Should a Team with 2 Top 12 Players in the League be a ....

[JordansBulls]

Should a Team with 2 Top 12 Players in the League be a Legit Title Contender?

I think they should be a Title Contender. They may not be the favorite but they should be one of the best teams in the league

[L-Burna89]

No....only if they have two top 11.56 players in the league.

[TAI8]

*Cough Houston Rockets Cough*

Yes. The talent is there. They're underachieving. If they don't at the very least advance past the first round, then they should consider trading away one of their top 12 players.

[exkonvict]

w/o a bench, it's impossible unless these top 12 players average 45 points each.

[Mad Balla 15]

Not necessarily. It matters about the players around them to. Also it matters what position those two top 12 players play. Because lets be honest. 2 top 12 players where one is a guard and the other is a big is better than when both are guards.

[Egg Nog]

Kukoc, Harper, and Kerr say NO

[Cevap]

*Cough Houston Rockets Cough*

Yes. The talent is there. They're underachieving. If they don't at the very least advance past the first round, then they should consider trading away one of their top 12 players.

tmac IMO is not top 12

[kno]

Last time I checked, you needed a TEAM to win.

[wezbo]

what team is that?

[ChampionRed]

Why don't you ask the Pistons that question.

[Erebus Tunafish]

Last time I checked, you needed a TEAM to win.

Shaq and Kobe though... 3 Champs...

However, I don't necessarily think so. Carmello and AI are two stars who have strong chances to be in the Top 12, but do the Nuggets really have a chance to win it all this season? My heart and brain say no.

[Storm Surge]

not if they have scrubs playing the rest of the positions.

[elbowthrower]

Shaq and Kobe had Horry ($$$), Fisher and arguably the best coach of all time.

Kind of hard to say those two won it alone.

Look at where the Spurs stars fall in league stat rankings. You'd be surprised how low they rank in all of the traditional categories.

[hermes]

Last time I checked, you needed a TEAM to win.

[nate33]

A team with a top 5 player and a top 12 player should definitely be a title contender. I can see how a team with the 11th and 12th best players in the league might not be a contender if the rest of the team had no other starting-caliber players.

If we're talking about Houston, then I'd say that Battier qualifies as a starting-caliber player. Indeed, he is an above-average starter. So Houston should be a title contender if you assume both TMac and Yao are top 12 players.

I don't think TMac is a top 12 player. Top 12 talent? Yes. Top 12 player? No.

[RoxFan08]

I'm pretty sure the team in question is Houston. And I can't think of a good reason why they can't be title contenders. Their bench was bad last year, but its good this year. The real problem is having Alston, Hayes, and Battier on the floor at the same time, none of whom (until recently for Alston) could do anything worth mentioning on the offensive end. 2v5 is impossible for anyone, except maybe a prime Wilt and/or Diesel.

[exkonvict]

The Rockets just can't score w/o T-Mac. Yao pretty much has to do everything by himself right now. Bonzi needs to step up imo.

[JellosJigglin]

Top 12? Nah. Two top 12 players isn't enough to make a team a contender.

Maybe if you had two of the top 5 players, like Kobe and Shaq. Those two players made the Lakers contenders, but they still needed the supporting cast to make the jump from contenders to champions.

You would also need a coach who can command the respect of players of that magnitude.

[kno]

-= original quote snipped =-



Shaq and Kobe though... 3 Champs...

Are you going to completely discredit the great group of role players they had?

[Basileus777]

Is T-Mac even a top 12 player anymore?