Regardless of how good and dominant a player may be, nobody can win on their own in this league. It’s just impossible, as there are hundreds of factor that take place on any given night in the NBA.
You need depth, you need a good coaching staff, need role players and moreover, you need some luck also to become an NBA Champion, and adding more talented players to a roster obviously turns the odds in your favor.
Over the course of history, we’ve seen some incredibly dominant superteams, like the Rodman-Pippen-Jordan Bulls, the Wade-Bosh-LeBron Heat and even the Golden State Warriors. Nonetheless, there have been some “Super Teams” that have miserably failed to find success, and today, we’ll let you know all you need to know about them.
6. 2017-2018 Oklahoma City Thunder
Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, Russell Westbrook (48-34, lost in the 1st round)
If we were talking about Carmelo Anthony 5-6 years ago, this team would’ve been a huge menace, but this borderline washed out Melo was a huge defensive liability and offensive non-factor throughout the whole campaign for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Melo really hurt the team’s offensive flow and caused Westbrook to try and play hero-ball when things weren’t going their way, while PG-13 was a major no-show in crunch time and played horrible in an elimination game. Now, George and Westbrook will have another shot at the Championship, and they’ll be better off without Anthony for sure.
5. 2007-2008 Phoenix Suns
Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Amar’e Stoudemire, Shaquille O’Neal (55-27, lost in the 1st round)
The Phoenix Suns were never able to replicate their great regular season success in the playoffs, even despite having one of the best point guards in the history of the game just entering his prime and completely dominating Mike D’Antoni’s 7 seconds or less fast-paced offense.
Stoudemire was in his prime and dominating both sides of the glass and the team actually featured 7 players that averaged double figures. Still, adding a 35-year-old Shaq wasn’t enough to help the Suns’ playoff chances, being knocked out of the playoffs in the 1st round by their nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs.
4. 2013-2014 Brooklyn Nets
Deron Williams, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Brook Lopez, Jason Terry, Joe Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko (44-38, lost in the 2nd round)
Just in their second season playing in Brooklyn, the Nets have risked their entire future in a huge trade with the Boston Celtics in order to enter win-now mode, and looking at the team’s starting five and overall roster, you may say they had the best team in the Eastern Conference behind the Miami Heat.
The Nets also hired Jason Kidd to be the team’s head coach and replicate the prior year’s success, when they were able to make it back to the playoffs after 6 years. Nonetheless, the veterans got caught up by father time and they just didn’t have enough legs to keep up with their competition, barely making the playoffs and losing to the Heat in the 2nd round.
3. 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers
Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal (56-26, lost in the Finals)
The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the entire world when they landed both Gary Payton and Karl Malone via free agency, mostly because their core of Kobe and Shaq was already as dominant as you’d expect, and this team, dubbed the “Fab Four” was supposed to completely own the league for at least a couple of seasons.
Nonetheless, chemistry problems and egos took a major toll in this team’s locker room, and this season winds up being a huge catastrophe for the team, resulting in Shaq’s departure, Malone’s retirement and a heartbreaking loss in the Finals against the Pistons.
2. 1998-99 Houston Rockets
Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen (31-19, lost in the 1st round)
Following Michael Jordan’s second retirement, it finally looked like other teams were going to have the chance to win the Championship, so naturally, the Houston Rockets wanted to make the most of this opportunity again and paired Scottie Pippen with Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Whis this kind of talent and two-way studs in their team, the Rockets looked like the team to beat all year long, but there was a lot of bad blood between Pippen and Barkley from their Suns-Bull era. This team never developed any kind of chemistry whatsoever, and they wind up getting whipped by the Lakers in the 1st round.
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1. 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers
Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard (45-37, lost in the 1st round)
The Los Angeles Lakers had once again built one of the strongest teams in the entire league by adding Dwight Howard to the mix, having one of the most balanced starting fives in the NBA with two-way studs like Howard and Metta World Peace paired with Nash, Kobe and Gasol’s offensive expertise.
Nonetheless, Nash and Gasol were way past their primes and wasn’t able to shake off constant injuries and nagging pains, while Kobe and Howard got into a personal feud due to their different characters. Eventually, this ultimate dream team got their butts kicked in the 1st round in the playoffs, being swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
