Should NBA Titles Define A Player's Greatness?

For those who follow the NBA know the game’s best players are defined on how many titles they have or do not have. Most of the game’s most legendary players are judged based off the same formula. In my opinion, it shouldn’t matter that big of an emphasis as many others base it off. It’s becoming to a point now where players are being judged solely based off NBA championships like it’s a self-accomplishment and all who watch sports know it’s a team accomplishment.

It’s a total team accomplishment for NBA championships. Some of the game’s best players ever didn’t win rings not because of their play it’s because their respective teams maybe didn’t have the necessary talent to be a champion or because of other circumstances like injuries, trades, etc. Players like Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, etc. Those players are widely regarded as some of the best players to ever play the game but their legacy and meaning gets overshadowed by not being able to say they’re NBA Champions. Reggie Miller is the perfect example that I can use for this argument. He’s widely regarded as one the game’s best clutch shooters and one of the top 3-point shooters ever, but he doesn’t have a title. That’s not because of his efforts one bit because he played his tail off every time he stepped on the court. Go back and look at some of the rosters that Reggie Miller played on. Now go back and pull out a Hall of Fame potential talent that he got to play with. I’ll wait. That’s right he never really played alongside a Hall of Fame caliber player. Same can be said for Patrick Ewing & Dominique Wilkins as well. Great players who were never fortunate enough to play with other Hall of Fame caliber players. Outside of Larry Brown I can’t off the top of my head name a top coach that Reggie Miller played for. The only top name coach that Ewing played for is Pat Riley. And other than Mike Fratello I can’t name a coach that Wilkins played for. Karl Malone & Stockton had it all but kept running into those dominant MJ Bulls. Charles Barkley outside of the 1993 season never had a team that really competed for a NBA Title. He played for an aging Houston team his last 4 seasons in the NBA and never reached the finals again in his career.

It takes more than just having a Hall of Fame caliber player that has teams win titles. In today’s game, I’ll use Carmelo Anthony as an example. He’s a great future Hall of Fame player that’s never really had that dominant title contending team assembled around him despite his overwhelming talent. The Knicks team he’s on now may be recognizable name wise on paper but it’s just not working on the floor. Rather it’ll be injuries to an oft-injured Derrick Rose, Aging Joakim Noah, Kristaps Porzingis, interchanging coaches he hasn’t been afforded the roster needed to compete for a title in today’s NBA and how it structured. The only example I can recently use for a player not having but only so much of a team and winning an NBA title is the Dirk Nowitzki led 2011 Mavs.

I’ll give names of title winners in the NBA modern-era and give names of players that played on those teams. The 1980’s Lakers had players Like Magic, Kareem, Worthy, & played for a great coach in Pat Riley. The 80’s Celtics had FIVE Hall of Famers in Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale, & Bill Walton. The Bad Boy Pistons had Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, & Dennis Rodman & was coached by the late great Chuck Daly. The 90’s Bulls had MJ, Scottie, & coached by the Zen Master Phil Jackson. 2000’s Lakers were Shaq & Kobe then later Kobe & Pau Gasol and were coached by Jackson as well. The 2000’s Spurs were led by David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and now Kawhi Leonard. The Heat were led by Shaq & D-Wade in 06’ then later LeBron, Wade, Bosh, & Ray Allen. The point of me naming all those were it takes and entire team to win titles from organization top to bottom not just one Hall of Fame player carrying those teams.

Titles can help a player’s legacy but it should not diminish what the player displayed individually on the basketball court. I still consider those great players among the greatest despite if they won titles or not because of their game changing talents on the court not based off number of NBA titles.

If we define players based off number of titles than players like Steve Kerr (5 titles), Derek Fisher (5 titles), & Robert Horry (7 titles), would be considered among the game’s best. People make all the legacy about the NBA logo himself “Mr. Clutch” Jerry West but in all reality, he’s 1-9 in NBA Finals. THAT’S RIGHT I said 1-9. The game’s most dominant big men Wilt Chamberlain has the same amount of NBA titles (1). If we make arguments based of titles as well Michael Jordan or Bill Russell should be the NBA Logo.

I’ll make this last argument in bring other sports into the fold. One of the greatest baseball players ever Ken Griffey Jr. failed to reach a World Series let alone win one but it still doesn’t diminish the greatness and legacy he displayed on the field of play. Arguably one of the greatest QB’s in NFL history Dan Marino reached only 1 Super Bowl and never won one in his career but still revered as one of the best to ever play the position.

Overall NBA shouldn’t be judged off titles because that’s a team accomplishment and should be judged based off their play alone, by itself, not always on titles.