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When the Lakers made their big moves acquiring Russell Westbrook, Melo and then brought back Dwight, haters were quick to point out that this team became the oldest in the league, and too old to win a championship. But is that really the case? Let me show you why that’s not true.
And highlight some of the oldest teams to go all the way
What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
First of all check out this image of the famous Last Dance Bulls team from 98.
This starting lineup for Chicago has a combined age of 169 years.
Now compare that with the so-called too old squad of the Lakers. A total of 168. Not to mention that LA’s big 3 is far younger and in better shape physically than the Bulls who were pretty much on their last legs as they say themselves in the documentary.
Also, I feel like everyone got so caught up in the initial moves, that they kind of didn’t even acknowledge the fact that the entire rest of the team is extremely young and energetic.
Guys like THT, and the new additions of Malik Monk, as well as Kendrick Nunn will provide a lot of quality minutes- and 1 of them will probably even start ahead of Anthony, bringing the average way down.
And when comparing this team to some other NBA championship rosters you can see that the Miami Heat won in 2013 with a squad just over 30, with their oldest player Ray Allen being 37,
the San Antonio Spurs were around 30 as a group when they celebrated their title in 2014 with their big 3 of Tim Duncan at 38, Manu at 36 and Parker at 32. Tho of course Kawhi Leonard was the star of that series at only 22 years old. Maaan I forgot he was that young.
Then of course, Dirk’s Mavs in 2011 were 31 and a half collectively with their floor general Jason Kidd being 38, Nowitzki at 32 and both Jason Terry as well as Shawn Marion at 33.
And of course the Bulls were consistently over 30 during their second three peat from 96 to 98, finishing the run with an average of 32 years.
At the end of the day, age is just a number, especially when as I said it comes down to guys with superhuman athleticism and ones that always keep themselves in absolute tip top shape like Lebron, Russell, and Dwight have been doing throughout their entire careers. You know they’ve always kept their bodies sleek and maintained superb physical condition.
Back to the video. If nothing else changes, in regards to injuries or some other blockbuster trade that could dramatically change the landscape in the league, I have the Lakers easily coming out of the west and meeting the Brooklyn Nets in the finals. And there are 2 main reasons why. Let me explain.
First, it’s the fact that as much as I wouldn’t like to admit it, the west is wide open for them unfortunately
Just think about it: Kawhi is going to miss the entire season with the ACL injury that we found out about after the playoffs. So the Clippers are out of the conversation.
The Nuggets will be without Jamal Murray for the majority of the season, and there is a huge question mark in terms of how he will look back from his injury.
And Phoenix only added Landry Shamet and stayed virtually the exact same team, hoping that their young guys can take their game to the next level alongside a 36 year old Chris Paul.
Honestly, the only reason why they won last season was because James was clearly not himself, as I pointed out in a video during that series, and of course since AD went down as well. Of course no disrespect whatsoever to the Suns. In fact I was rooting for them and overall
against the heavy favorites Lakers as always. But in full strength and especially with this upgraded roster, I’m afraid LA is unbeatable for Phoenix.
The one team in my opinion that can make things interesting, and that I have as a possible wild card is the Golden State Warriors. Of course, they also have a guy coming back in Klay Thompson, scheduled to have his first game 2 months into the season around Christmas.
But he is a top 5 shooter of all time. A sniper. And when a team has 2 of the best 5 shooters in NBA history, I cannot just write them off. At least that’s my opinion.
I did not like the Westbrook trade, but that was because of the lack of shooting on the roster at the time. But since then, they added Nuun, Monk and Ellington. All guys who can really shoot the ball, so now I really see this as a complete roster that’s going to be hard to beat in the west. Which is kind of unfortunate for myself and other neutral NBA fans.
But then again, all of this is on paper, and we still have a lot of waiting till we see how this translates on the court. Until then, I’ll continue to keep you entertained and tuned in to the NBA.
Do you see anyone beating the Lakers in the west? Let me know in the comments. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.