Ranking Every NBA Dynasty
With their fifth title last night, the Spurs cemented their place as one of the best dynasties ever. Where do they rank?
Image via Complex Original
Sunday night, Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, andthe San Antonio Spurs won their fifth championship since 1999, cementing their place as one of the elite teams in NBA history. Particularly in this modern era of free agency and significant salary cap restrictions, they have maintained their dominance thanks to shrewd drafting and free agent pickups, salary sacrifice by their superstars, and outstanding coaching. They are now one of just four franchises to have captured five or more championships, joining the Chicago Bulls (six), Los Angeles Lakers (16), and Boston Celtics (17). Given the era and the relative competition level, it’s one of the greatest runs we’ve ever seen from a basketball team.
But how does it compare with Russell’s Celtics, Magic’s Lakers, or Jordan’s Bulls? Surely those teams, who all won multiple titles as well, can make an argument that they are the superior team to this era’s Spurs. With the San Antonio having secured a positively dominant fifth title in which they were the league’s best team from start to finish, we figured it was time to Rank Every NBA Dynasty.
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7. Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2004)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 287-123 (.700)
Finals appearances: 4
Championships: 3
Notable players: Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher
Coaches: Phil Jackson
The 2000-2004 Lakers had the shortest reign of any team on this list due in large part to the fact that—along with their otherworldly talents—Kobe and Shaq had two of the biggest egos in NBA history. Pippen could always play second fiddle to Jordan, and Kareem and Magic had no trouble figuring out how to co-exist, but the marriage of "Shaqobe" was perpetually problematic, even with Phil Jackson doing his best to manage their relationship.
However, when the team took care of business, they did it in a dominating fashion. In their three consecutive Finals wins from 2000-2002, they went 12-3 during those three series, with Shaq averaging 33.0 PPG and 12.6 RPG and collecting three Finals MVPs in the process.
Tensions would boil over in the 2004 Finals, though, when the team—loaded with veteran additions like Karl Malone and Gary Payton—fell to the Detroit Pistons in five games. Shortly thereafter, the roster was blown up, with Shaq being shipped to Miami, and Kobe taking over the team to assume the alpha dog role he'd always wanted.
6. Boston Celtics (1981-1987)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 432-142 (.752)
Finals appearances: 5
Championships: 3
Notable players: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson
Coaches: Bill Fitch, K.C. Jones
After rival Magic Johnson won a title during his rookie year, Larry Bird went out and got himself one the very next season. Bird wasn't especially fast and didn't jump especially high, but he was an outstanding shooter and passer, and one of the most instinctive rebounders the league has ever seen. It also didn't hurt that he played alongside Hall of Famers like Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish.
Bird battled Magic for NBA supremacy throughout the 1980s, locking up in the Finals in 1984, 1985, and 1987. Until this year's Miami Heat the Celtics were the last team to make the Finals four years in a row (1984-1987), and their 1986 squad is regarded as one of the greatest NBA teams of all time.
5. Minneapolis Lakers (1949-1954)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 273-131 (.676)
Finals appearances: 5
Championships: 5
Notable players: George Mikan, Slater Martin, Vern Mikkelsen, Clyde Lovellette
Coaches: John Kundla
The Laker franchise has been in the business of winning championships for a while now. They pioneered the practice of parking a big man in the middle of the paint in 1949 with 6'10" George Mikan, who was so much bigger and better than everyone else that the Lakers dominated as soon as he stepped on the floor. They were the league's first dynasty and had the league's first star, winning five titles in Mikan's seven years in Minneapolis.
After Mikan retired in 1956, they didn't win another title until 1972. The Lakers main foes were the Dolph Schayes-led Syracuse Nationals and the "Tricky" Dick McGuire-led Knicks.
4. Los Angeles Lakers (1980-1991)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 712-262 (.731)
Finals appearances: 9
Championships: 5
Notable players: Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy
Coaches: Jack McKinney, Paul Westhead, Pat Riley, Mike Dunleavy
During the late 1970s, the NBA was floundering due to a poor TV contract, innumerable players getting into legal trouble, and a bumpy transitiion following the ABA merger. The Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry that began in the 1979 NCAA Championship and continued into their NBA careers helped rekindle public interest in the league. Magic's charisma and fantastic all-around game helped reignite the Lakers, who teamed him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to form one of the great 1-2 punches in league history and were one of the teams to beat for a decade.
Magic did more than just ride the coattails of his veteran teammates to a championship during his first year. With Kareem down with an ankle injury, Johnson started at center and played every position in the deciding game of the 1980 Finals against Dr. J's Sixers. In that game, Magic scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, dished out seven assists, three steals, and a block for good measure. Under Johnson's guidance the Lakers made an astounding nine Finals appearances, taking home five, and becoming the first franchise to win back-to-back titles since Russell's Celtics.
3. San Antonio Spurs (1999-Present)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 894-370 (.707)
Finals appearances: 6
Championships: 5 (so far)
Notable players: David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard
Coaches: Gregg Popovich
If you needed proof that this San Antonio Spurs franchise is one of the greatest in recent sports history, this year's NBA Finals should have been more than sufficient evidence. They flat-out dominated the Heat, capturing their fifth title in a run that has lasted a remarkable 15 years. The constants have been Tim Duncan and coach Gregg Popovich, but really, it's been the incredible supporting casts that have propped the Spurs up over the years. This year, they even cleared the hurdle of being the only team on this list that hadn't made the Finals in consecutive seasons.
Some have wondered if San Antonio lacks the killer instinct that defined Jordan's Bulls or Russell's Celtics. Five titles in six tries would seem to give a resounding answer of "no" even if they have yet to successfuly defend a title (Phil Jackson feels different)—that can change next since everybody's coming back.
While they have done it less with high-flying alley-oops and more with simple, well-executed pick-and-rolls, the fact remains that San Antonio has already won more titles than the '80s Celtics, and have managed to do it without any of the high-profile drama that we've seen from teams like the Lakers of the early 2000s.
2. Chicago Bulls (1991-1998)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 490-166 (.747)
Finals appearances: 6
Championships: 6
Notable players: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc
Coaches: Phil Jackson
Unlike most of the leaders of the dynasties on this list, Michael Jordan did it the hard way. He was by himself until Doug Collins drafted Scottie Pippen in 1987 (via Seattle). Jordan and Pippen would play each other one-on-one daily in order to make each other better, and obviously it worked. Once Phil, M.J., and Pip conquered the Bad Boy Pistons in the early 1990s, the Bulls could not be beaten. Jordan and his crew destroyed the hopes of fanbases across the country and crushed championship dreams of some of the game's greatest players from Ewing to Barkley to Malone and Stockton.
Chicago ran off three straight titles between 1991 and 1993, and another three straight between 1996 and 1998, with Jordan taking his infamous baseball hiatus in the intervening years. The second title run was aided by Croatian star Toni Kukoc and former Bulls foe Dennis Rodman, who were both brought in to help supplement the standout efforts of the Jordan-Pippen core. Chicago went 72-10 in 1996, an NBA regular season record and arguably the greatest single season performance of all time.
If Jordan didn't retire after the '93 season and Jerry Krause didn't blow the team up after the '98 championship, the Bulls could have rivaled the next team on this list.
1. Boston Celtics (1957-1969)
Regular season record (winning percentage): 716-299 (.705)
Finals appearances: 12
Championships: 11
Notable players: Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, John Havlicek
Coaches: Red Auerbach, Bill Russell
Once George Mikan retired and took the Lakers dynasty with him, Boston emerged as the NBA's second juggernaut when they drafted Bill Russell in 1957. With the help of the progressive minds of owner Walter Brown and head coach Red Auerbach along with the big man out of San Francisco University, the Celtics changed the game in many ways. Brown was the first owner to embrace black ball players, Red invented the fast break and the sixth man position, and more importantly, Auerbach was smart enough to make a draft day trade for Russell with the St. Louis Hawks. Russell was a natural born leader, and hands down remains the greatest defensive player in NBA history.
What he lacked in size he had in brains and jumping ability. He also had the luxury of having guys like Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, and Tommy Heinsohn on his team. Russell turned blocked shots into outlet passes, a skill lost on today's players who prefer swatting everything into the fifth row. The Celtics made 10 consecutive Finals appearances after drafting Russell and won 11 out of the 13 years he was there, including eight straight from 1959 through 1966.