Worst passing champion?

Dr Positivity · Post #1 » by **Dr Positivity** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 5:49 am

We know who the best passing champion teams are, but who’s was the most mediocre and got away with it? (Say from 60s on)

70sFan · Post #2 » by **70sFan** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 7:18 am

I don't know how to judge it really, I can't think about any bad passing team winning the title. My first thought is 1994 Rockets based on their roster construction.

henshao · Post #3 » by **henshao** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 2:24 pm

70sFan wrote:I don't know how to judge it really, I can't think about any bad passing team winning the title. My first thought is 1994 Rockets based on their roster construction.

The 94 Rockets were certainly limited in that regard although ball movement or the threat of it was still a large focus for their success

I feel like the 04 Pistons deserve an examination

Tomtolbert · Post #4 » by **Tomtolbert** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 2:34 pm

70sFan wrote:I don't know how to judge it really, I can't think about any bad passing team winning the title. My first thought is 1994 Rockets based on their roster construction.

The Knicks team they beat would deserve a mention if they had won that title.

Post #5 » by **tsherkin** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 2:45 pm

henshao wrote:I feel like the 04 Pistons deserve an examination

Really? They were one of the best passing teams in the league at the time. Their offensive distribution was their second-greatest strength after their defense.

They relied heavily on a guy running around screens for jumpers, clever pick and rolls, good kickout options... I struggle to think of worse selections in-era, especially from the East.

70sFan · Post #6 » by **70sFan** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 2:46 pm

Tomtolbert wrote:
70sFan wrote:I don't know how to judge it really, I can't think about any bad passing team winning the title. My first thought is 1994 Rockets based on their roster construction.

The Knicks team they beat would deserve a mention if they had won that title.

I thought about them as well, but they missed the title by a few buckets

Dr Positivity · Post #7 » by **Dr Positivity** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 4:09 pm

I guess stats can be helpful here, although not a perfect measure

78 Bullets are 18/22 in ast/100 - not sure if all of Unseld's outlets got captured by ast
79 Sonics are 16/22
83 Sixers are are 19/23
12 Heat are 21/30 - they went up to 6th in 2013
06 Heat are 15/30
94 Rockets are 10/27 - those 3s would be assist friendly regardless of if they were the result of great ball movement

colts18 · Post #8 » by **colts18** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 4:45 pm

1999 Spurs?

Post #9 » by **tsherkin** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 5:21 pm

70sFan wrote:I thought about them as well, but they missed the title by a few buckets

Gawd, New York was bad on O in that series...

OhayoKD · Post #10 » by **OhayoKD** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 5:22 pm

1999 spurs and 94 rockets come to mind

70sFan · Post #11 » by **70sFan** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 5:35 pm

1999 Spurs are also a good mention, they weren't very creative in halfcourt offense.

RCM88x · Post #12 » by **RCM88x** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 6:17 pm

Amazingly the '99 Spurs with 6th in APG that season, while the '03 Spurs were 22nd by comparison. But drawing conclusions by APG rankings probably isn't the best method admittedly.

OhayoKD · Post #13 » by **OhayoKD** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 6:29 pm

70sFan wrote:1999 Spurs are also a good mention, they weren't very creative in halfcourt offense.

Spurs having one of the best passing team champions in league history and one of the worst with a similar core is pretty cool

colts18 · Post #14 » by **colts18** » Thu Mar 7, 2024 8:44 pm

OhayoKD wrote:
70sFan wrote:1999 Spurs are also a good mention, they weren't very creative in halfcourt offense.

Spurs having one of the best passing team champions in league history and one of the worst with a similar core is pretty cool

They aren't a similar core. Tim Duncan was basically the only link between the 1999 Spurs and the other Spurs championship teams.

SportsGuru08 · Post #15 » by **SportsGuru08** » Fri Mar 8, 2024 6:25 am

70sFan wrote:I don't know how to judge it really, I can't think about any bad passing team winning the title. My first thought is 1994 Rockets based on their roster construction.

They may not have had that one guy who racked up lots of assists, but that didn't mean they were a bad passing team. They did a lot of ball movement to get open threes for the likes of Smith, Horry, Elie, & Maxwell.

SportsGuru08 · Post #16 » by **SportsGuru08** » Fri Mar 8, 2024 6:26 am

Tomtolbert wrote:
70sFan wrote:I don't know how to judge it really, I can't think about any bad passing team winning the title. My first thought is 1994 Rockets based on their roster construction.

The Knicks team they beat would deserve a mention if they had won that title.

If the Mavericks had won in 2006, they'd have probably been the worst.

SinceGatlingWasARookie · Post #17 » by **SinceGatlingWasARookie** » Fri Mar 8, 2024 4:22 pm

2,000 Lakers are a possible answer. Nobody on that team had 6 assists per 36 minutes.
Brian Shaw their best passer was not that good. Fisher, Harper and too young Kobe are not creating much for teammates.

What might disqualify this team is that Shaq was a good passer who was often seeing the open man while double teamed.

SportsGuru08 · Post #18 » by **SportsGuru08** » Sat Mar 9, 2024 9:18 am

SinceGatlingWasARookie wrote:2,000 Lakers are a possible answer. Nobody on that team had 6 assists per 36 minutes.
Brian Shaw their best passer was not that good. Fisher, Harper and too young Kobe are not creating much for teammates.

What might disqualify this team is that Shaq was a good passer who was often seeing the open man while double teamed.

Funny enough, Phil Jackson once said that the '99-2000 Lakers were the most talented team he'd coached up to that point.