Utah, Phoenix and Denver show that long-term work can also bring success in the NBA
There is so much tantalizing novelty to these NBA playoffs, and so much reassuring history, too.
Five of the remaining eight teams never have won an
NBA title. None of the other three have done so since
1983, and the Hawks won theirs in St. Louis 63 years ago, long before they thought of Atlanta.
In the Western Conference, only the Clippers have used the Supergroup System to get to this point, signing Kawhi
Leonard and then heeding his instruction to trade for Paul George.
Utah, Denver and Phoenix are carrying the flag for medium-to-small-market franchises who push the rock up the hill without even daring to see how far they are from championships. They got to the Western Final Four the hard way.
Make no mistake, the Brooklyn Nets are the favorites, thanks to their assembly of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The Lakers, of course, won last season on the strength of the agentsharing LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
But there is another way, and it doesn’t always involve tanking, or dancing with the stars.
Golden State, in fact, used that method to grow Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, before Durant decided he wanted in. San Antonio basically won five titles, although the Spurs’ mastery of lottery timing was largely responsible, with David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
The Jazz never have been comfortable in the lottery. They had a 20-year playoff streak at one point, and they’ve gotten there 10 times in the past 15 years. They built a 52-20 team this year with a 13th overall pick in Donovan Mitchell, a 27th overall in Rudy Gobert, and free agent Bojan Bogdanovic, who has made Utah his sixth team.
In a thunderclap of a trade, they sent guard Dante Exum, a former fifth-overall pick who had trouble staying healthy, to Cleveland for Jordan Clarkson, now the Sixth Man Of The Year. Then they bunched some bodies like Jae Crowder, Grayson Allen, Darius Gazley and Kyle Korver with a firstround pick and used them to get Mike Conley from Memphis, although Conley missed Game 1 of the Clipper series.
Royce O’Neale, the useful defender from Baylor, was an undrafted free agent who profited from G-League time.
Phoenix has gone a long way in a shorter time. Three years ago the Suns won the lottery and selected center Deandre Ayton, who has been sensational in this postseason. They drafted Devin Booker 13th overall, they switched first-round picks with Philadelphia to get 10th-overall pick Mikal Bridges, and they swiped Cameron Johnson and Dario Saric from Minnesota for first-round disappointment Jarrett Culver.
All of that was the cake batter for the final concoction. Last November the Suns packaged Ty Jerome, Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre, Jalen Lecque and a firstround pick in 2022 and sent them to Houston for Chris Paul, the ultimate old-time religion point guard. When the oven opened, the Suns were a bubbling 51-21.
Denver, too, has taken the brick-by-brick approach. A 10-year playoff streak preceded five years on the outside, and this is Denver’s fourth consecutive postseason, fashioned by patience and judgment.
The Nuggets took
Nikola Jokic 41st overall in 2014, knowing he wouldn’t come to the NBA until the next season. On Wednesday, Jokic overwhelmingly won the Most Valuable Player award and became the lowest-drafted player ever to do so.
They drafted Jamal Murray seventh overall in 2016, but went into the second round to get Monte Morris with pick 51 in 2017.
Unafraid, they also took Michael Porter Jr. with the 14th pick in 2019, even though Porter’s severe back problems had knocked him out of most of his only college season.
When the Nuggets needed that One Last Piece, they sent R.J. Hampton and the declining Gary Harris to Orlando for Aaron Gordon. Whether he will be enough to get them there is to be determined, but at least the Nuggets could enjoy being an actual, lateseason player.
No matter what happens to Utah, Phoenix and Denver the rest of the way, they are places where the NBA thrives. The word “culture” has become a sports cliche in record time, but there’s something to be said for a team that grows up together in a town where everybody knows your name. That isn’t a criticism of the Nets who parachuted into Brooklyn, just an illustration that the NBA isn’t as much of an aristocracy as most people think.
So forget all the wringing hands about what might be some brutal upcoming NBA TV ratings, without the Celtics, Knicks, Lakers, James and Curry, and maybe take a moment to appreciate the ensembles, including the scouts and general managers, that have put in the work. The steeper the hill, the tighter the bonds.