitely better than most of the teams I have behind them.

[Guest]

Dude it was the weak eastern conference

in a very weak season.

Mckie was not 6th man of the year last year

and Mutombo looked weaker this year.They

had a good season in a weak eastern conference

and were the only team that didn't have a

major weakness by eastern confernece standards.

Bucks-Great offensive team but had a poor

defensive club.

Raptors-Good defense but wasn't exacutally a

overpowering scoring team.

Knicks-Do we have to explain them?old decline

and stagnet offense and ditto for Miami.

The Philly team we saw this year is the real Philly

team...The team that played two seasons ago

and were a first round exit and the team that saw

a early exit this year.One year in a weak eastern

conference is not enough.

Kings

Mavs

Lakers

Spurs

Wolves

Blazers

would all beat that Philly team in the playoffs in

6 games at the most.

"Lynch, McCollough, Gieger, Jones, Claxton, and Bell were all coming off the bench. "

Bell is overseas,Gieger did nothing after leaving

Charlotte,Lynch lost playing time,Claxton isn't

really all that good.The best player on that bench

is Jumaine Jones and he is only averaging 10PPG

for Cleveland.Besides that bench would suck in

the west anyways.None of those guys would be

a important part of a WC team.

Besides one year Philly has been nothing but a

first round exit.ANd saying Philly was the best

the east had to offer ins't saying much.One

fluke overtime playoff win isn't going to make

me believe that Philly team was that good.They

were the best the weak east had...but that wasn't

even a top 5 team in the NBA that year.

IF Mavs/Kings/Spurs/Blazers would have been in

the east they would have won the conference

that season.

[Guest]

There is a reason Houston won 45 games

in the west that year and missed the playoffs

while the Magic won 44 games and had a

decent playoff seeding in the east.

[Diesel]

You keep suggesting that the east was weak that yr. I take it that you mean compared to the west that showcased Dallas, San Anton, Portland, and Sac amoung others right???

I contend that that Philly team (if Healthy) would have been just as impressive in the West.

In fact, against Portland, LAL, San Antonio, Dal, and Sacramento they ended up 1-1 in all of those series. Those were the best five teams in the west that yr and Philly was .500 against them all.

ON top of that... The Lakers swept through Portland, Sacramento, and San Antonio. However, when they got to the finals, the Sixers Beat them IN LA and they played them tight in two of the other 4 games.

So if you want to classify something as weak, you need to classify the WHOLE League as weak that yr. And the Lakers are happy that they haven't had to play Utah in a best of 5 or 7 during their championship run.

[Guest]

Please.We were at .500 againest this west

this year and we played the Kings to a one

point loss and ditto with Seattle and we still

sucked.That doesn't mean crap.2 games each

againest the west isn't anything.If so that means

we are as good as the Lakers and dang near

as good as the Kings this year....it also means

we as good as Portland.....as good as the Clippers

and the Suns aswell...It also means the same for

the Jazz since we split with them.

"The Lakers swept through Portland, Sacramento,

and San Antonio. However, when they got to the

finals, the Sixers Beat them IN LA and they

played them tight in two of the other 4 games. "

One fluke overtime win and they are that good?lol

Get a life.Just like these World Championships they

expected to sweep the 76ers and it didn't happen.

All besides that one game with the Lakers we played

decent againest the west in limited games.But if

we played in the east fulltime we wouldn't have

won 25 games.

There is a reason 45 wins missed the playoffs in

the west and 45 wins got you a 4th or 5th seed

in the east.There is a reason why that happend.

But whatever.Like Reef's 50 point game you try

and turn alittle into alot.You try and turn flukes

in the rule instead of the exception.That's your

choice so good luck to you.

[Diesel]

Again, I ask...

If Philly wasn't that good, why did they go into LA (NOT HEALTHY) and beat LA. You call it a fluke, but obviously, you didn't really watch that game or the others or how the Lakers so easily ran through the West.

Again, I point out the obvious... That Philly team was Good. They had the League MVP and Top Scorer and Steals leader in IVERSON. They had the defensive player of the yr and top rebounder in Deke. They had the MIP of the yr in McKie (and you might think that that was Nothing but he won it). All this coupled with the fact that they played LA strong AND had it not been for what the refs allowed, they would have probably won games 3 and 4 and you have a good team. ALSO Remember. Snow played with a Broken Foot, Geiger played with all kind of ailments, Lynch couldn't play, Iverson himself had bruises and bersidas.... If you take that team and make them Healthy.... And give Iverson the same touch foul respect that Jordan, Kobe, and everybody else gets and the Sixers might have won it that yr.

[Guest]

If Philly wasn't that good, why did they

go into LA (NOT HEALTHY) and beat LA.

You call it a fluke, but obviously, you

didn't really watch that game or the others

or how the Lakers so easily ran through

the West."

It was a overtime in which they barely won.

1 game supposed to mean they can comptete

in the west?lol

We also beat them at the tail end of last year...

so what?One game doesn't mean very much.

"They had the MIP of the yr in McKie (and you might think that that was Nothing but he won it). "

Actually it was 6th man of the year....But even

so who else came off the bench worth a crap?

Philly should have won 65 games in the east if

they could really compete with the west.Wasn't

they playing bad after they got Deke anyway?

"All this coupled with the fact that they played

LA strong AND had it not been for what the refs

allowed, they would have probably won games

3 and 4 and you have a good team. ALSO

Remember. Snow played with a Broken Foot,

Geiger played with all kind of ailments, Lynch

couldn't play, Iverson himself had bruises and

bersidas.... If you take that team and make them Healthy.... And give Iverson the same touch foul

respect that Jordan, Kobe, and everybody else

gets and the Sixers might have won it that yr."

The Lakers didn't take Philly that seriousally

just like they didn't NJ seriousally this year

and it allow NJ to play a couple of close games

but they were clearly inferior to the Lakers.

Gieger was a bum anyway.The fans hated him

and his production had already slipped.Snow

doesn't play any better healthy than he played

in the that series.It's amazing that he played

his usual game despite being injuried,but he

doesn't play any better when he was healthy

anyway.

If Philly had a real chance of winning the series

they would have atleast won two games and

they didn't even win the first one in convincing

fasion.They were lucky to get that game.

We saw the Philly of two years ago and we saw

the Philly of last year.That is the real Philly team.

No one fluke game changes my option.I see your

theory,but I feel it is rather weak.It took everything

they had to compete in those games and they

done the samething they did also season...over

achieve.They were the king of a weak conference.

Put Philly in the west for a full season and they

win 45 games tops.Well even if they did get 8th

seed they would lose to the Lakers in the first

round anyways.

That's my opinion.

[Guest]

It's been mentioned already, but that Philly team was a good one. This past year they weren't the same team - the didn'thave the personal. Say what you will about the East being weak that year (which is probably true), but it doesn't change the fact that the Philly team had just about everything you want, save another superstar (and I'm not sure that AI could deal with one).

Larry Brown had/ has his problems with AI. But in realizing that AI wasn't really going to change that much (style of play), he surrounded him with tough nosed players who lvoed to do dirty work and didn't require the ball in their hands to make big baskets or defensive stops. Everyone on that team played D...and Brown obviously overlooked the impact that Lynch and Hill had - namely, they played D, could bang inside, and just in general left it all on the floor.

Had that team been healthy for the finals, I really think it would ahve been a great series. Do I think that the ultimate outcome would have been different? NO. But, that team was incredibly well put together and complimentary of AI's style of play.

[Guest]

Well they lack scoring from the front court and

the bench wasn't all that great unless it was

by eastern conference standards.Philly was

REAL lucky to win the first game.They were

good by EAST standards.There was so many

lackluster teams in the east that year.

Even playoff teams like Heat/Knicks were showing

their decline....ESP the Heat in how the Hornets

destroyed them in the playoffs.

That Philly team had holes on the bench and ESP

the frontcourt which lead to them getting rid of

Ty Hill in the first place.They got nothing from

him on offense.

They probably won 56 games that year.Do you

think they would have won that many in the

west?I think 45 was the most they would have

won.

[Diesel]

In reply to:

---

Well they lack scoring from the front court and

the bench wasn't all that great unless it was

by eastern conference standards.

---

When they were totally healthy, off the bench they had:

McKie, Geiger, McCollough, Jumaine, Bell, and Claxton. That bench was solid. Scoring-wise, You're right but when they played hard nosed defense... They were a throw back kind of team... Similar to Detroit in their bad boys days. Detroit wasn't a team filled with front court scorers either, but they were bad enough to win 2 championship. I would love to see that matchup. Detroit- Healthy Philly because Both teams played that aggressive style of defense that smoothered their opponents.