The Case Against Star Heavy Team Building
Being alive in 2010 to witness the big three consisting of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh take the stage to introduce themselves as the future of the Miami Heat was a formative moment in many young sports fans' lives. Seeing three of some of the best at their craft join up to win championships turned them into villains as they seemed bound for an unfair amount of glory and finals gold. Waking up to the news of Kevin Durant joining the Warriors on a hot July day felt like a death blow to the league, and built up to years of Warriors dominance. Both of these superteams had their fair share of success to justify the worries about them forming, but the league is still around, and more competitive than ever. The era of a kingmaker dream team needing to be dethroned doesn’t exist anymore, and is one of the most fascinating cases of how the league adapts and changes.
Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving should’ve been a terrifying trio destined to destroy the hopes and dreams of teams all around the league. The reality of the situation is that they couldn’t even make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, never mind any sort of championship gold. Durant’s current team, the Phoenix Suns, is currently in rebuild mode after their failed big three of Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker collapsed miserably. The catalyst here to the failures of these teams is the lack of care for the sweet science of building a team around depth. The stars need to have their rest and recovery, and can’t handle carrying the team to all of their success. The Warriors had the luck of having a wide-ranging net of defensive role players, and guys who can space the floor when the starters need rest. A lot of teams build around aging stars exiting their prime don’t consider the need for getting younger depth, but the Nuggets' finals win in 2023 is the biggest example showing why it is needed.
Bruce Brown got paid star player money after he helped the Nuggets win the 2023 NBA Finals. Brown is a very competent sixth man and role player, but he isn’t a star in this league. Brown does everything well enough, and when you have Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray as your main scorers, a scrappy defensive hustler will always take you over the top. Derrick White always shows up in the playoffs and is one of the most feared three-and-d players in the league. He’s above role player status, but he isn’t the key pillar of the team, and yet he often would outplay Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the way towards a finals win.
Many teams are looking towards retooling their rosters this offseason, and this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t aim high for stars. I often mentioned how all of these teams had a star tenant, and that shouldn’t be denied, how important a top-of-the-league player is for overall success. There are levels between a good team, a great team, and a team's willingness to build a whole roster, and not just a star-heavy one, is a major catalyst towards a successful organization. Maybe instead of a big three, you could settle for a solid Batman and Robin star duo with a bunch of guys willing to battle every minute they get on the court.
