The "Formula" to Winning Championships

I don't claim to be an expert on basketball, I just do a lot of research and love following the sport, so when I tout a "formula" of some sort, don't get me wrong, there's nothing "official" about it. There are a lot of things that I'm actually ignoring such as salary caps and the whole front office side you have to deal with when dealing with the NBA, and of course, I'm completely ignoring David Stern. So take my advice with a grain of salt here when I say that there is a key to building a solid NBA team, and remember, the NBA is and ultimately will run like a business, it's here to make money.

So in looking back at the history of the NBA there seems to be a general trend of things that stand true for all of the NBA champions. These things are what ultimately won each of these teams championships.

First: Dominance down low

This goes beyond rebounding, this is a legitimate inside post presence that the team can consistently go to. Inside presence defensively is important, but it's the inside post game that made the offense flow, it's the goto when nothing else works, because you create the highest percentage shots that way. Why else do you think that the highest FG% players are mostly post players? Let's look at it historically:

Starting 10 years ago we have the NBA Champions and their inside game:

1997-1998 Chicago Bulls : Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman
1998-1999 San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan, David Robinson
1999-2002 LA Lakers: Shaquille O'Neal
2002-2003 San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan
2003-2004 Detroit Pistons: Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace
2005-2006 Miami Heat: Shaquille O'Neal
2006-2007 San Antonio Spurs: Tim Duncan

Now some people are going to start looking at me and say, "Bulls? Rodman wasn't an inside threat." The thing is, all they needed Rodman for was rebounding, Jordan was the post threat. Despite being a 2 guard, Jordan was as physical as any inside post player. His feared game was not his shooting game, but in fact his post presence down low. With the Pistons you have Ben Wallace dominating at one end and Rasheed Wallace creating at the other, with a significant post presence your team opens up the floor and gives your shooters an easier time. This is why the Lakers have not been so hot until their recent acquisition of Pau Gasol and development of Andrew Bynum, they're both legitimate post threats. As much as Lamar Odom and Kobe Bryant can finish around the rim, they're not post players. Kobe would sooner shoot the pull-up jumper and Odom has trouble creating his own offense. Likewise Dallas has no inside presence short of Erick Dampier, which is to say, none. Dirk Nowitzki is just a 7 ft SG. The overall talent on the team isn't bad, it's just that shooters won't win you championships, it's too hard to open up the floor when you don't have something that pulls defenders into the paint.

Second: Solid backup

Needless to say you need to have your role players and players off the bench that can keep you in the game. You can't honestly expect your star players to go 48 minutes a game through 4 seven game series in peak form. You always have your shooters like Glen Rice, Steve Kerr, Toni Kukoc, James Posey, Antoine Walker, Ron Harper, etc... both starting and off the bench that are just there to catch and release. Each player has his role and does his best to fill it. The Horace Grants, Samaki Walkers, and Malik Roses there to fill up space in the middle and get the leftover rebounds. You have your Robert Horrys there for the big shots, and you have your James Poseys, Antoine Walkers, and Rick Foxs there doing all the extra dirty work. Needless to say, all these teams have solid reserve and role players to sustain them through the playoffs and through the Finals series.

Third: Chemistry

The team has to play well together. If we look at the old Trailblazers, they were a team with boundless talent, Damon Stoudamire in his prime, Scottie Pippen, Rasheed Wallace, but they just didn't get along, so they played horribly together. Everyone had a "me" first mentality. The best example we can see today of good chemistry is the San Antonio Spurs. You have to all share the same vision of winning and then everyone has to understand his own part in reaching that vision. Spurs are all on the same page, and it shows. All the teams that have won, played together for a good chunk of time (Lakers started the Shaq-Kobe era 1 season after the Shaq trade) being able to meld together and work as a unit on the court.