(10-30-2020, 12:02 PM)fifteenth Wrote: It's pretty much acknowledged in the NBA that you need two stars to win a championship. Dirk was an anomoly. And three stars is not unusual.
Let's look at just champions. And I'll consider guys like KP, Bosh, Green, Thompson as a step down from the guys I'm listing below.
LeBron/Davis
KD/Steph
Kawhi/Duncan
LeBron/Wade
Pierce/Garnett (this one is iffy, but 3 guys with those two and Ray Allen that were choosing the team concept)
Kobe/Shaq
MJ/Pippen (I know Pippen was always the beta, but during part of their run he was considered a top 5 player in the NBA)
Totally agree, you need more good players. But there is always one alpha star, than the beta star and so on. I think it is in our nature. And it is far from just the on court value or impact. Let's look at your examples.
LeBron is clearly a bigger star than Davis. How it will play long term it is to be seen, but mother nature might take care of that, as LeBron will start declining at one point.
Steph was bigger star in the eyes of the fans as KD. Eventually KD wanted "his" team, not be a "second fiddle" in the Curry one.
Duncan was bigger star than Kawhi even if Kawhi was better on court. Kawhi was still building up his star status in SA while Duncan was deep in decline.
LeBron was bigger star than Wade and it worked with Bosh because he accepted the third star role.
Kobe/Shaq clearly fell apart because the team was too small for their egos, imho.
MJ/Pippen. It is not really important if Pippen was considered top 5. Without the question, Jordan was all the time THE guy in Chicago. Without a doubt, others were just tagging along. It is not just about the on court stuff.
Several equal players working for team success would work either if roles (who is bigger star than the other) are clearly defined or if none of them is a star. But if we like it or not, both Giannis and Luka are stars as it is now. One will have to accept he is less of a star as he was, because I think it is impossible to keep equal star status in media.
Saying all that. Luka is like a top 5 star in the league, as it is (being a star is not just about on court value). I think he is much bigger star than Giannis. So as far as he is considered, (if he comes to Mavs) he might bring more on court, but world around him would talk about Luka more.