The 20th Anniversary SLN Top 50

[Joe]

Was curious how important having 1 or more Top 50 guys on your team was to winning titles. Here's how many of these guys were on each title team:

96 Knicks: 1
97 Kings: 1
98 Jazz: 1 I think?
99 Heat: 1
00 Bucks: 3
01 Bucks: 3
02 Jazz: 1
03 Sonics: 2
04 Hornets: 4
05 Hornets: 4 (but a different 4!)
06 Sonics: 4
07 Celtics: 3
08 Raptors: 2
09 Sonics: 3
10 Grizz: 2
11 Bulls: 2
12 Rockets: 3
13 Kings: 2
14 Spurs: 1
15 Nuggets: 2
16 Pacers: 2

Every championship team has had at least 1 of the top 50 guys, most of them multiple - kinda wild considering only 30 players on that list actually have rings - seems clear that you've just needed one of these guys to get a title historically. There's also some confirmation bias, of course, as some of these guys made the list BECAUSE they had playoff success. Still, even among the 7 remaining teams in the playoffs, every team has at least 1 (although I'm not totally sure the Grizz couldn't be where they are without the corpse of Paul Pierce, or the Raptors where they are with someone other than TP's geriatric ass at point). Would be cool to see a team like the real life 04 Pistons win! Hopefully in the next 20 years

[Kipke]

1300 RP